'iPhone 6s' Measures Slightly Thicker and Larger Than iPhone 6

[TWD98j]

I'm all good with the phone being slightly thicker AS LONG AS the accessories for the 6 Plus are still compatible. I just bought a mophie juice pack air for the iPhone 6 Plus last week when mophie was running a 20% + free shipping promo. I did this assuming that (since it's an "S" upgrade) it would be compatible with the 6S Plus.

With the 3GS, I got the juice pack air for the 3G and it worked just fine.

With the 4S, I got the juice pack air for the 4 and it worked just fine.

With the 5S, I got the juice pack air for the 5 and it worked just fine.

I am hoping to continue this trend for the 6S Plus....

 

[Marx55]

Weight?

 

[Thunderhawks]

For the record, I wasn't complaining about the negligibly increased size. Just making an observation that people were already saying that the 6/6+ have too large bezels, and would be disappointed if they even stayed the same size with the expected redesign next year. I fully agree that this is a trivial thing to worry about.

Sorry, just picked you post to reply.

Thought you were not that serious anyway

 

[Thunderhawks]

Weight?

Wet or dry?

My guess is 0.089 grams more, disgusting.

 

[ksuyen]

0.008" is like... 0. For the sake of simplicity, just says the new iPhone 6s is as thin as iPhone 6. Done.

 

[ksuyen]

Wet or dry?

My guess is 0.089 grams more, disgusting.

I wonder why they didn't mention the weight. Could it be the new phone is 1 grams lighter, and since it's a positive news it's deemed as not Apple news worthy.

 

[2IS]

On one hand, I don't see how is that relevant.

On the other hand, their laptops completely blow away the competition in the performance/form ratio, and I welcomed that.

The iPhone is a physically larger phone then phones that actually have a larger screen. Not that hard to figure out the relevance.

 

[JCrz]

Too bad people have had nearly a whole year to strength-train so they're able to bend phones better this year.

 

[manu chao]

I know it won't be noticeable, but still, I think people are hoping for a change in the other direction. I know that for the 7 many people are hoping that they will be able to cram a 5" display into the dimensions of the 6. If the 6s is going to be larger, even if only to a virtually undetectable degree, that means that trimming down the dimensions by next year may be outside the realm of possibility.

That assumes two things: (1) That Apple would do a full stack re-evaluation of all components to compensate the increase in screen assembly increase due to the integration of force-touch and the use of a different alloy, and (2) That smartphones have hit a wall in terms of size reduction in (a) thickness and (b) bezel thickness.

Apple is certainly not doing (1), the whole point of the 's' cycle is to minimise engineering, supply chain and production tooling resources and to allow for bigger difference in appearance between the major versions. The size reduction in terms of thinness is certainly slowing down in absolute terms and probably also in relative terms but there is no indication why it should have hit a wall at this moment. The size reduction expectations from the bezel size reductions were always overblown. The long edge bezel decreased in size from 6.1 mm (3G), to 4.4 mm (4 and 5), to 3.3 mm (6). Note that the shape of the case edge very likely influences this. The round edge of the 3G and 6 very likely adds a fraction of a millimetre to it. If we try to correct for this and reduce the bezel from the 6 by 0.2 mm and 0.4 mm for the 3G, we get a size reduction of 23% from the 3G to 4/5 and 30% (without this correction these numbers are 28 and 25%). Whichever way you look at it that is at most between 20 to 30% in two years and if you consider the constant bezel between the 4 and the 5, half of that in two years.

Now, taking the upper limit and assuming a bezel reduction of 30% for the 7, we get 1.8 mm of extra screen size for the same exterior dimensions. To get from 4.5 to 5", would mean an increase of 6.5 mm. So, at best this would mean an increase of width of 4.7 mm. To make this clear, making optimistic assumptions about bezel reductions, to get from a 4.5 to 5" screen, the phone would need to get 4.7 mm wider while you are worrying about a 0.2 mm additional increase from that baseline.

The only way to an increased screen size with only a minimal overall device size increase is by reducing the top and bottom bezels which requires a removal of the home button (or drastic size reduction, though for fingerprint reading it probably cannot get much smaller unless you want a fingerprint scanner where you have to slide over) or an asymmetric bezel (reducing only the top, though that wouldn't be nearly enough), ie, an integration of the fingerprint scanner (and/or home button) into the actual screen. A 0.2 mm case increase really won't make any meaningful change to those aspects.

 

[manu chao]

The iPhone is a physically larger phone then phones that actually have a larger screen. Not that hard to figure out the relevance.

For which you largely have to blame the (round) home button and the symmetric bezel on top and bottom.

 

[JustThinkin']

lol @ wiggle-room...

The case for new cases or not...

Apart from the Force touch, the others are due to how people handle their phones..

We don't "need" a stronger aluminum, we "want"..

There no such thing as needing anymore in the tech world... I think we've come to the point we have crossed this barrier. and without the extra strength, we are not gonna die without it...

Unless u work in some strange situations where u are excessive clumsy by nature and become more clumsy over time.

I will be sticking to my iPhone 6

There's always a need for something more. You just don't have enough imagination.

The real problem here is that Apple now has less imagination than it used to.

 

[EightBitJoe]

I'd gladly buy an iPhone that was thicker than the 6 if it meant they were shoving a bigger battery inside.

 

[farewelwilliams]

I guess you forgot about the iPad 3.

My guess is: Jony took a vacation and threw a tantrum when he came back to that

 

[Brandhouse]

"and while there is some variability in measurements likely due in large part to the relatively low quality digital calipers being used for measurements..."

Digital calipers will measure the same as any pair of digital callipers, it's the build quality that varies, not the ability to measure. Doh! What a ludicrous thing to write.

 

[Ploki]

The iPhone is a physically larger phone then phones that actually have a larger screen. Not that hard to figure out the relevance.

I'm aware of that. What I'm not sure is whether that really is a problem (first hand), while on the other hand I appreciate the same trend with MacBooks, that are way in front of competition (While iPhone lacks in this area)

 

[manu chao]

This is not sarcastic: What do you believe Force Touch could add to an in-app experience to make it amazing? I have an Apple Watch and it works nicely because it enables extra UI elements without extra buttons, but I can't see how this would be beneficial to a phone.

It can speed up things if for example it can replace a long press or replaces an action that at the moment requires two taps (which the long press currently does in some situations). An example would be deleting an image where you currently tap on the trashcan icon, wait for the menu to slide up and then tap 'Delete Photo'. If a force-press on the trashcan would delete the image directly (there still is the safety net of the 'Recently deleted' album and force-pressing could be considered to be less likely to be accidentally triggered than a mere tap on the icon), that would speed things up.

One UI downside of iOS is that things seem to take longer and be more cumbersome. Deleting a file on a computer can normally done via a keyboard shortcut, which is faster or at least feels faster than clicking on an 'Edit' button and then a cross icon (which would be the equivalent of the iOS process). Overall, keyboard shortcuts are probably a very important factor why computers feel faster than iOS (or more generally touch-screen OSes). The force-press thus might be sort of an equivalent to a keyboard shortcut.

 

[nj-morris]

So how many reports have we had claiming a larger body? We get it.

I assume you are being sarcastic. It seems force touch will add complexities that will make the user experience more confusing. Anyone who has used an apple watch can attest to that. Even for such a simple device it isn't clear when and wear force touch works. On the iphone I can foresee it being magnified to be much worse.

It completely depends on how they implement it. The purpose of FT on the Watch is to eliminate the need for side menus, as the display is too small for it. And since it doesn't have nearly as much useful content as on the iPhone, such as games and web, it will serve a much wider range of uses.
And as @jalexand007 states, it is indeed a useful feature on the watch, so expect more from the iPhone, for the reasons I stated.

This is not sarcastic: What do you believe Force Touch could add to an in-app experience to make it amazing? I have an Apple Watch and it works nicely because it enables extra UI elements without extra buttons, but I can't see how this would be beneficial to a phone.

You can't see it...but that's the beauty of a 100,000 man company. They probably have hundreds of people adding ideas. I'm sure there will be something useful.

And what about world hunger, wars, environmental issues or Taylor Swift.

What about people who don't know whether to use your or you're? That's what I call a major world problem.

 

[NayborAxi]

I still remember people bashing me and any others that said phone bent in their pockets out of the blue yet they made it thicker to reinforce the phone and prevent the "only 9 devices bent reported". Seems like the issue was more widespread than believed. Some people here just defend apple no matter what like a cult.

 

[Lazy]

"and while there is some variability in measurements likely due in large part to the relatively low quality digital calipers being used for measurements..."

Digital calipers will measure the same as any pair of digital callipers, it's the build quality that varies, not the ability to measure. Doh! What a ludicrous thing to write.

Uh, the original comment can only reasonably be interpreted to mean the overall (or build if you will) quality of the calipers, and not anything to do with them being digital vs. non-digital. Doh back at you.

 

[manu chao]

1cm thick?

That would be way too bulky.

The iPhone 4 was 9.3 mm thick.

 

[manu chao]

I wonder why they didn't mention the weight. Could it be the new phone is 1 grams lighter, and since it's a positive news it's deemed as not Apple news worthy.

They don't have all the components, they really cannot say much if anything about the weight of the complete phone.

 

[Ploki]

The iPhone 4 was 9.3 mm thick.

after using 5 for half a year (no case), 4 does seem like a brick.

 

[Brandhouse]

Uh, the original comment can only reasonably be interpreted to mean the overall (or build if you will) quality of the calipers, and not anything to do with them being digital vs. non-digital. Doh back at you.

Digital callipers read the same as any digital callipers, a measurement. Build quality does not change its ability read a measurement. Doh to you.

 

[Zirel]

The iPhone 4 was 9.3 mm thick.

That was 5 years ago.

It's too bulky for a new phone.

 

[Casiotone]

...

The only way to an increased screen size with only a minimal overall device size increase is by reducing the top and bottom bezels which requires a removal of the home button (or drastic size reduction, though for fingerprint reading it probably cannot get much smaller unless you want a fingerprint scanner where you have to slide over) or an asymmetric bezel (reducing only the top, though that wouldn't be nearly enough), ie, an integration of the fingerprint scanner (and/or home button) into the actual screen. A 0.2 mm case increase really won't make any meaningful change to those aspects.

And don't forget the rear camera. If the top bezel size was reduced to accommodate a bigger screen, the camera bump that everyone is complaining about would get even worse.