Breaking news from the Apple event at the Flint Center in Cupertino!
Let's begin with updates for the new iPhones: the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus!
The Specs
- Both phones feature a glass front and rounded edges curving around the sides to meet the aluminum back.
- These are the thinnest phones Apple has ever made (compare them to 7.6mm for the iPhone 5s).
- sRGB-accurate with ulrathin backlight, photo-aligned IPS liquid crystal
- improved polarizer, ion-strenghtnend glass, retina-display HD
- Stunning displays, with more pixels, and thinner than ever before.
- Contrast is higher, blacks are darker, angles of view is broader. More to see.
- Both phones will come with iOS 8.
- Phones are environmentally friendly. Now Beryllium-free.
Just the Facts: iPhone 6
- measures 6.9mm.
- 4.7" screen
- more than 1 million pixels (38% more pixels!)
- 50 hours audio, 11 hours video, 11 hours wifi browsing, 10 hours LTE browsing.
- iPhone 6 comes in Gold, Silver and Space Gray.
- iPhone 6 starts at $199/$299/$399 with two-year contract.
- 16GB/64GB/128GB for $199/$299/$399
Just the Facts: iPhone 6 Plus
- measures 7.1mm.
- 5.5" screen
- more than 2 million pixels (185% more pixels!)
- 80 hours audio, 14 hours video, 12 hours wifi browsing, 12 hours LTE browsing.
- Optical image stabilization
- Messages app has new horizontal two-up display. Weather shows more of your day.
- Keyboard on iPhone 6 plus shows more keys including dedicated keys for cut, copy and paste.
- iPhone 6 Plus: $299/$399/$499 for 16GB/64GB/128G
- 16GB/64GB/128GB for $199/$299/$399.
Performance: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
- Next generation A8 chip, 2 billion transistors and 64-bit support. Uses 20nm process.
- 25% faster CPU performance.
- sp13% smaller chip than the previous A7
- 50x faster than the original iPhone
- up to 50% more energy efficient than the last-generation chip
- 84x faster on graphics
- Uses Apple's Metal platform for games. Lots of game developers already on board.
- Running at 60fps, 1.3 million polygons. New particle and lighting effects
- New Health app works with M8 motion co-processor to track fitness.
Wireless: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
- New advanced wireless specs, 150Mbps LTE.
- Supports 20 LTE bands, Apple working with 200 carriers around the world.
- Adding VoLTE - voice over LTE.
- More LTE bands than any smartphone in the world.
- Wi-Fi calling! Standard call made in same way, goes out over Wi-Fi, transitions onto cellular network seamlessly.
Camera: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
- Great new cameras in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
- 8MP iSIght camera, True Tone flash, 1.5 micron pixels, 2.2 aperture, all-new sensor.
- Focus Pixels: as the lens moves in and out, it can tell if an object is in or out of phase.
- Better, faster auto-focus. Next-gen tone mapping and noise reduction.
- Panorama mode is up to 43 megapixels now.
- Macro photos work better now. New gyroscope makes stitching better on panoramic images.
- Image stabilization is built into the A8 chip.
- Better face and smile and blink detection.
- New phone shoots video at 1080p at 30fps and 60fps, and slo-mo at 240fps, up from 120fps on the 5s.
- Time-lapse photo mode. Focus pixels do continuous automatic focus when shooting video.
- Front-facing FaceTime HD camera, new sensor, f2.2 aperture that lets in 81% more light. Improved face detection and burst selfie mode.
- Single-shot HDR photos, using one picture and not multiple. HDR in videos as well.
NEW! Apple Pay : iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
- "We spend $12 billion in credit and debit transactions per day in the US"
- Old credit card payment process has been totally reliant on the exposed numbers and outdated and vulnerable magnetic stripe interface.
- Apple Pay changes all this. It's used by holding thumb on Touch ID button.
- Apple Pay is built into every iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. NFC antenna built across the top.
- Touch ID plus Secure Element chip. Stores all payment information encrypted and securely.
- Easy to add new card or use card from iTunes. Use iSight camera to take picture of physical credit card.
- Card number is never stored nor shared. Stored in Secure Element. Uses one-time number and dynamic security code.
- If iPhone is lost or stolen, Find My iPhone can suspend all payments. Since card number is never stored on the device, no need to cancel credit card.
- Security is at the core of Apple Pay. So is Privacy. When you go to a physical location, Apple doesn't know what you bought, where you bought it, or how much you paid. Transaction is between you, the merchant and your bank.
- Apple Pay starts in US with Amex, Mastercard and Visa. Credit cards and debit cards. Citi, Bank of America, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Chase many more banks.
- Works with 220,000 us merchants: Walgreens, Duane Reade, Macy's, Bloomingdales, Staples, Subway, McDonalds (including Drive Through), Starbucks, Whole Foods.
- Also works online: GroupOn adding ApplePay to their app. Uber. MLB.com At Bat, Apple Online Store, OpenTable
