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Everything we know about the Apple iPhone 6S

Apple's September iPhone event marked the unveiling of the iPhone 6S — plus a couple of surprises. Here's everything we've heard so far.

  • Richard Lawler

    Jul 17, 2022

    Richard Lawler

    Chris Evans still misses his iPhone 6S and its home button

    Chris Evans in character as Lloyd Hansen in Netflix’s The Gray Man
    Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen in The Gray Man
    Image: Paul Abell/Netflix

    Fans of buttons can count on Captain America for support, as Chris Evans notes that even after a few weeks with a newer phone, he still prefers his old iPhone 6S and its button. The topic came up in an interview with Collider (via iMore) while doing a press tour for Netflix’s $200 million+, Russo brothers-directed spy flick The Gray Man, which he stars in along with Ryan Gosling.

    Evans is far from the only person still stuck on the missing button (he and Donald Trump agree on at least one thing), which Apple swapped for a solid circle with taptic engine feedback on the iPhone 7, and eventually dropped entirely from the iPhone X onward. Evans’ other big complaint is that it’s just too heavy. Like many people who struggle with bulkier phones, the actor is uncomfortably bracing the phone with his pinky finger, and no, the recently-refreshed iPhone SE (2022) just won’t do as a replacement.

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  • Mitchell Clark

    Jun 24, 2022

    Mitchell Clark

    RIP Chris Evans’ iPhone 6S

    Wait, but what did Evans take this picture with?
    Wait, but what did Evans take this picture with?
    Image: Chris Evans

    I think most of us here at The Verge can agree that if we were famous celebrities who acted in some of the highest-grossing films of all time, we would always be rocking the latest and greatest tech. That’s apparently not how Chris Evans, star of Lightyear and The Avengers, rolls — on June 23rd, 2022, he posted a message on Twitter and Instagram that he’s finally upgrading his phone: “RIP iPhone 6S,” he said. “We had a good run.”

    In his posts, Evan says that he’ll miss the 2015 device’s home button — a photo he posted shows that he’s upgrading what appears to be an iPhone 13 Pro — but not the fact that it was a “nightly battle” trying to get the 6S to charge. (In the comments of Evan’s Instagram post, Hidden Figures and Onward actress Octavia Spencer says that she too just switched to a phone without a home button.) He also mentions that he won’t miss the grainy pictures from the 6S’s 12-megapixel camera — you can see examples of those all over his Instagram page.

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  • Nilay Patel

    Sep 22, 2015

    Nilay Patel

    iPhone 6S and 6S Plus review

    Big screens won.

    For the past three years, the most meaningful change to the iPhone has been the size of its screen. After years of sticking with a 3.5-inch display and watching Android-powered competitors bite off a piece of the market with ever-larger screens, Apple relented ever-so-slightly with the 4-inch iPhone 5 and 5S, and then finally gave in to obvious trends with the much larger 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and massive 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.

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  • Dante D'Orazio

    Sep 5, 2015

    Dante D'Orazio

    Force Touch on iPhone 6S will reportedly recognize three kinds of taps

    Everyone knows Apple plans to bring Force Touch to the upcoming iPhone 6S (competitor Huawei has already copied the feature), but it sounds like there may be more to it than that. The feature will reportedly be called the "3D Touch Display," and there's a reason for the name.

    Update: Read the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus review.

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  • Sep 2, 2015

    Colin Lecher

    The iPhone 6S will reportedly still start at 16GB of storage

    The 16GB iPhone has been Apple's entry-level option for some time now, despite being more than a little controversial. Still, despite some rumors to the contrary, it looks like the company is sticking with it: 9to5Mac reports that the the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will have the same storage options as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, starting at 16GB and moving up to 64GB and 128GB. On-contract pricing, the site also reported, will likewise stay the same as 2014 models: $199, $299, and $399 for each storage tier of the 6S, and $299, $399, and $499 for the 6S Plus.

    Update: Read the iPhone 6S review.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Aug 27, 2015

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Apple probably won’t introduce an iPhone 6C next month

    It's a very safe bet that Apple will introduce an iPhone 6S and an iPhone 6S Plus at the event it's holding two weeks from now, but it's been an open question about whether we'll see a smaller phone — perhaps an iPhone 6C — too. According to 9to5Mac, while we might see a new 4-inch iPhone eventually, it won't be coming in September. The site reports that Apple is working on a phone with the same display size as the iPhone 5, 5S, and 5C but with the internals of the iPhone 6. It makes sense that Apple would want to differentiate its product line this way, but it seems as though people looking to move up from the iPhone 5S without changing size will have to wait.

    There are a number of other new bits of iPhone information in 9to5Mac's reports today. For one, the site reports that the new iPhones introduced in September will come in a fourth color: rose gold, to match the high-end Apple Watch. This rose gold will be a lot more accessible, though — it's just supposed to be colored aluminum, not actual gold. An earlier report said that Apple had been working on a pink iPhone, but it seems likely that this is actually the new color being referred to.

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  • Chris Welch

    Aug 27, 2015

    Chris Welch

    iPhone 6S will reportedly feature 12-megapixel camera, 4K video recording

    The iPhone camera is finally upping its megapixel count. 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman reports that the next major flagship from Apple will feature a 12-megapixel camera, an increase over the 8-megapixel approach the company has stuck with for years. As iPhones have kept loyal to the 8-megapixel sensor, Android makers like Sony, Samsung, and LG have produced some fairly remarkable 16-megapixel smartphone cameras. We recently pitted the new Galaxy Note 5 against the iPhone 6 Plus as just one example.

    Update: Read the Apple iPhone 6S review.

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  • Chris Welch

    Aug 27, 2015

    Chris Welch

    iPhone 6S will reportedly have animated wallpaper like the Apple Watch

    9to5Mac is reporting that at least one thing separating the iPhone 6S from its predecessor will have to do with wallpaper. Similar to Apple Watch (and Android's live wallpaper feature), the next iPhone will reportedly support animated backgrounds. "For the new iPhone, we are told the types of motion wallpapers range from sets of animated fish from a koi pond to colorful arrays of smoke," wrote 9to5Mac's reliable Mark Gurman.

    Read next: The iPhone 6S review.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Aug 10, 2015

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    This is how Force Touch might work on the next iPhone

    Apple is widely expected to bring Force Touch to the next iPhone, and now we're getting some idea of how it might work. According to 9to5Mac, Force Touch will be used as a way to access shortcuts, pull up menus, and activate new functions. If that sounds kind of confusing, well, it is — for now, at least. It sounds like Force Touch on the iPhone will do different things depending on where you use it, and you'll probably have to play around to find out where it works and what it does.

    A few specific examples are provided by 9to5Mac:

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  • Nathan Ingraham

    Aug 7, 2015

    Nathan Ingraham

    Apple may unveil new iPhones on September 9th

    As for that new iPhone, Apple is on its "S" cycle, which means we'll likely see a phone physically identical to last year's iPhone 6, but with some radical hardware changes — the new phone is rumored to include the force touch technology included on the Apple Watch and the company's new MacBook and MacBook Pros. The Apple TV is expected to be a complete redesign of the hardware that Apple's been offering unchanged since early 2012; the entire Apple TV experience is largely identical for even longer at this point. If Apple has managed to lock down the content deals it needs to make it stand out, this could be worth a lot of attention in the company's presentation.

    As for new iPads, it feels like a lot for an event that will already feature the iPhone and Apple TV — but given the slowing down of the iPad business in general, the product category might not quite warrant the headlining status in the October events Apple has held in recent years (those events also often feature Mac and OS X updates). Whether or not this will be the year we finally see the rumored large screen iPad Pro remains to be seen — but such a product certainly would take advantage of a lot of the new iPad multitasking features showing up in iOS 9. Fortunately, it seems we won't have to wait long to find out. As usual, The Verge will be there to report all the news as it happens. We've reached out to Apple for a comment on this report and will update if we hear anything else.

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  • Chris Welch

    Aug 6, 2015

    Chris Welch

    Your iPhone will finally stop getting stuck on weak Wi-Fi in iOS 9

    Update: Read the Apple iOS 9 review.

    One of the most annoying things about the iPhone is its tendency to latch onto Wi-Fi networks even when there's a very poor signal. Join a Starbucks network or your cable company's public Wi-Fi just once, and the phone will often try to hop back on even in passing. This leads to disruptions when you're browsing Safari or using apps — at least until you turn off Wi-Fi in frustration. But with iOS 9, Apple has found a much better solution: your iPhone will now automatically switch over to cellular data if it detects that Wi-Fi reception has degraded to the point where it's unusable.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jul 30, 2015

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Apple TV with Siri and App Store could finally arrive in September

    A new Apple TV may finally be on the way. According to BuzzFeed News, Apple plans to announce an overhauled Apple TV in September, likely during the same event that it'll unveil new iPhones. The new Apple TV is supposed to bring some major changes to the device, including an App Store, voice control with Siri, and an improved remote with a touch pad on it. The box itself is supposed to be slimmer, and it should have some speed improvements on the inside. It would mark the first update to the Apple TV since 2012.

    Read next: The Apple TV review.

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  • Dan Seifert

    Jul 8, 2015

    Dan Seifert

    Apple's next iPhone will have a Force Touch display, says WSJ

    The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the next iPhone, ostensibly known as the iPhone 6S, will include a Force Touch display, similar to the screen currently used on the Apple Watch. This report backs up an earlier 9to5Mac report from May.

    Read next: The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus review.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    May 26, 2015

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    iPhone 6S said to come with Force Touch for power users

    Apple appears to be bringing one of the most important — and divisive — features of the Apple Watch to the next iPhone. According to 9to5Mac, the iPhone 6S will include Force Touch and haptic feedback, allowing the phone to perform additional functions when pressure is applied to the screen.

    Read next: The Apple iPhone 6S review.

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  • Sam Byford

    Mar 11, 2015

    Sam Byford

    The next iPhone could be pink and have a pressure-sensing screen

    Apple is planning to release new iPhones later this year with Force Touch-equipped displays, according to The Wall Street Journal. Force Touch was one of the key themes at Apple's event on Monday; the Apple Watch uses the pressure-sensing technology to detect how hard a user is pushing on the screen, and it's also been integrated into the new MacBook and refreshed MacBook Pro's trackpads. On the Apple Watch, Force Touch allows for more input options considering the small size of the screen, while the new MacBook uses it to simulate a traditional mouse click, among other things.

    The new phones are unlikely to differ too dramatically in design from the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus; Apple almost always keeps its phone bodies around for two years, and the WSJ says that the company's plan is to keep the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes and "similar" resolutions. But there could be one very visible change — Apple is reportedly testing a pink option to go alongside the silver, gold, and space gray models. As ever, these reports are couched in caveats that Apple's plans may change, but mass production for some components is said to start in May.

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