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
Battery Life
With any smartphone, battery life is always one of the most important considerations. It probably goes without saying that more battery life is always better. In the case of the iPhone 6s, battery life is especially important to examine because this year Apple has actually made the battery of their phone smaller than before. Normally, it’s almost a given that battery size will be at least constant or increase but in order to accommodate additional components like the Taptic engine the battery has been made smaller. In light of this reversal one might assume that battery life has decreased as a result, but given the move to a FinFET process and other major component improvements it’s hard to say how battery life has increased or decreased. In order to test this properly, we ran the iPhone 6s’ through our suite of battery life tests to try and get an idea for overall battery life. As always, we run all battery life tests with the display set to an average of 200 nits and all possible background tasks disabled.
Our first test is WiFi web browsing, and here we see a pretty curious trend. The iPhone 6s Plus appears to regress relative to the iPhone 6 Plus, yet the iPhone 6s solidly beats the iPhone 6. I was pretty confused by this, but it’s likely that we’re seeing these results because the iPhone 6s is going to have larger relative power consumption of the SoC when compared to the display. As the display becomes bigger, the effects of SoC efficiency are just harder to notice, which also explains why it looks like the iPad Air 2 has effectively the same battery life whether you’re running just a blank display or our web browsing test. Both of our review units use a TSMC A9, so I don’t think we can attribute a foundry difference to the odd results that we’re seeing here.
In LTE web browsing, we see a smaller improvement than what we observed in the WiFi test. This might seem strange, but given that the move from a 28nm process to a 20nm process on the modem from iPhone 6 to 6s didn’t come with FinFET it makes sense that the modem will remain a significant power drain. It’s likely that the next big jump in battery life here will come with FinFET process technology on the modem, along with other general modem design improvements.
In order to also look at battery life in more extreme scenarios, we use Basemark OS II and GFXBench to really place a strong stress on the CPU and GPU to see what power draw is like under sustained load. This also allows us to see the extent to which various components of the phone throttle down in response to relatively high sustained loads. However, it’s important to note that the Basemark OS II performance score here isn’t necessarily as accurate as scores from Android devices as the battery score can be calculated with 98 data points instead of 80 as battery score is partially derived from the rate at which the battery percentage decreases. It's also worth noting that in GFXBench there are two data points removed as the low power popup causes an incorrect frame rate to be recorded.
In Basemark OS II, we start off with a pretty shocking result as the iPhone 6s lasts less than three hours in this test, but looking at the battery score it’s pretty clear that the reason why the iPhone 6s doesn't last very long is because it’s running with relatively little throttling throughout the test, so the battery score is high as a result. The same is true of the iPhone 6s Plus, but the larger battery helps it to last a bit longer.
Looking at GFXBench, which is an infinite loop of the T-Rex on-screen benchmark to approximate intensive video gaming we see that the iPhone 6s doesn’t last very long either, but the performance throughout the test is incredible. Due to 1334x750 display resolution and strong GPU, the iPhone 6s manages to last the entire test without any notable throttling, and effectively pegged at the refresh rate of the display. The iPhone 6s Plus manages a similar level of performance but over time you can start to see some throttling, likely a function of the longer runtime and higher display resolution. It’s interesting to see how in the space of two years just how much progress has been made here in terms of improving GPU performance and efficiency, as when we first ran this test it was probably one of the most stressful tests out there for any smartphone or tablet.
Charge Time
Of course, while battery life is usually the main determinant of overall mobility it’s often important to consider charge time. A phone that charges slowly can be much less mobile than another phone, even if it has better battery life. In the case of the iPhone 6s’, it seems that Apple continues to ship the standard 5W charger that they have for many generations in the smartphone industry. In order to see how this charger and phone combination performs, we use our usual methods of timing the phone from fully discharged to fully charged.
Here, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus both show a decent improvement over the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but not enough to make an significant difference. The iPhone 6s charges at a pretty reasonable rate, but the iPhone 6s Plus really does need a more powerful charger than it does now. You can use an iPad charger to bring things back up to speed but getting this means that you either have to have an iPad already or you have to go out and buy an iPad charger, which is on the annoying side when Android OEMs generally include fast chargers in the box.
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TitaniK - Friday, November 13, 2015 - link
I used to be so pro android and have tried all main phones on the market; Samsung 3&4, note3,4, htc one m7, nexus 4. I need my phone constantly mainly for business as well as pleasure and at the end, i surrendered to Apple product; so reliable, fast and just clean. It's just a well tuned machine. I compare it this way; android is the NASCAR of mobile devices where Apple is Formula 1. Cars go very fast in both organizations but the Formula 1 machines are simply finer tuned and polished machines.10basetom - Sunday, November 8, 2015 - link
Even though my last two phones have been Androids, I would have to agree with the reviewer's assessment that Android phones have been, more or less, a zero sum game. You can call me jaded, but there's not a single Android phone in the past year that has gotten me truly excited, maybe with the exception of potentially cheaper (relative to YotaPhone 2) dual screen phones coming out of China that would change how you use a phone on a daily basis. PDAF, laser autofocus, and RAW support are nice specs to have for a limited group of photography aficionados, but I don't consider them real innovation in the overall user experience department. Most consumers (i.e., non-geeks) who use phones to take everyday photos will not notice -- or even care -- whether their phone has PDAF or not; and for people who want to take frameable photos, they would probably do so with a tripod and DLSR rather than a mobile phone. Besides, the cameras in the iPhone 6s' are nothing to laugh at.When I think of progress in mobile OS usability, it would have to be something that gives the end user more pleasure in using it, or increase their productivity in a measurable way (e.g., less time in doing something, fewer taps). Maybe I've just been using Android for too long, but there is nothing in Lollipop or what I've seen of Marshmallow that makes me stop and silently shout "damn, that is impressive!". Sure, the interface is a little more streamlined with enhanced jazzy animations (that I turn off anyway to improve performance), and some new iterative features sprinkled here and there, but nothing revolutionary. It's unfortunate that most Android phone manufacturers build a custom skin on top that more often than not makes the phone less usable and more buggy, and also more confusing when you move from one Android phone to the next.
The WinCE-based Neno OS that introduced a 100% swipable interface and weaned people off the stylus two years before the original iPhone -- that's way into revolutionary territory. The pulley menu system in Sailfish OS -- now that's something refreshing. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but at least they are trying something different, and when you do get used to it, it really does improve one-handed usability. The 3D Touch interface in the new iPhones? Now that's bordering on revolutionary. Again, it may not seem apparent when you first use it, but after living with it for an extended period of time until it becomes habit, you would be hard-pressed to go back to a mobile phone without a pressure-sensitive touch layer. The exciting thing is that we are just scratching the surface of what 3D Touch can bring; and the module could be made thinner and lighter so that future iPhones won't get such a large weight bump.
Other than the superior A9 SoC which has already been widely discussed, the other big thing for me that Android phones have been dropping the ball on is storage architecture. Whereas most Android phones are still advertising eMMC 5.0 storage solutions, the iPhone 6s' have moved way beyond that. Samsung's move to UFS 2.0 is a step in the right direction, and I hope all other Android phone manufacturers will follow suit soon.
dusszz - Monday, November 30, 2015 - link
I've been a long time android user seriously thinking of switching to iphone. Android OS in general is not meant for high end devices because prior to nexus 6p, android is designed for nexus phone which is not a high end devices. The high end iteration of android as in galaxy s6/note 5 with skins feel fragmented and does not really in line with what google intended (material design). Sure they add features with that but it felt like they (high end oem) trying too hard to compete. I always feel the best android devices must come from nexus line but then it does not quite there at least just yet. Every innovation in android OS always feel like it is in beta because the implementation more for marketing rather than useful. For example, nexus 5 has OIS since 2013 but does not feel it has advantage over other phone that has EIS. Furthermore, decision google made to ditch OIS (nexus 6p/5x) further clarify it. I personally never have android phone for more than a year without feeling outdated in term of hardware. So if you think you buy $500 android phone thinking it can compete with iphone, its going to be disappointing. Android is at its best being a midranger.hans_ober - Monday, November 2, 2015 - link
at last!vFunct - Monday, November 2, 2015 - link
I wish he took proper photo tests.Tip: when testing cameras, do make sure to take photos of people. Don't take photos of brick walls.
You're going to find that most people take photos of people with their phones - at parties, selfies, etc..
A good camera test always includes people shots.
vFunct - Monday, November 2, 2015 - link
Basically you're looking for skin-tone reproduction quality.Klug4Pres - Monday, November 2, 2015 - link
I wonder if next year the Home button will disappear, which would help a lot with the bezeltastic design.zeeBomb - Monday, November 2, 2015 - link
That username...lol.I dunno man, the home button is the staple of iPhone Design since the very original. Might be pretty controversial if you'd ask me.
KoolAidMan1 - Tuesday, November 3, 2015 - link
The fingerprint reader is another big reason. If they can get it to be as fast and accurate as it is right now while reducing home button size then I can see them reducing the bottom bezel.Otherwise you're looking at making their fingerprint reader as flaky and undependable as Samsung or everyone else's
Tetracycloide - Tuesday, November 3, 2015 - link
The nexus 5x has been super solid.