Apple launching the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in India on October 17:Apple India

Apple will be launching the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in India next month. According to the Apple India website, both the phones will be launched on 17th October.

iPhones have had a bit of delayed release in India historically but over the years the gap between the US launch and Indian launch has reduced dramatically. This is by far the shortest so far, so those looking to purchase the phone through official channels in India should be pleased.

No pricing information available yet.

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Apple unveils the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 with Retina HD screen

Tim Cook took the stage at the start of today's event and almost immediately announced the new iPhone 6. The Apple iPhone 6 is based on iPod touch looks and has a 4.7" screen.

The screen is protected by "Ion-strengthened glass", which is curved around the edges for a more seamless experience when swiping. The screen itself is an LCD with "Retina HD," which translates to 750 x 1,334 pixels. This pushes the pixel density to 326ppi.

Despite the new resolution, apps will "just work" thanks to a desktop-class scaler. This will only be needed until devs update their apps to support the new resolution.

The 8MP iSight camera is back for a fourth year in a row. Apple claims the camera has been improved now - it still has 1.5µ pixels, but features phase detection autofocus and sits behind an f/2.2 aperture. There's no OIS though, it relies on digital stabilization. The camera can shoot panoramas up to 43MP.

The video resolution is kept at 1080p but the 60fps has now been promoted to the max FullHD resolution (up from 720p @ 60fps). Slo-mo video can shoot at 120fps and 240fps, but at a lower resolution.

The chassis is made of anodized aluminum with a stainless steel Apple logo. The body is just 6.9mm thick.

The Apple iPhone 6 is powered by a second-generation chipset, the Apple A8. It offers 25% more CPU power and 50% extra GPU oomph. The chipset is built on a power-efficient 20nm process, which also makes it 13% smaller physically than its A7 predecessor.

Apple promises the battery life for the new iPhone 6 will be equal or better than the 5s. It will do up to 14 hours of talk time. Aside from the regular GSM calling, it supports VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) and Wi-Fi calling (for T-Mobile in teh US and EE in the UK). LTE has been updated to support up to 150Mbps downlink (Cat. 4) and supports up to 20 bands.

Other connectivity upgrades include Wi-Fi 802.11ac for three times faster Wi-Fi speeds. Finally, there's also NFC now, which enables Apple's new Apple Pay service for wireless payments.
The M8 co-processor succeeds the M7 and is coupled with a barometer. The two accurately track changes in elevation and can even count the steps you've taken.

The Apple iPhone 6 will cost $199 for the base 16GB model (with two-year contract). There's no 32GB model this year, $299 buys you 64GB instead and there's a $399 128GB version. Pre-orders start on September 12, the phones will ship on the 19th.

Apple officially announces the much awaited iPhone 6 Plus with a 5.5" display

The Apple iPhone 6 Plus is now official. It's built around a 5.5" IPS LCD display with an Retina HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels with 400 ppi). iOS 8 has been tweaked to take full advantage of the larger display.

The back of the iPhone 6 Plus is made of anodized aluminum and the stainless steel frame of the phone ensures its rigidity.

The user interface has been optimized to take advantage of the larger screen and offers split-screen mode in several apps like earlierleaks suggested.

The new 64-bit A8 chip that powers the Apple iPhone 6 Plus is built using the 20nm manufacturing process. Thanks to this it's more power efficient, while still offering 25% more CPU power and 50% GPU boost.

The iPhone 6 Plus supports 20 LTE bands, but only 150Mbps cat4 LTE, rather than the latest 300Mbps Cat 6. On the positive side the phablet comes with VoLTE and Wi-Fi 802.11ac, which promises 3x faster Wi-Fi compared to the iPhone 5s. Wi-Fi calling is also a new feature, which will work on T-Mobile in the US and EE in the UK.

Further on, the iPhone 6 Plus packs NFC, another first for the company. Thanks to it, you'll be able to make payments by using Apple Pay - Apple's own NFC payment system.

At the back, the iPhone 6 Plus uses a 8MP iSight camera with a True Tone dual LED flash. The pixel size is the same as on the iPhone 5s at 1.5μ and the aperture is unchanged at f/2.2. However the iPhone 6 Plus has an optical image stabilization - a first for the company.

There's also phase-detection autofocus that should improve focusing speed twice. It is enabled by the A8 chip, which also includes powerful image signal processor designed by Apple.

The Apple iPhone 6 Plus camera records 1080p video at 30 and 60fps. There's a slow-mo shooting available, too, at 240fps, but its resolution hasn't been specified.

The Apple iPhone 6 Plus will start at $299 for the 16GB version, while the 64GB and 128GB will retail for $399 and $499, respectively.

iPhone 6 Plus pre-orders commence on September 12 and shipments being a week later, on September 19.