| “ | Where products get naked. | ” |
―Channel description | ||
Lewis George "Lew" Hilsenteger (born: May 5, 1984),[1] better known online as Unbox Therapy, is a Canadian YouTuber who uploads videos about him unboxing technology.
Content[]
On his main channel, he primarily uploads about him unboxing technology. This includes him unboxing phones, unusual devices and more.
Hilsenteger has abandoned his old MORE TOP 5 channel for over 2 years. He also used to have a music-related channel called Lew Later. After gaining 90K subscribers however, he deleted all the videos on there and turned the channel into a podcast.
History[]
Channel's Beginning[]
Hilsenteger started Unbox Therapy when he was working in a small computer repair shop. The shop focused solely on upgrades for Apple computers. Hilsenteger realized that the conversations he was having with people that came into the shop asking questions could be answered really well in videos and this got him started. Eventually, lost a business opportunity in the unboxing side of YouTube being a tech guru himself, he was already into buying new technological toys when he started doing unboxings, he originally was going out of pocket on everything and would simply film his reaction and give his two cents about the product. All of this out-of-pocket purchasing eventually paid off for him as he is now able to open cool new things every day for a living.
Bendgate[]
Lewis made a video which showed him bending an iPhone 6 with his hands using extreme force, to this day, his bend gate video is still his most popular video on the channel, featuring over 70 million views. This event gained national attention from various news outlets. Some had questioned Lewis’s video as being fake, since at about the 1:38 mark of the video, the iPhone's clock reads "2:26" and then it reads "1:58" 40 seconds later. However, Hilsenteger blamed the apparent time-travel incident on its production, specifically the mix of angles that his video uses. To prove the video’s legitimacy, Lewis uploaded 3 minutes long, uncut version of the video.[2]
The media attention surrounding the controversy made Apple take action, and they strengthened the metal chassis for its iPhone 6S and future aluminum iPhones while providing replacements to those afflicted by the original’s poor design. [3][4][5]
Controversy[]
iPhone Giveaway[]
On October 2 2015, Lewis uploaded a video to his Unbox Therapy channel claiming that he was going to give away hundreds of iPhones. With the video appearing to show many iPhone boxes. However, by February 5, 2016 only 9 iPhones that we knew of had been shipped to winners. This event helped him gain many subscribers in the hopes that one of them winning an iPhone.
A few months passed, and several people picked up on the apparent scam and posted the possible deception on various internet communities. Other YouTubers began making videos declaring Lewis’s giveaway a scam. These accusations led to Lewis quickly deleting all related content to the giveaway to hide the fact that these videos existed.
Pitaka Case[]
On December 1 2019, Lewis uploaded a video on his product called Latercase which was very similar to a case he previously reviewed, the Pitaka case. The day before he uploaded his video on the Latercase, he deleted his video which contained his impressions of his Pitaka. Although in his Lew Later video he stated that he did not like cases from other companies, in the Pitaka video. Pitaka themselves claimed that Unbox Therapy had used their cases as a daily driver. This caused some people to allege that Lewis copied Pitaka.
On December 14, he responded to these concerns after previously dismissing these concerns, he addressed these concerns on the video and stated that he privated the video as his video was used to promote the Pitaka case and as he was launching a case that he thought could be perceived to be similar to the Pitaka case, it could present confusion to the end-user as the products were similar
Escobar Fold[]
After MKBHD found out that the company were only shipping these phones to members of the media, but not to paying users, some users criticized his endorsement of the product, some even speculating that the video was still public as he was paid by the company to advertise the phone
He responded to these concerns where he said that he was not affiliated and was not paid by the company. He said that he was not a usual analysis of his product, but more of a reaction on his confusion on how they could create a phone at this price. He then asks his audience how he should cover suspicious products in the future.
Personal life[]
Hilsenteger currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is married and has one brother. Lewis attended the Toronto School of Art where he studied digital arts, photography and video editing.
Channel milestones[]
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
Subscriber milestones[]
- 1 million subscribers: July 18, 2014
- 2 million subscribers: May 25, 2015
- 3 million subscribers: November 3, 2015
- 4 million subscribers: March 17, 2016
- 5 million subscribers: July 9, 2016
- 6 million subscribers: September 1, 2016
- 7 million subscribers: December 30, 2016
- 8 million subscribers: May 17, 2017
- 9 million subscribers: November 5, 2017
- 10 million subscribers: February 15, 2018
- 11 million subscribers: May 31, 2018
- 12 million subscribers: July 30, 2018
- 13 million subscribers: October 12, 2018
- 14 million subscribers: April 1, 2019
- 15 million subscribers: August 3, 2019
- 16 million subscribers: January 8, 2020
- 17 million subscribers: July 27, 2020
- 18 million subscribers: June 2021
- 19 million subscribers: July 3, 2023
- 20 million subscribers: September 2, 2023
Video view milestones[]
- 1 billion views: November 17, 2016
- 2 billion views: May 7, 2018
- 3 billion views: July 13, 2019
- 4 billion views: March 12, 2021
Trivia[]
- He was the president of iUpgrade.
- In 2013, Lewis teamed up with a company called Quarterly.co to send boxes to the viewers so they can be the ultimate unboxers.
- In 2016, he wanted a Wikipedia page dedicated to him.[6]
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/UnboxTherapy/status/198961551225520129
- ↑ Lewis Hilsenteger Responds To Allegations That Unbox Therapy iPhone 6 Plus BendGate Video May Be Fake.
- ↑ Guy Who Bent iPhone 6 With Bare Hands Says Problem Has Been Fixed In iPhone 6.
- ↑ Apple Isn’t Ignoring Bendgate, Will Replace Affected Devices.
- ↑ Apple Has Fixed The Bending iPhone Issue.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/UnboxTherapy/status/732228390871306242