iPhone 6s Plus
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iPhone 6s Plus
The only thing that's changed is everything.
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| Rose Gold | Gold | Silver | Space Gray |
| iPhone 6s Plus — Technical Specifications (Apple Support) | |||
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The iPhone 6s Plus is a smartphone designed and marketed by Apple, announced on September 9, 2015, and released on September 25, 2015, as the larger sibling of the iPhone 6s. It carried the second generation of the 5.5-inch Plus formula: the same top-to-bottom internal overhaul as the 6s — 3D Touch, the A9 chip with 2 GB of RAM, a 12-megapixel camera with 4K video, 7000-series aluminum — plus the two Plus-tier advantages of a 1080p display and optical image stabilization, now extended to video recording for the first time on an iPhone.
Like its predecessor it launched at a $100 premium over the 4.7-inch model, and together the pair sold a record 13 million units in the opening weekend. It stayed on sale as a mid-lineup option until September 2018 and received software updates for a full decade, from iOS 9 through the final iOS 15 security releases.
1 Design✎
The 6s Plus keeps the iPhone 6 Plus's dimensions to within fractions of a millimeter but weighs 192 grams — 20 more than its predecessor — the combined mass of the 3D Touch display stack and the stronger 7000-series aluminum alloy adopted after bendgate. Independent teardowns measured the new chassis at roughly twice the 6 Plus's stiffness at its weak point, and the bend-test embarrassments did not recur.
Rose Gold joined the palette alongside Space Gray, Silver, and Gold, and the tiny "S" badge on the back remained the only visual identifier.
2 Hardware✎
| Developer | Apple |
|---|---|
| Generation | 9th |
| Announced | September 9, 2015 |
| Released | September 25, 2015 |
| Discontinued | September 12, 2018 |
| Predecessor | iPhone 6 Plus |
| Related | iPhone 6s |
| Successor | iPhone 7 Plus |
| Display | 5.5-inch Retina HD IPS LCD 1920 × 1080 (401 ppi) · 3D Touch |
| Chip | Apple A9 (dual-core Twister, 1.85 GHz) + embedded M9 coprocessor |
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Storage | 16 GB · 64 GB · 128 GB (32 GB replacing 16/64 from 2016) |
| Rear camera | 12 MP, f/2.2 · optical stabilization (photo and video) · Live Photos 4K video · 240 fps slo-mo (720p) |
| Front camera | 5 MP with Retina Flash |
| Battery | 2,750 mAh built-in |
| Connectivity | LTE Advanced (Cat. 6, 300 Mbps) Wi-Fi 802.11ac + MIMO · Bluetooth 4.2 NFC (Apple Pay) |
| Colors | Rose Gold · Gold · Silver · Space Gray |
| Launch price | $749 (16 GB) · $849 (64 GB) · $949 (128 GB) (U.S., unsubsidized) |
| OS | iOS 9.0 ~ 15.8.4 |
The 6s Plus shares the iPhone 6s's complete internal upgrade — A9 chip, 2 GB of RAM, second-generation Touch ID, always-on "Hey Siri" via the on-die M9, and the LTE Advanced and 802.11ac MIMO radio bump — and inherits the same footnotes, from the TSMC/Samsung "chipgate" dual-sourcing debate to the 16 GB base-storage criticism. Its 2,750 mAh battery again made it the endurance champion of the lineup, though slightly smaller than the 6 Plus's cell to accommodate the Taptic Engine.
Where the 6 Plus had strained to push 1080p with the A8, the A9 erased the Plus performance penalty: the 2015 pair benchmarked identically, making the choice purely one of size, battery, and camera stabilization.
3 Camera✎
The 12-megapixel iSight camera matches the 6s — deep trench isolation, 4K video, Live Photos, 63-megapixel panoramas — with the Plus-exclusive addition of optical image stabilization, which for the first time worked during video recording as well as stills. The OIS advantage over both the 6s and every previous Plus was visible in low-light comparisons and handheld 4K footage, cementing the pattern of the biggest iPhone carrying the best camera. The 5-megapixel front camera with Retina Flash carried over.
4 Software✎
The 6s Plus shipped with iOS 9 and its Plus-specific landscape layouts, and matched its sibling's historic support run: iOS 10 through iOS 15, ending with security update 15.8.4 in 2025 — ten years of software on 2015 hardware. It also fell inside Apple's late-2016 unexpected-shutdown battery program and the 2017 battery-throttling disclosure that followed the aging of the 6-and-6s-era fleet.
5 Release and reception✎
Reviews of the 6s Plus tracked the 6s almost verbatim — strongest S-year yet, 3D Touch intriguing but unproven, 16 GB indefensible — with the familiar Plus split on size. The stabilized 4K video and best-in-lineup battery made it the reviewers' pick for anyone whose hands agreed. Sales kept the roughly one-in-four Plus mix of the prior year within the record 13-million launch weekend.
It was discontinued on September 12, 2018, after three years on sale.
6 Legacy✎
The 6s Plus consolidated what the iPhone 6 Plus began: the big iPhone as the default premium choice, with stabilized video its lasting camera contribution — handheld 4K on a phone stopped being a novelty here. Alongside the 6s it shares the decade-of-updates benchmark and the honor of closing out the bendgate era with a chassis nobody managed to fold. The Plus lineage it carried runs unbroken to the current iPhone 17 Pro Max.