On Wednesday, September 9, Apple unveiled two new iPhones called the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s with some great new features over its predecessors. Since both iPhone models are ‘s’ upgrades of the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus, the new iPhones looks largely identical to their predecessors. The new iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s plus comes packed with some great hardware specs as well as some software features exclusive to these two new iPhones only.
Regardless of which iPhone model or any other top of the line Android phone you are currently rocking, some of these new features of iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus will be sufficient to convince your to switch the allegiances.
Top 10 iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus Features
Here are our top 10 feature of Apple’s new iPhone models.
1. 3D Touch
The star of the iPhone 6s event is the 3D Touch. Apple rebranded its Force Touch for the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus and named it 3D Touch. Apple introduced a combination of Retina display with pressure sensitive screen technology and some smart software into its new iPhones that enable the devices to recognize three levels of touch pressure; a simple tap, a light press for peek and a deep press for pop. The device responds according to the amount of pressure applied on the screen.
Peek and pop are the two examples of the pressure based gestures. When you lightly press on a target in an app, it shows you a preview of whatever it leads it before actually opening it. Hard pressing the target will pop open the target.
Similarly, a firm press or swipe also trigger different actions. For example, a firm swipe from the left edge of the device will switch you back to the previous app you were using. Long pressing on an app icon will provide you contextual options that act as shortcuts to perform various tasks without actually opening the application. For example, you can directly open selfie camera by long-pressing on the icon without actually opening the camera application.
A taptic engine inside the iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus also lets you feel the 3D Touch by responding with precise vibration feedback. Not yet sold out? continue reading, there’s much more to these new iPhones.
2. Huge Camera Improvements
For its iPhone lineup, Apple pays more attention to improving the photo quality rather increasing the number of pixels (megapixels). However, in iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus, Apple has done both. The rear camera on the new iPhones has seen a bump from 8MP to 12MP and the front-facing camera has now been bumped to 5MP. Apple also says that they have introduced improved optics and the devices are capable of shooting 4K video as well. The front-facing camera can capture a video at full HD resolution and supports panoramas.
The new iPhones also incorporate a new software-based flash feature that adjusts the lighting and colors according to the surroundings to offer a more accurate flash. This should improve the low-light performance of the devices. For the selfie lovers, the front display will flash for split second to act as a flash.
3. Live Photos
Apple’s new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are capable of capturing Live Photos. A static photo becomes a Live Photo as the phone will capture a second and a half before and after the camera shutter is pressured to show continuity. A Live Photo is saved in your Camera Roll just like any other photo, but when you force press on any photo, it’ll play a brief animation that could even be set as your iPhone’s lock screen wallpaper. The Live Photos can also be viewed on other Apple devices.
4. A9 Processor
One of the major hardware upgrades in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus includes Apple’s all-new A9 SoC which features a unique tri-core architecture. The chip is said to be capable of delivering 70% more performance over its predecessor i.e. Apple A8 chip and is capable of providing 80% faster GPU performance as well.
There is also a M9 coprocessor in place that enabled “Hey Siri” always-on voice search.
5. Second Generation Touch ID
Apple has also improved the fingerprint scanner, better known as Touch ID, in the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. Apple calls it the second generation Touch ID sensor which is said to be twice as fast as the scanner in the iPhone 6, and more accurate than its predecessor.
Touch ID is used to unlock the device, feed user credentials to accounts and Apple Pay payments with the use of a finger on the Touch ID sensor. The first-generation Touch ID is already way better than its competition, so we cannot wait to see the second generation Touch ID destroying its competitor is various speed and accuracy tests.
6. 7000 series aluminum body to fight ‘Bendgate’
Last year’s larger iPhone devices were met with scandal dubbed as ‘bendgate’ where iPhones bent inside the pocket of users due to applied pressure. Apple seems to have address the issue in iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s by encasing both devices in a body made of 7000 series aluminum-zinc wrought alloy. It’s the same material Apple used in its Apple Watch Sport Edition.
7. Additional LTE bands
Several new LTE bands have also been added to the supported bands list of the iPhone. The new iPhone models now support up to 23 LTE bands, making it the first smartphone to support this many bands. The new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will also support T-Mobile’s 700MHz with a transfer rate of up to 300Mbps.
8. Faster Wi-Fi
While the company didn’t talk about the technical improvements to the Wi-Fi capabilities of its new iPhones, the new models now support two spatial streams for up to 866Mbps on 5GHz 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
9. Rose Gold color and Motion Wallpapers
The new iPhone models come in a new color option: Rose Gold. Apple has also added Motion Wallpapers (animated backgrounds) to its new iPhone devices. This is not something new to the smartphones, but Apple has introduced a far more complex variant than any other platform.
10. iOS 9
When launched, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will have iOS 9 pre-installed on them. Apple’s new iOS 9 software iteration comes with a lot of new features, including a proactive assistant, improved Siri, new Notes and News apps, and revamped Apple Maps.