Articles about iPhone 6

No one can deny that making handsets thinner and thinner is a persistent trend in the mobile device market. Rarely do we see a new, prominent smartphone or tablet being thicker than its predecessor. Manufacturers love to be able to tout during announcements and in ads just how insanely slim their new products are, like this is a feature that us, consumers, are dying to get. (Sadly, sometimes that may be the only thing that such handsets have got going for them.)

Still, if you are one of those who prefer insanely-thin smartphones, Oppo has just the thing for you. The Chinese manufacturer just unveiled "the slimmest phone in the world", called R5, measuring just 4.85 mm thick. To give you an idea of just how thin it is, it shames Apple's new iPhone 6, which comes in at 6.9 mm thick.

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Another day, another iPhone scandal. It seems like we can’t go through one news cycle without something to blame Apple for. While yes, the iPhone is nowhere near perfect, at times the level of negative press has bordered on ridiculousness.

My patience with these iScandals reached its breaking point this weekend. Here on BetaNews we covered the latest media-created iPhone flaw, which apparently is called "dyegate". The gist is this: a small minority of users complain that their iPhones are being stained by the dye from their jeans. That’s right: it is Apple’s fault that the consumer purchased a cheap pair of jeans that weren’t correctly pre-washed at the factory to prevent these dye bleeding issues.

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Of course, I ask this semi-facetiously, as I do not expect the Nexus 6 to bend at all. Heck, I keep all my smartphones in my front pocket, and have yet to experience any bending or damage. Sure, smartphones are getting larger, often testing the limits of pocket size; however, manufacturers should know a consumer's expectation about front pocket usage, and should take that into account in design.

Lately, I have been storing the large phone de jour, the Galaxy Note 4, in the front pocket of both my jeans and khakis. Guess what? It remains flawless -- no bending. So why am I asking this question? The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus of course! The "Bendgate" scandal has been criticized by many, for various reasons. I have seen people say "of course aluminum bends", and my favorite, "you should not put it in your front pocket". Really? That is just silly, as again, Apple knows that consumers keep smartphones in their front pockets, and the company has never warned against the practice.

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Apple's latest flagship smartphone has caused consumers quite a few headaches (literally, in some cases).

The handset, which doesn't come cheap, is prone to bending and tearing out people's hair, leading to the creation of the vastly amusing '#bendgate' and '#hairgate' scandals. Now, however, it's all about '#dyegate'.

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Apple's 'Apple Pay' function, tying Touch ID with mobile payments, was perhaps the most important announcement to come from the 9/9 event, and one that signifies the company's first legitimate claim to consumer identity.

This pits Apple not just against payment providers such as PayPal, but against companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon as an identity provider. Combining Apple Pay with Passbook effectively digitises a user's entire wallet, and with that their identity as a consumer. It's essentially putting your 'identity' into one 'pocketable' device.

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Apple is boasting that it is conducting its fastest ever rollout of a smartphone, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus set to arrive in 36 more countries during October.

That will mean the devices are available in a total of 69 countries come the end of October -- though consumers are still having a tough time getting hold of the phablet version, with the maximum three to four week wait listed at Apple's UK online store currently.

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Apple has had more than its fair share of problems with the new iPhones (and its fresh operating system, iOS 8) but it seems that one "gate" type scandal isn't enough for Cupertino this time around.

Following "bendgate" -- the allegation that the iPhone 6 can be bent too easily by, for example, sitting down for long periods while it's in a tight pocket -- we now have "hairgate".

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The world's largest smartphone manufacturer is troubled. Overnight, Samsung warned that its third-quarter operating profit could fall as much as 61.8 percent because of weakness in its largest division, mobile, from which phones account for about 60 percent of company profits. Smartphone shipments are up slightly, but the money they generate is down substantially.

For Google, the news is a mixed blessing. In April 2012, I warned that "Google has lost control of Android" -- Samsung's dominance with customized versions of the mobile operating system being major reason. Big G effectively responded by separating core apps and services from Android, spreading them out across versions, and better unifying the user experience. Still, Samsung's TouchWiz UI is the main way tens of millions of people experience Android every day. The South Korean company's problems could eventually be good for Google, but will they benefit Android or pull it down?

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People do crazy things to get their hands on a new iPhone. They queue for days in a row, travel to another country or pay absurd amounts on black market imports. Still, none of those things is as expensive as the iPhone 6 prototype that is listed on eBay, for which some folks will go as far as paying over $60,000. That's just crazy.

At the time of writing this article, the latest bid for the iPhone 6 prototype -- a 64 GB model -- is $61,100. For the money, you get a hugely overpriced smartphone which may not even be legit. Normally, you would pay $750, off-contract, for a 64 GB iPhone 6, in Silver -- the same color as the prototype -- that is. But, wait, there is more.

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Apple has done a ton of defensive work to put out the fires of bendgate, the latest (compulsory) scandal which arrived with the iPhone 6, but Cupertino is still feeling the heat over the issue despite its best efforts.

Once mud has been slung, it tends to stick, even though Apple has done everything from giving journalists a grand tour around its phone stress testing lab and the rigorous procedures therein, through to releasing figures that point to only nine complaints over bent iPhone 6 models, and highlighting independent testing that shows the HTC One M8 (with its aluminum body) bends just as much as Apple's smartphone.

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I preordered Apple's new smartphone on September 12, and it wasn't easy. Few months back, I went "Microsoft All-In" for the summer, purchasing the Nokia Lumia Icon on contract from Verizon. So I didn't qualify for the discounted, upgrade price. But when there's a will, there's a way -- and a generous family member helps make something special happen.

My iPhone 6 review begins with such disclaimer. Like iPad Air, I paid for the device. Apple didn't send me a review unit, but I did ask, and I am not on the preferred list of writers who get early access to "iDevices" and who presumably are more likely to rave. Such qualification is necessary, because iPhone 6 is an exceptionally satisfying handset, and I don't want to be mislabeled fanboy for stating such. That's a brash conclusion coming from someone abandoning a competing smartphone with better specs and satisfying user experience.

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When reports first surfaced that the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were susceptible to bending after just a few days of everyday use, it looked as if Apple had a major problem on its hands. Tech blogs and Apple haters were quick to seize on the flaw, coining the term BendGate.

Apple downplayed the problem, saying it had only received nine complaints relating to bent phones -- out of ten million sales -- and now independent testing by Consumer Reports shows not only does it take a lot of force to bend an iPhone 6, but the HTC One (M8) also deforms when the exact same amount of pressure is applied.

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In case you did not know, China is the largest smartphone market worldwide, bigger even than the good old US of A. For the major players in the mobile industry, it is hugely important to be leading there, as being successful in China leads to a healthy market share growth overall, but, more importantly, a healthy increase in the bottom line also.

You can imagine then just how important it is for Apple to have its new iPhones on sale in China as soon as possible. Due to regulatory approvals, it has not happened yet, but luckily for the company, that will soon change.

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When the first iPhone went on sale in June 2007 expert opinion was very much of the view that it wouldn't have a significant impact. Steve Wildstrom of Business Week for example said, "The iPhone will never be a threat to the BlackBerry".

Proving that experts can be very wrong, the iPhone has of course gone from strength to strength and Carphone Warehouse in Ireland has produced a fascinating infographic charting its evolution up to the latest version.

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Apple's recently released iPhone 6 is susceptible to the same fingerprint forging attack as the iPhone 5s, according to the latest security research.

Mark Rogers, principal security researcher for mobile security firm Lookout, used techniques which are well-known to police officials and prototypers to access the device.

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