Many have long awaited the announcement of the newest member of the iPhone family. The people have speculated and the rumor mill has churned long into the night, but the truth has finally arrived! The iPhone 6 comes with many new attractive features like a better battery life, Wi-Fi phone calls with seamless transition to tower service, and a revolutionary service called “Apple Pay.” The live stream jumped right in to the iPhone 6, showing off its sleek design and it’s larger, more sophisticated counterpart, the iPhone 6 Plus. Both models are larger than the iPhone 5S with the 6 Plus being the largest in the iPhone family. The new phones will be running iOS 8, which was also announced. The 6 Plus shows off two million pixels on its five inch screen and the ability to change in to “portrait mode” allowing the screen to turn on its side for an easier way to view your email or the home page itself. The iPhone 6 will be released on September 18, 2014.
Among the plethora of content that was announced, one that stood out the most was a new payment method called “Apple Pay,” which keeps all of your credit/debit cards safe on your phone. Your card number and security code are kept safe. Apple Pay simply displays a blank card and assigns it’s own code to your cards to communicate with the kiosk. “What if someone steals my phone?” Good question! Apple Pay utilizes Touch ID to make sure that you (or anyone with your thumb) are the only ones making payments with your cards! Apple Pay will be released to the public in October.
Another announcement was something that we kinda already knew about, but didn’t know all the details of… The sapphire coated Apple Watch, the newest design of the Apple hardware family. This thing is incredibly customizable, even for an Apple product! There are many different straps and sizes including leather and sweat resistant. The watch itself boasts incredible time accuracy right down to less than a millisecond. Even emoji have gotten a reboot! Yes, emoji, they are now completely animated and customizable. In other words, you can animate your own emoji and create your own unique facial expression! The most significant feature of the Apple Watch is the “crown” on the side that acts as a dial for zooming, scrolling, and is also the Home button. The Apple Watch is also compatible with Apple Pay and syncing up with your music on your new iPhone. The Apple Watch will be available early 2015.
The stream concluded with renowned rock band U2 taking the stage and performing a never before heard single. At the end of the song, Tim Cook announced that the band’s newest album “Songs of Innocence” will be free to download on iTunes until mid October… So go get it now before it’s too late!