OUR VERDICT
Apple's done what we all expected - finely balanced its latest phone. 3D Touch is a genuine innovation, and the phone works fluidly at nearly every task - but it's very similar to 2014's model.
FOR
- Great design
- 3D Touch impresses
- Stable OS
AGAINST
- Battery life low
- Live Photos don't always work
- Price high for a low-res screen
Apple's tagline for the iPhone 6S is 'the only thing that's changed is everything', highlighting that the brand knows this is a phone that looks an awful lot like last year's model.
It makes sense that Apple would try its hardest to show that, despite the handset looking identical to last year's model, there have been loads of changes under the hood that make this an attractive phone in its own right.
The chassis is stronger, the camera sharper – with a new Harry Potter-esque way of capturing your snaps – and there's even a completely new way of interacting with the screen. On paper, it's an impressive upgrade.
But when it looks identical to the iPhone 6, people will be desperate to know if the iPhone 6S is enough of an upgrade to justify the price. While the upgrades seem great, is it worth going all the way up to the iPhone 6S, or would the 6 do?
In terms of raw price, we're in a weird situation now. Samsung and the rest of the Android crew have been slowly ratcheting up the price of their high-end phones to the point where they're actually eclipsing the iPhone 6S at launch.
However, Apple's once again been the victim of its off-kilter launch cycle, meaning it's putting its phone into a market where the Galaxy S6 is now significantly cheaper – and so the iPhone 6S has a higher price to live up to. That said, this new phone is just that: a new phone. That means some potential buyers will be enamoured with the notion of getting the latest tech on the market rather than a six-month-old handset.
In the UK, that means between £50 and £100 upfront to get the phone for £36-£38 per month (if you want a decent slug of data and minutes) with the phone starting at £539 for the 16GB model, £619 for the 64GB model and £699 for 128GB.
It's starting at $649 if you're looking to pick it up off contract in the US, with the new $32.45 monthly cost if you're thinking of getting locked into Apple's yearly upgrade plan.
In reality though, the question of who this phone is aimed at isn't that hard to answer: for most people stuck on the iPhone 5S it's clearly the upgrade they're considering, and beyond that there's the disgruntled Android owner who's tired of looking at the slicker app experience Apple offers and seeing their own handset looking sketchy in comparison.
