There are few surprises these days when Tim Cook takes the stage to unveil a new iPhone, or two new iPhones in this case, with the rumours correctly predicting a 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and a 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Extra screen real estate never goes astray, but there are still areas where Apple's wunderphone lags behind its Android and Windows Phone rivals.
The ability to turn your iPhone or Apple Watch into a contactless credit card is a major step forward for Apple. Support for Apple Pay tap-and-go transactions will be a major shot in the arm for the mobile payments ecosystem after Android and Windows Phone's fragmented attempts to get the technology off the ground.
Unfortunately it looks like Apple has locked down NFC features to only support Apple Pay. There's no talk of NFC-based quick pairing for Bluetooth devices or Wi-Fi tethering. Nor is there talk of support for NFC stickers or "tags", which automatically trigger features on the phone, such as Car Mode when you get behind the wheel.
When pushed for more information, Apple's Australian PR team would only say: "Today’s announcement was focused on Apple Pay. We have nothing further to announce in regards to NFC".
Extra NFC functionality may be unlocked over time, but it's unlikely that Apple will offer unfettered access considering that it already offers workarounds for some of these tasks and it wants to push its own iBeacon short-range wireless ecosystem.
Punters hoping for a more rugged iPhone may also be disappointed with the iPhone 6. There's still no IP67-certified dust and waterproof design to match the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5, meaning Samsung can keep running its ads mocking poolside iPhone users. Even the Apple Watch is only "water-resistant" rather than waterproof, like Samsung's wearables. The rumored super-tough Sapphire screen came to the Apple Watch, but not the iPhone 6.
The iPhone camera is another area where Apple elected not to play catch up with the Android flagships and Nokia's impressive Lumia Windows Phone range. The iPhone 6 sticks with an 8-megapixel rear sensor, although it employs a new five-element lens, improved auto-focus and a wider aperture to capture better photos. The iPhone 6 Plus also gets optical image stabilisation to help compensate for shaky hands.
While iPhone owners might be satisfied with this, Apple could have done more for video chat users and selfie fans by bumping up the resolution of the 1.2-megapixel front camera rather than simply rejigging the lens to capture "81 per cent more light".
Battery life and charging is another area when iPhone fans were hoping that Apple might catch up to the competition. Wireless charging is still missing from the iPhone 6, although it's difficult to know whether this is due to technical limitations or simply the fact that Apple doesn't consider it an important feature.
One thing that's certainly important to iPhone owners is battery life, but rather than improve a handset that is mocked by its competitors over its short battery life, Apple is still obsessed with delivering "the thinnest iPhone ever".
The iPhone 6 is roughly half a millimetre thinner than the iPhone 5s, which doesn't seem like much to get excited about. It doesn't bode well for those hoping that Apple might start to favour function over form in the post-Jobs age. I'm sure many iPhone users would be happy if the new iPhone 6 was no slimmer than its predecessor but could hang in there to make it to the end of a long day. To make matters worse, the Apple Watch is likely to hammer your iPhone's battery if other Bluetooth 4.0 devices are anything to go by.
The iPhone 6 will only last one hour longer than the iPhone 5s in most scenarios, going by Apple vice-president Phil Schiller's presentation. That's not taking into account the impact of the Apple Watch. You'll fare a little better with the iPhone 6 Plus.
Surely when you're pushing the iPhone as a digital wallet via Apple Pay, you'd make all-day battery life a priority. Yet the Cupertino boffins are convinced that a super-thin, completely flat headset is more attractive than a slightly thicker phone that is still running after a busy day on the road.
