We won’t really know anything about Apple’s next iPhone until the company officially unveils it, but that hasn’t stopped analysts from researching and speculating on what it will be like.
The next iPhone, which some are calling the iPhone 6S, is expected to be a modest upgrade from Apple’s current iPhone 6. Various reports have indicated that the iPhone 6S will look and feel a lot like the iPhone 6, but with some technical improvements.
We’ve spoken to a few analysts about which features they think will actually make it to the iPhone 6S, and here’s what they had to say.
- Force Touch will be the marquee feature for the iPhone 6S, according to three analysts we’ve spoken with. This backs up reports we’ve seen over the past few months indicating Apple plans to bring Force Touch to the iPhone. Force Touch is a technology that can sense how hard you’re pressing down on the screen in addition to where you’re pressing, whether you’re tapping or swiping, etc. It’s in the Apple Watch’s screen and the new MacBook’s trackpad. Cantor Fitzgerald’s Brian White says he’s seen evidence of Force Touch coming to the iPhone in his own supply chain research. “There’s going to be a lot of different features in how you interact with Force Touch and what it does that maybe we’re not thinking about yet,” White said.
- Force Touch could change the way we use apps. White and Timothy Arcuri of Cowen and Company both believe Force Touch will add new features to the apps we use and the iOS ecosystem in general. “It takes a two-dimensional screen and basically makes it three-dimensional,” Arucri said. “And you have applications that sit below the top layer of the phone. You can press harder and access different functions and features. There’s a lot of different things they can do.” White thinks there are two specific types of apps that will benefit from Force Touch. “Gaming would be important,” White said. “I would say there could be some payment angles…I think in gaming and payments, [Force Touch] could be interesting for the iPhone.”
- One analyst believes the iPhone 6S could be Apple’s most advanced S-cycle iPhone yet. “I think the iPhone 6S will have more hardware improvements than any other S version that I can remember,” said Tavis McCourt of Raymond James & Associates. “I think it will have a significantly better use experience.” McCourt says this is because the next iPhone is rumored to come with more RAM than Apple’s previous iPhones. RAM, or random access memory, is essentially a temporary workspace inside your phone or computer that’s used to process data and execute tasks. If Apple’s next iPhone does come with more RAM, this likely means you’ll be able to switch between apps faster and apps will crash less frequently. Performance in general would be smoother. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus both come with 1GB of RAM, while the iPhone 6S is rumored to have 2GB of RAM.
- The iPhone 6S will come with a better camera. Over the past several months, reports have indicated that Apple’s next iPhone will come with a 12-megapixel camera. White says he’s seen evidence of this in his own research, too. Apple has stuck with 8-megapixels for the iPhone’s camera ever since the iPhone 4S was released in 2011.
Source: Business Insider
