As well as new phones and a professional-use iPad, the company announced iOS 9 and watchOS 2
Today Apple has announced iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, as well as iPad Pro, and Apple Watch Hermès. The company also announced watchOS 2 and iOS 9, both of which will be available as free updates from 16 September.
The new iPhones are an update to the iPhone 6, with the main interest being around the new 3D Touch, which senses force to enable intuitive new ways to access features and interact with content.
iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus feature Retina HD displays and 7000 series aluminum, the same alloy used in the aerospace industry, in metallic finishes that now include rose gold.
With Quick Actions, 3D Touch provides shortcuts to the things users do most, so they can send a message or take a selfie with just a simple press from the home screen.
iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus also introduce a new approach to photography for Apple called Live Photos, bringing still images to life by capturing a moment in motion.
However, this has already been done by Microsoft, which launched the feature that it calls Living Image, originally introduced in the Lumia Camera version for the Lumia 930.
iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus introduce new ways to navigate and experience iPhone by sensing pressure to enable new gestures, called Peek and Pop, so users can dip in and out of content without losing their place. Users may press lightly to Peek at a photo, email, web page or other content, and press a little deeper to Pop into the content itself.
Apple’s Live Photos, 3D Touch and other advancements in the new iPhones are powered by the Apple-designed A9 chip, which the company claimed is the most advanced chip ever in a smartphone, delivering faster performance and great battery life.
Commented Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, on the new iPhones: “The only thing that has changed with iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus is everything; 3D Touch lets users interact with iPhone in entirely new and fun ways, and the innovative Live Photos brings your pictures to life.”
Also announced today, iPad Pro features a 12.9 inch Retina display with 5.6 million pixels, which is the most ever seen in an iOS device. It also is capable of groundbreaking performance with the new 64 bit A9X chip, rivaling most portable PCs, claimed Apple.
The new larger iPad Pro is thin and light and provides all-day battery life, claimed the company. There are more than 850,000 apps in the App Store designed specifically for iPad, and Apple said it expects that the iPad Pro will enable a new generation of advanced apps for everything from productivity, design, illustration, engineering and medical, to education, gaming and entertainment.
Apple additionally introduced Apple Pencil for iPad Pro, a precision input device available for purchase separately, which makes drawing and sketching feel fluid and natural. The touch subsystem of the Multi-Touch display in iPad Pro has been redesigned to work with Apple Pencil to reduce latency and deliver accuracy for activities like fine art illustration and detailed 3D design.
Apple announced iOS 9, an update to its mobile operating system, which is set to make iOS devices more intelligent and proactive with powerful search and improved Siri features, all while protecting users’ privacy.
The way users interact with iPad will improve with iOS 9, thanks to new multitasking features that let users view and interact with two apps at once, side by side, said Apple.
With Picture-in-Picture on iOS 9, users can play video while browsing the web, composing email or using other apps. Built-in apps become more powerful with a redesigned Notes app offering new ways to capture ideas, detailed transit information in Maps, and an all-new News app for the best news reading experience on any mobile device.
Meanwhile, watchOS 2 further enhances the Apple Watch experience with new features and native third party apps.
watchOS 2 makes apps faster and more fluid by running natively on Apple Watch, and introduces new watch faces, the ability for third party apps to display information on the watch face, and an innovative way to see future events, past headlines and more with Time Travel. watchOS 2 also includes new communication features such as the ability to respond quickly to Mail with dictation, Smart Replies or emoji, and Digital Touch enables more creativity with multiple sketch colors.
Finally, Apple and Hermès introduced Apple Watch Hermès, a new collection of Apple Watch in stainless steel with finely crafted leather bands in distinctive styles from Hermès, including the Single Tour, Double Tour and Cuff, while respecting the design and functionality of the Apple Watch. The collaboration merges Apple’s product innovation with the heritage, iconography and craftsmanship of Hermès, creating a unique Apple Watch.
