Apple's super-thin iPad Pro passes bend test with flying colors

When Apple launched its new iPad Pro devices earlier this month, the company said they were the thinnest gadgets it has ever produced. But are they structurally sound enough to resist a little accidental bending?

A reminder: Apple's new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro are both incredibly thin, with the 11-inch model measuring 0.21 inches, and the 13-inch model being even thinner at 0.20 inches.

Likely recalling 2018's "bendgate," when freshly launched iPads bent just a little too easily, Apple immediately said that a new metal cowling inside the new models will make the devices sturdier, and less prone to bending.

That's easier to believe when you see independent tests, though, and now we have them. YouTubers AppleTrack and JerryRigEverything both put the new iPads to the bendy test, and the results were surprisingly good.

It's not that the new iPad Pros will never bend. If you apply enough force, they will definitely bend, and — eventually — break (especially if you bend it vertically instead of horizontally). But they fare better than the last generation of iPad Pros, and in all of the tests, it really took a lot of force to push them past their limits.

Perhaps even more importantly, while the new iPad Pros will bend when moderate force is used, they will more or less revert to the old shape and remain fully functional.

In addition to bending the new iPad Pro, JerryRigEverything also performed his usual test of scratching the device from all sides. The results are similar to what you'd expect — the device fares well under moderate stress, but if you really try and use a sharp knife, it will most definitely scratch.

These tests are never perfect, and the sample size is very small, but they do give us some idea of how the devices will perform in real life. And it appears that bending isn't something you should be worried about when purchasing the new iPad Pro.