Apple Event Wrap-up – iPhone 6S, iPad Pro, and More

Apple held a big press event today in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco where they unveiled the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, the iPad Pro, iPad Mini 4, and further updates to their line of products. Read on to find out what’s to come and whether it’s worth getting excited over.

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus

The pièce de ré·sis·tance, at least it seemed that way in the weeks leading up to the event. There’s probably a good number of people who were more excited to hear about tablets or even Apple TV, but the iPhone is and will always be the core of Apple’s lineup and for many this event was all about revealing the newest iteration. And here it is, in all of it’s Rose Gold glory.

The new iPhones – the 4.7-inch 6S and 5.5-inch 6S Plus – may look just like the last ones, but they’ve got their fair share of new features. We’ve been talking a lot about Force Touch in recent weeks, first about Huawei’s Mate S and then about the iPhone 6S itself, and now it’s been confirmed: the iPhone 6S will use a feature called 3D Touch, in which the user can press down on the screen to access menus, shortcuts, etc.

The phone’s body – which, as stated, is Rose Gold – has been built using a new custom alloy designed by Apple and the screen is made of the same Ion-X glass that can be found on the Apple Watch. The new alloy specifically has likely been designed to prevent the bending issues that plagued the iPhone 6 and its larger counterpart.

The new iPhones are equipped with Apple’s A9 64-bit processor, which will reportedly be 70-percent faster at CPU tasks and 90-percent faster at GPU tasks than the A8 processor. Apple is bumping the rear camera up to 12-megapixels and it will be capable of recording 4K video. The front camera will be 5-megapixels and will get a psuedo-flash in the form of the display lighting up three times brighter than usual. The color of the display will also change to match the ambient lighting of wherever you’re taking the picture.

A new feature called “live photos” will take a second-and-a-half video alongside every photo you take. It’s a fun idea, one that has been tried in the past, but it will also likely eat up a lot of storage space. Fortunately, you can turn the feature off if you want to.

The phone’s Wi-Fi speeds should be twice as fast and LTE is improving as well as they add more bands. Touch ID has apparently been improved as well, though Apple didn’t clarify in what ways.

The 16GB iPhone 6S will cost $199 on a two-year contract and it will cost $100 more for each tier of storage space up to 128GB. The iPhone will also be available on a payment plan for $27 per month. Then there’s the third option of $32 per month, which gets you an iPhone 6S but also allows you to return it for the new model once that hits shelves.

The 16GB iPhone 6S Plus will cost $299 on a two-year contract, the 64GB model will cost $399, and the 128GB will cost $499.

iPad Pro

In the tablet department, Apple announced their new Microsoft Surface iPad Pro, which CEO Tim Cook joked is the biggest news in iPad since the iPad. The iPad Pro sports a 12.9-inch Retina 5K display with 2732 x 2048 resolution. It uses a variable refresh rate so that you’re able to slow the display down and save battery.

On the inside it uses an A9X processor, which is supposedly 1.8 times faster than its predecessor. As far as battery life goes, Apple says it will last 10 hours, even while being able to edit three streams of 4K video simultaneously. It also has a four-speaker audio system which iOS 9 will balance to give you the best possible audio based on how you’re holding it.

The iPad Pro also includes LTE support, a Touch ID sensor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a FaceTime HD camera on the front. It will come in silver, gold, and space grey colors.

The iPad Pro will have an attachable keyboard, and though Apple’s Phil Schiller says it’s unlike any keyboard we’ve used before, he doesn’t elaborate on it. He does, however, elaborate on the Apple Pencil accessory.

The Apple Pencil is very much a stylus, and if you find the combination of “Apple” and “stylus” to be familiar, it’s because Apple architect Steve Jobs made this pretty definitive claim back in April 2010: “It’s like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it.”

Now, as visionary as he was, Jobs couldn’t predict the future and Cook and Apple are simply evolving with the times and seeing what works. Samsung has seen a positive reaction to their S-Pen, so the folks at Apple are borrowing the idea and seeing what they can do with it.

The Apple Pencil features sensitivity sensors for drawing thin and thick lines, it can be recharged with a lightning connector, and it works with the apps you would expect it to work with, like Mail and Notes. Representatives from Microsoft and Adobe even took the stage to show how the Apple Pencil works with Powerpoint and Photoshop.

The 32GB iPad Pro model starts at $799, while you’ll pay $949 for the 128GB model. LTE only comes on the 128GB model, and that will run you $1,079. Unfortunately, Apple won’t be bunding the keyboard or the Apple Pencil with the tablet. The Apple Pencil will cost you $99 and the keyboard $169.

iPad Mini 4

There isn’t much to say about the iPad Mini 4, as it isn’t much of an update. According to Apple, the iPad Mini 4 will pack the power of the iPad Air 2 into a 0.65 pound package. The iPad Mini 4 will cost $399 and it will drop the iPad Mini 2’s cost to $269. We suggested picking up an iPad Mini 2 in our back-to-school guide and now seems like the perfect time.

Apple TV

The new Apple TV with Siri and the App Store will hit in October. It’s a lot more powerful than its predecessor, with a 64-bit A8 processor, and that extra power is important for the gaming Apple plans for you to do. Apple showed off a few titles including a Harmonix game and a Star Wars game. Users will now also be able to shop online with their Apple TV.

While the addition of apps is the biggest thing to happen to the device, it’s still primarily for watching content. Users will navigate that content with Siri and Apple’s universal search can cleverly search multiple video services at the same time.

And finally, iOS 9 is now available to developers with an official launch planned for September 16th.