Apple announced the latest iPhones at its press event on September 9th. The new iPhone are now available for pre-order and will be available in stores on September 25th. Keeping with the tradition of the ’S’ series, they look strikingly similar to their predecessor. Apple says that everything about them have changed. Here are the specs of the new ones:
- The latest 64 bit A9 chip with embedded M9 co-processor chip making it even more energy efficient.
- 12 megapixel camera with new iOS capabilities to take live photos – photos that have a small amount of video captured around them.
- 4K video recording.
- 5 megapixel FaceTime HD camera with the added capabilities of the screen acting as the flash.
- Faster Touch ID sensor.
- Always on Hey Siri.
- Aircraft grade aluminum body.
- 3D Touch – a pressure sensitive touchscreen that can be used to interact with the operating system in a whole new way.
Arguably the most touted feature in the new models is 3D touch. Apple is known for implementing things in the right and the most intuitive way. For years, ‘it just works’ has been their USP. While many other have already tried incorporating pressure sensitive touch and UI elements in their devices before, the reason everyone is rejoicing on iPhones offering them means that the others haven’t gotten it right yet.
3D touch enables a whole new layer of interactions with the device. With the main focus on improving the efficiency of our interaction with our devices, 3D touch enables you to peek at content (emails, messages, photos, links) by hard touching (pressing?) on it. Touching harder will open (pop) that content without the need of the previous explicit normal touch. It might sound trivial, but once you get used to it, it will become a second nature and can save a lot of taps and swipes. Another way Apple is using this technology is by offering quick actions when you 3D touch an app’s icon. This gesture opens a customizable menu giving you quick access to the features you might use more often. For example – 3D touching the camera icon may give you options to take a selfie, or record a slow motion video – something which would have otherwise taken you a few taps. It will be really interesting to see what developers are going to do with this new technology. Games are already lined up to take advantage of this.
Here is a video in the god like baritone of Sir Johny Ive explaining the 3D touch technology in the new iPhones:
And here is the new ad Apple made for the iPhone 6S:
You can pre-order the iPhones here: http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/
