Abstract Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) play an indispensable role in the design and application of flexible devices due to their unique physical and chemical properties. This study theoretically investigates the behavior of defects in bent CNTs. The results indicate that when the defect is under compressive strain, the conductance of the device decreases as the bending angle increases. Conversely, when the defect is under tensile strain, the conductance of the device increases with a larger bending angle.This phenomenon is primarily attributed to the enhancement of scattering states corresponding to the defect under tensile strain and the weakening of these states under compressive strain. Under bias voltage, similar patterns are observed for transmission peaks corresponding to the defect. These findings contribute to the device design process, enabling the exploitation of advantages and avoidance of disadvantages, ultimately leading to the development of flexible CNTs- devices.