This time the iPhone 6s and OS X El Capitan are not just small, incremental updates. There's more inside for you

Sep 30, 2015 20:19 GMT  ·  By

Apple has gotten us used to receiving the big things one year and the small things the next year. This yearly update cycle has its benefits. Some people prefer to get a new iPhone when Apple throws out a shiny new design, others can't wait for the upgraded version of the hardware that comes out every 12 months. 

However, this year, the landscape is pretty different. We've got an iPhone 6s and an iPhone 6s Plus that look pretty much the same as the previous generation but solve most of the problems encountered in their predecessors. Not only do users get a better camera and internals, a new color and 4K video recording, but they can also enjoy the bend-free case and a new feature that will change the way they interact with touch screens - 3D Touch.

"The next generation of Multi-Touch"

That is what Apple calls their new innovation. Sure enough, some may say it looks strikingly similar to the Android Long Press, but an iPhone user can tell the difference. The device senses when you long press the screen, so it takes you to the giggle-mode to delete apps or it opens the Drafts in your Mail app.

3D Touch is different because, depending on how long and how hard you press the screen, you can get a contextual menu or Peek and Pop. This is surely not a feature that users were expecting in an "s"-year device. Judging the device solely on that, Apple could have called it the iPhone 7.

The first step towards a waterproof iPhone

Reports about waterproof iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus devices have showed up everywhere. Some crazy guys got their iPhones in a jar and left them there for an hour or longer just to prove that the new devices are waterproof. Apple has said absolutely nothing about such a feature, although this would be something major.

Further investigation from iFixit shows that Apple did take some steps towards waterproofing the iPhone, but the device is not 100% safe. What they thought was adhesive surrounding the screen was actually a way to protect the innards of the phone. There's a gasket around the band and some internal parts are isolated with a thicker layer of silicone.

However, there are ways for liquids to get inside, as the power buttons, speaker and headphone jack are still the same. I wouldn't recommend taking your iPhone 6s for a swim in the ocean, but the iPhone 7 may finally be able to work without a special case in the water.

Expect more, sell more

This proves once again that Apple is not working towards leaving their competition behind, but they are fighting against last year's iPhone. And this strategy seems to work just fine. In the first three days since the new devices went on sale, Apple sold 13 million units.

A new record was broken and this is just the beginning. Apple is shipping the new units worldwide faster than ever: close to 50 countries will get the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus just 10 days after the US launch and 130 countries will get it by year's end.

The fast-track iOS 9

It's only been two weeks since iOS 9 came out and Apple has already released two updates for it. Smaller fixes, delivered over the air in Delta updates, are a good way to keep customers happy. Unless this was a one-off thing, Apple may have actually found the sweet spot for their previous issues: faster releases that keep the iOS running.

There's a hidden "s" in OS X El Capitan

Another aspect indicating Apple has changed is the Mac operating system. It seems a bit strange that the guys in Cupertino, California, chose to release it without the usual bells and whistles. No keynote (except the one from WWDC, back in June) and no official announcement, other than a Press Release they sent out a day before.

However, OS X 10.11 El Capitan is not just an incremental release. Apple managed to bring some hidden things to the end user. OS X El Capitan is all about Experience and Performance. Long-overdue apps, like Mail, Spotlight and Notes, got new features and work much better, and Apple makes sure to highlight the fact that the apps are thinner and everything opens faster.

As expected, OS X is free of charge and the guys in Cupertino made sure to have it available for Macintosh computers as old as 7.

Today's Apple seems to be all about changing the way they work. Who would have thought they would release an Apple Pencil for an iPad Pro? Maybe Steve Jobs is rolling around in his grave, but he must be proud of the way things turned out.