AFP
Silicon Valley
Apple on Tuesday unveiled two new versions of the iPhone, boosting the screen size of the iconic smartphone to 4.7 and 5.5 inches.
Unveiling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple chief Tim Cook said the company was launching “the biggest advancement in the history of iPhones.”
Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller, speaking at the event in Cupertino, California, said the new iPhones were “simply stunning” with improved displays thanks to polarized glass.
Apple’s move, expanding the latest iPhone with a four-inch screen, comes as consumers are switching to handsets with bigger displays to watch videos and browse the Internet.
Apple unveiled a new mobile wallet on Tuesday aimed at allowing consumers to use iPhones linked to credit cards for more secure, convenient payments.
Apple chief Tim Cook said the ApplePay system would replace an “antiquated payment process” with “an entirely new payment system” that allows consumers to touch their phones to retail terminals. The new payment system will be built into the new iPhones and Apple’s operating system which were also unveiled Thursday.
Cook said that each day in the United States alone “that’s 200 million times that we scramble through our credit cards and go through what is a fairly antiquated payment process.”
He said other efforts have failed because the companies introducing mobile wallets were working on the basis of “their self-interest” instead of the user experience. Cook showed a video of a consumer tapping a phone on a payment terminal, commenting, “it’s so cool.”