Update: Apple India has changed the availability date of its new iPhones on the iPhone page from September 26 to October 17.
New Delhi: Apple has launched two new iPhones - the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - which won't just have bigger screens, but will have a new, horizontal viewing mode to take advantage of the larger display.
The iPhone 6 will have a screen measuring 4.7 inches, while the iPhone 6 Plus will be 5.5 inches. In both cases, app developers will be able to design apps that can be viewed differently when the phone is held horizontally.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will start shipping in the US on September 19, with advance orders to begin this Friday (September 12). The new iPhones will come to India on October 17. The company has already started teasing the new iPhones on Apple India's iPhone page. There is, however, no mention of the prices on the India page. The prices of the new iPhones for the Indian market are expected to be announced closer to the India launch. (The company had earlier mentioned September 26 as the availability date in India but changed to October 17 in a few hours.)
The screen resolution on the iPhone 6 Plus will be sharper than previous iPhones, at 401 pixels per inch rather than 326.
Usually, icons are stacked vertically, even when the phone is turned horizontally. App developers will also have new tools to rearrange their content to take advantage of that larger screen.
The new phones aren't as big as Samsung's latest flagship phones - 5.1 inches for the Galaxy S5 and 5.7 inches for the Note 4 - but they will be large enough to neutralise a key advantage Samsung and other Android manufacturers have had.
The resolution on the camera is staying at 8 megapixels, while rival Android and Windows phones have been boosting that. The S5, for instance, is at 16 megapixels. However, the megapixel count is not only one factor in what makes a good photo. Apple says it is putting in new sensors for better shots.
Apple is also improving a slow-motion video feature by allowing even slower shots. The camera will be able to take 240 frames per second, double what's in last year's iPhone 5s. Normally, video is at 60 frames per second.
Apple says the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be faster and have better battery life than previous versions. The phones will also have a new sensor, the barometre, to estimate how much you've climbed stairs, not just how far you've walked or run.
Of course, some people still use their phones to actually make calls. When there's poor cellular reception, people will be able to make regular calls over WiFi. The handoff between the two networks will be seamless. In the US, this feature will initially be available through T-Mobile.
In the US, starting prices will be comparable to those in the past - $199 with a two-year contract for the iPhone 6 with 16GB of storage.
However, the step-up models will have double the memory than before - $299 for 64 gigabytes and $399 for 128 gigabytes. The iPhone 6 Plus phones will cost $100 more at each configuration.
It also introduced a new mobile payments service dubbed "Apple Pay." Each phone will come equipped with its new payments service, which launches in the United States next month and allows users to pay for items in stores with their phones instead of physically presenting their credit or debit cards.
(With inputs from agencies)
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