The Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus Review
by Ryan Smith & Joshua Ho on November 2, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- SoCs
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
Final Words
The iPhone 6s in a lot of ways seems like it’s simple enough to review, but it turns out if you dig deep the changes have been significant. Over the course of a review, we’ve found major changes in the SoC, storage solution, camera, touch screen, fingerprint scanner, voice recognition software, cellular architecture, and WiFi chipset.
On the SoC side, it’s pretty safe to say that the A9 SoC is the best SoC in any phone today. We can talk about the TSMC and Samsung controversy, but at the end of the day regardless of which one you end up with the performance is going to be far and away better than anything else we’ve seen thus far. There are a lot of reasons for this, but at the end of the all that really matters is that the phone delivers the best user experience in areas where GPU or CPU performance is a gating factor. Again, I keep coming back to web browsing but due to the nature of wasteful yet necessary abstraction that occurs in websites and web applications it’s incredibly important that a high-end phone starts to challenge 2-in-1 and passively-cooled laptops in burst performance for a good user experience.
While CPU and strong browser optimization is critical for good web browsing performance, GPU is the other half of the equation to this SoC, even if it isn’t necessarily used to the fullest extent. The reality is that a high end phone is going to be used for gaming by a lot of people, and at the high-end gaming performance really needs to be impressive. The iPhone 6s’ are going to do well at this. GFXBench isn’t the same thing as an actual game, but the fact that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are basically pegging T-Rex at the maximum possible frame rate for most of a 3-4 hour infinite run of this intense benchmark basically means that gaming on the iPhone is going to be the best possible experience due to its incredibly high unthrottled GPU performance and the length of time that it’s able to sustain that unthrottled GPU performance. No other SoC I've tested this year can sustain this level of performance for this level of time.
The other truly impressive aspect of the iPhone 6s’ this generation is the storage solution. The iPhone’s storage solution here is ahead of everything else in the industry for three clear reasons. The first is the use of more advanced NAND organization. Although TLC NAND alone is going to be clearly worse for performance than SLC or MLC NAND, the iPhone 6s’ use SLC caching in conjunction with TLC NAND to improve storage performance in the situations that matter. The second is the use of PCI-Express to enable much higher bandwidths, which means that the SLC cache can really stretch its legs to reach the high levels of bandwidth that it’s capable of. The third is the use of a custom storage controller with NVM Express, which helps to realize the full benefits of PCI-Express. Overall, all of these things come together to make noticeable differences in user experience. Probably the most obvious example here would be iCloud backup and restore, along with app installs and updates. Burst photography and camera speed are also improved as a result of better storage.
The next upgrade worth discussing in the iPhone 6s lineup is the camera. The move to a 12MP rear camera was something that I personally was at least mildly skeptical of, but after testing the camera for myself I’m firmly convinced that Apple has managed to move to 12MP without noticeable degradation. The camera may not be sharper in most scenes, but the extra pixels enable 4K video recording, and it seems that this generation the improvements to video recording quality are enormous. On both iPhone 6s’, the addition of 4K video recording without random recording limitations, loss of image stabilization, or rapid overheating is surprisingly rare given the number of phones that support 4K video recording. The addition of 1080p120 slow motion video only magnifies just how far ahead Apple is in this segment when compared to Android smartphones. The iPhone 6s Plus also carries the rare distinction of having active OIS in video recording without the associated problems with jerky OIS behavior. The one disappointment here is that the iPhone 6s doesn’t have OIS, which increasingly feels like a pretty significant differentiator. Live Photos are also cool, even if at this point it remains to be seen if it will gain traction in the market.
The addition of 3D Touch to the iPhone 6s is probably something that seems like a gimmick on the surface, but after enough time with the iPhone 6s’ I can confidently say that this is probably one of the bigger changes to user interfaces in years. As-is, Apple has already managed to eliminate a lot of the friction that normally occurs with smartphone interaction when attempting to preview content without losing focus. However, going forward I can see significant changes in how people will interact with their phones. This isn’t really a revolution in the same way that the original iPhone is, but it’s a critical evolution step in the same way high-DPI displays were. I don’t think anyone is going to suffer greatly because their phone doesn’t have pressure sensitivity, but once you have this feature it’s hard to go back.
The second generation of TouchID isn’t quite as life-changing, but it’s a welcome improvement nonetheless. Again, this is a case where there was friction in the user experience that wasn’t really noticeable until it was gone. Obviously, Apple is no longer the only one at this level of user experience with fingerprint scanners but they are keeping up. The addition of always-on Siri is similar to TouchID in that regard, as while it isn’t life-changing it is a welcome improvement. The amount of polish in the personalized voice recognition is also impressive to see in action, and something that isn’t necessarily present in every implementation of always-on voice recognition that I’ve seen.
The sort of finishing touches to the iPhone 6s are the improvements to the cellular modem and WiFi chipset. The upgrade to Qualcomm’s MDM9x35 Gobi modem helps to improve power efficiency along with moving the iPhone 6s to UE Category 6 compatibility for LTE. The move to Broadcom’s BCM4350 WiFi/BT combo chipset enables 2x2 802.11ac, which means better range and throughput for routers that support MIMO.
Overall, after spending all this time with the iPhone 6s I can’t find anything really wrong with this phone. On the contrary, the A9 SoC is a huge jump in performance even relative to other SoCs on the same process node to give impressive application performance. The storage solution is unlike anything else in mobile that I’ve seen so far. The camera’s overall user experience is just about the best that you can get on the market. 3D Touch is a big improvement in user experience, while TouchID v2 and always-on Siri are worthwhile improvements in user experience. The only real issues I can think of are that the iPhone 6s doesn’t have OIS and that the base SKU is still 16GB of storage. To be fair, the 16GB SKU can become a noticeable user experience issue if you're constantly dealing with the limits of this storage, and the jump from 16 to 64 GB feels like it's simply designed to encourage buying a more expensive SKU. There are arguments that users that don't really take a ton of photos or videos and stream all their media will be fine, but it's still a user experience problem in this day and age. However, despite these issues I would argue that the iPhone 6s’ are the best phones you can buy today.
Of course, this sounds like a rather hollow recommendation to those that have followed our reviews for the past year. This year, more than ever it feels like Android smartphones at the high end have stood still, as if smartphone improvements have become a zero sum game. To make the best phone this year is therefore a pretty low bar to clear. However, the iPhone 6s, even when compared to iPhones alone, is especially noteworthy for the improvements to overall user experience.
On top of being a great smartphone in the same vein as previous smartphones, the addition of 3D Touch is a big deal. The idea of having additional interactions on top of a traditional touch screen is not a new idea. Samsung has tried the same before with Air View. However, what matters here is that the implementation is novel and useful in a way that other implementations weren't. 3D Touch manages to work because there's no need to hover a finger over a single link for half a second and rather than a single potential extra action there are a whole range of potential additional interactions that can be pressure-based. Zooming in and out on a browser could be done by pressure to greatly improve the user experience on desktop-only websites instead of constantly pinching in and out to read various parts of the page. AE/AF locking through increased pressure rather than a long press, more sophisticated gaming controls, and other applications have yet to be realized, but just the ability to preview web pages, messages, emails, and other content is a significant change in how I use a phone from day to day. Instead of constantly tapping and then immediately swiping back on emails and messages, it's much faster and more convenient to quickly press down on a single email to preview the first paragraph or so before moving on to the next just by letting go of the display. OEMs and SoC vendors often speak in platitudes about how user experience matters but 3D Touch is probably the first case where the user experience is visibly improved in a very real way.
In light of these factors, I would give the iPhone 6s line the Editors’ Choice Gold award. Looking back on the phone that has received this award in the past, I believe that the criteria for this award is such that a product is not only one of the best in its category and an extremely good product in a vacuum, but pushes the smartphone user experience forward in significant ways. The iPhone 6s isn't a perfect phone, but to receive the second highest award I don't believe it's necessary to make a "perfect" phone. There are areas that could be improved, but nothing that I believe is a significant detriment to the phone.
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nerd1 - Saturday, November 7, 2015 - link
720p screen in 2015, worse battery life, no sd slot, no wiress charging, terrible camera and still THE BEST phone huh?It has best performing processor, no one argues that, but I still wont touch it with a stick.
JaytB1 - Sunday, November 8, 2015 - link
I use iPhone mainly because of the better security/privacy, no carrier/manufacturer delay/total dismissal of security/OS updates, earlier/exclusive/better releases of triple A games/apps and uncluttered interface. I agree with the gold award, the iPhone 6s (plus) is the first phone in a while that made me see that there are still possibilities to innovate in the smartphone space.I've seen Android users avidly defending their high PPI's, megapixels, core counts. Oh, but it's customizable and I can put a ton of widgets on my homescreens. There's only a small minority of tech obsessed people who care (proof is in the huge low/medium end market share, indicating the amount who don't care for specs but just want a working phone). For me, all I want is to launch an app, not stare at my home screen. In the past, Android users where more often than not boasting about benchmarks and how their hardware was superior. Now that the tables are turned, hardware all of a sudden doesn't matter as much anymore or the tests must be rigged by a biased Anandtech (who has nothing to gain and everything to loose if they were posting nonsense).
I've seen Samsung and other manufactures add so many gimmicks to their phones, many of which are plain impractical (try doing 'airview' while jogging and you'll get the picture).
I admit that fast charging would be nice but, for me, completely unnecessary (it's not like an iPhone charges slow in the first place).
Then there's wireless charging, you do realize that you still have to plug in the charge pad with a cable right? So the only difference is that you don't need to plug that cable into your phone, but you'll need more power to fill your device up as compared to using a cable (more waste power) and a permanent spot for your charging pad. Again, for me I don't really see the appeal for that either.
We could also talk about PPI but to keep it brief, I'd rather have a device perform well with individual pixels I can't distinguish, than a screen that would impact performance with pixels I still can't see... But more of them.
I could go on about how a blind photo evaluation test on a respected Android site had Android users voting the iPhone 6s as having the best overall picture quality, but now that the iPhone scored a tiny bit lower than some Android phones in one test, it suddenly has a 'far inferior' camera. Then there's the RAM, curved screens and so many other things I could mention, but my point is that I think Android users can't recognize a genuine game-changing feature-list because they're so used to getting bombarded by tons of arguably useless high spec lists and gimmicks that are marketed as 'the next big thing'.
It's almost as if Google took over the reality distortion field from Apple. Just wait a couple of years when all Android devices have 'Android sense' (or something) displays (3D touch), THEN it will be a game changing feature because they'll have 1000's of pressure levels they can sense as compared to the 'useless' iPhone's (hypothetical) 128 levels.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to bash Android or people who choose to use it, I just don't like those who post nonsense without anything to back it up just so they can sleep at night having convinced themselves that they bought the right phone. I've been a reader of this site for years and believe their test results to be correct, as they've always been. People who claim otherwise should come with facts or stop sprouting nonsense.
I, for one, agree with the review and think it's the phone with the best all round feature set on the market today. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it's a genuinely forward thinking and exceptional smartphone in a stale smartphone market, and that deserves that gold award in my book.
Thanks for the review!
Aritra Ghatak - Sunday, November 8, 2015 - link
As the reviewers pointed various aberration and distortions associated with using a brighter lens and that it is wise Apple went with the F 1/2.2 aperture lens. Could you please explain how Samsung manages with an F 1/1.9 aperture lens in Galaxy S6? Or for that matter the F 1/1.8 lens in LG G4 or Nokia Lumia 720/730?patamat - Sunday, November 8, 2015 - link
Well, we all know who Anand went to work for after writing few "balanced" reviews like this one.(apple ...)
Psymac - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link
Where is the phone function analysis of this iPhone?zimmybz - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
I guess I'll try to build the bridge for the Droid guys here that are having a hard time.I haven't had an iPhone since the Galaxy S came out. Been a droid user since.
I recently got a 6S Plus. I sold a Note 5 and cancelled a pre-order for a Nexus 6P.
I will say it since nobody else will. The Note 5 has a great camera, S-Pen is cool, and enough RAM to keep multi-tasking running, but otherwise it's a shitty phone. The battery life and Touchwiz still leave a LOT to be desired. Build quality is great, but it suffers from what every other Droid phone suffers from - fractured, fragmented hardware eco-system and specs driven production. (Hang on)
If you need to know why you should cancel a 6P pre-order, look at the subreddit (Holy crap, lol.)
Anyways, in my first week with the 6S Plus, I hit 22% battery with 88 hours standy and 13 hours usage. That is completely insane.
Back to the Note 5 - look at the graphs on the review here. This phone absolutely DOMINATES the Note 5 across the board, a fact which I can confirm first hand.
I can also tell you that holding the phones side by side looking at the same picture taken on the Note 5, the displays are functionally indistinguishable from the other. (So much for all that resolution, I guess)
This is a large reason why the Note stutters against the 6S Plus. It's pushing a LOT of pixels that aren't really evident in day to day use, especially sitting next to the iPhone.
I guess I finally reached the point, I just want the best phone every year regardless of manufacturer or software.
Until Google makes it's own hardware in house and breaks free of QualComm, Apple is going to beat them every year going forward. I'm not 20 anymore, I don't care about a home screen widget. I want the battery not to drain from some stupid Google Play Services memory drain while the phone is sitting on my desk.
I don't want Samsung Services blowing up the battery either. And - NO - I should not have to root kit, Package Disable, Power Saver, Turn off Location, etc, etc, etc. I paid $1000 for a premium handset with lots of features.
Oddly enough, the iPhone can leave all that crap on and STILL get good battery life. The arguments for Android are shrinking right now. I'll never buy another Samsung phone again. I will miss the S-Pen, but Touchwiz is heinous, even in it's current iteration.
I would really love to see Google put up a fight in the premium handset market, but I don't think their hearts are in the hardware QUITE yet.
Anyways, happy 6S Plus user here, 4+ year droid convert at the moment. We'll see what next year brings.
zeeBomb - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link
Ss or bs (sorry I just had to)JTRCK - Friday, November 13, 2015 - link
I actually returned a 6S Plus for the Nexus 6P and the main reason was PRICE. They are as equally performant in day to day tasks, but the Nexus 6P had better multitasking performance for me due to the buttons and added power of a side launcher which is not possible on iPhone. I basically never have to go to the home screen again when using Google docs, searching the web, etc... I tried both out for about a week. The only feature I liked on the iPhone 6S Plus better was the cooler white colors of the LCD; other than that the Nexus 6P was better "for me" in every aspect. The phone "flies" in every sense of the word. No stutters, no lag, no unresponsiveness (typical of Samsungs). I have been an iPhone user since the 3GS. I also used the iPhone 6 Plus this year for 5 months.And I truthfully don't understand all this commotion over the new iPhone 6S Plus being the best phone ever released. Outside of "3D touch," there is not much difference in day to day performance or general use between both this year's model and last year's model. That is generally a great testament to iOS stability and performance. So much so that my old iPhone 4s opened apps faster, surfed faster, multitasked faster, etc, than my now defunct Note 4. Apple has been on top of their game for years, IDK why android fans have only now noticed. But iOS is truly very limited. You will sooner or later find out the gates keep you truly locked in.
But the main factor for me, again, was price. I do not in any way find the iPhone to be a better phone than the Nexus 6P. In fact, I find its system to be inferior in a multitude of ways. Is the iPhone Better than the Note 5 and all its clumsy and useless features? Yes. But the Nexus 6P is in a category all its own. Especially for $650. That is exactly what I paid for the 128GB model compared to the $1,170 I paid for the iPhone 6S Plus.
astroboy888 - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link
"FinFET transistors are necessary because as transistors get smaller their leakage (wasted power) goes up, and without FinFETs leakage would spiral out of control. In fact that’s exactly what happened on the 20nm nodes from Samsung and TSMC; both companies thought the leakage of planar transistors could be adequately controlled at 20nm, only for leakage to be a bigger problem than they expected"It is not they "discovered" 20nm leakage was high; therefore they switched to 16nm FinFet. This is an incorrect comment.
FinFet transistors structure had been on the road map and in development at TSMC for more than 10 years. TSMC's first finfet transistor was demonstrated in 2002 when the inventor Professor Chen-Ming Hu of UC Berkeley was working at TSMC as CTO. Therefore Finfet process had always been on the roadmap for 16nm process. The 20nm planar process had always been on the road map as a planar process. Every process node takes about 3-5 years to develop, so the customers (semiconductor chip designers) signs up 3-5 years before hand to co-work with TSMC to design a chip for that process. These were communicated ahead of time and contracts where signed.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the semiconductor industry was pushing for SOI (Silicon On Insulator such as GaAs "Gallium Arsenide), which completely eliminates leakage current. But the transistor performance turned out to be too unpredictable and too expensive to manufacture. Therefor the industry stuck with silicon, until FinFet structure was invented in 2000 and manufacturing process perfected some 10 years later.
gonsolo - Thursday, November 12, 2015 - link
If I may suggest something: I'd like to see app startup times as a benchmark from iPhone 5 onwards. This is something I'm doing a lot; waiting for apps to start.