Apple has announced the next generation of iPhones.
At a special live event at the Flint Center in Cupertino, near Apple’s HQ, the tech giant announced the iPhone 6 – with a 4.7 inch screen, and the iPhone 6 Plus – which will feature a 5.5 inch screen.
The devices are thinner than any phone Apple has manufactured before. The standard version will be 6.9 mm in depth, and the Plus, 7.1mm. The iPhone 5s was 7.6 mm.
The Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, side-by-side
Apple also announced that the new devices have Retina HD screen, with new pixel resolutions of 1334 x 750, and 1920 x 1080.
The new iPhones were presented on stage by Phil Schiller, worldwide VP of marketing. Other features announced include a new vertical home screen view, with the dock on the side.
There’s also a new reachability feature that can see the top of the screen come closer to the bottom if the user double-taps the home button. The power button has also moved to the side of the iPhone so it’s easier to reach on a larger display.
The iPhone 6 is now 50x faster than the original iPhone and graphics are 84x faster, thanks to the new A8 processor, which is 25 percent faster than the preceding A7 processor.
It was also claimed that the battery life will be equal for the iPhone 6, however, the 6 Plus boasts 24 hours of talk time.
The Motion Coprocessor has also been updated to M8, which is designed for fitness apps and HealthKit.
Elsewhere, LTE has been expanded to 20 bands and will support Voice-over LTE to make sound improvements during calls.
iPhone 6 Camera
The photo shown off by Apple taken by the iPhone 6 looks pretty impressive
The camera will still be 8MP, however, it will have an all-new sensor with ‘focus pixels’.
Its video capabilities will see it capture HD moving images at 60 fps and slow-mo at 240 fps.
The front-facing camera has also been updated and will now let users take burst-selfies.
Touch ID
Apple also announced that apps will now be able to require Touch ID to help keep devices more secure.
Apple Pay
Tim Cook then returned to the stage to talk about Apple Pay. It’s Apple’s digital wallet and will use Touch ID to confirm when paying.
“I’ll play that again in case you blinked and missed it,” said Tim Cook, before replaying a clip of the iPhone 6 being used to make a payment. “It’s so cool!” he added.
Eddy Cue then provided more details. He described the high levels of security Apple has put in place, and explained that they wouldn’t store information on transactions. “It’s between you, your merchant, and your bank,” said Cue.
Cards will now be stored in Passbook and uses NFC. Numbers will not be stored on the device and cannot be accessed. This means that if the device is stolen, you won’t have to cancel your credit card.
Apple Pay can be used in the 220,000 US merchants that currently accept contactless payments.
Many retailers are already involved, as well as GroupOn, which has built Apple Pay right into the app.
Pricing & Availability
On a two-year contract the iPhone 6 16GB will cost $199, 64GB $299, and 128GB $399, while the iPhone 6 Plus 16 GB will cost $299, 64 GB at $399, and $499 for 128 GB.
Both will ship at the same time, on September 19 in US, France, Hong Kong, Canada, Germany, Singapore, UK, Australia, and Japan.
For users that still want a smaller screen, the iPhone 5s will now cost $99.
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