That is more interesting to me as a release engineer then bent phones due to pocket sizes.

Reports indicate it only impacted the new iPhones. I'm speculating this was due to how the phones get their final firmware before being shipped. iOS 8 for developers goes from beta 1 - 5. It's rumored there was a beta 6 only for carrier testing before the GM. Well tested and used path, and applied to multiple years worth of phones.

The iOS 8 image for the iPhone 6 followed a different path due to being developed while the phones are being finalized and assembled. Possible bad delta generation for the update, as people were also reporting a full restore via iTunes worked fine. I wonder what the iOS 8.0 build number is on an iPhone 6, anyone have one handy? For my 5s, it's 12A365.

It's similar to how new Macs after a release of OS X come with a slightly different build carrying new drivers and sometimes more. My Retina MacBook Pro went through a few Retina specific OS X upgrades before it was reunified with the general OS X updates.

All just a theory, from a more real and newsy worthy issue. Bricking people's phones is going to cost Apple more then the few that are bending, due to the support costs alone.