Apple
iPhone 6s
Not
much has changed on the surface since the iPhone 6 introduced an updated look
with a laminated screen and comfortably round corners. This time around,
though, Apple is beating its chest for incorporating Series 7000 aluminum
instead of the anodized aluminum it's been traditionally using. Anodizing
increases the material's resistance to corrosion and wear by adding an oxide
layer outside of it. Combined with dye, the process is also used for coloring
metal.
7000
Series aluminum, however, is a different alloy that combines aluminum, zink,
and magnesium for a significantly tougher, but harder to work with material.
Apple altered the recipe in unspecified ways, creating a material 60% stronger
than most aluminum at one-third the density of stainless steel.
At 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm the iPhone 6s matches the
size of its predecessor. It's certainly one of the most reasonably sized
smartphones around, even if the screen to body ratio of 66% isn't exactly an
example of efficiency.
Save
from the addition of a pressure-sensitive layer, which we will refer to in a
minute, the screen on the iPhone 6s is virtually unchanged from what the iPhone
6 brought to the table. This is a 4.7-inch panel with the
odd-but-works-for-Apple resolution of 750x1334 pixels, which accounts for an
acceptable pixel density of 326 pixels per inch.
It's a fine example of an IPS
LCD screen, even if its properties don't have the sheer impressiveness of
Samsung and LG's Quad-HD displays, not to mention the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium's
outlandish 4K screen. We
expect what has become typical of Apple screens — a tolerably cool color
temperature, nicely evened out color balance, near perfect gamma response, and
fantastic viewing angles. It is these characteristics, and not obscenely high
pixel counts or super wide color gamuts that make for a high quality display.
Borrowed from the new MacBook's
trackpad and the Apple Watch before it, the 3D Touch relies on tiny
electrodes surrounding the display that let users deliberately choose between a
light tap, a press, and a "deeper" press, triggering a range of
specific controls. It could potentially let
Apple get rid of the home button one day, although removing such a
long-standing element would have to be a very radical decision.
The
iPhone 6s introduces a major hardware upgrade in the form of the new A9 chipset
and an alleged increase to 2 GB of RAM memory. The A9, which is fabricated by
Samsung and TSMC's foundries, has not been properly documented yet. Thanks to that, the A9 packs more transistors on the
same surface area as the A8, theoretically boasting better performance and
power efficiency characteristics.
Some
early benchmarks that originate from a Chinese source suggest that the A9
enjoys an around 19% jump over the A8, and a 6% improvement over the A8X in
single-core performance, in addition to a 69% multi-core improvement over the
A8 (8% from the A8X). That sounds like a steady growth in processing power,
certainly in the ballpark of what could be expected of Apple. The A9 relies on a quad-core setup, with two cores pushed to 1.7 GHz
and two cores at around 1.2 GHz. The A8X before it uses a triple core design, so
this leap is certainly within the realm of possibility.
The
iPhone 6's camera setup has been eligible for an upgrade for a long time, and
Apple finally delivered — a restrained, but certainly thought-out 12 MP rear
camera bump (up from 8 MP), and a comparatively generous increase to 5 MP for the
front cam (from just 1.2 MP). Photo quality improvements aside, the most notable
new addition is 4K (3840x2160) video recording, which puts the iPhone's
camcorder on par with Android flagships.
The
12 MP imaging sensors are sourced from Sony, and there's little that we know
about them at this point, other than that they incorporate RGBW subpixel
technology for better low-light performance. This technology uses an extra
white (W) subpixel, arranged alongside the RGB sub-pixels, to compensate for
the smaller-sized pixels in the sensor. However, RGBW itself didn't make for
stand-out photographic performance in any regard. It will be up to the ones
responsible for the camera algorithms at Apple to make the most out of the
camera sensor.
The
iPhone 6s has a battery at about 1500-1900 mAh capacity. Unfortunately, the iPhone 6s Plus couldn't catch
up to the fast charging developments of Android for some reason. Maybe Apple is
being complacent. Maybe integrating fast charging or wireless charging comes at
the expense of something else that's more valuable to the typical iPhone user.
The
iPhone 6s goes pretty far for what's considered an incremental upgrade by Apple
standards. The increase in hardware and camera power is quite welcome, and the
addition of Force Touch makes for a nice usability improvement, not to mention
being a classic case of Apple introducing polished (hopefully) new technology
for users and app developers to tinker with. For what it is, the iPhone 6s
makes for a good, meaningful yearly upgrade over its predecessor.
