Meet the iPhone 6S

Where Apple really focused their attention on this year is the internal hardware of the iPhone 6S. The new model comes with a more powerful 64bit A9 chip and M9 co-processor with 2GB of RAM and better 12-megapixel iSight camera.

The first time we received and unboxed the new iPhone 6S, we were scampering to find physical differences from its predecessor. After a while, we gave up and found nothing significant.

To the naked eye, the iPhone 6 and 6S looked exactly the same – material, design and form factor are all repeats of last year’s model. Not that Apple is lazy, it’s just that this year, they focused on the internals and the operating system rather than the exterior.

There are a few subtle differences once you look closer. The iPhone 6s is actually thicker by 0.2mm but fortunately, almost all existing cases of the iPhone 6 still fit the 6S.

There is an S printed at the back just below the iPhone label. Perhaps one can consider that small print as a distinguishing mark of the iPhone 6S. Without this mark, there’s no way to distinguish the iPhone 6 from the iPhone 6S.

Lastly, the camera of the iPhone 6S has a slightly different design in the lens barrel.

Apple claims that the material used on the iPhone 6S is tougher with the aluminum body made of a stronger custom alloy. This is perhaps to address the bend-gate issue on the older iPhone 6. The display has also been reinforced with Ion-X glass that Apple also used on the Apple Watch.

Where Apple really focused their attention on this year is the internal hardware of the iPhone 6S. The new model comes with a more powerful 64bit A9 chip and M9 co-processor with 2GB of RAM and better 12-megapixel iSight camera.

One of the more interesting features of the iPhone 6S is the 3D Touch. It basically adds another dimension to multi-touch, which includes contextual options when the display is subjected to a certain amount of pressure.

This provides an additional menu of shortcuts to app functions when you press down on their respective icons. Apple calls it Pop and Peek. The same force touch allows for animated Live Wallpapers when you press hard on the glass. It’s an interesting implementation that adds more context to the user interface of the iPhone but could also be something potentially beneficial when applied by third party developers.

For the longest time, Apple has settled for just an 8MP camera. This time around, they upgraded the sensor to 12-megapixel with the ability to shoot 4K videos. However, optical image stabilization is still missing although that feature is already found in both the iPhone 6 Plus and 6S Plus.

With the rollout of iOS 9 on older models of the iPhone, many would think that the iPhone 6S as an incremental upgrade of the iPhone 6. Besides, Apple has been doing that iteration in the last four years, starting with the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

The Philippines will have to wait until sometime this October or November until the iPhone 6S and the 6S Plus officially arrive while several dozen other countries already saw their respected releases last week.

Existing users of the iPhone 6 will have very little reason to upgrade to the iPhone 6S, unless of course their carrier-issued phones are up for renewal. Expect Globe and Smart to viciously fight it out in the postpaid arena.