It's official: Apple announces iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

[Shawn Knight]

Apple wasted no time in unveiling a pair of new iPhones in front of a packed house at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts at De Anza College in Cupertino. The phones, officially called the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, sport a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch display, respectively – just as previous leaks had suggested.

The 4.7-inch display of the iPhone 6 operates at a resolution of 1,334 x 750 which is 38 percent more pixels than the 5S. The front surface is coated with “ion-strengthened glass” – no mention of the rumored sapphire glass (reserved for the Apple Watch). The handset measures just 6.9mm thin and features equal or better battery life across the board compared to last year’s flagship.

The iPhone 6 Plus, meanwhile, operates in true HD at 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, good for 185 percent more pixels than its predecessor. Its bigger footprint allows for substantial battery life improvements across the board. It measures a touch thicker than the iPhone 6 at 7.1mm although both phones are significantly thinner than the 7.6mm thickness of the 5S.

Apple demonstrated the iPhone 6 Plus in landscape view running iOS 8, an experience that looks similar to what you’d get on the iPad Mini. By that, I mean that a number of screens support dual pane views. Even the keyboard has some additional buttons while turned horizontally. And for the first time, the homescreen can even be turned to work in landscape mode.

Apple has improved the camera in both new iPhones. This time around, we’re looking at an 8-megapixel iSight camera with a 5-element lens, Apple’s True Tone flash, f/2.2 aperture, an all-new sensor, 1.5µ pixels and something Apple is calling “focus pixels” or more commonly referred to as phase detection autofocus. It’ll allow the iSight camera to focus twice as fast as the previous generation, according to Phil Schiller.

Panorama shots, meanwhile, now top out at up to 43-megapixels but where things differ between the two phones is the image stabilization. The iPhone 6 features a “digital” image stabilization system while the premium iPhone 6 Plus uses optical image stabilization (optical is always preferred over digital).

The new iPhones can now record 1080p video at up to 60 fps while the gimmicky-yet-entertaining slo-mo feature can now capture at up to 240 fps. The front-facing FaceTime HD camera is also new for 2014 with a larger f/2.2 aperture to let more light in and a new image sensor. 

As expected, both next generation iPhones are powered by Apple’s new A8 processor with an M8 motion coprocessor. The second generation, 64-bit A8 chip was built using a 20-nanometer manufacturing process, which translates into a 17 percent smaller footprint versus the A7. Apple claims its new processor is up to 25 percent faster on the CPU side and up to 50 percent faster with graphics.

The new LTE chip inside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus supports up to 20 LTE bands which is more than any other smartphone. Perhaps more importantly, however, is the fact that it's 50 percent faster than previous generation iPhones at 150Mbps. Wi-Fi 802.11ac is now standard and the phones support Wi-Fi calling (on T-Mobile in the US and EE in the UK).

The iPhone 6 starts at $199 for a 16GB model and scales up to $399 with 128GB of on-board storage (with a two-year service agreement through your wireless carrier). It’ll be available in silver, black and gold color schemes just as the 5s is today. The iPhone 6 Plus starts at $299 with pre-orders for all of the new iPhones going live September 12. As is the norm, handsets should arrive in customers’ hands a week later on September 19.

The iPhone 5S will stick around for another year, now starting at $99, while the 5C will be free on contract moving forward.

Apple didn’t spend much time on iOS 8 during the presentation as they no doubt needed to save room for the real star of the show, the Apple Watch. That said, both of the new iPhones will ship with the updated operating system while those with existing iDevices can download iOS 8 starting September 17.

Now read: The iPhone 6 is DOA and the iPhone 6 Plus is the killer

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https://www.techspot.com/news/58004-its-official-apple-announces-iphone-6-and-iphone-6-plus.html

 

[Movatheaiur]

I always enjoyed the aesthetics of iPhone but this new one looks cheap. This refresh I don't see any innovation either, just catch up to current standard.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I always enjoyed the aesthetics of iPhone but this new one looks cheap. This refresh I don't see any innovation either, just catch up to current standard.

yeah, but at least if they're bigger you can finally tell the models apart.

And no full HD on the 4.7 inch model? this from the company that brought us the 'Retina' screen and was first to show how cool a high-res screen is? They're not catching up to the standard on that front.

As for processing, iPhones have always been pretty fast and not laggy, so I wonder how noticeable the improvements will be. We'll have to wait for some complete reviews I guess.

 

[Opus]

I always enjoyed the aesthetics of iPhone but this new one looks cheap. This refresh I don't see any innovation either, just catch up to current standard.

yeah, but at least if they're bigger you can finally tell the models apart.

And no full HD on the 4.7 inch model? this from the company that brought us the 'Retina' screen and was first to show how cool a high-res screen is? They're not catching up to the standard on that front.

As for processing, iPhones have always been pretty fast and not laggy, so I wonder how noticeable the improvements will be. We'll have to wait for some complete reviews I guess.

iPhones were always fast because of lighter iOS (as compared to Android) and optimizations keeping in view the hardware (No fragmentation of hardware).

 

[Guest]

These new phones look very "girly" to me, not the cool aircraft ruggedness of the 4 and 5...sigh I was looking forward to upgrading too. They should have made a male and female version.

 

[Guest]

That..that CURVY sides!! Nooo!! I still like iphone 5s' design..

 

[VitalyT]

I am heartbroken. Pretty much all the bad imaginary has flown into reality, like in a nightmare:

- dumb & cheap-looking rounded design;
- borders just as thick as they were on iPhone 5;
- ridiculous choice of screen resolutions, below the market;
- no sapphire screen cover;
- barely any improvement on the battery life for 4.7" model;

Things I got that I do not want:

- I don't care about a faster CPU, the previous one was already extremely capable;
- I couldn't care less about the phone becoming thinner;
- I don't want a phone that's just BIGGER;
- I don't want a 240fps video recorder;

Mr Cook, look at Gallaxy Note 4 and LG G3 Prime, and shiver, you're worthless shadow of Steve.

 

[Guest]

@ VitalyT If you didn't want a bigger or faster phone and a better camera what would you reasonably have expected to have come out?

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I am heartbroken. Pretty much all the bad imaginary has flown into reality, like in a nightmare:

- dumb & cheap-looking rounded design;
- borders just as thick as they were on iPhone 5;
- ridiculous choice of screen resolutions, below the market;
- no sapphire screen cover;
- barely any improvement on the battery life for 4.7" model;

Things I got that I do not want:

- I don't care about a faster CPU, the previous one was already extremely capable;
- I couldn't care less about the phone becoming thinner;
- I don't want a phone that's just BIGGER;
- I don't want a 240fps video recorder;

Mr Cook, look at Gallaxy Note 4 and LG G3 Prime, and shiver, you're worthless shadow of Steve.

Don't worry... you can still buy an Apple Watch.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I am heartbroken. Pretty much all the bad imaginary has flown into reality, like in a nightmare:

- dumb & cheap-looking rounded design;
- borders just as thick as they were on iPhone 5;
- ridiculous choice of screen resolutions, below the market;
- no sapphire screen cover;
- barely any improvement on the battery life for 4.7" model;

Things I got that I do not want:

- I don't care about a faster CPU, the previous one was already extremely capable;
- I couldn't care less about the phone becoming thinner;
- I don't want a phone that's just BIGGER;
- I don't want a 240fps video recorder;

Mr Cook, look at Gallaxy Note 4 and LG G3 Prime, and shiver, you're worthless shadow of Steve.

Yeah really disappointed also. The bands and lack of glass on the back make it look cheap. Plus, the screen resolution is garbage. Jobs would be disgusted by current mobile products by Apple.

 

[VitalyT]

Yeah really disappointed also. The bands and lack of glass on the back make it look cheap. Plus, the screen resolution is garbage. Jobs would be disgusted by current mobile products by Apple.

I'd check his grave for any signs of fire, he just might be spinning too fast...

 

[VitalyT]

It just popped on apple.com

And wait a second... it says 1920x1080 for the 5.5" model Ok - I will retrieve a small piece of my previous statement about odd resolutions. I thought it was a different one, higher res, but it is just full HD

 

[Jad Chaar]

I'd check his grave for any signs of fire, he just might be spinning too fast...

The thing about the new 6 that pisses me off most is that they kept 16GB as the base amount of storage but raised the highest and middle tiers. It only costs them peanuts to add 16GB of storage.

 

[Marty LK]

I'm glad the new iPhones are ugly - have those silly and awkward wide stripes on the back. Makes it that much easier for a tech head like myself to resist it. Not that I would want a future-disabled phone from Apple to begin with, just that as much as I love new gadgets, it being ugly will make it that much easier to forget about.

 

[VitalyT]

I'm glad the new iPhones are ugly - have those silly and awkward wide stripes on the back. Makes it that much easier for a tech head like myself to resist it. Not that I would want a future-disabled phone from Apple to begin with, just that as much as I love new gadgets, it being ugly will make it that much easier to forget about.

The only thing eases my mind - it looks so pass-able, I start feeling the withdrawal effect from Apple... Perhaps getting a Note 4 or LG G3 Prime will keep me going...

 

[Hasbean]

Watch out Samsung, Apple have just innovated the large form smartphone. Make sure you're lawyered-up.

What happened to that statement that Apple designed the size of the iPhone to match the thumb dexterity limits. I guess, they found some bigger users.

 

[treeski]

Not interested in smart watches in general... but dang, it's ugly.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

It's pretty much what most of us expected except for that strange resolution on the smaller model and they seem like any another ordinary 9 to 5 smartphone in a universe packed to the rafters with smartphones.

 

[Guest]

Introducing the iPhone 6 BBW for all those "plus" sized models...with new widescreen camera that can capture 10 friends or 4.5 plus sized friends... Excellent!

 

[VitalyT]

Introducing the iPhone 6 BBW for all those "plus" sized models...with new widescreen camera that can capture 10 friends or 4.5 plus sized friends... Excellent!

Apple hired an overweight phone designer and he was like - oh wait, I don't fit in a selfie, let's fix it...

 

[Gaara]

It's official...Apple has run out of ideas and is now trying to catch up to Samsung who has had this size of phone for YEARS! There is only evolution here...no innovation! Also, the watch is a dumb idea...nobody wants to talk into their wrist. The whole idea of having a smartphone is to consolidate devices (gps, pager, phone, etc.)...not to go the other way and create MORE devices. Google Glass kicks the #$%$ out of the apple watch. Apple is tracking the same route as Nokia and RIM.

 

[VitalyT]

It's official...Apple has run out of ideas and is now trying to catch up to Samsung who has had this size of phone for YEARS!

Apple just had the biggest innovation yet, they invented a new size for the iPhone... What's more to ask?

 

[techanswers1]

These new phones look very "girly" to me, not the cool aircraft ruggedness of the 4 and 5...sigh I was looking forward to upgrading too. They should have made a male and female version.

So by what you are saying is that apple should have made a pink iphone along with the other three color's

 

[cliffordcooley]

So by what you are saying is that apple should have made a pink iphone along with the other three color's

You just stated the male version should have been made pink. Well done!

 

[Guest]

I meant the curvy design for the women and a blocky piece of billet aluminum for the guys. And yes there is always the exceptions in gender tastes, but at least it would give everyone a choice. Don't get me wrong I like curves in my cars and women... Just not so much my phone.