It wouldn’t be too far off to say that Christmas has come early for Apple fanatics and enthusiasts. In a September 9 event, Apple unveiled the long-awaited next generation of iPhones, which will be Apple’s flagship for this year and next (at least until the next iPhone launch). And this time the iPhone is coming in two sizes (no, neither of them is plastic).
Vital stats
The iPhone 6 will be launched in many countries on September 19, along with its big brother, the iPhone 6 Plus, which features a larger 5.5” display. Apple plans on making both models available in over 100 countries by the end of this year.
In Canada, pricing for the iPhone 6 will start at $199 for a 16-gigabyte version on a two-year contract. Apple has done away with the 32-GB version altogether, and the 64-GB variant will now take the midrange position, with a 128-GB option also now available. Each step up in storage capacity will cost you around $100 more. As always, pricing and availability may vary slightly from country to country and carrier to carrier.
Pixel power
The iPhone 6 features a 4.7” display with a resolution of 1334×750. The pixel count is 326 ppi, which is the same as the iPhone 5s. However, the contrast ratio now sits at 1400:1, which is a drastic improvement over the iPhone 5’s ratio of 800:1. The display also packs duel-domain pixels, which allow for wider and better viewing angles.
Both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are equipped with Apple A8 64-bit chipsets, which also tout a new M8 motion coprocessor for even better performance than its predecessors. Apple hasn’t made any mention of RAM, so we can assume that it’s similar to its predecessor, which was way more than enough for handling any day-to-day multitasking.
Another addition is that iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus both feature built-in NFC functionality that will work seamlessly with Apple’s new payment system, Apple Pay. This method combines NFC and Touch ID in order to allow you to make payments with your iPhone across thousands of merchants in the United States.
iSight delight
The rear-facing iSight camera in the iPhone 6 has an all-new sensor that should handle everyday photography better than ever. HD video recording and slow-mo video have also gotten boosted to 60 fps and 240 fps, respectively. The front-facing FaceTime camera appears to remain largely unchanged.