Apple has announced that it has set a new sales record for the new iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus during the opening weekend. The two phones combined have sold more than 13 million units in the first three days of launch in the 12 countries they were available in, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK and the US.
To put the number into perspective, the previous iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sold 10 million units combined, the the 5s and 5c before that sold 9 million units combined.
Apple has reiterated that it will be bringing the 6s and 6s Plus to additional 40 additional countries worldwide.
Starting October 9, the phones will be available in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Starting October 10, the phones will be available in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Starting October 16, the phones will be available in India, Malaysia and Turkey on Friday, October 16 and in over 130 countries by the end of the year.
Just like the rumor-mill has predicted, Apple at its media event in San Francisco this morning announced a pair of new iPhones: the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus.
“What we have to show you today is really awesome,” said Tim Cook.
Although the design hasn’t changed over the present-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, as is the norm for S-upgrades, the new devices pack in some major hardware improvements.…
There is a brand new rose gold finish and the devices use a stronger Series 7000 aluminum alloy. And yes, there is a pressure-sensing screen that they’re calling 3D Touch, not Force Touch as previously thought.
3D Touch
3D Touch works on both the Home screen and inside applications themselves, providing user interface shortcuts and making possible all-new gestures such as peek, pop, mini tap and full tap. You also get distinct tactile feedback.
3D Touch users capacitive sensors that are not integrated in the backlight. The sensors pick up the force between the cover glass and the backlight. That data is combined with input from the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors to increases the accuracy and precision.
3D Touch shortcuts are implemented across all stock apps, including Messages, Maps, Safari, Phone, Music and more. Actually, you can just press firmly on the Phone icon and a brand new menu pops up right on the Home screen with shortcuts to your favorite contacts.
Or, you can press firmly on the Facebook app icon on the Home screen to update your status. 3D Touch can be also used to navigate between apps. If you apply just a little bit of force to screen sides, you can flip between active apps, which looks similar to iOS 9’s new app switcher.
And of course, games developers have shown a few games that take advantage of 3D Touch. As for tactile feedback, they have actually built a new version of the Apple Watch’s Taptic Engine that achieves even richer tactile feedback while consuming less energy.
A9 chip
The new iPhones are powered by the all-new Apple-designed A9 processor, the company’s third-generation 64-bit mobile processor. The A9 sports a new transistor architecture and consumes less energy than the A8 processor inside the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones.
The A9 is up to seventy percent faster in CPU tasks and approximately ninety percent faster in graphics tasks, providing “console-level performance” in graphics-rich apps and games. And for the first time, the A9 chip embeds a new motion coprocessor dubbed ‘M9′ with always-on performance. The new A9 with M9 allows for new features like the always-listening ‘Hey Siri’ feature.
12MP iSight camera
The back shooter has finally been upgraded in terms of the number of pixels.
Now with a twelve-megapixel sensor that has fifty percent more pixels than the previous-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the new iPhones can capture more detail so you can crop out and zoom into them without quality degradation.
The higher-resolution camera takes 63-megapixel panorama photos, up from 42-megapixel panoramas on the previous generation. In terms of video capture, the camera can now capture video in 4K resolution, up from full HD 1080p video capture on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
5MP FaceTime HD camera
The front-facing camera, which Apple refers to as FaceTime HD, has received a major resolution upgrade so it’s now five megapixels instead of a paltry 1.3-megapixel shooter on the previous generation.
The FaceTime camera lacks LED flash, but uses a software trickery to achieve the same effect. If you turn on the flash feature in the stock Camera app, the new iPhone takes advantage of a custom display chip to flash the screen with three times the intensity to illuminate your face in low-light situations.
Live Photos
The new iPhones support motion wallpapers via a new feature called Live Photos.
You just pick one of Apple-designed Live Photos and set it as your background. Additionally, you can take your own Live Photos. You don’t have to do anything different than you would in order to take a Live Photo.
As you take pictures, the iPhone does that automatically provided you have flipped a new switch in the Camera app. Doing so extends the capture moment just before and after you took them. Live Photos are not animations, they are still twelve-megapixel still images each animated to look great.
Faster wireless, new accessories
The new phones feature faster LTE with an additional 23 bands and with support for upcoming 300Mbps cellular networks. Wi-Fi on the new iPhones has been upgraded, too, and now supports data transfer speeds at up to 866Mbps.
To go along with the new iPhones, Apple has designed brand new charging docks. There are also new leather covers in five finishes and new silicon covers in eleven colors, including Product(RED).
Availability
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are available in Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold at $199/$299/$399 for 16GB/64GB/128GB versions after a contract with your carrier. The previous-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been discounted by a hundred bucks and now cost $99/$199/$299 for the same 16GB/64GB/128GB models and after a contract with your carrier.
The iPhone 5s has become Apple’s new entry-level iPhone. The device, which has replaced the iPhone 4s, will be available free on most carriers with a contract.
You can pre-order new iPhones starting Saturday, September 12, ahead of their release on September 25 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Greece, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy and Puerto Rico.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in more than 130 countries and over 400 carrier partners by the end of this year. As for iOS 9, it will release next week on September 16.
New iCloud storage pricing
In a surprise announcement, Apple said it’s cutting iCloud storage upgrades in half. So starting today, you can upgrade your entry-level iCloud account with just five gigabytes of free storage to fifty gigabytes for a monthly fee of 99 cents.
If you need more than 50 gigs, $2.99 per month will upgrade your iCloud storage to 200 gigabytes. The flagship tier with one terabyte of storage is now $9.99 per month.
Apple has started sending out press invites for its next big event. This will take place on September 9 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California, a venue with seating capacity for around 7,000 people, and one that the Cupertino company hasn’t used before.
This means we may witness one of Apple’s biggest launch events in its history. It’s obviously expected to announce the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, These have been said to sportForce Touch tech inside their touchscreens, a higher-res camera than their predecessors, a new chipset, and more RAM. As always with “s” releases, expect the exterior to remain unchanged.
Pre-orders for the new smartphones will start on September 11, two days after their unveiling, while sales should begin a week later than that, on September 18, for the first wave of markets. A second wave of availability should hit on September 25. All of this information has been leaked numerous times already, along with a possible September 8 or 9 announcement date. So now that this has been confirmed, there’s no point in doubting the rest of the rumored timeline.
There could be other new stuff in store for us too. A more affordable iPhone 6c has been in and out of the rumors for many months now, so it’s still unclear whether it will ever become reality. On the other hand, Apple might also unveil new iPads, perhaps even the much-rumored iPad Pro. A revised Apple TV may be in the works too, though there’s no telling if it’s going to be ready in time for this event.
Elie Chahine 