There were two different things announced:
Night shiftDesigned to address the fact that blue light can cause sleep issues. They've implemented some control a very simple interface with a slider that goes from "Less Warm" to "More Warm." It's not very precise and can't be intended to be used for color management. It's there to address issues a cool display can cause like these:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-why-is-blue-light-before-bedtime-bad-for-sleep/ It's available now in the new OS and doesn't require additional hardware.
True ToneThe new devices will have some sort of color meter to read ambient light and adjust the display to compensate for different ambient light environments.
A color managed environment is stable/consistent for a number of obvious reasons and needs.
Right! The problem, of course, is that mobile devices are rarely used in a stable viewing environment which is a significant part of the color management equation. If done well, this could help with that. I'm a little skeptical. On the other hand it seems that iOS
finally reads icc profiles embedded in images, so maybe they are getting serious.