THE IPHONE
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Why do we have the Apple iPhone 6? Well, despite record sales, the Cupertino brand was heading for a fall. Not this year, or the next. But the brand had been trading on the same phone for four years and something big was needed to keep it current.
So with that, the iPhone 6, and its bigger brother, the iPhone 6 Plus, were born to keep Apple at the sharp end of a market that was starting to lust after powerful, big screen smartphones with clever and premium design.
- Compare: all the best iPhone 6 deals
The iPhone 6 certainly addresses a number of the problems Apple had developed, coming with a much larger screen (although not dramatically increasing the size of the phone) a boosted processor, better camera, improved battery and crucially: overhauled design.
But while the iPhone 6 has answered a lot of the problems I've had with previous iterations of Apple's handsets, there are still some issues that still swirled when I handled the phone for the first time.
Why has Apple decided to not join the masses with a really high-res screen? Why is the iPhone still the most expensive on the market? Has it done enough to improve the quite dire battery life of previous models, especially at a time when many high-end Android phones are easily chugging through a day's hard use without thirsting for a charger's caress?
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THE PRICE
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Let's take a quick look at the price - and it's not pretty.
In the UK, you're looking at £539 for the 16GB version, £619 for the 64GB option and £699 for the 128GB model. On a decent contract these start at around £45 per month, with roughly £100 for the phone up front, although you can shop around and get it for slightly less if you stray from the main networks.
That's a lot more than the competition, with most high-end contracts topping out at £38 for the main rivals, with less up front too.
In the US, the Apple iPhone 6 16GB is $199 on contract, 64GB comes in at $299 and the 128GB at $399. If you're planning to go off book, then it's 16GB at $649, 64GB available for $749 and a whopping $849 for the 128GB model.
In Australia, the iPhone 6 outright pricing starts at AU$869 for 16GB, then jumps to $999 for 64GB and $1,129 for the 128GB version. If you prefer to pay off your phone over time, Optus is offering the 16GB for $0 on a $100 monthly contract over 24 months, Telstra has the same model for $0 on a $95 monthly plan and Vodafone will give you the 16GB iPhone 6 if you sign up for 24 months on an $80 a month plan.
The iPhone 6 Plus, meanwhile, costs AU$999 for 16GB, AU$1,129 for 64GB and AU$1,249 for 128GB. On contract to get a 16GB model for $0, you'll need to spend $95 a month with Telstra, or $100 a month with Vodafone, both on a 24 month contract.
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CONCLUSION
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"Craftmanship. The perfect smartphone, with a perfect operating system, with elegant design. The best phone out there."
That was the response of someone when I asked how they thought Tim Cook would answer the question "Why does the iPhone 6 cost so much more than the rest of the competitor phones?".
I feel it would be pretty close to the mark.
It's a more in-depth answer than 'the Apple logo on the back' which a lot of people assume is the reason you've got to pay more for an iPhone. That answer would explain why Apple thinks it can charge more for the phone, but doesn't go any way to explaining what it really is that means it feels the need to raise the price so.
In fact, price is the main thing that plays on my mind whenever I use the iPhone.
However, before I give my thoughts on that, let's first take a look at what makes this phone special: an improved design, a better camera, an upgraded battery.
A faster CPU, better graphical power, stronger health sensors and a slicker and more intuitive UI. This is a big jump for Apple, and one that makes this a very impressive phone indeed.
But is that worth the extra money?
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LIKED
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A
lot of people still think it's acceptable to compare phones based on a
spec sheet. It's not. It's about the experience, the relationship one
has with a phone day after day, and that's something Apple has nailed
year after year: the feeling you get when you first pick one up.The design of the iPhone 6 is brilliant. It feels like a potted down version of the iPad Air, which itself was one of the best-designed bits of tech I've ever held. I'm not a fan of the plastic strips on the top and bottom of the phone - I'd have preferred these to be blocks of colour - but that aside, it feels great in the palm.
The battery life upgrade is a real plus too. Yes, it falls a little under hard use, and after a few months of working, but the main problem with the 5S was the fact the phone would be useless by the end of the working day even when not put under a lot of strain - that problem seems to have been resolved.
The camera quietly impresses, and the new modes are helpful at times, if not always useful. While it irritates that there's no 16:9 mode for snapping, the results are still almost always something I'd want to share.
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DISLIKED
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The iPhone 6 is a sensational handset, but not flawless. There are two issues that have to be raised.The first is the screen. It's a tricky one, as it could sound like I'm being rather hypocritical given my point about not basing a feeling about a phone on a spec sheet.
But the lower-res screen is noticeable next to most other Full HD phones in the iPhone 6's class. Sure, day to day you won't notice the fuzzier text, the slightly rougher pictures, but given you'll be paying more for an iPhone than any other device on the market (bar some hyper-powerful phablets) I can't condone Apple not working out a way to get a Full HD display on this phone.
It's not like it's new technology either: the HTC One M7 had a similarly sized display back in 2013 and it was Full HD. It looked great back then, so why has Apple not managed the same thing now?
I can't think it's to do with battery life, but if it is, then the phone should have been made thicker. 6.9mm with the rounded back feels nice in the hand, but a mm or two thicker wouldn't have gone amiss if the thing I was looking at had a better display on.
And secondly, there's the issue of price. Again. The Apple iPhone 6 is still too expensive for me.
Every year I get to this point in the review of that year's iPhone and wonder: 'Am I'm missing something? Should I be giving the iPhone a pass when castigating Android or Windows Phones for the same thing?'
But I can't find a tangible reason for the extra cost. We're not talking a single pound / dollar or two, it's a big difference in price on contract. The materials used are premium, yes, but not necessarily making the best design out there.
The iCloud drive stuff is good, the operating system is sleek, but there's nothing here (beyond the phone being a very good all-rounder) that gives me a quick answer when someone asks me 'Why is the iPhone more expensive?'
To me, that's a problem and one I can't just ignore because 'people' will pay it. Were there nothing else wrong here, then perhaps it could be glossed over, giving the choice to the buyer, but as the phone isn't market leading in a number of ways, the price rankles heavily.
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VERDICT
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When
I first picked up the iPhone 6, I thought this was going to be a hard
review to write. Had Apple just changed the shape but kept the same
inherent problems? Was there really enough new to make it a phone that
really helped the company leap forward?The answer is: the Apple iPhone 6 is a brilliant phone. It's the first time I'd even consider using an iPhone as my daily device, thanks to the larger screen, better keyboard and most importantly upgraded battery life.
However, the price is still tremendously off-putting and the screen, while perfectly fine (and sometimes impressive) in day to day use will still irritate me, knowing that I've not got the best experience for my money.
But that's the only bugbear I have with the Apple iPhone 6. It feels amazing in the hand. Apple has somehow made a phone too thin and turned it into a positive. The operating system is smarter and more intuitive than ever, and that's without even factoring in the strong ecosystem of apps and media that Apple users get.
We'll ignore the Trojan Horsing of the U2 album for now.
I promised I wouldn't say the iPhone 6 is the best iPhone Apple has ever made, and thankfully I don't have to. I used that phrase for the 5S, as there wasn't a lot else that was worthy of a headline statement.
So while the iPhone 6 might not be the most powerful, most attractive, best at photography or best for battery life, Apple has put it all together in a way that, if you can forgive the price (and that's a big if), offers a phone that should be at the sharp end of your consideration for your next smartphone.
This review is from TECHRADAR