Even Apple makes mistakes: 4 glorious iPhone blunders

The iPhone 15 series is out and plenty of users reported heating issues with the new Pro handsets. This problem was verified in our own testing, which revealed that the Pro devices run considerably hotter than prominent Android rivals. Thankfully, Apple rolled out an update to fix the overheating problem.

This wouldn’t be the first time Apple tripped up with the iPhone though. Here are four of the most notable iPhone fails over the years.

iPhone 14 OIS rattling

The most recent iPhone fail on Apple’s part was just last year, as many iPhone 14 Pro models suffered from a bizarre camera rattling or grinding sound.

It turned out that the Pro line’s camera stabilization went absolutely bonkers when using third-party apps, shaking to the point of causing a rattling sound. Fortunately, this wasn’t a hardware problem as an iOS update addressed the issue. Nevertheless, this was still a significant glitch that slipped through Apple’s testing cracks.

Antennagate

Probably the biggest early iPhone fail was the so-called Antennagate controversy. 2010’s iPhone 4 introduced a slick design featuring flat metal edges, complete with antenna lines at various points along the edge to facilitate connectivity.

Unfortunately, the placement of these antenna lines meant your hand would block them, resulting in drastically reduced cellular signal and dropped calls. Apple ludicrously told customers they were simply holding the phone “wrong.” It would eventually issue a free bumper case accessory to iPhone 4 owners to mitigate the issue.

Throttling old iPhones

Our devices can get slower over time, although there are a few tips to speed up an aging phone. This slowdown usually isn’t a deliberate move on the part of manufacturers, but Apple was indeed deliberately slowing down its older iPhones.

Owners of older iPhones like the iPhone 6 and 6s discovered lower benchmark scores in late 2017, revealing that Apple was throttling these handsets. It turned out that the company was doing so to mitigate issues related to aging batteries, such as device shutdowns under heavy load.

The fact that Apple was slowing down iPhones was a big deal, but you could argue that the decision to do so without informing users was an even bigger problem. The Cupertino company would go on to issue an iPhone update allowing users to see battery health information, while also offering a $50 discount on battery replacements.

Bendgate

Apple debuted the iPhone 6 series back in 2014, and this marked the first time we saw a Plus device. However, these iPhones were the subject of the so-called Bendgate controversy.

Third-party bending tests showed that the iPhone 6 series was far more likely to bend compared to previous devices. And this problem had some real-world consequences too, as people reported that their phones were bending when the iPhone 16 Plus was in their pockets and they sat down or bent.

Apple’s own internal documents found that the iPhone 6 series was far more likely to bend compared to the iPhone 5S. Unfortunately, the company wasn’t forthright with consumers about the issue. At least Apple addressed this problem with the iPhone 6S (seen above).