Today Apple announced the Apple iPhone 6, as the successor to the iPhone 5s which announced last year. The iPhone 6 alongside the iPhone 6 Plus offer the largest screens on an iPhone device to date, and arrives with the developer friendly iOS 8 onboard.
Design
The iPhone 6 was long rumored to have a larger display, and now we have an iPhone with a 4.7 inch IPS display in our hands. The larger screen size results in a 750 x 1334 pixel resolution and a 326 ppi pixel density, which Apple is calling its Retina HD display. The iPhone 6 display has a brightness of up to 500 nits, and comes with an oleophobic coating that will keep away the fingerprint smudges.
The next-generation Retina features an ultra-thin backlight, which has allowed the panel to be made thinner. On top of it is layered the photo-aligned IPS liquid crystal, covered by an improved polarizer for even better outdoor visibility. Color accuracy and viewing angles have also been improved on the new screen.
Apple has also completely redesigned the iPhone 6 which has dimensions of 138.1 x 67 mm (5.44 x 2.64 in) and a weight of 129 grams (4.55 oz). The thickness has shrunk down to 6.9 mm (0.27 in), making for a very thin phone overall. The more rectangular shape which was first introduced on the iPhone 4 has been replaced with a more rounded design which should be easier to handle considering the larger size of the phone. The inspiration of the design has clearly been adopted from Apple's iPod and iPad lineup. The back of the handset is made of anodized aluminum and the logo is crafted of stainless steel, which gives it an outstanding look.
Camera
The iPhone 6 comes with an 8 megapixel main camera like its predecessor with a True Tone flash. The unit has 1.5µm pixels, and its five-element lens' aperture sits at f/2.2.Apple also claims that, because the iPhone 6's camera makes use of phase focus, the time needed for the unit to focus will be cut in half.
Apple also revealed that the improved snapper can shoot slow-motion in 720p resolution at 240 frames per second in case you feel like 120 frames just weren't enough. Unfortunately, the unit on board won't have Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) as was rumored, and will continue to use a software implementation (digital image stabilization) to compensate for hand shake during video capture.
As for the camera at the front, we're looking at a "new" FaceTime HD (720p) camera with an "all-new" sensor with f/2.2 lens. According to Apple, the new config will allow the camera to collect 81% more light for brighter selfies.
Apple Pay
One of the biggest implementation on the new iPhones is Apple Pay, a new way to pay according to Apple. This new feature will be implemented into PassBook and aims to discontinue the wallet, something that the competitors have been struggling to do for years now.
Apple pay uses the NFC chip embedded in the iPhone 6 to make payments in a huge list of retail locations including Starbucks, Subway, McDonalds, Macy's, Bloomingdales, Staples, Whole Food Market, and Disney and Apple stores. To achieve that, Apple has also partnered with Visa, Amex, MasterCard, and American Express, the combination of which processes over 80% of all transactions made in the States.
While Apple Pay replaces the traditional use of the credit card, it also does this in a far more secure fashion. The way that works is that instead of simply stockpiling on your credit card info and then share it with merchants when transactions occur, Apple Pay will instead generate one-time-only, dynamic security tokens. In other words, as soon as a transaction is complete, even if someone was to somehow get their hands on said token, it'll be less than useless for them.
The payment takes place by holding the phone near the NFC reader at the store and your finger on the Touch ID. There is no need to wake up your display or open an app. Your device will vibrate to let you know the payment has gone through.Apple will even be implementing Apple Pay on various partner websites, allowing iPhone users to use the service by simply placing their finger on the Touch ID
The Apple Pay service will be released for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus in October.
Hardware
For the iPhone 6, Apple has continued with their own CPU. The new Apple A8 dual-core processor is the third custom-designed Apple chip based on ARM architecture, but only the second based on ARMv8, signifying that we're again looking at 64-bit silicon. What's new here includes a smaller, 20-nm chipset with 2 billion transistors, all the while being 13% smaller than the A7 silicon on the iPhone 5s. Perhaps most importantly, however, the new chip's two cores will be 25% faster and its GPU will perform 50% better in comparison with the iPhone 6's predecessor.
The new SoC also comes with support for over 20 LTE bands, which is more than any other phone right now. What's more, the iPhone 6 will also support LTE roaming, Voice Over LTE, and Wi-Fi calling. Speaking of Wi-Fi, Apple is moving to the 802.11ac standard, promising up to three times faster speeds when connected to a wireless network.
The secondary M8 coprocessor on your iPhone 6 manages your motion by continuously measures data from the accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, and a new barometer. This offloads work from the A8 chip for improved power efficiency. And now those sensors do even more, measuring your steps, distance, and elevation changes.
More power and features are, of course, only one side to the coin – efficiency is becoming increasingly important. While Apple is yet to reveal the exact capacity of the battery of the iPhone 6, the company did say that the new iPhone will offer up to 4 hours extra in 3G talk time, 10 more hours of audio listening, and 1 extra hour of video playback over the iPhone 5s.
| iPhone 6 | iPhone 6 Plus | |
| Audio | Up to 50 hours | Up to 80 hours |
| HD Video | Up to 11 hours | Up to 14 hours |
| Wi-Fi Browsing | Up to 11 hours | Up to 12 hours |
| LTE Browsing | Up to 10 hours | Up to 12 hours |
| 3G Browsing | Up to 10 hours | Up to 12 hours |
| 3G Talk | Up to 14 hours | Up to 24 hours |
| Standby | Up to 10 days (250 hours) | Up to 16 days (384 hours) |
Software
While iOS 7 was a huge design overhaul, iOS 8 focusses on functionality. Apple has brought several new features and improvements while opening up the platform to developers.
The Messages app on iOS has received a huge update allowing you to send a voice or video message to your contacts. You can share your location, name your group chats, and mute or lave the conversation whenever you like.
Apple is introducing Health with iOS 8 to manage all your health related information. You get an easy-to-read dashboard and it even connects to other apps or your Apple Watch to manage your fitness and exercise.
The new QuickType keyboard is smarter than ever before. You can tap to choose a word suggestion and allow the keyboard to learn from the way you use it and predict what you will say next. Apple is also opening up its keyboard to developers allowing new third party keyboard experiences on iPhones for the first time.
The useful new Family Sharing feature allows up to six family members to share purchases from iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store without having to share accounts.
With iCloud Drive, you can save all your files including presentations, PDFs images and more. The iCloud Drive will be available for all your iOS devices, Mac and PC.
Notifications on iOS are now actionable, which means you can respond to texts, email, calender appointments, reminders and more from your notification banners without opening the apps.
Spotlight search has been further improved on iOS 8 allowing you to search beyond your device. You will now get information on your searches from Wikipedia to other trending news and your location and context will be considered to ensure your next in relevant.
Last but not least, is the new continuity feature on iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, which allows your iPhone to be connected seamlessly to your Mac and other iOS devices. You can use the Handoff feature with favorite apps like Mail, Safari, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Maps, and more. Answer calls on your Mac or iPad. Send photo, video, or text messages from any of your devices. And use your iPhone as an instant Wi‑Fi hotspot.
All these features combined with updated versions of iOS apps you know and love to ensure you have the best iOS experience to date with iOS 8. You can learn more about iOS 8 below.
 | Apple iOS 8.0 - Here's all you need to know | |
| Apple's iOS 8 is a huge update for both users and developers alike, with several new features and improvements, including quick reply, predictive keyboard, HealthKit and HomeKit APIs, support for third party keyboards like Swype, widgets, Camera and Touch ID API. |
Pricing and Availability
The 16GB version of the iPhone 6 will cost $199 on a 2-year contract, while the 64GB and 128GB versions will go for $299 and $399, respectively. Apple will replace the 32GB slot with a 64GB version, and is also making a 128GB model available for the first time.
Pre-orders start September 12th and units will start shipping out of Apple's warehouses a week later, on September 19th. The first batch of iPhone 6s will sell in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. By the end of 2014, some 115 countries worldwide will have access to the iPhone 6.
source - Apple
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