Everything You Need to Know About the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

The rumors were true after all. 

For months, there's been talk about how Apple would respond to the growing 'phablet' market that's largely owned by their rival, Samsung. Steve Jobs believed that no one would want a large screen phone—How would it fit in your hand? How would you type?—but with phablet phones taking up almost a third of all smartphone purchases, Apple needed to do something. Today, they did. And then some.

Apple unveiled the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, two phones that have been redesigned, slimmed down, and made large enough that Apple is officially in the phablet market. This was an important event, and the company knew it: they chose to debut the devices (along with the Apple Watch) at the Flint Center in Cupertino, where Steve Jobs debuted the original Macintosh 30 years ago.

Complex was there to cover the unveilings, and we had some hands-on time with the devices. Here's what you need to know about the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and our impressions. 

Size is the biggest distinguishing factor between both models: The iPhone 6 comes with a 4.7-inch Retina HD screen with 1334 x 750 resolution, and the iPhone 6 Plus gets a 5.5-inch Retina HD screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution. 

We'll get into how the phone sizes feel later, but for now let's focus on the Retina HD screen: Apple developed a process that aligns photos using UV light to move the display's liquid crystals to create deeper blacks and sharper text. When I picked up the iPhone 6 Plus, I notice the difference when I opened The Economist in Newsstand. I do a lot of reading on my iPhone 5S, but reading on the Retina HD screen felt easier and less strained. The display has "dual-domain pixels" that make the screen look good even when viewing it from different angles. There was no mention of sapphire glass today, but Apple said the iPhone 6 Plus has "ion-strengthened glass" for its screen.

Because the iPhone 6 Plus is so large, users will be able to enter landscape mode in the homescreen, iMessage, email, and more. 

There's also a new feature called "Reachability" that pulls what's on the screen down about two inches when users double tap on the home button. This lets users reach things like the URL or search bars without having to "reach" all the way to the top of the device. 

Enjoy capturing slo-mo video on the iPhone 5S? Now videos can go even slower. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can capture 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second, and capture slow motion at 240-fps, along with the ability to shoot time-lapse footage. Autofocus is improved as well: the camera will adjust more smoothly while shooting video if something moves into the foreground. 

The front-facing camera is also updated, and users can now control exposure and other features just as they do with the primary camera.  The new HD FaceTime camera captures 81-percent more light and has improved face detection. And when users take selfies, they can use a burst mode feature that can take 10 photos a second.

This year, the iPhone gets an upgraded A8 processing chip. It's 25 percent faster than the iPhone 5S's A7 chip, and is designed to withstand heat when used for long periods of time. That's a good thing, because the devices also get a new M8 motion co-processor, which will turn the phones into full-fledged fitness trackers. The M8 chip can distinguish between you running, walking or bicycling, and thanks to the addition of a barometer, the iPhone 6 can track your elevation. This will all work in tandem with the Apple Watch and HealthKit app, which will store your health information in one place.

That's not all the chips are good for. Games on the devices will run smooth and graphics will look even better than they've looked in recent years, as Apple showed in a demo for the upcoming game, Vain Glory.

During our live-tweeting of the event, Apple's announcement that the iPhone 6 would get better battery life than previous models received a ton skepticism from our readers. So far, these are the specs for the new iPhones:

Compared to the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus can last up to six days longer on standby mode. Why? Because when you have a bigger body, you have more room for battery. So, it might be cheating a bit to say they really improved on battery life (the iPhone 6 gets just a bit more life out of its battery than the 5S). But the new processing chips take some stress off of the device.

The iPhone 6 Plus is huge. Android owners have long been able to enjoy 'phablet' devices, but if you're coming from a 4-inch iPhone 5S like I am, the Plus may take some getting used to. But both phones feel great on their own. They feel polished on their edges, they're light, and the screens are sharp and bright. The iPhone 6 felt normal in my front pocket, similar to the iPhone 5S. I was expecting a big difference with the Plus, but it, too, felt comfortable. Their rounded corners let it slip in and out with ease. I wear shorts occasionally that have low pockets, so I would worry about the iPhone 6 Plus slipping out if I wore them with it.

Landscape mode worked great on the 6 Plus, and I felt inclined to do things in this mode than the standard. The "Reachability" feature took some getting used to, and felt awkward. Even with the window moving down so I didn't have to adjust my hands to reach the top of the screen, the phone still felt large enough that I had to adjust my hands a bit instead of being able to quickly tap where I wanted.

I can see a ton of would-be customers spending hours picking up the iPhone 6 in one hand and the Plus in the other, stressing over whether the allure of the bigger screen is worth the extra $100. My guess, as of now, is that the iPhone 6 Plus will be the more popular of the two—customers will swoop up the 6, but the Plus will be to the 6 what the iPhone 5S was to the 5C: it'll steal all of the "cool" factor that customers want when they buy Apple products.