Meet the iPhone 6: Your Phone Just Got Bigger

Even if a hundred images of the new iPhone had been leaked, it would have stolen none of Apple's thunder in Cupertino, California, today. Thanks to a bold Chinese social media user, we knew what was coming, but Apple's confirmation that the iPhone 6 has a larger screen means we, the user, are one step closer to holding one. Lagging behind competitors like Samsung and LG in screen size for quite some time, the 5.5-inch, soon-to-be-ubiquitous iPhone 6 Plus creation will allow more room for apps to breathe, and for bigger YouTube viewing than the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 that Apple is keeping alongside the new big brother.

Of course, the screen isn't the only update. The sleep/wake button has been moved to the side. With the phone's larger form factor, this makes manipulating the tall phone just a bit easier. Size-wise, the iPhone 6 is moving to a slimmer 6.9-millimeter profile, shaving off 0.6 millimeters for the 4.7-inch and 7.1 millimeters for the 5.5-inch. The tight pants trend doesn't seem likely to break anytime soon, so this is important.

Apple claims both iPhone 6 devices will have 50 percent more efficiency, but for the larger of the two, the battery life will be a tremendous improvement over the 5S, with twice the power storage, giving the iPhone 6 Plus twice the audio talk time. However, your usage with the big screen might make that battery life stay the same.

The new phones have improved the already-great camera by adding super-resolution technology, that uses multiple pics stitched together, similar to HDR. Video-wise, 1080p slow motion is now in your pocket, and the FaceTime camera is improved.

You'll also get NFC abilities, enabling you to pay with your phone at a ton of business that are signing on. To make all this possible, Apple tossed in a faster A8 processor, so that shiny new iOS 8 should run without a hitch, even at higher frame-rates. There's also a barometer that can measure relative elevation, which works in conjunction to another processor, the M8, to give you better health tracking abilities for physical activity. 

While you won't be able to take advantage of all the capabilities with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus without picking one up, Apple's new iOS 8 will let you stay up to date on their non-hardware-specific features, like phone calls on WiFi and LTE. This is a good time to be an iOS user.


Ethan Wolff-Mann is an editor at Supercompressor.com. He uses a landline. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann.