'iPhone 6s' Release Date Draws Closer: Next iPhone Now In Production, Includes Apple Watch Force Touch

Apple has started production on its next iPhone, according to a published report. The device will reportedly be called the iPhone 6s and feature a pressure-sensitive touch display.

Force Touch, Apple’s marketing term for the screen technology, is already available on the Apple Watch. Harder presses on the screen reveal new options, acting similar to the right-click function on computers. Bloomberg states that volume manufacturing of the Force Touch-equipped phones will ramp up as early as next month.

The phone itself is said to retain largely the same design as the iPhone 6. This is in keeping with Apple’s launch cycles: every year the company releases a new iPhone, but the “s” versions every other year keep the same basic design. However, the iPhone 5s slightly altered this cycle by making a visible hardware change, adding a fingerprint scanner to the Home button.

Other rumors tipped for the phone include a stronger 7000 series aluminum body, another borrowing from the Apple Watch, and a faster A9 processor. This year may also see the launch of a plastic iPhone 6c, in a similar fashion to the iPhone 5c launch two years ago. However, reports from China’s Economic Daily News suggest this may have been pushed back to next year.