Apple releases iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

The iPhone 6, with a 4.7-inch screen displaying 1 million pixels, is just 6.9 mm thick, while the 5.5-inch 6 Plus is 7.1 mm thick and displays 2 million pixels.

Apple is also moving into the payments business with ApplePay, incorporated into the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which feature a built-in NFC radio antenna.

Payment card information is stored and encrypted in what Apple calls the Secure Element; in the U.S. credit and debit cards from American Express, MasterCard and Visa will be supported.

The new A8 processor is billed as 25 percent faster than its predecessor, while the graphics processor is 50 percent faster.

The iPhone 6 and 6 plus also feature a new motion co-processor, the M8, that can distinguish between different activities such as walking, cycling or running, the company said, and can estimate distance and elevation. There’s also a new barometer sensor in the phones.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus use 150Mbps LTE and support 20 LTE bands, which Apple claims is more than any other smartphone.

The iPhone 6 starts at US$199 under a two-year contract in the U.S., while the Plus is priced at $299 for a 16GB version, $399 for a 64GB version and $499 for a 128GB version.

The phones are due to be available on Sept. 19 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Australia and Hong Kong, among others.

Both phones have an 8-megapixel iSight camera with an f/2.2 aperture. Both can record 1080 HD video at up to 240 frames per second for slow motion effects.

The phones will run Apple’s iOS 8 operating system. Users of other Apple mobile devices can download iOS for free starting on Sept. 17.

People can pre-order the Apple 6 and 6 Plus phones starting this Friday.