Apple has officially commented on the ongoing bending iPhone 6 controversy, saying that an iPhone bending with normal use is "extremely rare." In a quote to the Financial Times, a spokesperson for the company said that only 9 people have complained of the issue since the 6 and 6 Plus went on sale last Friday.
Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones have just gone on sale in New Zealand (it's September 26 there) across company-owned online and retail stores, carrier locations and authorized retailers in the 4.5 million people country.
The iPhone release in New Zealand is part of a wider roll-out Friday that will expand the handset's availability to more than twenty new countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
Apple has promised to make the new phones available in about 115 countries by the end of the year.
Google chairman Eric Schmidt didn't have positive things to say about the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus released to much fanfare last week, as you may expect. Schmidt, who is often credited with speaking loosely, had a bold response when a Bloomberg interviewer asked how he felt about people lined up around the block for the new iPhone.
Fantastical 2 has been updated on Wednesday to bring support for the larger screens of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, just about five days after the release of these devices. Unfortunately, users who were hoping for support for Notification Center widgets and interactive notifications will still have to wait as these features are not part of this update.
If you have just updated your trusty iPhone to the just-released iOS 8.0.1, chances are you may have ended up with a device that can't connect to the cellular network (shows No Service in the status bar) or read fingerprint data through the Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. As you could imagine, social media is awash with complaints from disgruntled users who are venting their frustration over the cellular and Touch ID issues.
At any rate, your best bet is to steer away from this update until Apple address the situation and releases a fix. Not everyone is affected, of course, but keep in mind we have no real indication as to how widespread those issues are because Apple, at the moment, isn't talking much.
That's why we're asking you, our readers, to tell us whether iOS 8.0.1 has broken cellular connectivity and Touch ID for you.
Touch ID in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has improved, but it's still vulnerable to attack according to Lookout Mobile Security researcher Marc Rogers. Rogers says that the same fake fingerprint hack he used to bypass Touch ID on the iPhone 5s works flawlessly on the new handsets.
The improvement comes in the form of better accuracy, thanks to its higher resolution scanner, which Rogers has found makes it harder to clone fingerprints. But, he says, Apple has done nothing to tighten up Touch ID's security in the iPhone 6, leaving the door open for determined hackers.
The improved rear camera on both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has scored Apple a major victory over its biggest rivals in exhaustive smartphone camera benchmarks published Wednesday by the reputable camera and lens experts at DxOMark.
Achieving an impressive rating of 82 out of 100, both new iPhones have managed to beat Apple's chief competitors in the smartphone space.
Not only does this include the usual suspects like Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone, which scored 79 out of 100, and the previous Galaxy S4 (75/100), but also other quality devices such as Sony's Xperia Z1 (76/100), Z2 (29/100) and Z3 (79/100) and yes — even the 41-megapixel sensor featured on the Nokia 808 PureView (77/100).
The folks over at Taptaptap, the creators of Camera+, have posted an interesting set of photo comparisons, showing how the iPhone's camera has evolved over the years. Included in the set are photos taken using Camera+ on the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 5s and the new iPhone 6, in various situations.
Your $650+ iPhone 6 (or $199+ with carrier contract) only cost Apple around $200 to build, according to a new report from Recode. Using teardown data from research firm IHS, the site says that the Cupertino firm spends between $200 and $247 in parts and labor to build an iPhone 6.
For the larger iPhone 6 Plus, IHS says that Apple spends between $216 and $263 on parts and labor, depending on the model. The estimates include the cost of labor associated with assembly as between $4 and $4.50 for each device, but not R&D, shipping, marketing and other affiliated costs.
Software giant Microsoft, which owns and runs the Skype service, will unleash an update next month that will optimize the popular VoIP platform for the bigger 4.7-inch screen on the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus's 5.5-inch display, according to a Skype spokesperson Tuesday.
“We’re currently working on an update to Skype for iPhone that scales for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus screen sizes, which we plan to release in the next month,” said Skype.
The company wouldn't reveal if the new version will take full advantage of the larger canvas or simply blow up the user interface on 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 devices.
Apple has posted two new iPhone 6 ads to its YouTube channel. The commercials are titled "Cameras" and "Huge," and they highlight some of the benefits of the updated cameras and larger displays found on the recently-launched handsets.
The two videos are very much inline with the spots we saw during the iPhone 6 event, in that they feature voice overs done by celebrities Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon running down various new features of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
The months leading to the announcement of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus seemed to drag on and on, but the week following flew by. Within seven short days of reserving my iPhone 6 at my local Apple Store, I had it in my hands. It's here. And it's lovely.
Backing up for a second, it's worth noting that I wasn't one of those people that was hankering for a new iPhone. I certainly wasn't desperate for one that was a great deal larger than my iPhone 5. That phone had been with me for two years, day in and day out. It felt like part of the family, and I'll almost miss it now it's gone.
It's gone because I took advantage of my two-year contract's expiration in order to get a new iPhone. More specifically, a 64GB Space Grey iPhone 6.
This isn't a review, by the way. It's a largely incoherent collection of thoughts after a weekend with what will probably be Apple's best selling iPhone ever. There are plenty of awesome reviews out there if that's your cup of tea.
So let's get started with my story.