Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock seems to be recovering, as shares rose by nearly 3% on Friday. The company has been doing damage control around the so-called “BendGate” scandal. The bad press has buried the iPhone 6 Plus in drama as investors worry about whether sales will be impacted by the reports about the phone being easily bent while riding around in someone’s pocket.
Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald aren’t worried, however, as they call these concerns “irrational.”
Cantor: “Let’s Get Real!”
In their report dated Sept. 25, 2014, analysts Brian White and Isabel Zhu basically said that all the reports of the iPhone 6 Plus bending easily are just ridiculous. The BendGate controversy started with a few random complaints but came to a head when Unbox Therapy posted a video showing just how easily the phablet can bend.
The Cantor Fitzgerald team said they think it’s ridiculous to worry about an “average person bending an iPhone 6 Plus with typical everyday use.” They took both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus for test drives a couple of times and said that both of them “felt very durable.”
Still talking about Apple’s “super cycle”
They encouraged investors to take advantage of the decline in Apple’s stock price and continued to talk about what they call the company’s “next ‘super cycle.'” They think this cycle as started strong and believe it will be “an unprecedented” iPhone launch.
In addition to the strong demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus that’s already been felt in other parts of the world, they say China offers a huge untapped market. Their meetings with two wireless carriers in China suggested that there’s “an insatiable appetite” for Apple’s two new phones that’s growing in China.
Their contacts reassured them that China will not have to wait until next year to get the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. They think the delay is due to government approvals rather than anything that’s under Apple’s control. They’re predicting an October launch for both handsets in China.
Complaints about the BendGate video
The BendGate video from Unbox Therapy has also come under fire, which may be another reason investor sentiment on Apple is shifting back the other way. Business Insider spotted some Reddit posts about the video. Some people noticed issues with the time stamps on the video.
Unbox Therapy’s Lewis Hilstenteger responded over Twitter, however, saying that when he did the overhead shot, it was overexposed and the screen reflected off the lights. He said he had to reshoot it but the conclusion was the same.
He also promised a second video in one continuous take to prove that the iPhone 6 Plus really does bend when pressure is applied.
Apple does damage control
Apple has also been doing its fair share of damage control about BendGate. The company said on Thursday that it has received only nine complaints about the iPhone 6 Plus bending and that it won’t bend without excessive force being applied.
Apple also let CNBC and other media outlets into its testing facility to show off how it tests its products. Apple allowed very little video to be shot, but a spokesperson did say that the iPhone 6 was tested more than 15,000 times before it went on sale. The machine shown in the video repeatedly applies pressure to the iPhone 6.
Interestingly, it turns out that Apple uses Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Windows XP to test its products. This is pretty common for manufacturing facilities, however. Also in June, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a tweet that accidentally showed another computer running Windows in their U.S. factory, reports Business Insider.
