It's the massive iPhone you've all been waiting for. Apple has just announced the 5.5in iPhone 6 Plus, making it the first iPhone to break away from the tiny 3.5 and 4in screen sizes that have come to characterise Apple's mobile offering so far. It's a gorgeous device, with an edge-to-edge glass front and an anodised aluminium back panel complete with a stainless steel Apple logo. The screen, meanwhile curves round the side of the phone is made from ion-strengthened glass, contrary to rumours saying that the screen would be made out of sapphire glass.
IPHONE 6 PLUS PRICE & RELEASE DATE
The iPhone 6 Plus will launch on September 19th, which is just ten days from now. It will be available in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB models. UK pricing, SIM-free, is £619 for the 16GB model, £699 for the 64GB model and £789 for the new 128GB model. That's at least an extra £80 on the equivalent iPhone 6 model. This price rise is to expected when you factor in the bigger, higher-resolution screen and extra new features.
We expect it to be available on all the major phone networks and we'll update this article as soon as we have confirmation. So far, Vodafone has confirmed it will be stocking the iPhone 6 Plus and customers can register their interest in the device here.
IPHONE 6 PLUS SPECS
The LCD panel will have a resolution of 1,920x1,080, which is 185 per cent more pixels than the iPhone 5s. This gives the iPhone 6 Plus a pixel density of 400 PPI (pixels-per-inch). That's a little lower than the current crop of Android flagship phones, as the Samsung Galaxy S5 has a PPI of 432, while the HTC One M8 and LG G3 have PPIs of 441 and 534 respectively.
Measuring just 7.1mm thick, the iPhone 6 Plus is 0.5 mm thinner than the 5s, which is pretty impressive for such a large handset. By comparison, the Galaxy S5 (which is currently the thinnest Android flagship phone available) measures 8.1mm thick. The power button has also been relocated to the side of the phone for easy access.
As expected, the new iPhone 6 Plus will run iOS 8, Apple's latest version of its mobile operating system, but it will also have a different UI compared to the smaller iPhone 6. On the iPhone 6 Plus, faces will be visible in the Messaging app, and you'll also be able to get a dual-pane display by turning the phone horizontal. It's a similar idea to how the iPad Mini's Messaging app currently works. The home screen will also work horizontally and the keyboard has a new set of buttons for working in landscape, including cut, copy and paste buttons.
Of course, a larger screen could make the iPhone 6 Plus more difficult to operate one-handed, but Apple has countered this with a new feature called Reachability. This new gesture control makes the entire display slide down to the lower half of the screen so you can reach the top buttons.
Apps that aren't updated for the iPhone 6 Plus will simply upscale, but developers will be able to customise their apps to fit the phone's larger screen size.
The iPhone 6 Plus will be powered by a 64-bit Apple A8 chip, which has a 20 per cent faster CPU and 50 per cent faster graphics than the current A7 chip. It's also 13 per cent smaller. This should lead to better sustained performance so the phone can run at full power without getting unbearably hot. iOS gaming fans will also be pleased to hear the iPhone 6 Plus will come with Metal, Apple's 3D app and game engine that was introduced last year.
The iPhone 6 Plus will also come with a brand new motion co-processor called the M8. This is designed for fitness apps and will be able to tell the difference between cycling and running, as well as calculate distance and elevation. This is done through a barometer, which measures relative elevation.
Battery life will allegedly equal or better the iPhone 5s, with Apple claiming up to 24 hours of 3G talk time for the iPhone 6 Plus.
The iPhone 6 Plus will support 802.11ac Wi-Fi and you'll be able to make calls over Wi-Fi as well using the Wi-Fi Calling app. So far, only EE in the UK has been announced to support the feature.
The camera is an 8-megapixel sensor with an f2.2 aperture and true-tone flash. Apple said the phone will use its next-generation iSight sensor which has a phase-detection autofocus, making it twice as fast as the iPhone 5s. Panorama shots can be up to 43-megapixels and face, smile and blink detection is now faster and better than ever.
The iPhone 6 Plus also comes with optical image stabilisation, which is a big bonus over the iPhone 6's digital image stabilisation. This adjusts the lens to take account of hand shake and will be the first iPhone to have this feature. The camera will also be able to shoot Full HD video at either 60fps or 30fps and can do slow-mo video at either 120fps or 240fps. The front-facing FaceTime camera has also been updated. It also has a larger f2.2 aperture to allow up to 81 per cent more light in and has a burst selfie mode.
