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devilstrider

macrumors 6502a
May 12, 2010
658
0
Make cheap phone with a huge display, to appeal to lower class people. Sounds like Android in USA!

Damn that was a bold stereotype. Even though I know people that live check to check with iPhones barley keeping the service on.
 

tomjdavies

macrumors member
Sep 24, 2008
68
0
Maybe its just me - but I've never really understood the well-trodden opinion that iPhones with various screen sizes would prove too much of an issue for developers. Android screen sizes are all over the place, and nowadays there aren't any issues there.
 

Bonte

macrumors 65816
Jul 1, 2002
1,165
506
Bruges, Belgium
For me it looks plausible and in the end inevitable, cheaper and larger iPhones are a certainty some day.

Bigger is better (for some consumers), cheaper but larger hardware, heavier, and the same pixel size of the 4S so no need for yet another resolution. I dig!
 

TechieGeek

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2012
260
561
Make cheap phone with a huge display, to appeal to lower class people. Sounds like Android in USA!

Android's ability to make it into the hands of people who aren't willing to spend as much on a smartphone is beneficial to Android as a whole...I feel like you miss that.

Why do you think Android's activation numbers are so high? Why is Android more appealing to developers who want to reach the widest audience?

Because Android is on low-end as well as high-end devices. :)

Think of it this way - if Apple were to make a low-end smartphone, more people would begin to use iPhones. That means more of your friends would be on iMessage and more people would be contributing data to services like Live Traffic on Apple's maps.
 

maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
If true, Apple is responding to the pressure applied by Samsung.

This is very encouraging, it proves the need for competition. In addition, if Apple remains in denial and does not respond, they are going to pay the price. Sooner, or later.

I'd like nothing better than to see Apple innovate once again. Show the world just what they are capable of besides throwing buckets of money at lawyers to litigate and block other companies from selling their products.

Apple was once better than this, it'd be great to see them get back to building fresh innovative new products.
 

cosmichobo

macrumors 6502a
May 4, 2006
964
586
I've owned an iPhone 3GS for a whole year now, so I am fully qualified to rebuke this "news" article.

No part of it has any credence in our reality.

Low cost? Apple didn't even make their iPad Mini "low cost". A new iPhone, larger than the original - for lower cost? Rubbish!

Larger screen? Apple marketed the fact that their iPhone can be used comfortably with your thumb. They're hardly going to now go and make a huge iPhone. Steve would roll in his grave.

Emerging Markets? As if Apple cares? Know how much money they're making selling to 1st World economies? Enough to be the richest company in the world. Who needs emerging markets full of penniless farmers and so forth.
 

JoeG4

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2002
2,848
521
Maybe its just me - but I've never really understood the well-trodden opinion that iPhones with various screen sizes would prove too much of an issue for developers. Android screen sizes are all over the place, and nowadays there aren't any issues there.

There really aren't. The problem is that many iOS apps were developed for the original iPhone size, and in many cases used heavily bitmapped GUIs to look pretty. People do that a lot with websites, and once you've done it, it's kinda hard to change it.

I imagine once the developers have adjusted the app to work on the longer iphone, hopefully they've made their app UIs smarter ;)
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,332
31,463
Seems to me this is a knee jerk reaction from Wall Street "analysts" who are freaked out about Samsung's market share and think Apple has to counter it with a cheap smartphone for China. Apple never built a cheap PC to compete with Microsoft, why do they need to build a cheap phone to compete with Android OEM's?
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
OUCH! That's a lot to give up on. If the display is what you're really after then it's a win. It reminds me of the $1000 17" display laptops of yore. A notch above netbook specs with a 1440x900 rez 17" display at $999!
I bet it looks terrible with that low DPI but the screen size is what people will buy it for.
 

AppleInTheMud

macrumors 6502
Jun 19, 2012
427
120
Vojens Denmark
I have both of those phones pictured there...

Hated my iPhone 5 at the beginning, but now I love it.

Would love more phone models from Apple. So they would have more on the market. 1 new phone a year is not enough now a days. They get old to customers within 4 month. And then there is 8 month left where nothing new happens.

A big iPhone ? I would love it :) But pleeeease make iOS 7 new. Not just the same and same and same. My iPhone 3 looks the same... So gi' me' something new :)
 

kalsta

macrumors 68000
May 17, 2010
1,681
586
Australia
As much as I like the iPhone, I think it's overpriced. Apple, as we all know, has huge markups on the iPhone and generates by far the majority of their profits from the iPhone, and that has yielded this mountain of cash they now sit on. So why, asks Apple investors, would Apple want to lower the price? They don't really need to of course—they can continue to market it as a high-end device, and lead the industry in profitability for some years to come. But they're fast losing marketshare, and it's a valid question to ask how much of that is linked to price.

But I question the wisdom of bringing out a cheaper, lower spec, lower build-quality iPhone to please the masses. It won't appeal to the people who are drawn to the higher specs of competing products, and it may have a negative halo effect on the brand as a whole.

I also question the wisdom of bringing out a larger phone to please the masses. Product differentiation is okay, and Apple has defended their decision to keep the width of the phone down, which I happen to agree with.

What I would like to see is Apple price the next iPhone more competitively, and give up some of that massive markup they've been holding onto. They could arguably do this (as they've done in the past with various products) by doubling storage at the high end while keeping the price the same. Or they could simply reduce prices across the whole product line. Perhaps it's approaching time they did both—if they have any interest in stopping the slide into the realm of small niche market that is.

And? Most people prefer phones that are bigger than the iPhone. I'm sorry but it is clear. If you can't see that you are simply blind. I know the demographic of this site prefers what we have. That's not what the rest of the world likes. Clearly.

You seem very certain about that. Where's your research? Perhaps a lot of people have purchased larger Android phones for other reasons—after all, we're constantly told that they have other features the iPhone doesn't. Price and sales spiels can heavily influence buyers too. And some people just buy what their friends or family members have. Others just have a religious aversion to all things Apple.

Fads come and go, but enduring strategies take time to see clearly. Once upon a time it was cool to have the smallest phone. Early mobile phones where huge bricks, and they got smaller and smaller, with boasting rights (and expense) belonging to the very smallest phone on the market. Now it's shifted the other way, but it's not a universal trend. I'll wager it's more of a temporary fad than you and many other realise, but it's really too early to say.
 

Speedy2

macrumors 65816
Nov 19, 2008
1,163
254
You assume they give a horse's poop about marketshare. They don't. They care about the cash. At the end of the day their 'shrinking' marketshare (which is due to an increase in the overall market total not a decrease in their sales) is bringing in vaults worth of cash. They can pull a Scrooge McDuck with the company's daily sales. And that's all they care about.

Not the zero sum of marketshare. As Apple says 'us winning doesn't have to mean everyone else loses'

Of course they care about marketshare. They are not stupid. More devices sold means lower component costs. Higher marketshare means more incentive for developers to write apps. It means you're in a much better position when you bargain with media companies about distribution rights. And so on.

They may care about profit more than marketshare, but that's hardly anything out of the ordinary.

----------

It is exactly what has always happened with jewelry. Higher-class has usually prefferend miniature, finely-crafted jewels, while lower-class has always preferred huge stones and chains. A bigger screen makes more light and is more noticeable.

Uhm yeah. Exactly the reason why 17" laptops are so much more popular with the lower-class than 13".

Also, ever been to China or Russia? They think quite differently about size of jewelry than you do.
 

apolloa

Suspended
Oct 21, 2008
12,318
7,802
Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!

thehustleman

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2013
1,123
1
On the size preference, not all android users want big screen phones, some merely want high end hardware.

Unfortunately android offers no high end smaller sized phones.

It's a huge market untapped.

They dropped the ball with the galaxy s 3 mini, they dumbed down the specs instead of making a real galaxy s3 mini.

Honestly I think the gs3 is the perfect phone size but my wife has small hands, people like her and people who wear women's jeans say it's too big, but android doesn't cater to that market.

It's impossible to find a full featured smartphone smaller than 4.3"


Oh yeah, the gs3 and even the note 2 is very operable one handed
 

h4z3

macrumors newbie
Oct 24, 2011
2
0
iPod Touch?

Just put cell capabilities in a Touch 4G body and it will sell like hotcakes.
 

unobtainium

macrumors 68030
Mar 27, 2011
2,614
3,879
There's only one scenario that makes sense for Apple going forward:

- a flagship model that stays at 4" or increases slightly to 4.3" or 4.5" (yeah, developers might hate it, but it's not like they're going to abandon the Apple ecosystem).

- an 'iPhone mini' to replace the 4/4S that are currently sold to more budget-conscious buyers. It'll have the old screen size, a cheaper shell, less powerful processor and inferior cameras, but will otherwise be just like any other iPhone. It will probably also have lower storage. Essentially, it will be very similar to the older models (4/4S) that are currently available at cheaper prices.

Meanwhile, Apple can phase out the iPad 2, and the iPhone 4 and 4S, simplifying their iDevice lineup in both cases to a flagship model and a "mini" model.
 

apolloa

Suspended
Oct 21, 2008
12,318
7,802
Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
Now I have a Nexus 7, I think I would actually sell my iPhone 5 for an iPhone with the same SOC, same case design and internals but a 3.5" screen. It would be even lighter and more compact then ever then :D Yeah the battery life would be a bit less, but then again they could give it an A6 with one of those fancy new PowerVR Series 6 GPU's!!

hmmm I shall wait to see what happens.

I dunno, I just kinda preferred the compactness of the 3.5" screen size? But the phone would have to keep the case design where you just undo the bottom screws to replace the screen, battery, home button etc..

Actually, drop LTE support, but keep 5GHZ N support, a 3.5" screen with no air gap, retina, A6 SOC and the same camera or one of those new Exmoor R sensors, and have the exact same case design as the iPhone 5 but smaller and I'll be happy.
 
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