Iphone6s Reviews : Prices And Description

"The only thing that's changed is everything," said Apple's CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday night, talking up the launch of the iPhone 6S – but the world's tech press are presenting the new iPhone as a more modest success.

"The response [Cook] got was maniacal," says The Week's sister site Alphr, but the phone itself looked "almost identical" to the model it replaces. Under the skin there are plenty of changes – but few surprises. Most of the iPhone 6S's new features had been leaked well in advance.

They include:

• 3D Touch, a pressure-sensitive touchscreen that can distinguish between a light touch and a heavier tap (a "peek" and a "pop", in Apple's terminology), and react in different ways to each. The Verge described it as "right-click for iPhone".
• A 12-megapixel camera and 4K high-definition video, bringing the resolution of Apple's much-praised camera into line with many of its rivals
• A five-megapixel front-facing camera for sharper selfies
• A more powerful processor, leading to faster, smoother operation and more efficient power management which should lead to a longer battery life.

Reviews are filtering in from tech reporters who attended the launch event in California, and they suggest that the iPhone 6S is a powerful and accomplished device, even if some will be disappointed that it is not more radical.

"During a release cycle many would have dismissed as fallow, Apple have actually managed to come up trumps," says the Daily Telegraph, "using more resistant, resilient materials, introducing another colour option to widen the model's appeal, sticking to the so-far-so-successful phablet sizing convention, finally giving the camera a much-needed boost and rolling out some genuinely useful features."

According to The Guardian however, the iPhone 6S is not big news. Apple's traditional release schedule follows a "tick, tock model", the paper says: a big redesign every two years – the "tick" in the cycle – followed by subtle improvements the following year – the cycle's "tock".  

"The iPhone 6 was the tick, which means the iPhone 6S is the tock," the paper says. "Whether a few improved specifications and a few new features, some of which will come to 2014’s iPhone 6 through software updates, will be enough to continue to woo customers remains to be seen."

In its assessment of how the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus stack up against the competition, Gizmodo says that new camera with the addition of 4K video is "merely playing catch-up" – some of Apple's competitors introduced it in previous phones. The real question, Gizmodo says, is how the new phones stack up against the new breed of cheaper phones that retail for under $400 (£260).

The specs of today's cheap phones are not too different from those at the top, it says. The main difference between the new iPhone 6S and the likes of the OnePlus 2 and the Moto X Pure Edition is the former's "premium feel", for which users will have to pay dearly.

Apple's success depends on their willingness to do just that.

iPhone 6S price and launch date

The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will be available for pre-order from 12 September for delivery on or after 25 September, when they will also be on sale in Apple Stores and other high-street stockists.

The prices will be as follows:

iPhone 6S

• £539 for 16GB model
• £619 for 64GB model
• £699 for 128GB model

iPhone 6S Plus

• £619 for 16GB model
• £699 for 64GB model
• £789 for 128GB model 

iPhone 6S: 16GB is 'not enough memory'

11 September 

Apple has been criticised for continuing to sell a 16GB iPhone 6S, despite making changes to the new model that will fill up its limited memory far more quickly than on previous iPhones.

Many reviewers were already advising potential customers to avoid the entry level model of last year's iPhone, describing it as inadequate for a modern smartphone.

Now, in an article entitled "why Apple shouldn't be selling a 16GB iPhone 6S or 6S Plus", The Guardian's Samuel Gibbs argues that what was just about acceptable last year won't do now.

"The problem is that 16GB is not enough storage for today’s smartphones," he says. "After formatting and the OS [operating system] being installed, this ends up providing around 12GB of storage space for the user."

As the size and resolution of screens has increased, along with smartphones' computing power, the apps they run have also increased in complexity – and size. The result is that many users find themselves running out of space on their phones much sooner than they expected.

And changes to the iPhone 6S's camera will exacerbate the problem. Apple has pushed up the resolution from eight megapixels on last year's model to twelve, and introduced high-resolution 4K video recording. All but the most frugal of snappers will soon tear through the available space.

"You can argue that users have a choice – pay more to get more – but the vast majority don’t appreciate how small 16GB now is," says Gibbs. "They just want an iPhone and buy whatever they’re given by default, which is usually the cheapest."

  

Apple launch: beyond the iPhone 6S

As well as the iPhone 6S, Apple also announced the following new or upgraded products:

• A very large iPad Pro, with a 12.9-inch screen. A stylus and keyboard will also be available for the new iPad, which claims to offer desktop performance in a tablet format
• An upgraded version of Apple TV incorporating Siri, Apple's voice-recognition system, and a touch-sensitive remote control.
• New straps and colours for the Apple Watch, including premium gold and rose gold finishes for the entry-level Sport model.