Apple Iphone 6S

    
 Apple Iphone - 6S                                            

		LED-backlit IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
		4.7 inches (~65.6% screen-to-body ratio)
		750 x 1334 pixels (~326 ppi pixel density)
		Yes
		Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating
		- Force Touch display - Display Zoom

	Primary	12 MP, f/2.2, 29mm, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, check quality
	Features	1/3" sensor size, 1.22 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/panorama)
	Video	2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps,1080p@120fps, 720p@240fps, check quality
	Secondary	5 MP, f/2.2, 31mm, 1080p@30fps, 720p@240fps, face detection, HDR, panorama.

 The new iPhone, being an S model, naturally comes with more power under the hood, but also brings the long awaited camera upgrade. The main camera now uses a 12MP sensor capable of 4K video recording as well as 1080p at 120fps, there is a brand new 5MP selfie camera too. And, it's the same screen size and resolution but we think it's exactly what Apple meant with "the only thing that's changed is everything".

• 4.7" 16M-color LED-backlit IPS LCD of 750 x 1334px resolution, 326ppi
• 3D Touch technology recognizes levels of pressure, brand new Taptic engine for better feedback
• Apple iOS 9
• Dual-core 1.8 GHz Twister 64-bit CPU,PowerVR GT7600 GPU, 2GB of RAM, Apple A9 SoC
• 12MP F/2.2 camera with True tone LED flash, phase detection auto focus, 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps, @60fps and @120fps video recording, 720p video recording @120fps and 240fps
• 5MP F/2.2 front-facing camera with BSI sensor and HDR mode, 1080p@30fps video
• Comes in 16, 64, and 128GB of built-in storage
• Second-gen Touch ID fingerprint sensor
• 4G LTE Cat.6 (300Mbps); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.2; Lightning port; GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS; NFC (Apple Pay only)
• 1,715 mAh battery, new Power saving mode.
• No microSD slot
• Pricey memory upgrades, 32GB version should be standard for such an expensive phone
• Protruding camera lens makes the phone wobble
• Lacks the optical image stabilization of the iPhone 6s Plus
• NFC functionality limited to Apple Pay
• No wireless charging, an infrared port, or FM radio
• No enhanced resistance to liquids or dust
• No user-replaceable battery.

The first iPhone heralded the arrival of capacitive displays and multi-touch technology. The iPhone 6S is the first to have 3D touch - a screen technology that recognizes different levels of pressure for an extra dimension of interaction with a device.
A late tribute perhaps to resistive screens, which Apple itself sent to their doom. Not a particularly scientific statement although resistive technology did rely on actual pressure to work. Good enough for anyone with a penchant for the dramatic.
But if we are to stick to the facts, the iPhone 6s isn't the company's first device with a pressure-aware display, the Apple Watch is. Plus, phones like the Huawei Mate S and the ZTE Axon mini do deserve at least a mention as well. Anyway, this only highlights the difference between Apple and the rest. Cupertino has the habit - and in all fairness, the capability - to pick a niche technology and make it mainstream.

So, the pressure aware display and improved imaging are the big news about the iPhone 6S. We've pretty much come to take the next OS and chipset version for granted.
Sure, we all know better than to expect a memory card slot and access to the battery, but we just can't agree with Apple's decision to stick with the 16GB option as base instead of 32GB, which is actually not offered at all. 4K videos and the live photos (with sound) will clearly need more space than before. Not only that but Apple is actually charging slightly more in Europe for the base version of its latest iPhone.

Unboxing the iPhone 6s

The retail package of the iPhone 6s will hardly surprise anyone. The compact cardboard box contains the device itself, a well-packed pair of EarPods, an A/C adapter and a Lightning cable.

Apple iPhone 6s 360-degree spin

The new iPhone 6S, as the 's' suggests, pretty much reuses the original design and only upgrades the internals. The additions of the 3D Touch technology and the bigger camera required some minor changes though.
For one, the iPhone 6s is a tad thicker and yet had to sacrifice some battery capacity to accommodate the layer of pressure sensors in the screen. Its dimensions are 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm, compared to the original 138.1 x 67 x 6.9mm. The difference is negligible but it's bad news if you had some tight-fitting cases for your iPhone 6 - they won't fit on the 6s.
What's more readily noticeable is that the iPhone 6s has gained some extra 14g of weight, again down to the pressure-sensitive layer. That's the kind of difference you can feel in your pocket and makes the phone heavier than the Galaxy S6 with its 5.1" screen.

Design and build quality

It may be an entirely different device within, but the exterior of the iPhone 6s is absolutely identical to last year's iPhone 6. Packing just 4.7 inches of screen estate it is still one of the most compact flagships on the market, but its screen-to-body ratio is rather unimpressive (read too much bezel). Apple has been reluctant to do something about that for years now and things are now getting embarrassing - there are phones with 5+" screens that have the same footprint, while phones with equally sized displays usually come in notably smaller packages.

Apple iPhone 6s

There are some good news though. The iPhone 6s unibody is cast out of 7000 series aluminum instead of last year's 6000 series and it's stronger. Latest tests revealed the iPhone 6S bends at much higher levels of pressure than the previous generation - almost triple actually. So, Apple has put bendgate firmly behind it and skinny jeans are no longer an iPhone's mortal enemy.
The front is covered by an ion-strengthened glass with oleophobic coating - those are pretty much the same specs as in the previous iPhone models and mean the glass is scratch and smudge resistant. The Ion-X glass creates the so-called 2.5D effect thanks to its rounded edge. By the way, Apple claims the new special ion-exchange process makes it the most durable screen glass among smartphones today, but early drop test didn't provide conclusive evidence for that.

Apple iPhone 6s

So, higher-grade durable glass and aluminum alloy should improve the overall resilience of the phone. It still lacks water and dust resistance, but seeing how Sony is changing its policy on those and Samsung gave up on it for the Galaxy S6 this is less of a disadvantage now than it was last year.
The back of the iPhone 6s is familiar - mostly aluminum, with two plastic bands covering the antennas and a slightly protruding camera ring. The new 12MP sensor is still protected by a small piece of sapphire glass, so you should worry more about scratching your wooden desk rather than damaging the camera piece.
Extra heft might have made carrying it a bit harder, but handling the iPhone 6s is pretty much the same pleasing experience. The phone feels great in hand thanks to the premium materials and finish but you still need to be extra careful as the thin and rounded edges don't have the best grip.

Handling the iPhone 6s

Controls

The iPhone 6S has the same control set as its predecessor. Above the display is where the earpiece, a couple of sensors and the new 5MP selfie camera are.
While the front facer doesn't come with a LED flash, Apple make up for it by letting you use the screen as one. If you turn on the so-called Retina flash the entire screen will light up in white and provide some extra light as long as you keep close to it. It's something we've seen other manufactufrers do for a few years now, but Apple went a step further and gave the backlighting a brightness boost of up to 300% compared to the usual maximum.

A peek above and below the display

Below the display is the Home button, which also hosts the refined Touch ID sensor. It's noticeably faster than before. About time too! Although Apple brought the technology back from the dead, it's among the last to improve the performance of the sensor. In an ideal world we would have also got an always on mode so you don't have to press the button and wake the phone, but even so the iPhone 6s still has one of the better working solutions on the market.
The volume keys and the silencer are on the left, while the power/lock key and the nano-SIM tray are on the right as usual.

The left and right sides of the iPhone 6s

There is nothing on top of the iPhone 6s, while the bottom has the audio jack, the primary mic, the Lightning port, and the loudspeaker grille.

The top and bottom of the iPhone 6s

The iPhone 6s rear side is as familiar as it can get - the camera is there, the second mic and the dual-LED dual-tone flash. The new 12MP sensor allows for wider panorama photos and 4K video recording, while the more powerful hardware enables 120fps capture at 1080p resolution.

Display

While the display may hide an entirely new touch technology, it's still the same display in terms of size and resolution: a 4.7" unit with a resolution of 750 x 1334 pixels (that's 326ppi). It's a LED-backlit IPS LCD screen with RGB matrix.
The Apple iPhone 6s display offers deeper blacks than the iPhone 6 but unfortunately, it's not as bright at its maximum setting. Nevertheless, the new generation of iPhone managed to output an overall better contrast ratio of 1481:1.
The color rendition of the screen is generally accurate with a pretty low average deltaE of 3.6 (for the primary colors plus black and white), and it's the white and reds that show a somewhat higher deviation. The white is slightly on the cooler bluish side, but nothing major and certainly not noticeable without a reference.
As usual, display colors are a matter of personal taste and perception so if you don't need calibrated color output, you will probably be quite happy with the Apple iPhone 6s screen as it is out-of-the-box.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Apple iPhone 6	0.17	207	1230	0.61	740	1213
Apple iPhone 6s	0.10	148	1542	0.36	536	1481
Apple iPhone 5s	0.14	163	1145	0.49	596	1219
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge	0.00	208	∞	0.00	473	∞
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+	0.00	172	∞	-	410	∞
HTC One M9	0.15	175	1180	0.44	534	1221
LG G Flex2	0.00	152	∞	0.00	398	∞
LG G4	0.09	108	1240	0.43	532	1238
Huawei Honor 7	0.07	89	1372	0.32	450	1398

As far as sunlight legibility is concerned, the slightly lower brightness of the iPhone 6s outs a whisker lesser score than its predecessor, the 6, but it's still among the top 20 devices in our all-time chart. This means the contrast in direct sunlight remains excellent in all cases.

Battery life

The iPhone 6S is equipped with a non-removable Li-Po 1715 mAh battery, which is about 5% smaller than the one of the iPhone 6. iOS 9 introduced a Low-Power mode, which you can enable manually and should save your phone from dying faster once the charge drops below 20%.
We were eager to see how the new features will affect the battery life, especially when the battery unit got even smaller. The iPhone 6s posted very balanced score across all of our tests - it can do about 10 hours of 3G calls or video playback on a single charge, while you can browse on Wi-Fi for half a day.
So, the total ratting of the iPhone 6s is 62 hours - an hour better than the iPhone 6. This means 62 hours is how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the iPhone 6s for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. Such usage pattern is of course entirely artificial, but we've established it so our battery results are comparable across devices.
Our proprietary score also includes a standby battery draw test, which is not featured in our battery test scorecard but is calculated in the total endurance rating. Our battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you want to learn more about it.

Connectivity

The Apple iPhone 6S comes with a bunch of wireless connectivity features. It supports faster LTE Cat. 6 (up to 300Mpbs down, 50Mbps up) and has even wider LTE coverage. Regular 2G and 3G connectivity is all safely covered as well with a multitude of supported network bands.
The iPhone 6S also supports the latest Voice over LTE (VoLTE), HD Voice and Wi-Fi calling protocols, but those are carrier dependent features so not everyone will enjoy them.
Compared to the iPhone 6, the 6S now upgraded Wi-Fi functionality too - it supports all the current Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac standards but doubles the theoretical speeds thanks to the use of a 2x2 MIMO antenna. AirPlay is the only way to wirelessly cast your screen's contents to an HDTV, but you'd need to have an Apple TV for that.
Additional local connectivity includes Bluetooth 4.0 LE. There is also support for NFC, but its functionality is only limited to Apple's region-restricted Apple Pay.
The iPhone 6s uses a proprietary Lightning connector for wired data transfers and charging.
There is no support for USB On-the-go or USB host but you can pair a Bluetooth keyboard to the phone should you need this sort of peripheral.

3D Touch aims to be the next big thing

Currently 3D Touch gestures are available only on selected system app. You can use it on the lockscreen, the homescreen and within apps. We already talked about the lockscreen gimmick, let's see what it does on the homescreen.
Force pressing on the Message icon pops up a balloon with a New Message shortcut and a short list of your most recent messaging contacts. Force clicking on the Phone app gives you a - Create New Contact key and a short list of recently contacted people.

Force Touch on Messages and Phone apps

Applying force on the Calendar pops up New Event option; on the Clock - New Alarm/Start Timer/Stopwatch; on Maps - Directions to Home, Share location, drop pin and search nearby; on the Stores - Redeem and Search; on the Camera - Take Photo, Take Selfie, Record Video and Record Slow-mo.

Force Touch on Calendar, Clock, Maps, App Store and Camera apps

Continuing on Safari - you get Show Reading List, Bookmark list, New Private tab and New tab; Mail offers shortcuts to Inbox, VIP, New message and Search; Music has Play Beats; and Notes - New Note, New Sketch and New Photo note.

Force Touch on Safari and Mail

As you can see those force taps on the homescreen are indeed useful sometimes, but are hardly something you can't live without. What really matters is what you can do within the apps with 3D Touch.
3D Touch is meant to allow you to get more content than you normally get on a screen, so that you can give it a quick glance and let it go - all of this with just one firm long press.
If you press hard on an email within the Mail app, first it will be selected by blurring all the others. Applying slightly more force will pop its contents into a balloon for you to see it. Here you can either apply more force to open the whole email, or release your finger thus you'll be back on the email list.

Force Touch within Mail app

While you are holding the Mail balloon open, you can swipe it up and you'll get advanced options such as Reply, Forward, Mark, Notify Me and Move.
You can do the same on Messages - a firm press opens a preview of your most recent messages with this contact and if you keep pressing you'll eventually open the full thread.

3D Touch within Messages app

Tapping with force on a contact in the Phone app pops up Mail, Message and Call shortcuts. Tapping on a day in the Calendar pops up a preview of the day's events and will eventually open the full day view. The Notes app has the same logic.

3D Touch within Phone, Calendar and Notes

Force touch on a photo in the gallery will pop up a photo preview. If you move your finger towards the top you'll reveal a menu with copy, share and delete settings. If you swipe down or just release, you'll put this photo back on the pile.

Force Touch within Photos

And if you opened the photo already, a strong Touch will invoke its Live Photo, if available.
Safari also takes advantage of Force Touch - hit a link firmly and you get a pop up with the linked page and if you like what you see you can press harder to open it, or just release it for discarding.

Selecting text with 3D Touch in Safari • Force Touch on links in Safari

Finally, one of the most meaningful uses of the Force Touch is selecting text. If you do a standard tap and hold on text you'll begin scrolling through the words. And when you apply force to activate the Force Touch, you begin text selection from this very moment. This eases the entire text selection process tremendously - just scroll to your desired place and force touch from there and continue scrolling until you're done.
That's basically all of it at the moment - it's not much and certainly most of the functionality feels, if you pardon the pun, forced rather than intuitive and helpful. However, we get the feeling that Apple is simply trying to give hints to developers with those. Those are just ideas with the hope that developers will actually put the feature to great use in their apps.
Given the chance, 3D Touch may turn to be a breakthrough that will shape smartphone usage for years to come. Similar to what Apple did with multi-touch or the fingerprint sensor.
What does add more fuel to the 3D Touch fire is that other manufacturers began announcing phones with similar tech shortly before Apple's event, so there will be more companies that want to see it succeed and in turn more developers willing to give it a proper consideration.

Apple A9 chip performance

The new generation of iPhones is powered by a brand new Apple A9 chipset, which packs a dual-core 1.85 GHz Twister processor, PowerVR GT7600 six-core graphics and 2GB RAM. The chips are made either by Samsung on 14nm process, or TSMC on 16nm process. All of these mean the A9 has more processing power, a stronger GPU punch, double the RAM and better thermal properties.
Apple has always focused on the single-core performance since it is the most important one when it comes to interacting with the iOS user interface and early tests showed that the 64-bit Twister core is the best and fastest CPU core currently on the market. On the other hand you are only getting two of those, so we'll see how it goes. In come the benchmarks.
The multi-core score of GeekBench 3 shows how powerful the new dual-core Twister processor is. It beats the Snapdragon 810 chips with their quad-Cortex-A57 CPU, but trails behind the Exynos 7420, which uses a similar architecture but a higher clock speed.
Both iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 used for the tests below are running on iOS 9.0.1.

GeekBench 3

• Samsung Galaxy S6 5215
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 5095
• Apple iPhone 6s 4427
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 3796
• HTC One M9 3761
• LG G4 3509
• Apple iPhone 6 2835
• Meizu m2 note 2649
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8) 2552

The single-core results show you the difference. A single Twister does insanely better than any other CPU core on the market today. In fact, a single Twister core is equal to the 8-core Cortex-A53 performance on the Meizu m2 note.

GeekBench 3 single core

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 2542
• Apple iPhone 6 1594
• Samsung Galaxy S6 1484
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 1351
• HTC One M9 1239

The compound BaseMark OS II 2.0 test gauges CPU, GPU, Memory, Web and System performance. In this test there is no one to come even close to the iPhone 6s thanks to Apple's optimized OS. The fact that it has the latest A9 chipset doesn't hurt either.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 2195
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 1750
• Samsung Galaxy S6 1674
• LG G4 1584
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 1440
• Apple iPhone 6 1429
• HTC One M9 1365

Next - graphics performance. The new iPhone generation utilizes the six-core PowerVR GT7600 GPU, which is quite the beast. The 1080p off-screen benchmarks speak for themselves.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 79.8
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 59
• Samsung Galaxy S6 59
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 56
• HTC One M9 49
• LG G4 34.5
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8) 28.7
• Huawei Honor 7 17

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 39.5
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 26
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 25
• Samsung Galaxy S6 24
• HTC One M9 23
• LG G4 14.9
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8) 12.9
• Huawei Honor 7 9.2

The iPhone 6s has a sub-1080p display resolution, which gives it an edge over the 1080p and Quad HD phones in the performance chart.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 59.6
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 57
• HTC One M9 50
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8) 40.7
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 39
• Samsung Galaxy S6 38
• LG G4 24.7
• Huawei Honor 7 19

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 53.6
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 39
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8) 24.3
• HTC One M9 24
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 15
• Samsung Galaxy S6 14
• LG G4 9.4
• Huawei Honor 7 9.3

Finally, Android has OpenGL ES 3.1 as latest generation graphics, while iOS 9 has Metal. Both allow games to make full use of the built-in GPUs and BaseMark has launched the BaseMark ES3.1 / Metal apps so we can compare the performance cross-platform. Combined with the lower resolution of the iPhone 6s, the Metal test really produces outstanding results.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 879
• HTC One M9 409
• Apple iPhone 6 370
• Samsung Galaxy S6 311

Unfortunately,the BrowserMark 2.1 web test wasn't compatible with the new version of Safari and we couldn't perform the benchmark. We were able to test the pure JavaScript performance via the Kraken benchmark though, and it came out class-leading.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Apple iPhone 6s 1737
• Apple iPhone 6 2880
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 3989
• LG G4 4085
• Samsung Galaxy S6 4154
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8) 5396
• HTC One M9 5500
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 7868
• Huawei Honor 7 11493

Apple A9 is a beast - there's no other way to put it. The iPhone 'S' series typically stand for Speed and the iPhone 6s is not only the fastest iPhone to date, it's probably the best performing smartphone too. Apple's choice of designing its own processor pays out every year and makes sure iOS users never have to worry about lackluster performance.
Apple A9 has the power to handle everything you can get on your phone today and is future-proof for the years to come with some huge power reserves under the hood.

Final words

Apple promised three major updates with the iPhone 6s: 3D touch, camera and performance. Let's go through the checklist.
The A9 chip easily delivers. Already outstanding responsiveness and fluid handling are taken to the next level. No issues there. The 12MP stills and 4K videos may be late but they're executed in the typical Apple fashion. A long-awaited camera upgrade finally delivered. Not quite picture-perfect, without OIS and considering owners of 16GB iPhones may be running out of storage pretty soon. 3D Touch? Well, the new touchscreen is the beginning of the journey to a richer user experience but not quite the destination yet. We'll have to wait and to see the really clever implementations that developers are going to come up with.
We'd call that 2 and a half out of three - not a bad score card. The big stuff still missing: some sort of water resistance, wireless charging, higher screen resolution. Now, none of these could've been delivered in a phone that's re-using last season's design. The iPhone 7 perhaps? If ever.
Here's the deal. The regular iPhone models update the design, and once in a while, screen size. The S models focus on the insides. The iPhone 4S introduced Siri and the first big camera upgrade. The iPhone 5S brought about 64-bit processing and a fingerprint sensor. Alongside another camera upgrade, the big thing to look at in the iPhone 6S - and look forward to in Apple in general - is the pressure-aware screen that does add an extra dimension to how you interact with a device.
This is yet to reveal its full potential but looks like something developers will be keen to play with. It can be the new pinch zoom (something we do take for granted but which was a huge breakthrough back in its time). That said, Android makers are experimenting as well. ZTE and Huawei in particular - not the names you'd expect in the same review as an iPhone but it goes to show how the market has evolved.
We cannot help the thought either that someone at Apple was looking at the Samsung Note, the hovering S-pen and Air Command thinking, "We need to be able to do the same. With a tip of a finger. "
Anyway, we'll have a good look at the potential rivals in due time.

Apple iPhone 6s key test findings:

• The iPhone 6s is of excellent build, made out of a much sturdier aluminum alloy. The extra weight can be felt, but it's certainly not a deal breaker.
• The display on the iPhone 6s is pretty much the same affair we got in the original 6th model. It offers slightly lower brightness, but deeper blacks and the same great contrast. The sunlight legibility is great as well.
• Battery life is above average at 62 hours and matches that of the iPhone 6. The iPhone 6S posted well balanced scores across all tests, including standby. Good software optimization allows the dual-core A9 chip to beat competing multi-core chips in benchmarks.
• The connectivity is improved with Cat.6 LTE support, but the NFC is still limited to Apple Pay. Wireless charging could have been useful, but is still not an option and would likely never be.
• The 3D Touch technology is potentially the new big thing on the market, but it's far from complete experience. It has a long way before it becomes a mainstream thing. Still, it's a feature we quickly got used to.
• Performance-wise, the A9-powered iPhone 6s is a real beast. Its single-core CPU and GPU performance, as well as the overall experience currently have no match on the market.
• The speaker is quiet with only a Below Average mark in out tests.
• The audio quality is good, but not quite the best in the class.
• The 12MP camera produces good photos, but it's not the major update we hoped it would be.
• The panoramic samples are nothing short of amazing.
• The 4K videos offer enough detail and came out with very good dynamic range.
• The front 5MP selfie camera does the job right producing nice pictures, even in low-light conditions.
• The iOS 9 is an incremental upgrade and brings just few novelties, but improves the overall experience by smart suggestions and more intelligent behavior of the most used apps and Siri.

Looking at the big picture, the iPhone 6S might be the most exciting product to come out of Cupertino in a few years. 3D Touch may become a big deal but it is not there yet. Regardless, it's the first time since the iPhone 4 that Apple tried to do what it does best - change the smartphone game for good. The company has been reduced to following market trends for the past few years and it was about time it rediscovered its passion for innovation. It may flop or win big time, but credit is certainly due for trying.
Meanwhile, the last-gen iPhone 6 got a price cut. If you aren't too keen on beta-testing 3D Touch or wouldn't want to go for a pricey 64GB model to have enough storage for 4K videos and Live photos, there is a good chance you may prefer that one instead.

Apple iPhone 6

The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge is the most likely toughest competition. While it can't give you force touch, it sure impresses with a 5.1" QHD Super AMOLED screen, a fast chipset and one of the best camera departments in the market. Samsung also wins the design battle in this round, although it had to give up on its expandable storage and removable battery advantages to achieve it.

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge

The latest Nexus also brings an alternative. The LG Nexus 5X runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow on capable hardware and matches the iPhone 6s' camera resolution, while also packing a larger sensor. It is guaranteed to receive the latest Android updates as soon as they come for at least two-years ahead - just like the iPhone 6s is.

LG Nexus 5X

The Sony Xperia Z5 Compact has water protection and an amazing camera on paper, which we've yet to properly test. It's powered by a Snapdragon 810 chip that can't quite match the A9, but still delivers heaps of performance on a 720p screen. The Sony compact flagship can't quite match the aesthetics of the iPhone 6s, but it does offer a significantly larger battery.

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact

The major manufacturers are in frantic pursuit of higher screen resolution and size, and monstrous chipsets. This is in big part driven by Apple - the iPhone's is still the user experience to best, most Android flagships needing 3 or 4GB of RAM to match what Apple is doing with 2GB. And note that the iPhone 6s is only the second Apple device to have 2 gigs of RAM after the iPad Air 2.
Maybe it's the 4K videos or the live photos, or Apple may have finally tried to sort the reloading of the background tabs in Safari. Either way, with everyone sprinting around them, Apple thinks it can afford to take it slow. So far, it's been working out just fine.
With 3D touch, Cupertino hopes it puts the pressure back on the competition and doesn't have to rush with higher screen resolution, stereo speakers, 32GB of storage as the starter option, water protection or wireless charging. Useful stuff, at least some of it. Apple just hasn't re-invented it yet.