Apple announces new iPhone – all the details

After what is literally 12 months of speculation and rumours and a fair few leaks, Apple CEO Tim Cook today announced the next generation iPhone at a Keynote event near the company’s Cupertino headquarters.  EFTM was there, and has all the details.

Today’s event was held in what is a large venue on the scale of Apple keynotes, and a significant one for the company – Steve Jobs unveiled the first Mac at the same venue in 1984 creating much speculation that today’s event would be bigger and more significant for the company than many before.

Once things got underway it became clear this was going to be big.  There was no “company update” which is a common theme to these Keynotes, Tim Cook went straight into the iPhone 6, and following that some other big news with the Apple watch – more on that later.

The New iPhones

Backed by popular rumours,  Apple quickly announced two new iPhones at today’s event – the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus.

With rounded edges, a thin profile and a larger screen, the iPhone 6 is a break from the past for Apple moving from the smaller form-factor to this larger size in an effort to match the market demand which has so clearly been met by its competitors in recent years.

At 5.5 inches the iPhone 6 Plus is huge, bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S5, up there with the Galaxy Note, so Apple is looking to really open up that market.

Holding them in the hand, the iPhone 6 will be a quick winner – it’s a great size, still easy to use and the new rounded edges make it a great feel in the hand.

The iPhone 6 Plus – it’s huge.  Too much so in my view (perhaps that’s why I couldn’t ever imagine it would be true!) – but for those looking for a bigger screen this is something special.  Again, a great design, stunning screen and the app ecosystem of Apple which will include new updates to apps to account for new landscape view features – this will appeal to some.

Resolution

To up the ante from the previous high quality “Retina” displays, Apple is calling the new resolution iPhone screens a “Retina HD Display” – with 1 million pixels on the iPhone 6 and 2 million on the iPhone 6 Plus.

iPhone 6 has a 1334 x 750 resolution with the iPhone 6 Plus packing full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution

Camera

The 8MP iSight camera, still comes with Apple’s True Tone Flash, has a 2.2 aperture, new sensor with new technology called “focus pixels” – Used in high-end DSLR, creates super fast auto-focus.

If you love your panorama photos, the new iPhone 6’s will feature bigger photos up to 43 megapixels, with almost seamless stitching thanks to the improved sensors and processors.

Those same sensors are working hard to improve blink and smile detection which will enhance the usability of the burst mode to allow the phone to choose the best from a group of photos.

A key feature will be Image stabilisation – they’ve put it into the iPhone 6 through software, but on the iPhone 6 Plus it’s a whole load better –  optical image stabilisation, this is where the lens itself moves to help stabilise photos – and the results on the surface look amazing.

Expect to see more of those “made on iPhone” videos in the months and year ahead.

Processor

Only to outdo themselves, Apple have again improved the processor onboard the iPhone with the new chip adding enhancements in performance and graphics capabilities

The new A8 processor – Apple’s second 64 bit processor has 2 billion transistors (double that of the A7).

This CPU is 25% faster, the Graphics processor within is 50% faster.

Looking back on the iPhones over the years, processing power of the iPhone 6’s A8 processor is now 50 times faster than the original, in terms of graphics – the new phones are 84 times faster.

NFC

Apple have (Finally) built the long standard “tap and go” payment technology NFC into the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  The NFC operates on the top of the phone, so you can point your phone at the terminal.

To “authorise” the payment, you put your finger on the TouchID – this creates the security that doesn’t even exist on a basic tap-and-go credit card.

At the keynote, Apple was at pains to point out that it doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it or how much you paid.  This is simply a tap-and-go bank to consumer to retailer transaction.

OVERALL

There’s no doubt Apple have smashed this out of the ballpark on the design and feature front.  The slim design, rounded edges, vibrant screen and the addition of NFC (finally!) make it a compelling choice.

The iPhone 6 Plus – well, I’m not so sure on that one.  Time will tell.

When can you get it?

Pre order it from Apple this Friday and it will arrive at your home on Friday September 19.  Otherwise line up at an Apple or Telco store on Friday 19th.

PRICING

 

Trevor Long travelled to the USA as a guest of Apple