iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus launch event - as it happened

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are official

iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus: release date, features and specs

7.53pm U2's new album, Songs of Innocence, is going out for free to everyone with an iTunes account. "The largest album release of all time." Free for everyone via iTunes.

7.44pm Apple music announcement! Oh... It's just U2 performing at the launch event.

7.30pm Apple Watch will work with iPhone 6 Plus, 6, 5S, 5C and 5. Watch will cost from, $349, available "early next year".

7.20pm You will need an iPhone to use the Apple Watch. In other news, we're guessing there won't be any more products announced now... So no iPods, iPads or Apple TV.

7.10pm Wow. A lot of focus on the Apple Watch, understandably for a new product category. There are 'his and hers' versions and three different models, Watch, Watch Edition and Watch Sport.

7.00pm "Apple Watch works seamlessly with iPhone and is also a comprehensive health and fitness device", offering "a breakthrough in interface design".

6.57pm Apple has a 'One more thing...' - Apple Watch.

6.51pm ApplePay is launching in the US with Visa, MasterCard. "Fast, secure and private." Will be available in McDonald's, Whole Foods, Disney stores, Nike shops, Apple stores and more.

Online payments will also be available with 'one-touch check-out'.

6.49pm ApplePay built in to every iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which have a NFC strip and Touch ID for security.

Take a picture of your card and it's logged securely by Apple so you can make one-touch payments. If your iPhone is lost or stolen you can use Find My iPhone to cancel your cards. Apple won't know what you bought, where or for how much...

6.47pm Apple announces ApplePay a new payment process.

6.45pm Apple now talking about 'Payments'. "People have dreamed of replacing [plastic debit/credit cards] for years".

6.43pm Two new iPhones available from September 19th, available for pre-order from 12th.

6.41pm iOS 8 will be available as a free download from September 17th.

6.39pm Apple announces prices, colours and storage. Silver, Gold and Space Grey.

iPhone 6 - 199, 299, 399 - 16GB / 64GB / 128GB - on a two-year contract

iPhone 6 Plus - 299, 399, 499 - 16GB / 64GB / 128GB - on a two-year contract

6.37pm Now we're on to features. iOS 8 and the fingerprint sensor are of course on board.

6.34pm iPhone now "the world's most popular video camera"... says Apple. 1080p video at 30fps and 60fps.

'Burst selfies' is a new camera feature. Yes, really...

6.32pm A lot of talk about the new lens and sensor in the iPhone 6 iSight camera.

6.30pm Focus Pixels in the all-new sensor help iPhone 6 focus faster and better.

6.28pm Wi-Fi calling is a new feature for making high-quality calls when you're in a bad network reception area.

6.27pm New processor promises to be up to 25% faster CPU performance.

6.25pm iPhone 6 battery life: 11 hours of video watching, WiFi browsing; iPhone 6 Plus: 14 hours of HD video playback

The iPhone 6 has a 1800mAH battery and 6 Plus has 2800mAH. This is up from 1470mAH on 5S.

6.22pm The iPhone 6 Plus will play games in higher resolution than next generation consoles. Blimey.

6.18pm iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are powered by the Apple-designed A8 chip, promising performance that's 50 times faster than the original iPhone

6.15pm iPhone 6 Plus has a full HD resolution, 401 pixels per inch screen; iPhone 6 has a 720p Retina HD display

6.10pm Apple confirms iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones

The screens have 4.7in and 5.5in screens

6.9mm slim for iPhone 6, 6.71m for the iPhone 6 Plus

These are the thinnest iPhones ever made

6.00pm Erm... Tim Cook is live on stage at the iPhone 6 launch.

5.50pm It's T-Minus 10 minutes until the Apple event goes live. Tech and fashion industry press are in attendance and taking their seats...Stephen Fry's there too!

3.30pm China Mobile has potentially let slip the specs of the iPhone 6. While the text may be in Chinese, the numbers speak for themselves. 4.7- and 5.5-inch screens, 16, 32, 64 and 128GB storage options, 1134x750 resolution and 138x67x7mm dimensions.

2pm Tim Cook, Apple CEO, has tweeted his excitement for the impending iPhone event: "Looking forward to a great day in Cupertino! Join us at 10am Pacific. #AppleLive" That's 6pm UK time, of course...

11am Apple has given over its website to a countdown timer to the big event. A notice on the Apple website promises, "Live video from our special event will be right here. And so will a whole lot more." We'd imagine you will need to be on an Apple iPhone, iPad or Mac, and using Apple's own Safari browser, to watch the live stream, as is normally the case.

Check out the Apple Events page for the live stream from the launch event.

With two new iPhones likely to be unveiled later today, and the company's first wearable device, it's likely to be a big day in Apple's history.

We'll be covering the event live right here, so make sure to keep checking back for the latest news. And we'll have our hands-on reviews of the new iPhones soon after the event finishes.

In the meantime, for all the latest rumours and predictions, head to our iPhone 6: release date, features, specs and rumours page.

What else can we expect to see from Cupertino? We've rounded up some of the most likely features and some of the suggestions from the What Hi-Fi? Facebook page. You can see them all here.

MORE: iPhone 6 launch: what we expect to see

Max is a staff writer for What Hi-Fi?'s sister site, TechRadar, in Australia. But being the wonderful English guy he is, he helps out with content across a number of Future sites, including What Hi-Fi?. It wouldn't be his first exposure to the world of all things hi-fi and home cinema, as his first role in technology journalism was with What Hi-Fi? in the UK. Clearly he pined to return after making the move to Australia and the team have welcomed him back with arms wide open.