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Is thinness in a new iPhone a priority for you?

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GoingDark

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 2, 2013
329
29
This was inspired by a similar post in the iPad forums.

In that thread I said that thinness/lightness is important in an iPad because it hasn't reached the ideal, which in my opinion is the same lightness as a magazine.
As for the iPhone, I think the thinness is seriously detrimental to the user experience. If the iPhone was one millimetre thicker you'd probably have an extra 25% battery life and virtually no difference in heft or hand feel. To be honest, the iPhone 5/5s is too light in my opinion anyway, so a little extra weight/thickness would be welcome.

Rumours about the new 4.7" iPhone 6 seem to follow this disappointing trend - you would think a bigger phone would allow them to have a significantly larger battery, but it's supposedly only 1810mAh - compare that with the 2200mAh battery of the similarly-sized 4.7" Moto X and I think we're in for some pretty pitiful battery life if the rumours are true. This is especially worrying because a 17.5% larger screen than the existing 5/5s is only coming with a 16% increase in battery capacity (from 1560mAh). Probably all that extra capacity will go to driving the bigger display, a beefier CPU, etc. which means at best we can hope for the same (disappointing) battery life as the 5/5s, or more likely, battery life will actually be worse. This also leads me to believe that the iPhone 6 will be even thinner than the iPhone 5/5s.

Thinness doesn't just have battery implications. A thicker iPhone would also give Apple some room on the Z-Axis for better camera optics - more megapixels, or the same number of megapixels but bigger (for better low-light performance), or Optical Image Stabilization, etc. They could take what is already easily one of the best smartphone cameras on the market and vastly increase their lead over their competitors. If the iPhone 6 is even thinner than its predecessor, we can expect little to no improvement in the camera, simply due to the laws of physics.

Do you think that thinness should be a priority in an iPhone above all else? Would you accept or prefer a slightly thicker phone if it provided more/better features?
 
R

recoil80

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,117
2,755
I'd love to have a slightly thicker iPhone with a bigger battery and maybe a better camera system.
iPhone 5 and 5S are very thin, and I don't think we need to have a thinner object in the palm of our hands.
I guess we are now close to the limit, they cannot make a smartphone too thin, otherwise I'd be difficult to pick it up from the desk and I wouldn't be comfortable to hold.

Many people use a bumper or a cover, adding thickness to their phones. I'd rather have a phone with gorilla glass on the front AND the back, maybe 1mm thicker. More battery, no cover, so same weight but better phone.
 
N

nnacrumors

macrumors 6502
Jun 12, 2014
429
7
I think Apple feels the battery life is currently good enough and would rather come up with a flashy selling point (ultra thin design) to make the majority of uninformed customers drool over.

Remember scuff gate? What purpose did those chamfered edges serve other than to look pretty as a selling point?

Besides, if they increase battery life too much then they might not sell as many $80 battery replacements ;)
 
mtneer

mtneer

macrumors 68040
Sep 15, 2012
3,179
2,714
Battery replacement revenue and upgrade motivator.

Other manufacturer's phones do not last long enough to generate any post sales revenue through consumable replacements. Apple designs good hardware and supports phones reasonably long enough to at least generate one post sale revenue replacement (for those who don't already replace their phones frequently to generate another sale). Designing larger and longer lasting batteries will cut into those revenues.

Starting off a brand new phone with just enough battery to get through a work day results in the battery life degrading to requiring at least two charges a day after a couple of years of heavy use. As apparent in these forums, low battery life is a powerful motivator for people to upgrade their phones.
 
FrozenInferno

FrozenInferno

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2013
272
268
There's no need to go any thinner, at this stage battery life is more important. Apple would rather show off their engineering skills more than give the user a few more hours of battery.
 
N

Narien

macrumors member
Jul 24, 2011
77
0
GoingDark said:
Rumours about the new 4.7" iPhone 6 seem to follow this disappointing trend - you would think a bigger phone would allow them to have a significantly larger battery, but it's supposedly only 1810mAh - compare that with the 2200mAh battery of the similarly-sized 4.7" Moto X and I think we're in for some pretty pitiful battery life if the rumours are true. This is especially worrying because a 17.5% larger screen than the existing 5/5s is only coming with a 16% increase in battery capacity (from 1560mAh). Probably all that extra capacity will go to driving the bigger display, a beefier CPU, etc. which means at best we can hope for the same (disappointing) battery life as the 5/5s, or more likely, battery life will actually be worse. This also leads me to believe that the iPhone 6 will be even thinner than the iPhone 5/5s.
Click to expand...

I'm one of the ppl who wants a really thin phone, so just as you want a fat phone, expects the battery life to get worse, I expect it to get better, here is why:
1. You mention the increase in screen versus increase in battery capacity, you have to remember that 10% more battery will power more then 10% larger screen, so if that is all that is changed, battery life will improve and I doubt the 1,5% difference will make any impact at all.

2. If the rumors about a new screen with embedded touch sensors are true, this should not only mean a slimmer device, but also lower power consumption smaller things take less battery power!

3. As with point 2, while the new processor should be "better", it (if the rumors are true) should also use smaller transistors, and smaller transistors means less power consumtion.

In fact, in a pure hardware point of view, I would be thoroughly surprised if the battery life wasn't improved.

However! Here comes the real bandit, with all this focus on health apps, continuity and what not, all this requires your phone to listen a lot more. This means more processes running in the background and in turn that means that the processor will work more and finally that will mean more power used (If it goes horribly wrong, the phone will be hotter too).

The big question should be, will all the hardware improvements save more power then the new features will use!
 
Newtons Apple

Newtons Apple

Suspended
Mar 12, 2014
22,757
15,253
Jacksonville, Florida
Thinner mean just more bent phones. Lighter and thinner would make the iPhone feel cheap and if I want that I would get a plastic Samsung.

Like another poster said make it no thinner, maybe a little thicker to improve the camera lens and battery, though it have never been unhappy with battery capacity.

Let's go for structural integrity!
 
D

Donald Alford

macrumors newbie
Jul 22, 2014
2
0
AViiQ Thin Series iPhone 5 that i have buy recently.yeah Thinness proviede great Look to Iphone.But if not reduces its battery backups or other features.
 
Oohara

Oohara

macrumors 68040
Jun 28, 2012
3,050
2,423
The iPhone 6 will be slightly thinner than the 5s if the dummys are anything to go by, and I think it makes sense. People are already screaming themselves bloody about the screen size increase so Apple needs to give them something towards maintaining pocketability. And a slightly thinner phone + those rounded edges will go a long way towards accomplishing that. More than most think IMO.

The battery life should stay the same as on the 5s at the very least, despite the thinner format, I can't see Apple accepting anything less.
 
B

busterbluth

macrumors 6502
Jun 14, 2008
309
1
itsmemuffins said:
Battery is good enough. The thinner the better.
Click to expand...

How can you say that? I had a lot family events this past weekend and every single iPhone person was struggling for battery life. People couldn't be contacted to give directions or to change plans cause their phones died...it's a mess. I'm sure android has the same problem but to say that the iPhone battery is fine is just wrong.

I know that apple doesn't care about the "enthusiast" but I truly believe most current i

----------
itsmemuffins said:
Battery is good enough. The thinner the better.
Click to expand...

How can you say that? I had a lot family events this past weekend and every single iPhone person was struggling for battery life. People couldn't be contacted to give directions or to change plans cause their phones died...it's a mess. I'm sure android has the same problem but to say that the iPhone battery is fine is just wrong.

I know that apple doesn't care about the "enthusiast" but I truly believe most current iPhone owners want more battery lift.
 
itsmemuffins

itsmemuffins

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2010
3,181
1,318
busterbluth said:
How can you say that? I had a lot family events this past weekend and every single iPhone person was struggling for battery life. People couldn't be contacted to give directions or to change plans cause their phones died...it's a mess. I'm sure android has the same problem but to say that the iPhone battery is fine is just wrong.

I know that apple doesn't care about the "enthusiast" but I truly believe most current iPhone owners want more battery lift.
Click to expand...

For me it's fine.

I've just been in holidays and the light and thin 5s was grets in my shorts pocket. Took loads of photos and videos and still had enough battery.

I just plugged it in when in the car or back at the house if I wasn't using it. The smaller capacity means it charged super fast. Never poses a problem for me.
 
trophynuts

trophynuts

macrumors member
May 25, 2011
73
18
Battery life is too vague of a topic imo. Everyone uses their phone differently. I get very satisfactory battery life from my I5 and it is 18 months old.


One thing that no one mentioned was the use of a newer processor and how it should be more battery efficient. Also this should be the second interation of using 64 bit architecture in a phone. I would expect Apple to refine that even more and that also would aid in battery life if I had to guess.


Personally I would appreciate a thinner phone.
 
Z8beema

Z8beema

macrumors 6502
Sep 18, 2013
399
18
Mass.
recoil80 said:
I'd love to have a slightly thicker iPhone with a bigger battery and maybe a better camera system.
iPhone 5 and 5S are very thin, and I don't think we need to have a thinner object in the palm of our hands.
I guess we are now close to the limit, they cannot make a smartphone too thin, otherwise I'd be difficult to pick it up from the desk and I wouldn't be comfortable to hold.

Many people use a bumper or a cover, adding thickness to their phones. I'd rather have a phone with gorilla glass on the front AND the back, maybe 1mm thicker. More battery, no cover, so same weight but better phone.
Click to expand...

Blasphemy! But...... I agree 100% with everything you just said
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
I personally find the iPhone 5+ to be on the verge of too thin to handle. I use a case so that's not a problem for me. But without it I constantly feel like I'm going to drop it.

Then you have all the above mentioned about being thicker to accommodate a larger battery.

So for me, thinness at this point is pure form over function. I like nice looking things but prefer things with more function over form to a certain extent.
 
The Doctor11

The Doctor11

macrumors 603
Dec 15, 2013
5,974
1,406
New York
Thinness is a priority to me. And with the next iPhone being bigger which I think pretty much eveyone believes to be true thinner would be even more important. WARNING: Your going to get pissed off at me for what I'm about to say. I wouldn't have minded the iPhone 5/5s being thinner :eek: Yes it's a very thin phone I know that. But to ME thinner would have been welcome and I hope to see the next iPhone a bit thinner.
 
sonicrobby

sonicrobby

macrumors 68020
Apr 24, 2013
2,482
526
New Orleans
Larger screen and 128GB storage is my priority. Thinness is a huge + though, always wanted my iphone to be as thin as the itouch.
 
A

androiphone

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2009
1,000
1
Honestly? No, the iPhone 5/5s is thin enough keep it that thin and just fill it with extra battery, because a phone is held almost completely in the hand you don't 'feel' the weight like you do with a much larger tablet (that's why tablets should feel light).

Even if you instinctively plug your phone in every night to charge therefore don't need a bigger battery that is an easy cop out IMO, there is no negative to having a bigger battery, you get better battery life why wouldn't you want that.

As I say 5/5s is a perfectly acceptable thickness keep it the same fill it out with more battery, there's no loser.
 
VulchR

VulchR

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,377
14,249
Scotland
I've always used battery packs with my iPhones - to protect them and allow me to use GPS for a full day without draining the phone completely. (trust me when I say you don't want to be in the Scottish highlands in bad weather without a working GPS)

Thinness and weight are no big deal for me. I would prefer a bigger battery. The way I see it, smaller capacity batteries will give up the ghost earlier because they are charged more often and they have a limited number of charging cycles. Indeed, I often wonder if Apple isn't cynically trying to push an planned obsolescence agenda by focusing on thinness so much.
 
C

CPx

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2013
696
511
I don't want an ugly brick, but I also don't want a phone that dies before the end of the day. Tricky balance. We'll see if the 6 gets it right.
 
G

g35

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2007
665
151
Yes, if the phone is getting bigger. I value long battery life as much as anyone (maybe more) but making the iPhone 4.7 or. 5.5 thinner would go a long way toward making them more comfortable to hold.
 
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