Alongside the 3D Touch pressure sensitive touchscreen technology and the new A9 processor, one of the most impressive additions to the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus smartphones is an all-new rear camera that is capable of much higher resolution photography with better colour reproduction than ever before.

Apple's 12-megapixel iSight camera module is a decent upgrade on the 8-megapixel snapper in the standard iPhone 6. And it comes with some new software that makes full use of the new processor to stunning effect.

So here's what you can expect to find on the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus handsets when it comes to photography.

What is the iPhone 6S rear camera capable of?

The rear camera, as mentioned, has a 12-megapixel iSight sensor that uses 50 per cent more pixels than its predecessor. It also uses more focus pixels, so as well as increase the resolution of an image, the auto-focus technology has the ability to be more accurate and can technically provide sharper images.

In addition, Apple has introduced a deep trench isolation technology, which is also found on advanced CMOS camera sensors, to separate the pixels and reduce crosstalk between them on the sensor array, which in turn helps reduce noise and produce images that are as sharp as possible in a small camera module.

It is coupled with a TrueTone flash that fires a synchronised tone of light on the subject depending on the ambient light available already.

All of this, combined with image signal processing, helps the iPhone 6S take photos that are more detailed and have truer colours than its predecessor.

READ: These incredible photos were taken using the new iPhone 6S 12MP iSight camera

What is the iPhone 6S front camera capable of?

The front-facing FaceTime HD camera has a 5-megapixel sensor with a Retina flash. This latter feature uses the actual screen of the device to act in a similar way to the TrueTone flash on the rear.

The phone detects the ambient light and then flashes the backlight of the Retina display to fill the scene.

What kind of video can the iPhone 6S record?

The rear camera on the iPhone 6S is capable of recording 4K video, although we're not sure yet whether that is at 60 frames per second or 30.

The resolution of 3840 x 2160 will suit any 4K Ultra HD TV though. And the phone is able to edit 4K videos from within the iMovie app on the device itself.

Anything else? What is the Live Photos feature?

As well as take panoramic images as before, albeit in a higher resolution, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus handsets will come with a new software feature called Live Photos.

This is switched on by default and whenever you take a photo, even at full resolution, the phone will record a brief bit of video before, during and after the shot.

Your final images will look like normal stills, but press on them using the new 3D Touch feature and they will come to life before your eyes.

Apple is not the first to offer animated photography, with Nokia doing so on its Lumia phones a while back, but it is a clever use of the 3D Touch display. And you can export your Live Photos to other devices, including the Apple Watch where you can use it as a live wallpaper.

All of the new features, both hardware and software, will be thoroughly tested by Pocket-lint when we review the phones in the near future. We'll let you know exactly how each works then and what the final results are actually like.