Apple Scraps 6.9-Inch iPhone 17 Air Over Bendgate 2.0 Concerns

Apple Scraps 6.9-Inch iPhone 17 Air Over Bendgate 2.0 Concerns

Apple prototyped a larger ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air with a 6.9-inch display, but ultimately decided not to go ahead with the device because of fears that it could be susceptible to bending, according to a new report. Image:Google Bent iPhone Air Feature Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, writing in his latest Power On newsletter: When it first started work on the phone, it prototyped a device with a 6.9-inch screen — matching the Pro Max. Apple pulled the plug on that over fears that a thin device with a giant screen would be susceptible to bending. The company suffered such a controversy in 2014 — "Bendgate" — when the iPhone 6 Plus would sometimes warp when in a tight pocket. Earlier this month, we reported on a rumor out of China claiming that the iPhone 17 Air shares the same dimensions as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, with the only difference being in the thickness of the devices. It's quite possible the rumor had its origins in Apple's canned prototype. Corroborating rumors ind…