Only about 30 over hours more to go before Apple’s big event (10 September 2014 at 1am to be precise), the Cupertino company is expected to announce its next generation iPhones that are bigger and better than before, but what exactly will they pack in the iPhone 6? Here’s everything we know so far.
Design
According to many, many leaks we’ve seen over the past couple of months, the iPhone 6 will sport a new design. To be significantly larger than existing iPhones, the iPhone 6 will come with a new rounded design with pretty ugly lines running along the back.
Image via 9to5mac
We’ve seen so many rumours about a redesigned speaker and relocated buttons from the many mockups that it isn’t a stretch to believe them to be true. We bumped into one such case maker, Innerexile, at IFA 2014 and according to an iPhone 6 case it had on display, the power/unlock button has been shifted from the top to the right side of the device, while the volume rocker and silent mode toggle remains on the left side. The 3.5mm audio jack, Lighting port and speaker grille will remain at the bottom; however, the speaker grille has been slightly redesigned.
With a larger display, shifting the power/unlock button to the side makes a lot more sense
Display
The next generation iPhones are expected to come in two larger displays measuring at 4.7” and 5.5”. Early speculations claim that the larger option (which may be called the iPhone Air) will pack a sapphire glass display but according to the latest rumours, it looks like both will use sapphire glass not only on their displays, but also on the camera lens (which can be found on the iPhone 5s as well), as well as Touch ID buttons.
Sapphire glass is a lot tougher than the toughened Gorilla Glass we have today. We’ve seen many torture tests on the Sapphire glass part and needless to say, the displays fared pretty well. Unfortunately though, sapphire glass isn’t completely shatter-proof as it still scratches under tougher materials and of course, can be crushed under a car (if that’s your threshold of “how tough is sapphire glass”).
In addition, Apple will also likely bump up the screen resolution of the new iPhone 6 models. The company is said to be testing a resolution of 1704 x 960, which translates to a pixel density of 416 and 356ppi for the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models respectively. However, a more recent find on iOS 8’s Xcode SDK revealed another potential resolution: 1472 x 828, which yields 359ppi and 307ppi for the smaller and larger iPhone 6, respectively.
Hardware
Despite many leaks, Apple did manage to do a pretty good job at hiding key hardware. We’ve seen leaked pictures of the logic board of the iPhone 6 (both 4.7” and 5.5” variants), but none of them unveiled the actual hardware specs of the next iPhone.
A Weibo user did post a picture of an A8 chip posing next to an A5 chip. The A8 chip is slightly larger than its predecessor but in processor world, that’s a pretty big difference. It is likely that this may be due to the significantly more powerful hardware and co-processors that may be fitted inside.
Source: Weibo
Recent leaks also point to Apple finally packing NFC into the new iPhone, as well as a new payment system to make use of the new connectivity option. We don’t have any pictorial evidence to show an NFC chip but a Chinese repair firm, GeekBar, mapped out where the NFC chip would go on the leaked images of the iPhone 6 logic board.
Other specs we’re expecting include a larger battery compared to the iPhone 5s – 2,100mAh (5.5”) and 1,800mAh (4.7”) vs. 1,560mAh on the iPhone 5s, and up to 128GB of internal storage. As with the iPhone 5s, we can expect to see Apple continue using the Touch ID sensor on its home button, though I hope they improve things on the software side for a quicker and more accurate recognition.
Camera
We’re sad to say that little has been shown with regards to the camera on the iPhone 6. According to various photo leaks, the camera on the next generation iPhones will be slightly protruded, making it look pretty hideous; as if the lines along the back of the iPhone 6 isn’t ugly enough.
Image via Cult of Mac
It’s not all bad news of course as over the weekend, Cult of Mac shared some pictures of the camera module of an iPhone 6 and on top of being bigger than the camera module on an iPhone 5s, it will also (obviously) be better. The iPhone 6 camera will include optical image stabilization (OIS), though they can’t be sure if Apple will use the same camera on both the 4.7” and 5.5” iPhone 6 because the camera module of a 5.5” iPhone can’t seem to fit the 4.7” rear shell. The pictures were first shared by Feld & Volk on their Instagram page.
iPhone 6 camera module (left) vs iPhone 5s camera module (right)
Meanwhile, check out this video claiming to show off the iPhone 6 camera in action.
Software
The next generation iPhones will without a doubt run on the latest iOS version – iOS 8. Apple announced iOS 8 in its WWDC 2014 event back in June, and has released beta version to Apple developers since then.
The company is said to have already released iOS 8 to its partners, so expect it to be released shortly after the iPhone 6 announcement tomorrow.
Price
Sapphire glass + bigger display = bigger price? We certainly hope not but according to a telco in Spain, Telefonica, the iPhone 6 will start with a price of €750. Since prices in Euro are generally a lot more expensive, some estimate the final retail price to be around $750 – that’s about RM2,366. This rumour is in line with previous rumours that says that the iPhone 6 will be USD$100 more expensive than the iPhone 5s, which is retailing from USD$650.
As for the 5.5” version, expect it to be a lot, a lot more expensive – from a whopping €950, to be precise. Even if you don’t convert and take the price as USD$950, that’s almost RM3,000! Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that it’s for the 64GB version because paying RM3,000 for an iPhone phablet is just ridiculous.
Live Stream
As always, Apple will be live streaming the event so if you wish to tune in, visit Apple’s website. You’ll need an Apple device though, the live stream can only be viewed using Safari 5.1.10 or later on OS X v10.6.8 or later; Safari on iOS 6.0 and later, or using Apple TV running on version 6.2 or later.
So, all set for the new iPhone 6? Will this be the next big thing?
(Source: MacRumors (1), (2), Cult of Mac, PhoneArena)
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