Apple iPhone 6 Plus Keeps Crashing, Owners Say, Especially 128GB Model

Owners of Apple Inc.’s iPhone 6 Plus just can’t seem to catch a break. Following a failed software update, owners say the newly released smartphone is frequently crashing and freezing during use.

Apple’s support forums contain a number of users complaining about the iPhone 6 Plus randomly rebooting, with owners of the 128GB model more frequently reporting such issues. The exact cause of the problem is still up in the air. Some users say it seems like a software issue that followed attempts at restoring backups from earlier devices.

One report says the problem lies in the iPhone 6 Plus’ hardware and could lead to a “widespread recall” of Apple’s latest smartphones. BusinessKorea reported unnamed “industry contacts” who told the site Tuesday that frequent crashes, reboots and sluggishness could be caused by a faulty component that interacts with the device’s flash storage.

Since customers are frequently reporting a single model is the culprit (the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus), the Korean site says industry experts point toward a new component Samsung has supplied to Apple to offer a larger capacity than it has in the past. The Cupertino, California, manufacturer had previously only sold the iPhone 5 with 64GB of storage memory.

The report comes just as the dust was settling on “Bendgate,” a term used by a number of Internet users and media outlets to refer to an issue with the larger iPhone 6 Plus. A widely disseminated YouTube video and a number of customers claimed the smartphone bent much more easily than earlier iPhone models, as well as larger phones from competitors.

The iPhone 6 Plus has also had serious software issues, along with the standard iPhone 6, following the release of iOS 8.0.1. The update made the smartphones incapable of making standard calls or using cellular data, and also caused problems with Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor and bluetooth connectivity.

Update: 9to5Mac reports its own "insider" sources say that the BusinessKorea story is false, and Apple is aware of a bug that is only affecting users with 500 or more apps. Are you having problems with your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, or is everything going fine? Let us know in the comments below.