By: C.S.
The design of the iPhone 6 line is influenced by that of the iPad Air, with a glass front that is curved around the edges of the display, and an aluminum rear. Both models will come in gold, silver, and "space gray" finishes. The iPhone 6 has a thickness of 6.9 millimeters (0.69 cm), while the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.1 millimeters (0.71 cm) in thickness; both are thinner than the iPhone 5S, with the iPhone 6 being Apple's thinnest phone to date. The most significant changes to the iPhone 6 line are its displays; branded as Retina HD Display, the iPhone 6 display is 4.7 inches in size with a nearly 16:9 resolution of 1334x750 (326 PPI), while the iPhone 6 Plus includes an "ion-strengthened" 5.5-inch 1080p display. To accommodate the larger physical size of the iPhone 6 line, the power button was moved to the side of the phone instead of the top to improve its accessibility. Unlike the previous model, the rear-facing camera is not flush with the rear of the device, and has a slight "bulge" around the lens.
The iPhone 6 line will ship preloaded with iOS 8. Apps will be able to take advantage of the increased screen size to display more information on-screen; for example, the Mail app uses a dual-pane layout similar to its iPad version when the device is in landscape mode on the iPhone 6 Plus. As it uses an identical aspect ratio, apps designed for the iPhone 5 and 5S can be upscaled for use on the 6 and 6 Plus. To improve the usability of the devices' larger screens, an additional "Reachability" gesture was added; double-touching the Home button will slide the top half of the screen's contents down so that users can, for example, tap a "Back" button in the top-left corner.
The iPhone 6 line will ship preloaded with iOS 8. Apps will be able to take advantage of the increased screen size to display more information on-screen; for example, the Mail app uses a dual-pane layout similar to its iPad version when the device is in landscape mode on the iPhone 6 Plus. As it uses an identical aspect ratio, apps designed for the iPhone 5 and 5S can be upscaled for use on the 6 and 6 Plus. To improve the usability of the devices' larger screens, an additional "Reachability" gesture was added; double-touching the Home button will slide the top half of the screen's contents down so that users can, for example, tap a "Back" button in the top-left corner.