Skip to main content

iPhone 6S will come in Apple Watch-like Rose Gold rather than Pink, lack sapphire, and have renamed Force Touch

Artwork by shoplemonde.de

Earlier this year, reports began to suggest that Apple would launch the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in an additional color beyond the Space Gray, Silver, and Gold options that have been available in the popular iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s. Since then, there have been conflicting rumors regarding Apple’s color choice: some (including the Wall Street Journal) have claimed that the new iPhones would come in “pink,” while some analysts have referred to the color as “Rose Gold” (the discrepancy could be attributed to the similarity between colors). Today, our sources have confirmed that the new iPhones will actually come in a color that is unmistakably Rose Gold in both appearance and name…

This new Rose Gold color is a copper-like variation on the gold option originally introduced with the iPhone 5s in 2013. Like the standard gold iPhone, the front glass will be white, unlike the black front found on Space Gray models. The new color matches up with the two gold shades available for the Apple Watch, but the Rose Gold on the iPhone will obviously be made from anodized aluminum, rather than the 18-karat gold used in the $10,000+ Apple Watch Edition. Besides animated wallpapers on the Lock screen, the addition of Rose Gold will be the only tell-tale sign that the device is a next-generation model. We’ve also been told that although Apple considered utilizing a sapphire crystal cover for the iPhone screens, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will continue to use ionized glass, which Apple now refers to as “Ion-X glass.”

Besides the new casing color, lack of sapphire crystal on the front of the device, and new animated wallpapers, the new iPhones will include a Force Touch display, support for recording video in full 4K resolution, a 12-megapixel rear camera, and updated front camera with support for flash lighting, a faster A9 processor with improved graphics performance, and more efficient cellular chips made by Qualcomm. Force Touch’s underlying technology will be similar to the implementation in the new MacBooks and in the Apple Watch, but its functionality will focus more on short-cutting iOS features rather than on serving as an additional menu overlay for buttons. With that said, we are told that the pressure-sensitive screen may not be called Force Touch on the iPhone, a detail we’ll discuss more in the near future.

Top Artwork by shoplemonde.de

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    IF all these leaks are true – Steve must be spinning in his grave!

    It is certainly keeping my interest peaked for the event – in less than 2 weeks! :)

    • perthy (@uwatto) - 9 years ago

      get over steve for fuck sake

    • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

      The correct term is ‘piqued’. Save the peaks for the mountain tops and lemon meringue pies.

      • scottwilkins - 9 years ago

        @PhilBoogie, Get over your “Publication Grammar” for goodness sake. It’s a public comment section, as long as the idea came across fine, his words are perfect.

      • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

        I always appreciate it when someone corrects my grammar. That way I get to learn something, instead of continuing to write it incorrectly.

  2. mytawalbeh - 9 years ago

    That’s a lot !! When I was reading, I felt like it’s officially announced.
    Anyway, again I’m disappointed about Force Touch functionality But the Camera looks tempting.

  3. acslater017 - 9 years ago

    Can you please elaborate on the “support for flash lighting”?

    • latinoboyboy - 9 years ago

      Support for front facing flash, probably not a flash LED bulb, but a white flash on the screen while taking front facing photos

  4. Thomas Yoon - 9 years ago

    The Ion-X glass on the iPhone is a good call. On the Apple Watch it’s better to have Sapphire since it’s a product that is physically latched to your wrist and will suffer fall damage much frequently, but an iPhone is something people drop much more than scratch. A dropped sapphire screen will not survive the inevitable shattering. I actually don’t know people who really get scratches on their smartphones anymore, at least noticeably distracting ones.

    Now if they could find a material that is scratch AND shatter resistant AND is actually affordable to use, then that would be the big game changer. For now, sapphire on the watch and Ion-X glass on the phone seems like a smart move.

    • I do think that Apple is seriously looking at using a sapphire screen on the 2016 model iPhone. If they design the new case to work with the physical properties of sapphire glass, they could build a phone that when dropped won’t shatter the sapphire display screen.

  5. -MaK- - 9 years ago

    Don’t give us parts of the story if you know the whole thing. What will ForceTouch be called on the iPhone? Mark Gurman just wants to keep us in suspense. He definitely knows all the things that are going to be revealed on September 9th…

    • listcatcher - 9 years ago

      Maybe he knows the name is changing but doesn’t yet know to what. Perhaps even Apple hasn’t quite decided. The change is not surprising, as “Force Touch” doesn’t have a good connotation. IT’s hard to both come up with a good name and avoid innuendos.

  6. i kinda wish Apple would go for black front with the gold or rose gold models, that combo would actually look more “masculine” and i definitely would get one… the current gold option is kinda fugly on 6 Plus, my mom has one and i’m glad i went for space grey

    • arwynnfcffxiv - 9 years ago

      I agree 100%, forget Rose Gold and please go with black and gold. Now that would be a looker.

    • latinoboyboy - 9 years ago

      That sounds disastrous! What color would the antenna bands be? White? Black? Space Grey? DISASTER! Anyway maybe if the gold was darker and less of a champagne hue, but I prefer it with a white front anyway.

  7. Force Touch will obviously be renamed Deep Press.

  8. tincan2012 - 9 years ago

    As much as I like to read about all things Apple, I am not sure when Apple is going to slam the leak door shut on Gurman, Ming-Chi Kuo and others. I assume the source is on the Asian production side as they have early access – you would think Apple would have some clout in getting them to respect the confidentiality agreements they all signed. Why do I care? AAPL share price is affected.

    • Pretty sure all the leaking is a core part of Apple’s PR strategy. They get a lot of free press to create excitement and promote their upcoming products for early adopters (and sometimes even the general public) without having to pay anything for it.

      Obviously, they will always deny that is part of their strategy because if they confirm they do this, it will look stupid – “Yes, we ~leak~ stuff so we don’t have to pay a butt load of money for you, media, to publish it.”

      • tincan2012 - 9 years ago

        Perhaps in some cases. But in most, the media does a big yawn at announcements as they have heard it all before. This affects sentiment and investors. I really think that Cook was serious when he said he wanted to double down on security. Problem is that there is no such thing as Asian supply chain security and there are some bloggers/analysts that seem to have access to the moles in those companies.

      • joe smith (@joe815smith) - 9 years ago

        Of course the leaks are coming from Apple. For example, before nearly every event, they leak info to Brian X. Chen so that expectations aren’t out of whack.

    • tincan2012 - 9 years ago

      Can’t reply to the thread so I will reply to myself to reach @joe smith.

      Apple may release snippets to ‘some’ of the media, but I am pretty sure [like I would bet my last dollar] it would never never ever be Brian Chen at the NYT – he has antagonized Apple PR way too many times, with bs headlines like how the Japanese hate the iPhone [wrong] , slamming new products like the Apple watch, and others. I am really perplexed why you pulled his name out of the air.

  9. epicflyingcat - 9 years ago

    The rose gold looks pretty good! I was expecting a filthy, tacky pink but that looks really nice – not for me though. This is looking like a pretty good update even without force touch (which I’m sceptical about how it’ll work on an iPhone)

  10. chrisl84 - 9 years ago

    Consensual Touch is classier

    • latinoboyboy - 9 years ago

      This made me literally laugh out loud…

  11. twelve01 - 9 years ago

    I feel the excitement building. No one feature really stands out, but together it will make for a substantial upgrade. Looking forward to it.

  12. Mark, any word on whether the Space Gray color of the iPhone will be changed to match the Space Gray Apple Watch? With the addition of the Rose Gold option to match the Watch, I’d love for Apple to provide a direct color match between the Space Gray devices. For a company that focuses so much on details and aesthetics, the discrepancies between Space Gray colors still has me baffled. The iPhone 5 in Space Gray is a much better color match to the Space Gray Watch. I hope Apple goes back to that color, perhaps with the iPhone 7.

    • dcperin - 9 years ago

      Wasn’t the iPhone 5 just black though? Or did you mean the 5s? If so, I agree.. I think the space grey color on the 5s looks much better than the 6 and 6 plus.

    • jorheu - 9 years ago

      I agree I think the 6 space gray is too washed out

      • There’s so little difference between the back side of the 6 Silver and 6 Space Gray. Aside from not matching the Space Gray Watch, I say if Apple is going to have two fairly feminine options with Gold and Rose Gold, make the Space Gray more masculine like the Space Gray Watch.

      • scottwilkins - 9 years ago

        I too miss the simple White and Black. Liked them much better.

    • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

      My assertion is that it will go to the dark Apple Watch Space Grey, because it is 7000 series aluminum, and they may be using a better anodization process, and so it will match the Apple Watch. The new iPod Touch is the same darker space grey so I see that as strong evidence that the iPhone 6S will go to that as well.

  13. DamoTheBrave - 9 years ago

    I don’t understand why they don’t release at least the colour range they have for iPods – or even better still, for the old iPods. 5th gen nano had a great range of colours and 6th gen touch still maintains the quality look and feel while adding fun:
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204217

    • modeyabsolom - 9 years ago

      Couldn’t agree with you more! I’ve been thinking the same thing for years now.

  14. jorheu - 9 years ago

    I’m so sick of them not using sapphire screens yet

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      Why? Do you get scratches on your screen? Sapphire would be terrible if you dropped your phone.

      • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

        There are patents for all manner of strengthening and making sapphire better all around.

      • 89p13 - 9 years ago

        With you 100% on this one – What’s the benefit of Sapphire, beside it shatters much easier than IonX Glass (Gorilla Glass II or III).

        If your screen scratches put a glass screen protector on it.

    • scottwilkins - 9 years ago

      Sick? Really? Wow…

  15. latinoboyboy - 9 years ago

    I don’t know about you guys, but my gold iPhone 6 Plus sometimes gets some rose gold tones going on there. I don’t know if it’s the lighting or whatever, but it sometimes looks rose gold.

  16. aaronblackblog - 9 years ago

    I read your other piece about Apple not having a 6c or anything similar. But the invitation has the Apple in the five colors of the 5c. What up with that?

  17. modeyabsolom - 9 years ago

    Rose gold is quite a dark shade, I reckon it would look better with a black rather than white front glass.

  18. bryanyu81 - 9 years ago

    I will be def looking at the rose gold iPhone 6s. I have the gold version now and I’ll love to have the roe gold to my collection.