iPhone 6 Plus, Apple iWatch Price and Specs Revealed
The iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, and Apple Watch — also known as the iWatch — were all unveiled Tuesday in Cupertino, California. The latest iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch have a slew of new features, updates, and specs to satisfy longtime Apple fans and newcomers. Pre-orders begin Friday, Sept. 12, while the phones will be released to the public Sept. 19.
The iPhone 6 is significantly bigger than its predecessors, with a 4.7-inch display, 1334 x 750 resolution at 326 ppi, which means over a million pixels on the screen — something Apple is calling Retina HD. Ion-strengthened glass and an ultra thin backlight has allowed the consumer electronics company to create the thinnest iPhone ever at 6.9 mm. The anodized aluminum and stainless steel construction also means its very light at 4.55 oz.
The iPhone 6 Plus is even bigger, solidly entering phablet territory with a 5.5-inch display, 1920 x 1080 resolution at 401 ppi. That's over two million pixels for the bigger handset. It has the same construction type and materials as the iPhone 6, but because of its size, it weighs a bit more at 6.07 oz and is marginally thicker at 7.1 mm.
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Both phones will be up to 25 percent faster than the iPhone 5S thanks to the new 64-bit A8 chip. They'll both also have the M8 motion coprocessor, which helps the smartphone track things like heart rate and other useful statistics for fitness apps. Both phones cameras have been updated — the 8MP camera will have faster autofocus and facial focus with something Apple is calling Focus Pixels — but the iPhone 6 Plus has the advantage with optical image stabilization.
Software has been updated to cope with the bigger displays on both phones. iOS 8 will feature Reachability, which allows users to double tap the Home button to slide the screen down. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will also come with Apple Pay, the NFC solution to avoid using physical credit and debit cards. Users just use their fingerprint with TouchID to pay at thousands of retailers in-store and online.
The iPhone 6 is priced at $199 for 16GB, $299 for 64GB and $399 for 128GB. The iPhone 6 Plus is priced at $299 for 16GB, $399 for 64GB and $499 for 128GB.
In addition to the two smartphones, Apple CEO Tim Cook also unveiled the first new Apple product since 2010: the Apple Watch. The watch comes in two sizes — 38 mm for smaller wrists and 42 mm for bigger ones — six different finishes, six different bands and a variety of colors.
The Apple Watch comes with Retina display, a "digital crown" — think a slightly larger dial than on a regular watch that can also be pressed in, and a magnetic inductive charger.
The OS for the Apple Watch is much different than iOS 8. The watch will allow any user to see messages, calls, email and various other apps, but notifies with a twist. It's Taptic Engine can tap and beep users to get their attention, and the watch features a microphone to dictate texts and take calls, monitors heart rate and exercise activity. Pretty much all actions can be transferred over to the user's iPhone, which is required to have an Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch is scheduled to be released in early 2015. The watch will start at $349, but expect the Edition, with its 18-karat gold finish, to be more expensive.
