Apple

11 Things You Might Not Know About the iPhone 6

Published

6 years ago

08/02/2018

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been out for several years now, but there are some things you might not know about Apple’s former flagships.

When the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus arrived in the fall of 2014 they were the talk of the town. The two devices represented Apple’s first stab at large smartphone screens and the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch devices more than held their own against mainstays like Samsung’s Galaxy Note series.

Apple no longer sells the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus new, they’ve been replaced by a fleet of newer iPhone models, but they’re still a budget option for those of you that need a fast replacement or simply don’t want to break the bank on an iPhone 8, iPhone 7, or iPhone X.

The iPhone 6 hardware is getting older, but Apple continues to upgrade the two devices with new iOS software. The latest upgrade, iOS 11, delivered a long list of improvements including upgrades to Siri, improvements to Apple Music and Podcasts, screen recording, patches, fixes, and a whole lot more. iOS 11 is running well on our iPhone 6 though some users are running into issues.

By now you probably know a lot about the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. That said, there are some things you might not know about the aging devices. Did you know a carrier in Asia is selling a 32GB gold iPhone 6? Or that the iPhone 6 doesn’t come with 3D Touch?

Today we want to take you through some of these lesser known details. If you’re thinking about buying the iPhone 6 sometime this year, this guide should help.

iOS 11 is Hit & Miss on the iPhone 6

1 / 11

If you're looking into buying an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus be aware that iOS 11 is forcing some users to upgrade this year.

We've been testing the iOS 11 update on the iPhone 6 and we haven't run into any major performance issues. Our battery life is holding up, connectivity is strong and reliable, and our core apps run fine. We've noticed occasional user interface lag and we've also noticed an untick in keyboard lag.

We're having a decent experience on iOS 11, but many other iPhone 6 users are running into problems. One iPhone 6 user we spoke to said his iPhone 6 could no longer hold a charge and that his apps were lagging and crashing after the move to iOS 11. He also says he's unable to load text messages in a timely manner.

Due to these issues, he upgraded to an iPhone X earlier this year and hasn't looked back.

Of course he's not alone. Plenty of other iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users are running into issues with Apple's new operating system and we expect complaints to continue throughout the year.

This is the risk you take when you buy a device that's more than three years old. While Apple will do its best to fix some of the software bugs and issues, the iPhone 6's aging hardware will continue to hamper the device's performance in the years to come.

If you can't deal with problems, you'll probably want to avoid the iPhone 6 and buy a newer model. iOS 11 is running much better on the iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 7.