Do you remember the Canadian Videoblogger Lewis Hilsenteger from Unbox Therapy who published the famous iPhone 6 Bend Test video below? It caused a raucous around the globe and drove over 70 million views. Yes, it struck a gigantic nerve.  

While Apple has publicly maintained that there were no engineering issues with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, an internal review showed that engineering changes were necessary to prevent touch disease. Apple's internal tests found that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are significantly more likely to bend than the iPhone 5S, according to information made public in a recent court filing obtained by Motherboard.

Publicly, Apple has never said that the phones have a bending problem, and maintains that position, despite these models commonly being plagued with "touch disease," a flaw that causes the touchscreen to work intermittently that the repair community say is a result of bending associated with normal use.

The information is contained in internal Apple documents filed under seal in a class-action lawsuit that alleges Apple misled customers about touch disease. The documents remain under seal, but US District Court judge Lucy Koh made some of the information from them public in a recent opinion in the case. Below is an example.

Even though a class action was filed against Apple, the court denied the plaintiffs the right to proceed against Apple. The Order denying the motion for class certification could be found in the Motherboard report here.

While it's Apple's right to keep internal data private, once word gets out that Apple kept silent about a problem or just outright denied or worst lied about it, trust is lost.

Back in January Patently Apple posted a report titled "Cook In-Part blames Users for battery Issue but says an Update is coming that will allow users to Turn Off Battery Throttling." Cook tried to pull a fast one and it was proven he didn't tell the truth in a TV interview. Then came the onslaught of class actions that have easily climbed to over 60 to date.

Then earlier this month a petition came to light from Charge.org that demanded Apple take action to fix their MacBook Pro's faulty keyboard. Days later the first class action was filed against Apple regarding this keyboard issue and yesterday the second class action on this problem was filed.

At some point Apple begins to lose their moral high ground and the glass bubble that they've been living in since the late Steve Jobs brought the company back to life is finally cracking. With ongoing hardware and software problems in addition to several product delays, Apple's reputation is falling back to earth.

The competiton smells there's trouble in paradise. Huawei is constantly taunting Apple in ads and in keynotes and even little nobody Luo Yonghao, the founder of Chinese smartphone brand Smartisan is taking cracks at Apple.

Thus far Apple has taken it all in stride and a great WWDC 2018 keynote could change this darkening cloud that has surrounded Apple since the top of this year. Apple fans are generally positive people, but like anyone else they have their limits.

Apple has to deliver new products that revs up their base and admit when there's a problem or at least openly and quickly discuss a new issue expressed in the media before the wave of lawsuits stream in.

The tactic of hiding from the press or hoping an issue will just go away isn't much of a tactic at all. It gives the public impression that Apple is hiding from a problem or that their CEO is just to busy promoting his personal civil rights agenda.

Yet with all that said, June 4th just can't come soon enough to be sure. The Apple Community needs a refreshing and positive event to keep spirits positive so that we can all continue to laugh at Apple's competition and their feeble attempts at beating Apple's iPhones, iPads and Apple Watch quarter in and quarter out.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.