Everything we know about the new iPhone 6S

I don’t know about you, but I always look forward to September. It means the start of fall and the early beginning of the holiday season. It means that the suffocating hot and humid weather is beginning to wind down.

Also, coincidentally, it means I can soon get my grabby hands on the newest model of iPhone.

This year, that’s the iPhone 6S, available Sept. 25 – that’s two weeks from Friday, y’all – and starting at $199 for a 16GB phone with a two-year service contract.

Normally I don’t get too stoked about the mid-number models and just wait patiently for the next big upgrades, but the 6S is making my 6 look pretty out of touch right now. Even though the design and size are the same as its predecessor, some of the awesome new features the 6S has going for it, which were announced by Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier today, are biggies. “The only thing that’s changed is everything,” Cook said in the presentation. “These are the most advanced smartphones in the world.”

Drum roll, please . . . 

Um . . . there’s a pink version (!!!!!)

Obviously this is the most important update. And OK technically it’s rose gold, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say FINALLY. I mean I love my white iPhone 6, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting a pretty pop of color on something I spend an embarrassing amount of time using. The Twitterverse agrees:

There are other updates to the cosmetic aspects of the phone, as well, presumably to make it stronger – an alloy material that is apparently custom to Apple, as well as new Ion-X glass, the same super-tough material the Apple Watch Sport uses.

But PIIIIINK (in case you forgot).

New, faster processor

If you’re like me and already so spoiled by the iPhone 6 that you actually think it’s SLOW, fear not: the 6S will be faster, due to its brand-new 64-bit A9 processor. Compared to the iPhone 6, whose processor is the A8, Apple promises the 6S will be, “70 percent faster at CPU tasks and 90 faster at GPU tasks.” 3D Touch, with “Peek,” “Pop,” and LIVE PHOTOS

3D Touch allows the user to press down on an app icon to bring up a quick menu of features specific to that app without having to open it completely. For example, with the Camera app, you can choose to take a selfie (aw, they know us) right from this “peek” menu.

“Pop” allows the user to view photos and videos as overlays instead of taking up the whole screen. Moving away from the “pop” look takes the user back to what they were doing before viewing these overlays.  

Arguably the coolest update, though, is live photos. This is on by default and can be turned off, but basically, it’s a little bit photo and a little bit video. When a user takes a photo, the feature will also capture the second and a half both before and after it was taken. It’s like a little snapshot video in time, with the static photo still captured right in the middle. SO. COOL.

12-megapixel rear camera

The last time Apple upped their iPhone rear-camera megapixels was in 2011, with the release of the iPhone 4S. This update means 4K video and better autofocus for both videos and photos – and Apple says an increase in camera noise is not a side effect of the enhancement, which was apparently the reason this update took so long. Thanks, camera-technology people!  

5-megapixel front camera (with flash . . . sorta)

Aside from upping the megapixels in that selfie-savvy buddy we call a front camera, Apple also found a way around its no-flash issue: a brighter display! The 6S will illuminate up to three times brighter than normal, and adjust its color to match the lighting around the photo subject. NEAT. I can hear grainy late-night on-the-town selfies becoming a thing of the past as we speak.

Cook also announced updates to the Apple TV, as well as a new tablet: the iPad Pro, which will offer features such as a fabric-covered Smart Keyboard that attaches to the iPad easily (instant desktop!), and the Apple Pencil, a stylus designed specifically for the iPad.

Alongside the $199-with-a-two-year-service-contract iPhone 6S 16GB model, you can also snag the 64GB for $299 and 128 GB for $399. Apple is also offering a variety of payment plans, including a leasing plan that comes with the AppleCare+ warranty. Though the 6S – and its larger model, the 6S Plus – won’t be available until Sept. 25, you can start putting in your pre-orders this Saturday, Sept. 12.

BRB, marking our calendars! Sleeping in is for the birds (plus, it’s Saturday . . . naps, anyone?).

This guy’s Instagram merges pop culture with real life, all using an iPhone

A gorilla is obsessed with this guy’s phone pics, and it’s too adorable

(Images via Twitter)