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KOTN91

macrumors 6502a
Nov 23, 2017
678
550
The 6 to 6S was probably the largest jump in S model history.

They doubled the ram, added 3D Touch, strengthened the aluminum body to 7000 series and fixed the bending issue. 1GB of ram is bare minimum for iOS these days with only a iPhone 6.. The 6S has 2GB of ram and a GPU that is 90% faster, you get a 12MP camera vs 8MP. And a 5MP front camera vs. only 1.2MP. You also get 4K video recording options. So 6S will stretch you a lot further especially with 2GB of ram.

I think the 6S was easily the best S model ever released.


The 6S had essentially only two real differences compared to the 6. The first of these nobody used and has now been deprecated (3D touch), whilst the other (live photos) was actually a nuisance and ruined many photos when you didn’t realise the phone had put itself into that mode again. The other changes you mention are insignificant. Defo the smallest change between S models, maybe except the X/XS
 

tps3443

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 24, 2019
1,406
908
NC,USA
The 6S had essentially only two real differences compared to the 6. The first of these nobody used and has now been deprecated (3D touch), whilst the other (live photos) was actually a nuisance and ruined many photos when you didn’t realise the phone had put itself into that mode again. The other changes you mention are insignificant. Defo the smallest change between S models, maybe except the X/XS


I don’t see 2GB of ram, better construction, and 4K video recording to be insignificant. If the camera is insignificant, then you may as well discount the iPhone 11 as a worthy device over the XS.

You cannot run anything on a iPhone 6. The 6S is the minimum requirement for almost every popular intensive game or app.

That difference in the 1GB of ram to 2GB of ram is actually the difference in being able to play this game or use this application at all.
 

Dented

macrumors 65816
Oct 16, 2009
1,119
899
The 6S had essentially only two real differences compared to the 6. The first of these nobody used and has now been deprecated (3D touch), whilst the other (live photos) was actually a nuisance and ruined many photos when you didn’t realise the phone had put itself into that mode again. The other changes you mention are insignificant. Defo the smallest change between S models, maybe except the X/XS
That’s nonsense. The ram and processor upgrades alone were very significant and the reason why the 6S (and closely related SE) still run well under iOS 13 and the 6 is effectively EOL at this point. Not to mention the 6S doesn’t bend and is also immune to touch disease. It’s basically the phone that the 6 should have been in the first place.
 
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Elitegate

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2014
533
430
The 6S had essentially only two real differences compared to the 6. The first of these nobody used and has now been deprecated (3D touch), whilst the other (live photos) was actually a nuisance and ruined many photos when you didn’t realise the phone had put itself into that mode again. The other changes you mention are insignificant. Defo the smallest change between S models, maybe except the X/XS

I also disagree. 6 to 6s was a great S-upgrade. The 6s was a huge jump from the 6. The 6s was also the phone the 6 should have been. I had the 5s and i had zero interest in the 6, as i was happy with the 5s design and display at the time. When the 6s was released, i got that one for a replacement. It's not just the screen and 3D Touch (and yes, i use 3D Touch quite a bit and i hate to see it go, but i understand that 3D Touch makes the screen unit more expensive because of the pressure-sensitive layer).

3D Touch was a nice addition, but also the more durable aluminum (remember Bendgate, didn't existed with the 6s). The A9 chip was also a lot faster. Camera also got a HUGE jump, instead of 8 you had 12 MP with 4K video recording. Also Live Photos as you mentioned. Front Facing Camera also got improved, finally turning away from the 1.2 MP unit. Still only 720p video recording.

And for Live Photos there's an option in Settings --> Camera so that the phone remember's the last setting. If you had the Live Photo feature enabled, and you would disable it, it would re-enable itself again the next time you would open the Camera app.

While the phone is outdated now and the camera quality is far from being good, back in the day this phone was pretty decent and had a lot of improvements. And the phone's obviously still usable and still used by many.

The 6 however was a very minor upgrade coming from the 5s, except screen size and resolution. Same CPU performance give or take an extra 10% in performance, same camera.
 
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apolloa

Suspended
Oct 21, 2008
12,318
7,802
Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
The 6S had essentially only two real differences compared to the 6. The first of these nobody used and has now been deprecated (3D touch), whilst the other (live photos) was actually a nuisance and ruined many photos when you didn’t realise the phone had put itself into that mode again. The other changes you mention are insignificant. Defo the smallest change between S models, maybe except the X/XS

Oh I think you’ll find LOTS of people used 3D Touch actually.
I’d say you’ve also never owned both a 6 and a 6S. The 6 is pretty slow now, the 6S is barely slower then my XR. And that’s a fact.
 
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1BadManVan

macrumors 68040
Dec 20, 2009
3,153
3,289
Bc Canada
Oh I think you’ll find LOTS of people used 3D Touch actually.
I’d say you’ve also never owned both a 6 and a 6S. The 6 is pretty slow now, the 6S is barely flower then my XR. And that’s a fact.
Yup, 3D Touch is why I just went and bought a xs max recently instead of waiting on the 11 since it’s pretty much a fact at this point that it’s gone now
 

Elitegate

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2014
533
430
Yup, 3D Touch is why I just went and bought a xs max recently instead of waiting on the 11 since it’s pretty much a fact at this point that it’s gone now

You do realize that the way 3D Touch works will change with iOS 13?
 

weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,837
3,516
In 2 years Apple will probably pay you $150 for you to upgrade to a iPhone 11/12 so your net cost will be less than $100 for a great phone.

Apple is only offering $120 trade in for a 6S+ now. You will be lucky to get $50 or anything at all in two years from Apple.
 

mrklaw

macrumors 68030
Jan 29, 2008
2,695
990
iOS 12 is exception. Even if iPhone gets iOS 14, iPhone 7 will still outlast iPhone 6S.

It is far better to get iPhone 7 than 6S at this stage.

both have the same ram, both similar CPUs. I can see both being dropped fairly closely together. Actually 2GB ram is pretty standard including this year with the 8, and last year with the XR. So Ram may not be the deciding factor of the next cutoff - but how CPU hungry apps/OS starts to get.

Will be interesting to see what Apple does, but I can absolutely see the 6s getting iOS 14
 
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Vivian125

macrumors 6502
May 19, 2017
387
86
I don’t use a 6S but one of my friend’s Android phones crapped out and his missus wanted him to get an iPhone. However he’s stingy as heck so she asked around for advice to surprise him with a new handset.

A refurb 6S 64GB cost her £140 and it still runs the latest OS fine. People say a lot about the price of Apple products but the 6S is such a great phone and I genuinely can’t think of any other Android device at that price point which would give you more value for money.

As a plus: now when he messages me he’s no longer a green-bubble maggot, so I tend to answer him more often and hurl abuse at him less.
ONLY worth it if it runs iOS 9 or iOS 10. Because even you replace the battery many times of an iPhone 6S/Plus in iOS 11 and higher, to 100% you cannot escape its A9 Processor that isn't Power Efficient enough to run the iOS 12 and even worst iOS 13. From 100% for sure after months it will return to 80% and lower battery health of 6s and below. Also, as of the moment the iPhone 7 Plus has better battery and isn't that much costly compared to 6S plus as well as an extra gig of ram. Only a used iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X are still a bit expensive since they are only 2 years old.
 

Elitegate

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2014
533
430
You're basing your claim on speculation. For all we know, the iPhone 6s / iPhone SE and iPhone 7 will be dropped at the same time, just as the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 were. And the iPad Air 2 has been given six years of OS support thanks to iOS 13, which could indicate that iOS 12 was the start of a new support strategy, not just a discrepancy.

You don't know that, it's also speculation. What makes you think that?, i'm curious to know.

The Reason why the 5s (2013) and 6 / 6 Plus (2014) were dropped at the same time with iOS 13, was the simple fact that they shared the same old incapable hardware. Both the 5s and 6 / 6 Plus had only 1 GB of RAM.

Now, iPad mini 4 and iPad Air 2 get iOS 13 aswell (iPadOS is just marketing), and they have the same old A8 chip aswell, the Air 2 has the A8X and the mini 4 the regular A8. But both of these devices have 2 GBs of RAM, while the 6 does not. Which is why those tablets get support for iOS 13, while the phone does not. Therefore i do believe that the A8 chip is able to run iOS 13, but only with 2 GBs of RAM atleast.

My point however is that i am convinced that the 7 will be supported longer than the 6s, even if it's only by two years. 6s / SE could be supported by iOS 14, or not, i don't know. All the A10 devices have atleast 2 GBs of RAM, some have 3 GBs, and the A10 is also a bit faster than the A9.

Also Apple still uses this chip in newly released products today. Like with the in April 2019 released iPod touch 7th gen or, more important, the 10.2" iPad 7th gen (September 2019) which are both devices that were upgraded with the same old A10 chip just this year. The A10 is also used in the 6th gen iPad from March 2018, just with 2 GBs of RAM. All of these devices are 1 - 2 years old now and pretty popular (except for the iPod maybe).

Let's just imagine Apple drops support for the 6s and 7 at the same time - let's say - September 2021 when iOS 15 is due. The 10.2" iPad would only be two years old at this time and already be unsupported. If Apple drops support for the 6s/7 with iOS 14, that tablet will only be one year old and be unsupported. I can't really see that coming. It's also unlikely that they will support the A10 iPads longer than the iPhone 7, because again, same RAM. 2 GBs for the 7, 3 GBs for the 7 Plus. 2 GBs for the iPad 6th gen, and 3 GBs for the 7th gen.

I think that the 6s (and SE) will become unsupported either with the release of iOS 14 or iOS 15. A10 devices should be supported longer than that.
 

Azathoth123

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2018
930
698
Fountain City
Surprised someone who owns an iPad Pro is willing to use such an old phone. You must not take many photos either, the camera has come a long long way.

Too many people associate hardware with good photography. I took a lot of great images with the 8 MP iPhone 6 (not the better 12 MP iPhone 6s). The increase in MP is desirable because you can make larger prints, but if you’re doing online images, 8 MP is actually larger than many sites will accept or they re-size the image for you. An 8 MP camera will make a good 8x10 print and so on. The 12 MP camera for the 6s didn’t change that much until the 8/X when more computational photography features began to appear, but those are software features enabled by stronger processors.

No argument that the cameras are much better now than the 6s, but most of that does not appear to be related to the hardware quality or design since the design is highly constrained by phone thickness.
 

5x10

macrumors member
Dec 1, 2018
69
57
I just gave my dad my 6s+, upgraded to the 11 pro max
essentially the same phone, with better hardware, didn’t need to do it, but had the $

my dad loves the phone
 

Sam in SoCal

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2019
762
1,031
You don't know that, it's also speculation. What makes you think that?, i'm curious to know.

The Reason why the 5s (2013) and 6 / 6 Plus (2014) were dropped at the same time with iOS 13, was the simple fact that they shared the same old incapable hardware. Both the 5s and 6 / 6 Plus had only 1 GB of RAM.

Now, iPad mini 4 and iPad Air 2 get iOS 13 aswell (iPadOS is just marketing), and they have the same old A8 chip aswell, the Air 2 has the A8X and the mini 4 the regular A8. But both of these devices have 2 GBs of RAM, while the 6 does not. Which is why those tablets get support for iOS 13, while the phone does not. Therefore i do believe that the A8 chip is able to run iOS 13, but only with 2 GBs of RAM atleast.

My point however is that i am convinced that the 7 will be supported longer than the 6s, even if it's only by two years. 6s / SE could be supported by iOS 14, or not, i don't know. All the A10 devices have atleast 2 GBs of RAM, some have 3 GBs, and the A10 is also a bit faster than the A9.

Also Apple still uses this chip in newly released products today. Like with the in April 2019 released iPod touch 7th gen or, more important, the 10.2" iPad 7th gen (September 2019) which are both devices that were upgraded with the same old A10 chip just this year. The A10 is also used in the 6th gen iPad from March 2018, just with 2 GBs of RAM. All of these devices are 1 - 2 years old now and pretty popular (except for the iPod maybe).

Let's just imagine Apple drops support for the 6s and 7 at the same time - let's say - September 2021 when iOS 15 is due. The 10.2" iPad would only be two years old at this time and already be unsupported. If Apple drops support for the 6s/7 with iOS 14, that tablet will only be one year old and be unsupported. I can't really see that coming. It's also unlikely that they will support the A10 iPads longer than the iPhone 7, because again, same RAM. 2 GBs for the 7, 3 GBs for the 7 Plus. 2 GBs for the iPad 6th gen, and 3 GBs for the 7th gen.

I think that the 6s (and SE) will become unsupported either with the release of iOS 14 or iOS 15. A10 devices should be supported longer than that.
I agree. The release of the new iPad in September 2019 with the A10 clinched it for me that my back up device, the 7 plus, will be supported for years to come, beyond 2021 and up to 2024 to give that new iPad its average of 5 years of support
 
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