Every time Apple is expected to release an S-series iPhone — the 3GS, the 4S, the 5s, and now the 6S — pundits rush to discount the value of each anticipated new feature, claiming that it won’t be enough to boost iPhone sales. Yet historically, every prediction of iPhone sales peaks or declines has been wrong: each iPhone, whether a big “tick” or small “tock” on Apple’s upgrade schedule, has outsold its predecessors. Even without form factor or screen changes, speed sold the iPhone 3GS, Siri boosted the 4S, and Touch ID and camera improvements helped the 5s. (In S years, improved distribution, new color options, and price and capacity tweaks have made a big difference, too.)
This week, analysts and pundits have co-opted my colleague Mark Gurman’s scoop that Force Touch on the iPhone 6S will be used for shortcuts across iOS, suggesting that Force Touch isn’t going to be exciting enough to make people upgrade. That’s true, but also so obvious as to be ridiculous: Apple certainly won’t pitch a pressure-sensitive screen as the iPhone 6S’s marquee new feature. Force Touch debuted in the Apple Watch, but it’s not even mentioned on the first Apple Watch page on Apple.com, instead showing up in the fifth paragraph of the “Technology” page. It’s similarly found only paragraphs down on the page of the 12″ MacBook where it made its Mac debut.
With the notable exception of the iPad mini 3, Apple never releases new devices with only one new feature to hook customers. Even a month before it’s announced, it’s a virtual certainty that the iPhone 6S will arrive with camera improvements and faster processors, most likely a new color option, and Force Touch as one of many small but nice additions. So long as Apple gets distribution and international pricing right, the iPhone 6S is going to do just fine…
Apple has been focusing a lot of 2015’s iPhone advertising on camera performance for a reason. Even with lower megapixel counts and without optical zoom versus dedicated point-and-shoot cameras, every new iPhone takes a bigger bite out of the large camera market by annually improving photo and video quality. The better Apple gets at marketing iPhones as a viable alternative to $200-$400 standalone cameras, the less an iPhone’s price difference matters versus an otherwise similar-looking Android phone.
The other key focuses of Apple’s “if it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone” campaign have been broad app support, reliability, and customer satisfaction. Here, you’re seeing Apple performing a pre-iPhone 6S branding exercise, building trust and admiration for the existing iPhone product line. Most smartphone buyers wait several years to buy new phones. When they make a switch, Apple wants the latest iPhone to be widely understood as the industry’s gold standard, and thus the preferred choice of both past and new customers.
Both the ads and past Apple history strongly suggest that the signature features of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will, like prior iPhones, be camera and performance improvements. To any claim that iPhone cameras are already “great enough,” I’d suggest that there’s plenty of room for meaningful improvements. If Apple merely bumped both iPhone 6S cameras’ pixel counts for still images, iPhones could offer more detailed iSight photos, markedly better crops akin to optical zoom, and radically better selfies. On the video side, 4K video support would kill any chance that iPhone owners would purchase standalone 4K camcorders.
Annual CPU and GPU performance improvements are obvious and inevitable at this point, but they can also be powerful reasons to upgrade if demonstrated properly. Showing off a couple of console-quality games running on an iPhone’s new graphics processor would drop jaws. And no one will complain when the A9 offers improved battery life, either.
Force Touch is a comparatively small element in Apple’s strategy. Unless Apple has some smart Force Touch shortcuts in the offing (say, Force Touch Phone or FaceTime to call your favorite person, Force Touch Maps to get instant guidance back home, or Force Touch Music to start playing your favorite playlist), the feature may not be super exciting at first. But over time, pressure sensitivity may enable easier signatures or handwriting on iPhone (and iPad) screens — the new iOS 9 Notes app may well have been built for this. And don’t write off the potential of well-implemented haptic feedback to improve the way your fingers feel when interacting with Apple’s devices, either.
So don’t expect Force Touch to be a signature feature of the iPhone 6S. It’s just one of fifty little tweaks that the new iPhones will use to make their overall user experience better in ways that may or may not be completely obvious to users. There will be bigger hardware improvements, and as with earlier iPhone S-models, they’ll certainly be enough to bring millions of customers to the Apple Store come September.
More From This Author
Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
I fully agree with your post today. Apple operates an endless iterative loop on all of its products with a tick-tock beat to it.
I agree for the most part. But while Apple may not present it as a signature feature, it will be received by the general public as the signature feature, unless they have something bigger than Force Touch.
Also on a side note, I think its time they upped the megapixel count. I want to be able to use my iPhone pictures as Desktop Backgrounds on my rMBP without it looking grainy.
I so agree about the MP count. Just posted that as well :).
I’m on a Retina MBP and my desktop background is a sharp and clean shot I took myself on my iPhone 6. As long as you have the right light conditions, there shouldn’t be any grain for a perfectly high quality background wallpaper.
congrats on knowing that cameras work better in brighter conditions, but not everything i want to take a picture of happens between the hours of 6am and 7pm
I was just thinking the same. If it’s not their signature feature, then what will be? There always has to be one, and if the rest are tweaks and this is 100% new, then it will be the signature item…
I agree that FT won’t be The key thing here. However, we are yet to see that The thing. Camera and CPU also won’t be the standalone features that will do the trick. We heard about Siri just few days prior to the announcement of the 4s, so that still leaves room for surprises. I also think that this time Apple is going for more switchers, first-timers as well as older iPhone owners (like me, with the 4) rather Sixers to jump on the 6S. I am getting 6S for sure, so they need only 89,99… million sales :)
People claiming Force Touch will be the ‘signature feature’ are not implying that’s all the iPhone 6s will bring, nor that it’s the most important feature. I think you’re misinterpreting the term ‘signature feature’.
Of course the 6s will also bring extra performance, better cameras and possibly new colors. It’s just that those things are taken for granted at this point, since all new iPhones have those improvements. They’re not distinctive. “Signature” = distinctive.
If you were to ask people what they think the ‘signature feature’ of the 5s is, they’d most likely answer ‘Touch ID’ even though they know there are more improvements, they’re not just characteristic of the 5s since the same improvements were made in the past on other iPhone models.
As for the way the iPhone 6s’ Force Touch will be marketed by Apple, it’ll probably be just like Touch ID on the 5s. It’ll be considered a tentpole feature amongst 3 or 4 others. It’ll definitely be more marketed than with the Apple Watch, but that’s kind of expected considering the Apple Watch is a new product category and they have to sell you the very idea of using a smart watch before getting into such details. People already know what an iPhone is and how it’s used, so of course Apple will focus more on details rather than basics in their marketing.
No one said that Force Touch is “all the iPhone 6s will bring, nor that it’s the most important feature.” And we can have a (pointless) semantic debate over the meaning of the term “signature feature.” But analysts are, as I said above, assigning it too much importance. As just one example, the KGI report linked above leans heavily on the lack of excitement over Force Touch to suggest that the iPhone will fall short of sales targets. “Force Touch has already been used in Apple Watch and MacBook without prompting strongly positive market feedback. We are, therefore, not certain whether it can provide sufficient appeal to shore up shipments momentum of the new iPhone models to be launched this year.” My point was that Force Touch could not and was not designed to do such a thing.
Jeremy it’s intended to replace the home button of the iPhone 7. That’s #1. Just as Apple’s main intention for Touch ID (iPhone 5S) was for Apple Pay in the iPhone 6. It gives the iPhone 7 the prime opportunity to be massively smaller, physically, or have a much bigger display, assuming they retained the physical size, or going in both directions and increasing the display slightly, whilst also decreasing the physical size of the device slightly.
They also need to get users used to the idea of Force Touch before they remove the Home a Button.
It is a major feature despite so few understanding the possibilities, which you apparently read my previous comments from yesterday, or came to the same conclusion that iOS 9 Notes app having scribble feature was specifically designed for natural handwriting for notes. The iPad Pro + the stylus and Force Touch display will introduce the first natural feeling writing, and drawing on a touchscreen. It’s big.
In regards to your comment about them showing ‘console quality games’ umm in case you weren’t paying attention, they’ve said that on stage, every year, for like the past 4-5 years? There already is console quality graphics, there aren’t really console quality games because well they require much more power, and they require a physical controller. A touchscreen will never come close to the gaming experience of a physical controller. MFi controllers was a huge waste of time for Apple. They were too stupid to know that a controller is the #1 most important part of a video game, and thus, it has to be built with quality and intelligent design, and only Apple, Sony, or Microsoft can do that. They should have just allowed people to use a PS4 controller, it’s really quite embarrassing and sad. I can’t wait for the embarrassment of the new Apple TV having an App Store and Apple still being too god damn stupid to have made they own controller or allow the use of the PS4 controller.
I agree with most of what you’re saying. I’m not sure that the Home Button can easily go away without a replacement scanning surface for Touch ID (at a minimum), but it’s fair to assume that this is under consideration once Force Touch gets added. Re: the scribbling and writing, yes, this has been a topic of discussion here ever since iOS 9 Notes debuted. Seemed like Notes was setting the stage for better stylus support.
Re: the gaming stuff, the phrase “console quality” is somewhat amorphous – a moving target. iOS devices have been able to do console-quality games since the App Store first opened, but the specific consoles would have been “old ones.” Every year’s GPU improvements are narrowing the gap between the top-of-line iOS devices and current-generation game consoles, to the point where it seems highly likely that an iPad will match or eclipse the Wii U within a year, and perhaps rival the PS4 within two or three years. The day an iPad or iPhone debuts with the ability to run a virtually uncompromised version of a current-generation console’s AAA title is the day Sony and Microsoft are basically screwed. Thanks to 7-year console life cycles, that day seems closer and closer every year.
I agree of course Touch ID has to be imbedded in the display, but you know they’ve been working tirelessly on that, and a year is a long time now in tech. They have patents for it, and I’m sure the intention is for Force Touch and Touch ID imbedded in the display to replace the physical home button, because it has to go away at some point, and with those two things, it can. The iPhone 7 could have massively reduced bezels if they did that.
I agree with your general point that analysts are assigning Force Touch too much importance when trying to predict the iPhone 6s’ sales.
Your title however doesn’t reflect well what your point is about. The article isn’t really about the fact Force Touch isn’t the iPhone 6s’ signature feature.
I’m not pointlessly debating semantics for the heck of it, I was truly misled by the title and that’s something you might want to avoid.
The only time I bought an iPhone XS was the 3GS back in 2009, because it was my first iPhone. Afterwards I got the 4, 5 and now I have the 6. I never upgrade to the ‘S’ versions because the upgrades are just way too small or/and some features don’t get upgraded.
With the 4s, the cemera was an awesome upgrade to any previous iPhone, but that and the processor were the only upgrades. Siri didn’t matter to me because anyone who knows tech, knew it would not be that great right after launch because it such a complicated service (human interaction, understanding what you say, etc.)
With the 5S, Touch ID was just the coolest feature I had ever seen on a tech device. The cpu was also updated, so was the camera. The camera though got a very small upgrade, and because the A6 was still very snappy on iOS6 and iOS7 back then, the CPU was no upgrade for me, it didn’t count. So the only feature remaining was Touch ID, which wasn’t enough to convince me.
So for the 6S, I really hope Apple upgrades:
– The ram: from 1GB to 2GB or more (It’s about time)
– The rear camera: and no not a small update like improved low light performances but an update to the MP count. Yes people, I know the amount of MP isn’t the most important for good photos and videos but it is a very important spec. And I am tired of the same 4-year old 8MP camera.
– The front-facing camera, this one hasn’t been improved noticeably since the iPhone 5
– Force Touch
– Chip (A9)
If all those features are part of the 6S, it will be the first time I upgrade to an ‘S’ iPhone.
I am in the same boat as you and went from 3GS,4,5 and 6 plus. I am glad I’m on this upgrade cycle and hope AT&T keeps offering online subsidized phones. I Ike trading in or selling my phone every 2 years.
I think the front camera needs updated morre then other components. It will help a lot for FaceTime and Skype calls amd for people who likes selfies. A smart zoom would be a great feature if it zoomed out to out you in focus without a need for a selfie stick.
Absolutely! What kind of front-facing camera do te 6 and 6 Plus have? 1.2MP 720P right? Well yea that’s just so bad… But to me the ram is the most important thing that needs to be upgraded. Tabs refreshing while only 2 open is so annoying.
I think upgrading every 2 years is the sweet spot. I know that if I do upgrade to the 6S, that I will feel bad about the fact the phone I’m upgrading from is still awesome, and still in perfect condition.
I had a huge ram issue with my iPad Air and was glad I had the Next plan to upgrade to the Air 2, but not problem with my 6 Plus Apple needs to work on the memory allocation of mobile Safari. Do you have random images from past browsing history paper when launching Safari?
What do you mean by ‘images from past browsing history paper’?
I’m complaining about Safari refreshing tabs even if I don’t quit safari.
Ex.: I open Safari, open a tab with 9to5mac, another tab is on Apple.com. Both websites are loaded. Then I scroll through the article on 9to5mac, just reading it that’s all. I then decide to check the apple.com tab I opened and loaded just a minute earlier. It refrehes!!! So annoying. It does’t happen every time with just 2 tabs open, mostly I need 3 tabs open for one to refresh but it does happen with just 2 tabs…
If you mean what I see when I open safari: If I haven’t used Safari for a while, it will reload the page I was on when I left the app previously.
Btw, the memory issue also occurs with apps. I could be in Sarari, 2 tabs open, and return to the app I left just before opening Safari and that app will restart as if I killed the app.
I just don’t get it, 1GB of ram is not much but it should be capable to keep 3 tabs open and the app I left a second before.
I’m talking about seeing seeing an image when you open Safari from weeks or months ago before the current page loads.
Apple definitely needs to work how memory is allocated in Safari. For me it has been much better in the iOS 9 beta, it still needs more work.
Tabs refreshing is not because of lack of ram or anything of that sorts.
If I can play a game like SImCIty, go do multiple things and then go back t othe game without needing to reload or anything like that, then Im sure there is a way for Safari to not need to reload pages. It is a decision made by programmers to reload imo.
I agree with you fully, apple tends to have a bigger. I think they could make Hey, Siri work without the phone being plugged in to charge as well, but that as well would be might just be a one line mention somewhere on the product page.
What about gaming, I think this force touch thing might be a big improvement if we were to use some sort of pads over the screen to play.
That will never be big, just saying. A physical, ergonomic, intelligently designed controller is necessary for good gaming. Apple refuses to build one or allow for the use of a PS4 controller, so forget about good gaming.
The MFI Bluetooth controllers are totally fine in terms of ergonomics and features. They’re just ridiculously overpriced and came right after show-stoppingly stupid Lightning versions that effectively killed developer interest in supporting Apple controllers. If Apple wasn’t so concerned about making a comparatively tiny bit of money on third-party controllers, it would be swimming in profits from sales of ported console games.
Are you kidding? The MFi controllers are all absolutely garbage. Go pick up and use a PS4 controller, and then tell me Apple should be allowing those trash MFi controllers to be connected to the insanely well designed, beautiful iPhones.
The PS4 controller is the best controller ever designed. It should be allowed to be used with iOS devices. Sony or Microsoft are the ONLY third parties that should be a part of the controller equation. Other third parties can make the part that doesn’t really matter: the arm attachment holding the phone to the PS4 controller.
Pundits and tech journalist including people from your staff. #fact
I don’t have to agree with everything that we publish. #fact
Will we see force touch on the new TV remote?
Don’t know… I sure hope so.
They could have no physical buttons, but instead, round concave glass indents at the top above the small touchscreen. The buttons would be akin to the current remote, like play/pause, select, menu, fast forward, reward, skip forward, skip backward. You’d physically feel that your finger was in the right place without looking, and Force Touch and tactic feedback would allow you to click them. Deeper press and hold on the fast forward or rewind to increase the speed.
The touchscreen could have a Home Button above it for when you’re looking at it, and holding that will bring up Siri, and navigate you through the touchscreen menus. The touchscreen could be AMOLED like the Apple Watch because on a remote you’d definitely want dark colors, a lot of black, and OLED for maximum battery effeciency. The touchscreen on the remote could be for some quick app navigation, text input on the tv (turn the remote sideways and a keyboard pops up?), and also scrolling/swiping navigation on the tv.
Remote will obviously have a mic and speaker. I’m guessing you’ll be able to take calls on it, like you can on the watch. Simply put, why not?
I can imagine something like that looking similar to a Magic Mouse, but optimized for the opposite orientation. Sounds like the perfect device-agnostic remote for HomeKit too!
I would agree. The “S” monicker has always represented something as well. I wonder what the S will be for the 6S. Even the “C” in the 5C stood for Color.
3GS – Speed (Speedier processor which allowed for video recording)
4S – Siri
5S – Security (Added TouchID)
6S – Maybe SOUND/SPEAKERS??? Better speakers?? Maybe built in Beats front facing speakers? That would be amazing.
I certainly hope not lol.
I thought C was for Cheap. (Just kidding.)
The S doesn’t really stand for anything. It was mentioned to correlate to speed a couple of times over the course of the 3GS marketing campaign, but it’s really just an effective letter that makes people think things are newer and better.
Actually Steve said S stood for Siri in 4S, and Tim said S stood for security in the 5S.
Would be awesome to have Force Touch on the Magic Mouse. But only if Apple lowers or keeps the price the same. 70€ for a wireless mouse is extremely expensive.
this completely ignores the huge impact pressure sensitivity (aka force touch) can have on touchscreen based game controls.
I think every person knows at least some of the possibilities there, but the thing is, touch based gaming will never be a great input method for gaming. Yes, this will make some new cool touch based gaming options and things, but the fact is, the best gaming experience comes from physically holding an ergonomic controller in your hands, with physical buttons and analogue sticks. I just do not understand why Apple wouldn’t build their own controller for the new Apple TV, which could also be used across all of their devices, and make a dock to connect it to iPhones/iPods. It would take gaming on these devices miles ahead, because then developers would actually put great games on them.
Look at call of duty zombies games for iOS. Those games are a million times better with a physical, ergonomic controller. And yet, the developers still haven’t added MFi support, because no one has MFi controllers, whereas millions would purchase an Apple designed controller. It’s such a waste.
How about bringing OIS to the iPhone 6s? It’s the main reason I am continuing to cary the over-sized 6 Plus – if they brought that to its little sibling many would jump in a heartbeat.
Well it’s going to be 7.1mm thick based on rumors, just like the iPhone 6 Plus right now, the question is whether they’ll be able to fit the OIS in there. It’s getting thicker for multiple reasons probably, but I’m sure Force Touch or 12MP camera are the main reasons.
iPhone 6 – 6.9mm
iPhone 6 Plus – 7.1mm
iPhone 6S – 7.1mm (force touch, 12MP camera?)
iPhone 6S Plus -7.3mm (force touch, (12MP camera?)
OIS should fit just fine if the 6S is indeed 7.1mm thick, as a slightly better Sony sensor stack won’t be thicker and the camera module doesn’t collide with the display assembly.
Thank you Jeremy for reflecting my view on the matter. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think any one single feature has lured over new buyers of iPhones in the past (or will in the future). I have never heard anyone say they want an iPhone because of Siri, Touch ID, RAM or even the camera. People get iPhones because of the brand association or because of word-of-mouth. Most phone features are available on both iOS and Android so the arguments are moot. People buy an iPhone because 1) they have an iPhone but think it’s time for an upgrade or 2) because they think the iPhone is a good choice.
There will naturally always be people who research extensively before investing in a new phone but most people go by recommendations or by their gut feelings.
It’s funny how every time a new iPhone is on the way, there are people hoping for more RAMand higher Megapixel counts on the cameras.
More RAM = lower battery life and RAM is not a real issue at the moment.
The iPhone camera really needs to be improved, but the problem is with low light conditions – not MP.
And once more, you should remember that more MP means bigger pictures = room for fewer pictures on your phone/need for bigger cloud storage.
There’s always a tradeoff…
I will keep my iPhone 6 until the time when iPhones start coming with stylus like the galaxy note4. I am more optimistic about this happening especially after updating the “note” app to support drawing with fingers. hopefully iPhone 7 will have that and I will get that for sure.
They’ll never include a stylus with an iPhone, you’ll be able to purchase it separately for it I’m sure.
Well:
Siri was the signature feature in iPhone 4S
Touch ID was the signature feature in iPhone 5S…
S this year could stand for Stamina! I would upgrade if they successfully managed to double the battery life … which due to recent leaks on the overall thickness ‘actually being thicker than the 6’ – this could be the major feature.
Double the battery life. That’s hilarious. You’ll see that when there is new battery tech.
You were very wrong– apple w/out steve jobs does not innovate