In about 24 hours, Tim Cook will take the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California and officially unveil Apple’s next-gen iPhone lineup. Likely to be called the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus, Apple’s upcoming iPhones promise to deliver a number of compelling new features that should keep the refresh cycle as strong as ever.
First and foremost, we have Force Touch, a feature Apple will likely position as one of the iPhone 6s’ key selling points. With Force Touch technology embedded right into the display, the iPhone 6s will be able to gauge how much pressure a user is applying to the screen. Think of this as multi-touch on steroids. A Force Touch enabled iPhone will enable Apple to explore entirely new avenues for user interaction, thereby creating a more intuitive and efficient user experience in the process.
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Highlighting the possibilities that Force Touch brings to the table, the following concept video from designer Maximilian Kiener gives us a glimpse into what Apple might have in store for us.
Even more tantalizing is the prospect of Apple opening up Force Touch APIs to developers. Though perhaps not the most exciting feature on paper, Force Touch in practice has the potential to be a real game-changer.
Moving along, it wouldn’t be a new iPhone without a completely revamped camera. And this go-around, Apple really has some interesting new tricks to show off. Right off the bat, the iPhone 6s camera will reportedly be able to record video in 4K quality. For anyone who has seen what 4K quality video can deliver, this will truly be a killer feature. What’s more, Apple on the iPhone 6s will finally swap out the 8 megapixel rear facing camera it’s used for a few years in favor of 12 megapixel camera sourced from Sony. While there’s more to photo quality than counting megapixels, we’re sure Apple will combine a more capable camera sensor with some finely tuned software to deliver, yet again, a world-class smartphone camera.
Apple’s front facing camera will also be getting a long overdue upgrade this year. Specifically, rumors point to the Phone 6s front facing camera being graced with a revamped 5 megapixel sensor and the ability to record video in 1080p HD.
One of the more intriguing stories to hit the rumor mill suggests that Apple’s next-gen iPhones will feature some notable display upgrades. Specifically, a rumor that sprung up this past weekend points to the iPhone 6s sporting a screen resolution of 2000 x 1125 pixels while the iPhone 6s Plus will feature a screen resolution of 2208 x 1242. If this rumor pans out, it would raise the pixels per inch significantly for both models, upping the iPhone 6s’ PPI to 448 and the iPhone 6S Plus’ ppi to 460.
As far as hardware enhancements go, Apple, per usual, will be bringing its A-game. Naturally, expect the iPhone 6s to be powered by a blazing fast A9 processor that, if history is any indication, will blow all of Apple’s previous processors out of the water. What’s more, there have been no shortage of rumors pointing to the iPhone 6s coming equipped with 2GB of RAM. While current and previous iPhone models have performed swimmingly with 1GB of RAM, that extra memory will give iOS developers more room to push their apps to the limit while also providing zippier performance in general.
From an aesthetic standpoint, expect Apple to slightly broaden the color options for the iPhone 6s. While users can expect to see the same lineup of gold, black, and space grey colors options, we’ve seen reports that a new rose gold color option will be added to the mix this year.
From a materials perspective, users can expect the same high-end mix of aluminum and glass, with a slight but notable change. In light of the overblown bendgate scandal from last year, Apple’s new iPhone models will reportedly be constructed out of 7000 Series aluminum, an alloy that will provide a much sturdier build than previous models.
In terms of storage capacity, Apple will by all accounts maintain its tried and true 16/64/128 GB storage tier. While Apple sticking with a 16GB entry-level model will assuredly annoy some users, it’s long been Apple’s strategy to convince users to fork over an extra $100 for the mid-tier model.
With respect to pricing, expect the standard $199/$299/$399 tier for the iPhone 6s and $299/$399/$499 for the iPhone 6s Plus.
