The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will finally be available to the public this Friday, September 19th, but early reviews of the two new devices have gone live this evening from several publications. The iPhone 6 is the biggest iPhone yet, coming in with a 4.7-inch display, while the iPhone 6 Plus packs an even larger 5.5-inch panel. Both of the models feature “Retina HD” displays. The internals of the devices have also been upgraded to include a new second generation 64-bit A8 chip that Apple claims is 25% faster CPU-wise than ever before and 50% faster graphically.

Both models of the new iPhone went up for pre-order this past Friday and Apple says the devices set an all-time pre-order sales record. You can read our round-up of all the product reviews below:

Walt Mossberg & Lauren Goode – Re/Code

On the iPhone 6 display (Walt Mossberg):

On the iPhone 6 Plus display (Lauren Goode):

And, despite the larger screen, all my apps — by Apple and third parties — just worked. None that I tested looked distorted or blurry. Apple says its App Store now offers 1.3 million apps, a new high.

The iPhone 6 screen is still smaller than the display on the latest Galaxy, which measures 5.1 inches, but the new Apple is narrower, and substantially thinner and lighter, even though it’s made of metal, and not the plastic used by Samsung, which to me feels cheap.

Tim Stevens & Scott Stein – CNET

On iPhone 6 battery life (Scott Stein):

It didn’t fit well in pockets. And it was too big to hold in my hand, or even wear on my arm, during fitness activities. This is key for me. Stylus or not, some other jumbo phones have felt like plastic toys to me. Apple has designed a giant phone that offers a few key large-screen features without overwhelming the senses, and it has a pretty good camera, to boot.

On iPhone 6 Plus battery life (Tim Stevens):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nhhM47O3I8

Nilay Patel & David Pierce – The Verge

On the iPhone 6 camera (David Pierce):

Sadly, charging still requires that you fish out a Lightning cable. While the Apple Watch will offer wireless charging, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus still make do without.

The iPhone 6 takes panoramas in higher resolution now, and in general takes better pictures than any smartphone I’ve ever used. But shooting video is where this iPhone feels most improved. You can shoot 1080p video at 60 frames per second, which is cool, but I spent way more time shooting at 240 frames per second. Slow-motion video is awesome (and available on a handful of Android phones too), and at 240 fps even the most mundane activity becomes awesomely cinematic. Everything looks cool slowed down that much. Everything.

Everything also looks better thanks to the new Cinematic Stabilization, which does an impressive job steadying my shaky hands. I can film while walking, or out the window of a bumpy taxi, and the video comes out smooth and jitter-free. The picture warps and bends ever so slightly as it processes and compensates, but it’s well worth the tradeoff for video that won’t make you vomit. Like the slow-motion video and the time-lapses, this stabilization makes anything look better. I’ve already shot and shared far more video on the iPhone 6 than on any smartphone I’ve ever used.

On the iPhone 6 Plus camera (Nilay Patel):

David Pogue – Yahoo!

On Apple Pay:

If you’re like me and you mostly find yourself taking photos at dusk and in dark rooms, you’ll end up with many more usable shots. Until you take too many shots and everything gets blurry regardless. The iOS 8 Camera app is also much improved; I love the feature that lets you instantly adjust exposure by dragging up and down on the screen. And the new time-lapse and 240fps slow-mo modes are pretty fun — slow-mo works really well, and while the time-lapse mode isn’t quite as good as Instagram’s Hyperlapse app, it’s still pretty good. There’s also a new feature called Cinematic Stabilization which does an impressive job of smoothing out unwanted motion in video clips; it’s strong enough to make a meaningful difference but subtle enough that you won’t notice the effect until you’re looking for it.

Stuart Miles – Pocket-lint

On the design:

The Home button, of course, is also a fingerprint reader; no bad guy can steal your phone and then start buying stuff, unless he also chops off your thumb. There’s more security stuff, too; you can read about it here.

Nobody can try out Apple Pay yet, though, because Apple won’t be turning it on until October; at that point, we’ll get an iOS 8 software update that includes Apple Pay features. (One important one: You’ll be able to store your credit card details in the Passbook app just by taking a picture of your physical cards — no typing.)

Brad Molen – Engadget

On performance:

Jim Dalyrmple – The Loop

Wrap-up:

But tests are tests: Real-world performance is where it’s at. And this is where the Plus truly shines. In my usage tests, I do a little bit of everything on the phone: calls, games, email, social networking, e-book reading, the works. After all that, I got through a full 17-hour workday with just 3 or 4 percent battery life remaining. On the 6, I managed to squeak out around 13 hours. With moderate to light usage, you should expect to see the Plus get roughly a day and a half, if not more.

Joanna Stern – WSJ

For me, I think the iPhone 6 will be the perfect upgrade for people in the U.S. that haven’t embraced larger screen devices yet. It’s the perfect size for almost any hand.

Both devices are very fast and with the help of Apple’s iCloud services, they can be setup and ready to use in under two minutes.

I found nothing significant in my week of use with either iPhone 6 model that would lead me to any other conclusion than to recommend both. Choose the one that fits your lifestyle the best and be happy.

On iOS 8:

Joshua Topolsky – BusinessWeek

On which model to choose & wrap-up:

The operating system’s organization feels stale. The information and apps I need the most are buried. While the Today screen will soon support third-party widgets, I wasn’t able to test it and besides, it feels a little out of the way. There’s no easy way to just peek into an app from the home screen, or personalize a device, a la Android and Windows Phone.

I’ll probably always have gripes, but iOS 8 pulls out ahead of the competition by leveraging the greatest strengths of the iPhone: its apps and ecosystem. After you tap the Update button, those small perks and fixes will make the most difference.

And the rest:

On the other hand, the iPhone 6 feels like the perfect phone in my hand. Not too big and not too small. Its thin frame still makes the device seem compact, but the added display real estate is a breath of fresh air if you’re coming from an earlier model. Yes, this is an iPhone 6 in my pocket. And yes, I am happy to see you.

With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple has proven that not only can it make a bigger phone, but it can make a bigger phone better than anyone else in the marketplace. Between the slick software, killer hardware, and deep integration into Apple’s amazing ecosystem, the iPhone is back in the spotlight.

hey guys today I’m going to review this years black rectangle, its bigger than the black rectangle from 2013 so thats good

— Michael Steeber (@MichaelSteeber) September 17, 2014

My review: you’re going to buy it anyways, just get the size you’re more comfortable with.

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) September 17, 2014

  • Daring Fireball
  • Engadget
  • Re/code iPhone 6
  • Re/code iPhone 6 Plus
  • The Loop
  • The Verge iPhone 6
  • The Verge iPhone 6 Plus
  • Yahoo Tech
  • TechCrunch iPhone 6
  • TechCrunch iPhone 6 Plus
  • Pocket-lint iPhone 6
  • Pocket-lint iPhone 6 Plus
  • TechRadar iPhone 6
  • TechRadar iPhone 6 Plus
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • NY Times
  • USA Today
  • Businessweek
  • Fast Company
  • Mashable iPhone 6
  • Mashable iPhone 6 Plus
  • The Guardian iPhone 6
  • The Guardian iPhone 6 Plus
  • The Independent iPhone 6
  • The Independent iPhone 6 Plus
  • T3 iPhone 6
  • T3 iPhone 6 Plus
  • Macworld
  • SlashGear
  • SixColors