In Wake of iPhone 6 "Bendgate," Apple Shows Off Its Testing Techniques

After a YouTube video showed that the new iPhone 6 Plus model could be bent by hand, Apple was quick to downplay the severity of the issue, saying only nine people have complained to the company about what is popularly referred to as "Bendgate."

But the company didn't stop there. Apple recently invited select members of the press to its secret testing labs to get a first-hand look at the process by which Apple tested the new phones before their record-breaking release last week.

Re/code and The Wall Street Journal were invited to Apple's testing facilities on the company's campus in Cupertino, California and have reported back with details. Pre-release testing for the iPhone 6 was described as "exhaustive" and it represented the most testing the company has ever done, Re/code reports.

There were five tests in particular that Apple revealed to reporters in response to "Bendgate." However, the company cautioned that the phones were actually tested in many other ways, but they didn't talk about them because they are not relevant to the "bending issue."

Per The Wall Street Journal, these tests included:

• Three-point bending -- Putting pressure on the phones in varying degrees of force.
• Pressure-point cycling -- These tests put "substantial" force across the iPhone's display and encasing.
• Torsion testing -- In this test, Apple clamps the iPhone down at both ends and then twists it around 8,000 times.
• Sit tests -- iPhones are put into real-world situations, including the phone sitting in a person's back pocket of tight jeans. Testers then sit down on the phone, on a hard surface, thousands of times and with the phone in multiple positions within the pocket.
• Real-life user studies -- This part of the testing process includes Apple employees living with and using new iPhones at home to test durability and performance in the real world.

You can see some of these tests in action in the video above.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launched a week ago today, and together sold more than 10 million devices--a record--during their first weekend on sale. Did you buy an iPhone 6? Are you liking it? Let us know in the comments below!

Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch