iPhone 6S review

PROS

• Great look and feel
• 3D Touch adds interesting new dimension
• Subtle but useful camera improvements
• Outstanding performance
• Clever front-facing camera flash

CONS

• Battery will deter power users
• No wireless charging
• Others charge faster

KEY FEATURES

• 4.7-inch, 326ppi LCD
• 7.1mm thick
• 143g
• 1.8GHz Dual-Core
• 2GB RAM
• 16/64/128GB storage
• 12-megapixel iSight camera
• 5-megapixel Facetime HD camera
• Manufacturer: Apple
• Review Price: £539.00/5500 MAD.

WHAT IS THE IPHONE 6S?

The iPhone 6S is that phone this year, and it adds some clever new ‘taptic’ features, camera improvements and a radically faster processor to last year’s iPhone 6.

You can get it in Rose Gold now if you fancy a change. But whatever your feelings on the matter, rest assured this another excellent phone from Apple.

IPHONE 6S – DESIGN & FEATURES

All ‘S’ phones look like their forbears and the iPhone 6S is no different. Even the screen is the same. It’s not the very best there is – Samsung’s OLEDs are in a different league in this respect – but it’s excellent for an LCD.

Contrast is great and colours are natural. Some might argue its 326 pixels per inch (ppi) isn’t sharp enough, but that argument doesn’t hold water with me. It’s plenty sharp enough.

Before I move onto the interesting stuff, however, it bears repeating what a successful design this is. Not only does the iPhone 6S look great, it’s naturally comfortable. Everything just fits.

Sadly, making room for the new Taptic Engine that helps power 3D Touch means a small, 5% reduction in battery capacity. Apple says that improved power efficiencies in iOS 9 and the new Low Power Mode ensure the iPhone 6S’s battery life is similar to the iPhone 6.

Other serious changes concern the cameras. Apple has increased the resolution of the iSight Camera (rear) and Facetime HD camera (front) to 12-megapixels and 5-megapixels. That’s 50% and over 300% more pixels respectively – not small numbers considering the 6S uses the same size sensors.

Finally, we have a new processor – the A9. While there’s plenty still to learn about the inner workings of the new dual-core chip, a core speed bump from 1.4GHz to 1.8GHz heralds some serious performance improvements.

IPHONE 6S – 3D TOUCH AND THE TAPTIC ENGINE

First, though, 3D Touch. This is, without question, the defining feature of the iPhone 6S. As explained above, 3D Touch lets the iPhone detect different levels of pressure and trigger new actions depending on how hard you press.

It’s the kind of feature that demands exploration and experimentation from users and developers alike. At first, you’ll explore the home screen – pressing harder on icons to see what happens. Sometimes it’s nothing, which is frustrating, but sometimes you’ll be presented with shortcuts to specific actions.

For example, “3D Touch” on the Camera app icon – I can’t help feel “Force Touch” is a better verb – and you’ll get shortcuts to take selfie or shoot a video.

IPHONE 6S – CAMERA

On paper alone, there are legitimate reasons for disappointment with the iPhone 6S camera. While the bump from 8-megapixels to 12-megapixels is very welcome, Apple hasn’t upgraded the lens. Its f/2.2 aperture doesn’t sound that impressive sat next to the f/1.8 of the Galaxy S6 range, or the f/1.7 of the LG G4 – lower is better in this case.

This is important because a ‘wider’ aperture lets in more light onto the sensor. More light leads to better low light performance and superior ‘depth of field’ – where the background is blurred behind your subject.

IPHONE 6S – PERFORMANCE

The iPhone 6S is hell-a-fast, which is apparently not as fast as “stupidfast” but is nonetheless pretty nippy. The new chip tops rivals in most benchmarks and is a good 50 to 60% faster than the A8 – a serious jump.

Apple’s upgraded A9 SoC (System on a Chip) houses a shiny new PowerVR GPU and two CPU cores clocked at 1.8GHz each, up from 1.4GHz, and there’s 2GB of RAM.

IPHONE 6S – BATTERY LIFE

“Battery life could be a problem,” . Wonderful though 3D Touch and the Taptic Engine are, Apple had to reduce the battery capacity from 1,810mAh to 1,715mAh to fit them in. It made the 6S slightly thicker and heavier, too, though not enough that anyone should care.

The iPhone 6 didn't have a stellar reputation for battery life, and while some of those complaints are overblown, they’re not without foundation. Certainly, the ‘Plus’ variant is the phone to go for if you suffer range “range anxiety”.

SHOULD I BUY THE IPHONE 6S?

Yeah, probably. While a small corner of the internet secretly hopes Apple will drop a clanger – or convinces themselves it already has – this time round it hasn’t. 

iPhone 5S owners who don’t want to “upsize” should sign on the dotted line. You could wait for the iPhone 7 if you’re feeling patient, but the 6S is a great upgrade. 3D Touch is fantastic and the S6 is so, very, very fast.

OVERALL SCORE

SCORES IN DETAIL

• Battery Life7
• Calls & Sound8
• Camera9
• Design9
• Performance10
• Screen Quality9
• Software9
• Value8