Sept. 25 is the day when the iPhone 6s enters the stores, and Apple fans everywhere wonder if screen protectors will play well with the new phone's display. Why the sudden interest in screen protectors?
The reason is the new touchscreen, named 3D Touch. Apple's new display is a pressure-sensitive screen that performs actions according to the intensity of your tap. You may select something with a light tap or apply pressure on the screen, thus opening completely different options. It uses the same display technology as Apple Watch's Force Touch screen, but the manufacturer decided to use another name on its latest smartphone.
Concerns regarding compatibility between screen covers and the sensitive display have been answered in an email by Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller.
"Screen overlays that follow [Apple's] guidelines will continue to work with 3D Touch," he said.
Apple's guidelines state that, for a display protector to be a good accessory to iPhone 6s, it should be thinner than 0.3 mm, electrically conductive and leave no air gaps between the touchscreen and the protecting sheet.
It is possible that Apple imposes the MFi program for screen protectors as well. This means that the ones that meet Apple's guidelines could get an MFi stamp and be credited as more suitable to work with the iPhone 6s' display than other screen covers that do not.
The good news is that the iPhone 6 has its display made of Corning's Gorilla Glass, which protects against the usual scuffs and scratches, rendering the need for a screen protection relatively useless. Most likely, the iPhone 6s inherits the same highly resistant material for 3D Touch, and even some minor improvements are expected.
Gorilla Glass is not completely impervious to damage, however. If clumsiness and an unfortunate series of events mix, Gorilla Glass may be scratched or broken, making a display cover for the iPhone 6s a generally good idea.
As for the areas not protected by the screen cover, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will come in gold, silver, space gray and the new rose gold metallic finishes. For the U.S., the purchase price for the two models is $0 down with 24 monthly payments starting at $27 and $31, respectively.
