iPhone 6s to come in super-strong '7000 series' aluminium to avoid another 'Bendgate'

Apple claims that the ‘new alloy’, first seen in the Apple Watch, is 60 per cent stronger than normal aluminium

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The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are to be made of a special aluminium alloy that will make them much stronger and not liable to being bent like the previous phones.

The current iPhone 6 was plagued by the idea of “Bendgate” – a claim by some that the bigger and thinner phones were becoming warped in their owner’s pockets, turning the handsets crooked. But the next iPhone will avoid those problems by using an extra strong metal, according to reports.

The new phones will be made out of Apple’s own “7000 series” aluminium, 9to5mac reports. Apple claims that is 60 per cent stronger than the standard metal, but lighter.

Apple debuted the special aliminium in the Apple Watch, released in April. On the Watch, the metal looks almost identical to that on the iPhone, but with a slightly more uniform finish.

The phones also appear to be slightly strengthened at some of their weaker points, leading to the phone being a little larger than the iPhone 6.

Apple’s “Bendgate” problems began soon after the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, when an online video went viral for describing how the big phones could bend in small pockets.

The company was forced to address it soon after, releasing a statement saying that the problem was “extremely rare” and that it had only got nine complaints.

But the word quickly became associated with the launch, in the same way that the iPhone 4 found it difficult to escape the “Antennagate” signal problems.