Apple launched its latest phone design the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus this year. Their tagline for the brand new phone is “the only thing that’s changed is everything.” But is that really true? The phone looks very similar to last year’s model, the iPhone 6. The only difference that truly stands out are new features and a few upgrades like the 3D Touch, improved Touch ID and a 12-megapixel camera. Apple also added a new colour to its line, rose gold.
Ingrid Brand, a program coordinator for the Marketing Program at Durham College says, “success in a business is if you can make and sustain a healthy profit.” She continues, “What Apple has done is created a trusted and sought after brand.”
Besides the expected internal and external improvements, Apple created a brand new feature to the iPhone with 3D touch. This was first introduced with its latest MacBook which uses Force Touch. Depending on how hard you touch the screen it will do a different command and be able to tell the difference between touches.
Some customers’ favourite upgrades that Apple has made to the latest iPhone is the camera. The quality has gone up a lot compared to past models like the 5S, which only had an eight-megapixel camera. Besides the upgraded photo quality there is also a new front flash, timer mode, improved noise reduction, auto image stabilization and “live photos.” Live photos capture a couple of seconds before and after you take a photo creating a “gif” or what other people are recognizing as a “Harry Potter effect”, because of the famous wizard’s newspaper Daily Prophet, that feature moving images.
The iPhone 6S also features 4K video recording, that records at 30 frames per second (fps). Another quality offered is 1080p HD Video recording at both 30 fps and 60 fps. While recording, it is still possible to capture photos in eight-megapixels while still recording in 4K. Another update is within the slow motion video; it now supports 1080p at 120 fps.
A feature that was first introduced with the iPhone 5S is Touch ID. It is a fingerprint sensor that is built into the phone’s home button. On the 5S the Touch ID was a very exciting new feature. Unlocking your cellphone could never be easier. Once people fell in love with the Touch ID they started to notice some of its faults. Fingerprints eventually got more difficult for the phone to read or it was slow. Users would give up with using the Touch ID and type in their passcode when all of a sudden the iPhone would unlock because of the previously used Touch ID. All of these were later corrected with the 6S model. The Touch ID works so well now and can unlock in seconds.
“Apple has positioned themselves as the creative, the people that are ‘into it’, front-runners,” says Brand.
The phone’s biggest improvement has been the camera. The front camera flash is a very handy feature too. Another thing users are really liking about this phone is the screen size. It fits in the hand perfectly and everything is in reach. Apple even included a feature where a double tap on the home button, will bring down the application screen lower, a useful tool for anyone with small hands.
Apple is a company that is under constant change and development. Its products continue to enter the homes of consumers and wow us with each improvement. Users look forward to what’s to come from them in the future.
