The wait is over, and we finally have our hands on the new
iPhone 6s! Although we will follow this piece with others that delve in detail on aspects of the new technology that Apple has packed into this device, we can now report that this is easily the most exciting "s" upgrade yet. While brand new designs from Apple always add to the excitement of an iPhone launch, Apple typically only gives its iPhones an all-new physical design every two years. This plays into the hands of detractors, who like to suggest that each "s" upgrade is merely "incremental," even if in most cases, the internal components differ greatly from one generation to the consequent "s" upgrade. Our first impressions of the iPhone 6s are hugely positive, especially with regard to the new 3D Touch feature, which is unquestionably a revolution in touch input.
The only obvious downside to the new iPhone 6s is that it is slightly thicker and heavier than the iPhone 6. This is said to be almost solely the result of adding the necessary components to the display to make 3D Touch a reality. The upgrade from 6000 series aluminum in the iPhone 6 to the same 7000 series aluminum used in the Apple Watch Spor is only responsible for a small portion of the overall weight increase.
However, the upside to the additional weight is that the iPhone 6s does feel more robust in the hand, and will no doubt go a long way to taking the sting out of the inevitable bending and drop "tests" that it will be subject to. Further, as far as we are concerned, any minor weight penalty pales into insignificance when you interact with the new 3D Touch feature – it will forever change the way you use your iPhone. We will certainly be taking a deeper dive into this in the near future.
Another immediately obvious highlight is the quality of the new cameras. In particular, the sharpness and brightness of the new front-facing FaceTime camera is a real standout, while the rear 12MP iSight camera on the rear will undoubtedly take iPhone photography to another level. Apple introduced a customer image processing sensor in the iPhone 6, and we assume that the iPhone 6s either continues with this, or an upgraded version of it.
We will be meeting with an Apple product specialist next week and seek further clarification around this, but we can report that some of our initial shots with it certainly appear more detailed as you would expect. Live photos are also particularly cool, and we look forward to giving you a more detailed run down on this feature soon as well – an iPhone 6s Live photo is a still photo that when given a 3D Touch comes alive for a couple of seconds of live action simultaneously captured at the time of the photo.
We've already explored just
how powerful the new iPhone 6s is in our article highlighting how its performance is on par with the Intel Core M chip found in the new 12-inch MacBook. Apple says the A9 SoC is up to 70 percent faster than the superb A8 it replaces -- in symphony with the new feature in iOS 9, the new Apple A9 SoC is blazingly fast. Multitasking is a breeze, while just about everything you do on the iPhone will be even snappier than before, thanks also to even faster cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity.
When you combine this processing speed, with the performance of the new PowerVR GPU (which is up to 90% faster than before) in harmony with the Metal API and 3D Touch, mobile gaming on a smartphone will also never be the same. Look out for our special hands-on with AG Drive to follow this piece, which has been updated with support for 3D Touch.
Stay tuned as we continue to get a handle on all of the features in the iPhone 6s. It has "winner" written all over it and will no doubt be giving its competition, namely Samsung, nightmares as it struggles to compete with Apple's original thinking, innovation and vertical integration.
-- Sanjiv Sathiah
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