iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Holiday Gift Guide - What You Need to Know

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have broken sales records, becoming the most successful smartphone launch of all time. While the two smartphones proved to be incredibly popular at the time of their release, many are inevitably holding off until the holiday season to get their hands on one.

Also See: Apple’s Success & Failure: A Look at Where They’re Going Right and Wrong

If you are looking to buy an iPhone 6/6 Plus for a loved one, or you want one yourself, then you’re going to want to know everything about the devices. Here’s our rundown.

Design/Performance

There are two versions of the iPhone 6 – both the standard model which is 4.7 inches, and the larger iPhone 6 Plus which is 5.5 inches.

The devices boast a notably higher resolution than previous iPhones and are incredibly thin, with the iPhone 6 coming in at 6.9mm and the iPhone 6 Plus only 7.1mm.

Here’s a comparison of what the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus all look like from the side:

And here’s what they all look like from the front:

Battery

The iPhone 6 has 30 hours of audio playback, while the iPhone 6 Plus has 80. Here’s what the iPhone 6’s battery life looks like when compared with its predecessor:

Camera/Video

The iPhone 6’s camera features 8MP iSight Camera, True Tone flash, 1.5 micro pixels, f/2.2 aperture, and a new sensor in order for the user to take better photos. The 8MP camera is disappointing, but there’s a Focus Pixels feature that looks to improve quality with increased noise reduction and better tone mapping.

Panorama photos can also go up to a whopping (for a smartphone) 43 megapixels.

The camera also boasts 1080p HD video, complete with a stellar slo-mo feature that can do 240fps. In other words, slo-mo videos look GOOD on the iPhone 6. Video in general can go up to 60fps.

Apple Pay

Apple Pay has also been introduced, with Apple trying to offer a more secure alternative to using your credit card by allowing you to pay for your items using either your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. Using a combination of NFC, Touch ID and a secure element chip that will store and encrypt your payment information, ApplePay won’t give merchants your credit card information to merchants but rather store a one-time payment number. This service has been rolled out with American Express, Mastercard and Visa support, and works with both debit and credit cards.

Here are all the retailers that support Apple Pay:

Unfortunately, some retailers are actively trying to prevent Apple Pay from becoming popular. MXC, a coalition of retailers including Walmart and Best Buy, has its own CurrentC app that is in direct competition with Apple Pay, and is therefore prohibiting the use of the tech in its stores. It remains to be seen whether Apple Pay will prove to be popular, but Apple certainly hopes that it becomes the future of payment.