The iPhone 6s is COMING Early September

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are soon to be old news–reports are now flying in about Apple’s next-generation iPhone 6S and iPhone 7

A lot of Apple's gravitas comes from its secrecy, with onlookers knowing from the firm's past that we will never know all the little details ahead of a new product launch (even if we already know roughly what that product is) and there will be a "just one more thing" moment to surprise us. Apple is one of the most secretive tech firms in an industry based largely on secrecy, so that's saying something. And yet, Apple's also got a pretty well-established MO, it may change the fine details every now and then (it used to launch new iPhones every summer, then it consistently switched to every September), but on the whole it's fairly predictable when things are going to happen, and,  to a certain extent how they will happen too.
But despite Apple's secrecy, the rumour mill and its sprawling web of analysts, leaksters and insider contacts within China's supply and production network, has become better and better at unearthing all the grisly details with startling accuracy well ahead of device launches.
So it's not much of a surpise then, that all of the rumours are lining up to predict a September launch event for Apple's next batch of iPhones. On top of this, it appears there isn't going to be any leapfrogging to an iPhone 7. No, we're getting Apple's usual habit of an incrementally updated 'S' branded model over the previous generation - in this case the iPhone 6 - meaning we're looking at the iPhone 6s being prepped for launch.
We say incremental, in the sense that it won't look massively different or offer any major new features, instead, as with previous iPhone 'S' category phones we can expect the same overall package with some fine tuning. A turbo-charged processor, better battery life, and enhanced camera capabilities usually form the baseline of what you can expect from a new iPhone 'S' device.
It started with a few whisperings from users of Chinese social network Weibo; allegedly the iPhone 6s is entering production right now. But as of July 3, a report from DigiTimes is now adding to the pile citing its usual "sources in the upply chain".
According to the report, Apple's manufacturing partners, Foxconn and Pegatron, are now receiving component shipments and gearing production for a September launch.
Force Touch, the technology currently used inside the Apple Watch’s display, is said to be one of the iPhone 6s’ BIG USPS. And while it doesn’t sound all that impressive; it’s just another way to interact with the display of your phone, there are actually plenty of reasons to be excited about the advent of Force Touch in iPhone. For instance, with a Force Touch display, you’ll be able to do things like drop pins in Apple Maps and scroll through items faster, rather than swiping. Other things could involve quickly responding to a notification, or changing volumes on a track or video.  
"Initial shipments of new iPhone devices in the fourth quarter of 2015 are expected to total at least 50 million units, estimated the sources. Among these suppliers, Pegatron, Zhen Ding, Flexium and Largan have continued expanding their production facilities in order to meet increasing orders from Apple, the sources noted."
Turns out these "estimates" might have been a little off the mark, too. According to sources speaking to the WSJ, Apple is pushing for the BIGGEST order of iPhones EVER for Q4 2015. Apple wants it suppliers to build 85-90 million iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus units before the close of Q4 2015. Apple isn’t changing the display size either, keeping 4.7in and 5.5in for both models, but this is the biggest initial order Apple has ever placed with its suppliers.
And this makes sense too if one looks at just how well the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been selling in 2014/15.

“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The excitement for Apple Music has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to releasing iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and watchOS 2 to customers in the fall.”
“In the third quarter our year-over-year growth rate accelerated from the first half of fiscal 2015, with revenue up 33 percent and earnings per share up 45 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated very strong operating cash flow of $15 billion, and we returned over $13 billion to shareholders through our capital return program.”
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are expected to be incremental updates, unlike the big changes we saw Apple implement last year. Still, there will be plenty of key updates to the phones and this should result in excellent sales once again. A more powerful chipset with faster LTE chip is expected to debut inside the new iPhones, alongside Apple’s Force Touch display technology and 12MP camera with 4K video capture. Apple is expected to launch and release the new iPhones during September 2015, according to the WSJ, meaning they’ll be here in just shy of two months.
The news follows on from a Bloomberg report from June, claiming production would begin in July.
Will incremental work this time around, though? It certainly has done in the past, but still there are some analyst firms that believe Apple should strike while the iron is hot – the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are selling, quite literally, like Ben & Jerry’s at Fat Camp – and push on with more innovation, more change and bigger and better features. Check out Macquarie Research’s recent note to investors, for example:
“However, looking ahead, we think that the comp issue becomes a much more significant issue in the September and December quarters. The fact is that there was significant build up demand for a larger screen heading into the iPhone 6 launch. While there are certainly many other factors impacting AAPL, this simple fact can't be overlooked. Demand for a larger screen drove much of the incredible growth in iPhone units over the past year. Since the new phone will not be a size upgrade, we are concerned that the growth simply won't be there. We are well aware that this is incredibly simplified, but because it is simple doesn't mean it won't impact the growth and stock.”
In addition to this there has been talk about Apple umming and ahhing over the name of the handset too. As the story goes, Apple feels the updates inside the next iPhone will be so significant they might warrant a full jump in numbers -- iPhone Xs updates have always been incremental. Always. Whereas the iPhone X represent big, sweeping changes to the look, feel and specs and hardware.
Having said that, we can’t really see how Apple would get away with calling this next handset the iPhone 7 when it looks identical to last year’s model -- consumers just wouldn’t buy it. For now, and despite what some have said, we believe Apple’s next iPhone will be the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The iPhone 7, potentially alongside a new iPhone 7c range, will appear in 2016/17 and represent a bigger step forwards for the company, with a new design, new hardware and potentially a 10nm 64-bit CPU and near-DSLR-like imaging capabilities.
However, the jury is still very much out on a successor to the iPhone 5c.
Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri reckons Apple has canned the iPhone 6c. He claims that Apple wants to avoid cannibalization of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus by the cheaper device. He told Business Insider: “I think one of the reasons is because the iPhone 6 has sold so well and they said, ‘Look, why would we want to cannibalize? If we came out with an iPhone 6C, we could essentially cannibalize a price-reduced iPhone 6.’”
According to Youtube channel Unbox Therapy, which has analysed a leaked iPhone 6s back panel, the new model will be specifically altered to make it more durable. This is allegedly in response to the Bendgate fiasco which occured after the iPhone 6 launch; users found the metal chassis could bend and distort relatively easily.
The video claims that there are key design differences from the iPhone 6 shell which suggest the new model will be tougher and more resilient. Stress points prone to weakening on the older device have allegedly been reinforced or modified.

Video of iPhone 6s - No More Bend?

A report from The Week cites predictions from tech analysts who claim the new iPhone 6s may be "too expensive" compared to previous models. Based on leaked information detailing the next iPhone's ultra-tough aluminium alloy construction, analysts predict that the cost of production will be raised significantly. It's then thought that Apple has two options, it can either charge more for the new model, or allow the added cost to damage its profits if it does not pass them onto the consumer.
It has been suggested that Apple may go down the path of charging the extra cost to the buyer, but analysts believe that if the iPhone 6s lacks a "killer feature" this added expense won't be well-received by consumers, leading to a dip in sales. Wall Street analysts are reportedly concerned about the iPhone 6s due to the potential negative consequences of either outcome on Apple's share price.

iPhone 6s Release Date

An official from China Telecom has reportedly confirmed that the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be released inside China between September 18 and September 25, according to a post on social network Weibo. The official also commented on a few spec and feature details which we'll outline in the relevant sections of this article.
Apple’s iPhone 6s and, we presume, iPhone 6s Plus will go on sale in the UK on September 25, according to a leaked email seen by Mobile News. According to the source, the “new iPhone” as it is referred to in the memo will go on pre-order on September 18, with a release date pegged for September 25.
"According to a leak from a major French carrier," notes Expert Reviews, "the iPhone 6S will be available for pre-order on September 11 2015. If Apple sticks to its usual schedule, it should mean that the launch event takes place on Tuesday 8 September or Wednesday 9 September. It would mean that the new phones should go on sale and be shipped for Friday 18 September."
“Vodafone has told internal staff the next Apple iPhone handset will be released on September 25,” said the report. “In an email to staff seen by Mobile News, the operator outlined pre-launch information, including that the operator will begin taking pre-orders for the device from September 18.”
The name of the handset was not revealed, however. The handset was simply referred to as “the new iPhone”, meaning it could be either the iPhone 6s or, as some reports have suggested, the iPhone 7.
Yet more carrier network leaks appear to reiterate the September 18 launch. On top of the above Vodafone leak and a US-based Best Buy leak alleging the same date, several networks in Germany have revealed the same thing. German publication Macerkopf heard from inside sources at three unnamed networks, although it's worth pointing out that most of the German market is dominated by O2, Vodafone and T-Mobile DE (Deutsche Telekom).
MacRumors noticed that KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo thinks that the next's iPhone's internal hardware and features will be improved to the point that Apple will skip the "S" model for the next iPhone and just call it the iPhone 7, reports Business Insider.
Upgrades are expected to include the “biggest camera jump ever”, according to blogger John Gruber, who describes a "weird two-lens system where the back camera uses two lenses and it somehow takes it up into DSLR quality imagery.”.
Wireless charging, or some kind of Apple-style wireless charging, is expected. Ditto for Force Touch Glass on the display. The handsets will apparently run on Apple’s new, Samsung-made A9 chipset will is shaping up to be a 14nm setup and should deliver some rather insane processing grunt, especially if combined with more RAM.
Upgrades are expected to include the “biggest camera jump ever”, according to blogger John Gruber, who describes a "weird two-lens system where the back camera uses two lenses and it somehow takes it up into DSLR quality imagery.”.
Wireless charging, or some kind of Apple-style wireless charging, is expected. Ditto for Force Touch Glass on the display. The handsets will apparently run on Apple’s new, Samsung-made A9 chipset will is shaping up to be a 14nm setup and should deliver some rather insane processing grunt, especially if combined with more RAM.
Sources close to Apple have confirmed the iPhone 6s/iPhone 7 will look pretty much identical to the iPhone 6, according to 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman. One of the key differences Apple is apparently keen to push is the inclusion of Force Touch.
“To go with the new hardware, Apple has designed iOS 9 to be Force Touch-ready and is working to let developers integrate Force Touch into App Store apps. Force Touch on the iPhone will be used to clear up some control space across the system, and potentially replace some long press-and-hold button interactions,” noted Gurman’s report.
iPhone 6s/iPhone 7 users will be able to use Force Touch Maps to drop new pins inside Maps, inside media players for pressure-sensitive scrolling, and inside the Calendar application for adding new events, as well as across iOS 9 for quickly looking up word definitions.
This article has grown A LOT over the past few months, so for the sake of simplicity we have now broken it up into sections, see below, in order for you to find out exactly what you’re looking for without having to scroll down the article for months and months and months. Each section will be updated as new information becomes available, as it was before

iPhone 7

Did Apple just leak the iPhone 6c on its own site? New rumours suggest Apple is potentially readying three iPhones for 2015/16

It used to be that we'd hear in advance of the next-generation of hardware to launch; then we started hearing about it just before the launch of whatever the current-gen was going to be (hearing about the iPhone 6 before the iPhone 5S was out the gate, for example). Now it's even more advanced; we've been hearing about the iPhone 6S for months, but also about the follow-on device which will launch in late 2016 as the iPhone 7, and there's even talk of the iPhone 8 in 2018! There is pretty much nowhere now for phone makers to run and hide their top secret plans to prevent them spilling fully into the public space many months in advance of a device's arrival, and it's as true for Apple and its iPhones as anyone else.
The iPhone 5c, because it was largely based on the iPhone 5, save for the inclusion of LTE and improved battery life, had a significantly lower BOM (bill of materials) cost than Apple’s iPhone 5. Plastic is cheaper, easy to use, and the numbers Apple shifted made for excellent profit margins. In this respect the iPhone 5c was the iPhone 5 repackaged and sold onto consumers, with a few additional bells and whistles, as a new phone.
However, the jury’s still very much out on this one. Yes, the idea of a cheaper iPhone makes a lot of sense. But -- and this is the clincher -- it doesn’t gel with Apple’s current business model and how it retails its iPhones. A cheaper iPhone 7c model would, essentially, eat up reduced-cost sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in 2016/17, something Apple clearly doesn’t want.
Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri claims Apple, after much soul searching, has canned ideas for an iPhone 6c. Apple wants to avoid cannibalization of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus by the cheaper device. He told Business Insider: “I think one of the reasons is because the iPhone 6 has sold so well and they said, ‘Look, why would we want to cannibalize? If we came out with an iPhone 6C, we could essentially cannibalize a price-reduced iPhone 6.’”
Nevertheless, the rumour of a rebooted iPhone 5c RAGES on, and this week there is talk of the handset being a 5in phone -- not a 4in setup, as previously reported.
The case for an updated iPhone 5c is rather compelling. A lot of people really didn’t like Apple’s slightly cheaper iPhone, but having said that there were plenty of people –– we’re talking millions here –– who really dug the firm's plastic-fantastic iPhone. Many consider the iPhone 5c a failure, but this is complete BUNK; the handset sold in excess of 25 million units. Now, I appreciate this isn’t a big figure for Apple but compared to similar handsets shipped by Samsung and HTC and Sony, the iPhone 5c was a HUGE success –– could you imagine if HTC sold 25 million HTC One M8 Mini handsets!? No, neither can I… which is why writing the iPhone 5c off as a misfire by Apple is not only stupid, it's actually just wrong!
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are slated to launch in early September with a release date likely to follow days after. Multiple sources claim both new iPhones will be available to buy, in store, from September 10 -- though Apple has not confirmed anything just yet.
In a new twist to the never-ending iPhone saga it now appears as if the iPhone 6c is NOT dead after all. According to leaked information obtained by The Telegraph, the iPhone 6c will launch at a separate event in November -- so a good month after the iPhone 6s.
More word comes via reputable Twitter tipster Evan Blass, aka @evleaks. The purveyor of internet tech truths took to the social networking platform with a message that the "iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, and 6c will all arrive concurrently".
iPhone 6c is just an assumed title for now. We haven't seen a "C" category device since  the iPhone 5c and its plastic charms. However, rumour mongers have suggested the iPhone 6c won't be a plastic fantastic device like its predecessor and will instead sport a metal build just like its stable-mates.
The only other scraps and whispers claim a larger 1,715mAh battery cell and a FinFET produced processor on either Samsung 14nm semiconductors or TSMC 16nm. The display, however, is said to be 4in, so it's possible that with a powerful chipset, big battery, metal build, and a small display the iPhone 6c will be less a "cheap" iPhone like the iPhone 5c and more a nod to those nostalgic folk who don't like the new, bigger iPhones and want the old screen size back - a compact model, essentially. The handset will also feature TouchID, enabling full support for Apple Pay.
How Apple will update the model remains to be seen, however. The design will likely be different to 2013’s iPhone 5c and some updates to its imaging capabilities would be nice as well. As for RAM, storage and connectivity -- your guess is as good as mine.
The handset will be cheaper than the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. That much is a given. Nevertheless, the iPhone 5s wasn’t exactly cheap when it first came out, so it will be interesting to see how Apple markets its successor -- and what colour schemes it uses this time around.
Interestingly, this new rumour comes direct from a source within Apple’s Foxconn manufacturing wing in China, though it is still probably worth talking it with the usual serving of salt.
According to the Foxconn insider who shared the sketch below, via the Apple portal known as “Feng”, the 5-incher will apparently rock an 8 MP camera, a dual-LED flash, and what seems to be a rather conservative design,' notes G For Games.

"What we have here is a sketch depicting the alleged 5-inch iPhone 6s model. The Foxconn insider who revealed this data was not able to provide a live photo of the device (they are not allowed with smartphones or cameras inside Foxconn’s premises), so instead he made a representative sketch showing some of the handset’s design cues. Accordingly, the smartphone will pack an 8 MP camera complemented by a dual-LED flash, and will rock a full HD 5-inch display, powered by an A9 processor," the report added.

But What About The iPhone 6s? 

The iPhone 6s will look quite a bit like the iPhone 6. But this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Apple has, for the longest time, preferred incremental updates to its iPhones -- and while many hoped 2015/16 would be different it now looks increasingly likely we’ll have to wait until 2016/17 for the next big design update.
Here's what 9to5Mac expects to see inside Apple's next A9 chipset:
"It’s possible that the next iPhone’s chip will fall below last year’s flagship iPad in performance, but Apple’s chipmaking history suggests that’s unlikely. As a result, we’d expect to see the iPhone 6S sporting some major performance gains over the iPhone 6. The extra power could be used for even more impressive games, processing 4K video, and running apps that are even closer to OS X-class. If the A9 matches or comes close to the numbers above, it will be in the same league as 2009 iMacs, 2010 MacBook Pros and 2011 MacBook Airs, all of which are still viable computers. Yet the iPhone will be profoundly more power-efficient, and unlike any of those Macs, capable of fitting in your pocket without any cooling fans."
In addition to this a bunch of benchmarks, said to be taken from the iPhone 6s' A9 processor, has now also shown up online. Sadly, the source of this leak cannot be verified but it still makes for some rather interesting reading, especially if it turns out to be correct:
“Apple's A9 chimes in with a single-core score of 2090 and a multi-core tally of 3569, compared to the respective averages of 1611 and 2892 shown by the A8 found in the iPhone 6 series. The A9X chalks up 2109 and 5101 in the same benchmarks, compared to 1808 and 4526 for the iPad Air 2's A8X,” reports Apple Insider. “Samsung's Exynos 7420 — which powers the flagship S6, S6 Edge, Note 5, and S6 Edge+ — bests Apple's A9 on multi-core workloads with a score of 5048, but falls behind on single-core tasks by posting a 1486. Huawei's Kirin 950 and LG's Nuclun 2 also beat out Samsung's entry.”

There have been plenty of iPhone 6s leaks thus far, but this week’s is a real doozy -- comes from inside one of Apple’s manufacturing plants in China. The images show the front panel of the upcoming iPhone 6s, complete with home button and a very similar design to last year’s models, as you can see below:

Apple is apparently prepping something BIG for the iPhone 7. The company is said to be very keen on striking while the iron is hot –– and the iron is very hot at the moment, with record iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales. What this rethink will entail remains to be seen, but sources are now claiming it is going to be very special indeed.
“Along with a slight shrinkage in size of the iPhone 6S’s logic board, Apple also appears to be aggressively reducing the number of chips it’s using. One section of the board that previously had in excess of 10 components has been pared down to 3 main chips, simultaneously cutting the number of parts and increasing the power efficiency of the ones that remain. Other necessary and remaining chips, such as the flash memory and CPU, notably benefit from smaller manufacturing processes that enable the iPhone 6S to offer the same or faster functionality with smaller, less power-hungry parts,” reports Apple Insider.
According to a report dating September 2 Apple may seek to shrink the screen bezels of the iPhone 7 to create and edge-to-edge display. It's alleged this may be achieved by abandoning in-cell touch panels, or at least this is what's claimed by DigiTimes' supply chain sources.
Instead it is believed Apple will swtich to what's called G/G touch technology.
"Makers have already begun sending samples of fully laminated G/G technology to Apple and Corning along with Asahi Glass have also reportedly sent glass samples," claims the report.
Apple has now begun production of 2015’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus handsets. The devices will look similar to last year’s model, save for a few key updates to the display, which you can read more about below, the internals – CPU, Memory, Connectivity – and the imaging technology (both the front and back shooters will receive updates, apparently).
Apple has orders for 85-90 million iPhone 6s units with its suppliers ahead of the handset’s release date later on this year, according to the WSJ. There will be two iPhones released, just as there was last year – the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. Apple isn’t changing the display size either, keeping 4.7in and 5.5in for both models.
In addition to a more powerful chipset with faster LTE chip, iPhone 6s is also expected to pack a display with Force Touch, and 12MP camera with 4K video capture. Apple is expected to launch and release the new iPhones during September 2015, meaning they’ll be here in just shy of two months.
“Apple Inc. has started early production of new iPhone models with a feature called Force Touch, which senses how hard users are pressing down on a screen,” people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
According to Apple, 'In addition to recognizing touch, Apple Watch senses force, adding a new dimension to the user interface. 
"Force Touch uses tiny electrodes around the flexible Retina display to distinguish between a light tap and a deep press, and trigger instant access to a range of contextually specific controls.
"With Force Touch, pressing firmly on the screen brings up additional controls in apps like Messages, Music, and Calendar.
"It also lets you select different watch faces, pause or end a workout, search an address in Maps, and more. Force Touch is the most significant new sensing capability since Multi‑Touch."
The iOS 9 update will bring with a bunch of new features, but the most notable of which is likely to be its reportedly insane power management system, which would double the battery performance of Apple’s iPhones –– if true this is a HUGE deal.
The other big talking about about 2016’s iPhone lineup is the return of Apple’s iPhone Xc class of devices. Multiple reports have now claimed Apple will bring back its C range either in 2015 or later, alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016.
A trio of devices would be a HUGE deal for the market, especially when one takes into account just how destructive two have been in 2014/15. Whats’ more, should Apple retails the C class iPhone at a far lower price point than previous iterations, then it could very successfully attack the mid-tier segment of the smartphone space, a place more or less completely untouched by Apple products, unless you factor in older models
"Apple has a few tricks up its sleeve for 2016," says Yahoo news. "The company has plans to launch a new, completely redesigned iPhone next year — and it won't be the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus we're all expecting."
Jefferies reckons the design of the iPhone 6C will be consistent with Apple's previous iPhones, as you can see in the quote below:
“Although iPhone6C is designed as an extended version, it still uses metal casing based on Apple style. We believe that Apple remains consistent in its design. As we have discussed previously, Apple continues to develop increased hardness for the iPhone metal casing, which requires a more complicated CNC and anodized process.”
Just how Apple can change the overall design, look and feel of the iPhone remains to be seen. There’s only so much you can do with a phone’s design, save for making it thinner and removing bezels. One area where Apple could innovate is to do with the Home button. The inclusion of force touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus would get users accustomed to using gesture-based taps for different functions, so it is within the realms of possibility that Apple could remove the home button in favour of some kind of touch-responsive panel that sits flush to the chassis.

"The next iPhone could offer a flash on its front facing camera, according to code found buried in early releases of the operating system that will run on it," reports The Independent. "The feature, which will allow people to take selfies in the dark, was found in early releases of iOS 9. The same code seems to indicate that the phone will receive an update to a 1080p camera, from the existing 720p one, and support for panoramic selfies and slow motion video."
Over on PAGE 2 you can read all about the iPhone 7's rumoured specs and hardware.