Apple iPhone 6 smartphone was launched in October 2014. The phone comes with a 3.50-inch touchsceen display with a resolution of 640 pixels by 960 pixels at a PPI of 326 pixels per inch.
About Apple Founded in a garage in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple began as a personal computer pioneer that today makes everything from laptops to portable media players. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, the consumer electronics giant entered the smartphone market with the iPhone in 2007, and the tablet market with the iPad in 2010, and the smartwatch market with the Apple Watch in 2014.
THE GOODThe iPhone 6 delivers a spacious, crisp 4.7-inch screen, improved wireless speeds, better camera autofocus, and bumped-up storage capacities to 128GB at the top end. iOS remains a top-notch mobile operating system with an excellent ecosystem of apps, and Apple Pay is a smooth, secure payment system.
THE BAD Battery life isn't much better than it is on last year's iPhone 5S. And there's wasted space: an even larger screen could have been squeezed into the same housing.
THE BOTTOM LINEThe iPhone 6 is an exceptional phone in nearly every way except its average battery life: it's thin, fast, and features the excellent iOS operating system. It was the best overall phone introduced in 2014.
9.0OVERALL
PERFORMANCE
9.0
FEATURES
9.0
DESIGN
9.0
In 2014, Apple forked its iPhone product line, simultaneously introducing the next generation of its flagship model -- the iPhone 6 -- and debuting its super-sized sibling, the iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 6 is an exceptional phone in nearly every way but for its middling battery life. The iPhone 6 Plus is also impressive; larger and thinner than other iPhone models, and with the capacity for far more endurance on a single charge than most comparably-sized and smaller competitors.
When choosing between the 6 and 6 Plus, in the end, it's a matter of personal preference. I know several people who love the iPhone 6 Plus, with its larger screen size and better battery life. But the iPhone 6 feels best in my hand. It's thin, elegant, performs really well, and is considerably less expensive than the 6 Plus. For that reason, I think the smaller iPhone 6 is the way to go for most people.
Review update: Summer 2015
If Apple sticks to the same mid-September release calendar it's followed for the past several years, we are just a few short months away from the next version of the iPhone. And if Cupertino follows the same upgrade plan -- big redesigns for even numbered years, internal specs updates for odd ones -- we can likely expect something a bit less radical than the big-screen makeover the iPhone got in 2014. (You can read our predictions of what to expect from the next iPhone here.)
At its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple introduced the next edition of its mobile operating system, iOS 9. According to Apple, in addition to a number of incremental enhancements, iOS 9 will feature a stronger, more "proactive" version of Siri, the personal assistant; an upgraded maps app and a new news app; and, importantly for iPhone users, improved battery life (plus a new low-power mode for even longer performance). iOS 9 is currently available only to developers; the rest of us can sign up for the public beta in July.
Those looking to purchase an iPhone this summer are advised that Apple still sells the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C -- both of which, in what are likely to be their waning days on store shelves, constitute an excellent value.
Outside of the Apple ecosystem, those on the prowl for a new phone should consider the handful of upcoming flagship models announced at Mobile World Congress in March 2015, including the HTC One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S6, an especially worthy competitor for the iPhone 6 that features a larger screen and higher resolution (see a detailed comparison here). Suffice to say that the competitive landscape will soon be shifting.
Cut to the chase: How the iPhone stacks up
For those looking to buy a new phone in the near-term, here's a framework for how to think about the iPhone 6:
For owners of older iPhones looking to upgrade, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are thinner and come equipped with faster A8 processors, improved cameras, speedier Wi-Fi and LTE cellular data connectivity, better voice quality on voice-over-LTE, and -- except for entry-level models -- more onboard storage. In terms of screen size, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will probably be more than enough for anyone upgrading from a 4-inch (iPhone 5 or 5S) or 3.5-inch screen (all previous iPhone models). The 6 Plus may simply be too big for some, though its large display and extended battery life are terrific.
For iPhone 5S owners or habitual iPhone upgraders, the chief advantages are the iPhone 6's bigger screen and support for Apple Pay. The improved processor, camera, 4G LTE and Wi-Fi speeds, and possible battery-life gains are steps up, but not massive leaps. In other words, if you don't need the larger screen, you aren't sacrificing much by sticking with the iPhone 5S (running iOS 8) until the next generation drops.
For Android owners who jumped ship from iOS and want to come back, this is the iPhone generation you've been waiting for. It's the best iPhone since the iPhone 5. Back then, 4G LTE and an improved screen and camera made the difference. This time, a larger screen, a fast processor, support for Apple Pay, additional customization features of iOS 8, and increased storage help close the feature gap with top Android phones.
For hard-core Android fans, there are certainly non-Apple phones that cost less and come equipped with higher-resolution screens, better battery life, SD card support, and removable batteries. And the Android Lollipop operating system brings a lot to the table. Still, the larger screens and customization features of iOS 8 make the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus the most attractive iPhone generation to date. Android owners may be tempted.
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