Apple has officially unveiled the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones – featuring improved hardware, uprated camera and 3D touch. The dynamic duo will be available for pre-order starting 12 September with general availability 25 September 2015 in 12 countries including the US, UK, Australia and China. Prices start from US$199 and US$299 for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus respectively.
Redefining multi-touch
With the new iPhone 6s, Apple is reinventing Multi-Touch, something it introduced to the world in the original iPhone. There’s now 3D Touch, or Force Touch (on the Apple Watch) which lets you do more things quickly on your phone. Depending on the pressure of your touch, you can preview content and act on it without having to open it. Called Peek and Pop, this combination is the basis of the new 3D Touch experience. There’s also Quick Actions where a contextual menu pops up when you press down on the screen. Working with Apple’s Taptic Engine, you’ll also get haptic feedback when you interact with the screen.
The same Retina
The iPhone 6s packs the same 4.7-inch Retina HD display (now with 3D Touch) that pushes out 326PPI. The bigger iPhone 6s Plus meanwhile sports a 5.5-inch Retina HD display with 3D Touch, topping 401PPI.
“The only thing that’s changed is everything”
Powering the new iPhones is the new 64-bit Apple A9 processor coupled with the M9 motion co-processor. There’s a second generation Touch ID that’s 2x quicker than previous.
The most loved phone in the world is also the most loved smartphone camera in the world. Apple has always done camera optics right, evident in its Apple World Gallery campaign where it showcased beautiful user-submitted photos on its website.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus gets the most significant camera upgrade since the iPhone 4. The 12MP f/2.2 iSight main camera can now shoot 4K video as well as high-resolution stills. It features a similar two-tone flash as before. The iPhone 6s Plus gets the added Optical image stabilisation (OIS) feature. The front gets a 5MP FaceTime HD camera that now comes with Retina Flash, which uses the Retina display to mimic a flash for better-lit selfies.
Apple introduces Live Photos, where stills are captured together with motion and sound. Using 3D Touch you can press a Live Photo and it will ‘come alive.’ If you’re familiar with HTC’s Zoe mode, this may look familiar.
The iPhone 6s comes with Cat.6 4G LTE-Advance (up to 300Mbps), supporting up to 23 bands globally. There’s also faster 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi with MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC.
Apple didn’t reveal the capacity of the batteries in its new phones but claims up to 14 hours of 3G talktime and 10 day standby time for the iPhone 6s. The iPhone 6s Plus delivers up to 24 hours on 3G, with up to 16 days of standby time.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus run the latest iOS 9 and come in four colour options: Silver, Gold, Space Gray and Rose Gold. Both phones come in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities.
Pricing and availability
Pricing of the new iPhones remain unchanged from previous and, is as follows:
iPhone 6s
16GB – US$199
64GB – US$299
128GB – US$399
iPhone 6s Plus
16GB – US$299
64GB – US$399
128GB – US$499
Prices are based on a two-year contract. Apple has also retained the iPhone 5s (from free on contract) and iPhone 6 (US$99) in its device line-up.
In the US from 12 September, Apple is introducing an iPhone Upgrade Program where you can upgrade your iPhone each year with the flexibility of choosing your own carrier. The phone is unlocked and includes AppleCare+. Starts at US$32/month.
Pre-orders of the new iPhone start 12 September and will be available in retail channels from 25 September 2015. Tier 1 countries where the iPhone will be available include Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States.
Availability will eventually hit over 400 carriers in over 130 countries.
Apple also revealed that iOS 9 will be available on 16 September. Apple announced iCloud storage upgrades: 50GB for US$0.99/month, 200GB for US$2.99/month and 1TB for US$9.99/month.
So what do you think of the new iPhone?
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