So I just tested this on a few non-aluminium bodied phones, i.e., plastic and glass bodied phones. Plastic is more elastic (etymological irony) than aluminium and returns to its original shape.

I wouldn't have believed if someone claimed my plastic-glass phone wasn't perfectly straight when in my pocket, because I'd never witnessed it bent, and truly believed it sturdy enough to not easily bend.

I guess Apple's miss was that aluminium is less elastic, and the larger/taller your phone the more linear deflection it suffers.