Do you think the 4s will still be "in competition" w/ cellphones in the next year

[aziatiklover]

Im sure even the iphone 4 will be competitive next year! Iphone 3gs is still selling hot this days.

 

[labman]

iPhone 3g is still popular and still gets top dollar for a 3 gen old device so yes..

 

[taedouni]

If the iPhone 3GS is the third most popular phone in the US then I see no reason why the iPhone 4S cannot compete with next year Android phones.

 

[OceanView]

iPhone 4S is not on the top of the market now.
But if they implement many new features and a bigger screen this year, they will still be competitive.

 

[ntrigue]

Physically the next iPhone should look different to stay viable, we're on year three of the same casing. Software really doesn't need to change much at all, it is the reason they have huge margins. Internally it will use what's in new iPad as it faithfully does.

Here's to hoping they go back to the battery of the 4 with LTE chipset.

 

[DodgeV83]

The iPhone 4S isnt even the best phone on the the market now well at least not on paper anyway. There are plenty of phones with more ram, faster cpus, better gpus, and much better cameras. Yes the iPhone 4S will still be a decent phone in 18 months but that isnt due to the hardware its due to the os. My gf still uses a iphone 3gs which runs much better than a lot of higher spec android phones.

There has yet to be a phone released that beats the iPhone 4S in any CPU/GPU benchmark. This is a 100% verified fact. It is undisputedly the fastest phone on the market. When people say otherwise, I'm really not sure what they're basing it on.

 

[blairh]

With respect to internals, yes, I think the 4S will still be a worthy competitor to all the top smartphones. But if Apple increases the screen to 4" this fall with the next iPhone, I think that's the last you'll be seeing of sub 4" smartphones moving forward from any company.

 

[FeaRThiS]

There has yet to be a phone released that beats the iPhone 4S in any CPU/GPU benchmark. This is a 100% verified fact. It is undisputedly the fastest phone on the market. When people say otherwise, I'm really not sure what they're basing it on.

The galaxy nexus has a 1.2ghz dual core cpu. As far as benchmarks go some favor the nexus and some favor the iphone but it is important to remeber that the os is just as important as the actual hardware when it comes to these sort of things.

 

[lordofthereef]

The galaxy nexus has a 1.2ghz dual core cpu. As far as benchmarks go some favor the nexus and some favor the iphone but it is important to remeber that the os is just as important as the actual hardware when it comes to these sort of things.

Well said. The OS also has a lot to do with how the benchmark turns out.

 

[DodgeV83]

The galaxy nexus has a 1.2ghz dual core cpu. As far as benchmarks go some favor the nexus and some favor the iphone but it is important to remeber that the os is just as important as the actual hardware when it comes to these sort of things.

0% of the benchmarks I've seen show the Galaxy Nexus or any Android phone beating the iPhone 4S in anything other than browser JavaScript benchmarks. JavaScript browser benchmarks are not equal to CPU/GPU benchmarks.

Can you show me something to the contrary?

 

[saberahul]

I don't get the point of this thread. Isn't it common sense that every year with any technology a new upgrade/model will come by someone that will have features which outsmart the previous model?

 

[lordofthereef]

I don't get the point of this thread. Isn't it common sense that every year with any technology a new upgrade/model will come by someone that will have features which outsmart the previous model?

Unless I am mistaken, the OP is worried that his current phone will become obsolete with the launch of the next one.

 

[FeaRThiS]

0% of the benchmarks I've seen show the Galaxy Nexus or any Android phone beating the iPhone 4S in anything other than browser JavaScript benchmarks. JavaScript browser benchmarks are not equal to CPU/GPU benchmarks.

Can you show me something to the contrary?

If I triple boot my mbp and do benchmarks in osx windows and linux they are all different even though the hardware has stayed the same. Which goes back to my original point that on paper there are phones out there that are better but reality is another thing.

 

[nooaah]

It's funny that you no longer see sites comparing new phones to the iPhone: only for size because they all have larger screens.

No one thinks the iPhone is the best phone (hardware-wise) out there anymore and Apple needs to do something about it this October.

Like an old BMW, it's living on past glory, but that won't last forever.

If you tell the average person that they should sell their iPhone for an Android device because your phone has a quad core processor and 2GB memory, they'd look at you like you were mental. Outspecing the competition just isn't a priority for things other than camera quality or screen quality.

 

[DodgeV83]

If I triple boot my mbp and do benchmarks in osx windows and linux they are all different even though the hardware has stayed the same. Which goes back to my original point that on paper there are phones out there that are better but reality is another thing.

Ah, I see your point, and I agree. When I read "on paper" I took that to mean benchmarks, not clockspeed. While the newer Android phones have a higher CPU clockspeed than the iPhone 4S, I've never taken that to mean anything. I've seen many chips over the years outperform a competitor's offering, while running at a lower clockspeed.

I'm not convinced the A5 wouldn't also benchmark higher if the OS were consistent, but that's a topic for another thread

 

[lilo777]

What are you on about

Here in Australia it's iPhone all the way

HTC, Samsung galaxy and xperias are like the budget iPhone even when on a Australian service provider site like Telstra, Optus, Virgin or Vodafone to buy a phone, the iPhone has its own link and all the others are listed under "phones"

Heck I don't think anyone calls them mobile phones or cell phones anymore. They call them iPhones lol

Apparently you are severely btainwashed down there. Now I understand why people are protesting with "Wake up" signs in front of Apple stores in Australia. In developed countries not only nobody compares anything to iPhone 4, nobody even mentiones them anymore. iPhone 4S is still compared with modern phones sometimes with a big didclaimer that this is a previous generation tech. It does not really compete with modern phones though - no 4G, no NFC, low resolution screen, small screen, no support for memory cards, slow CPU, just two cores CPU.

 

[DodgeV83]

Apparently you are severely btainwashed down there. Now I understand why people are protesting with "Wake up" signs in front of Apple stores in Australia. In developed countries not only nobody compares anything to iPhone 4, nobody even mentiones them anymore. iPhone 4S is still compared with modern phones sometimes with a big didclaimer that this is a previous generation tech. It does not really compete with modern phones though - no 4G, no NFC, low resolution screen, small screen, no support for memory cards, slow CPU, just two cores CPU.

Lilo777, as someone who lives in a developed country, please do not lump us all together like that I can assuredly say that you do not have sufficient data to claim to know how people in "developed countries" speak about phones.

That being said, can you please describe why you believe the iPhone 4S has a "slow CPU"?

 

[Iphoneattack]

Apparently you are severely btainwashed down there. Now I understand why people are protesting with "Wake up" signs in front of Apple stores in Australia. In developed countries not only nobody compares anything to iPhone 4, nobody even mentiones them anymore. iPhone 4S is still compared with modern phones sometimes with a big didclaimer that this is a previous generation tech. It does not really compete with modern phones though - no 4G, no NFC, low resolution screen, small screen, no support for memory cards, slow CPU, just two cores CPU.

It does not compete with modern phones?

Wtf


I think your brainwashed by the so called "smart customers"

And regarding being compared with modern phones, I usually notice that the iPhone comes out on top despite not having the features you listed

 

[lilo777]

Lilo777, as someone who lives in a developed country, please do not lump us all together like that I can assuredly say that you do not have sufficient data to claim to know how people in "developed countries" speak about phones.

That being said, can you please describe why you believe the iPhone 4S has a "slow CPU"?

Sure. iPhone 4S has dual core ARM9 CPU clocked at 800MHz. Most Android phones have similar one but clocked much higher (up to 1.4GHz). That's is why all top of the line Android phones from all Android manufacturers handily beat iPhone in CPU intensive benchmarks (like SunSpider). And I did not even mention Android phones that use the latest S4 chip from QUALCOMM (newer architecture) or quad core CPUs.

 

[x-evil-x]

Why not?

----------

Let me just add that by competition I mean in the eyes of a average joe not phone experts.

The AVERAGE joe doesn't complain about the flip phone they still have... All my family thats older has outdated phones because they work for them as a phone. So no the 4s will not be obsolete in these circumstances in 10 years for an average joe...

 

[DodgeV83]

Sure. iPhone 4S has dual core ARM9 CPU clocked at 800MHz. Most Android phones have similar one but clocked much higher (up to 1.4GHz). That's is why all top of the line Android phones from all Android manufacturers handily beat iPhone in CPU intensive benchmarks (like SunSpider). And I did not even mention Android phones that use the latest S4 chip from QUALCOMM (newer architecture) or quad core CPUs.

If you are familiar with the Intel vs AMD wars in the PC industry, you'd know that the CPU clock speed is often very deceiving. If you'd like to read this from a more official source, as I'm just a random guy on the internet, check out the link below:

http://arstechnica.com/ask-ars/2011...ip-between-cpu-clockspeed-and-performance.ars

Question: Intel's Sandy Bridge launch just brought its desktop CPU line up to 3.8GHz, but I remember that the Pentium 4 got up to 3.8GHz before being cancelled. So why is it that Sandy Bridge is just now getting to the clock speed levels that the Pentium 4 was at years ago? And how is it that Sandy Bridge still manages to outperform the older Pentium 4, even though it has a lower clock speed?

In a nutshell, the Pentium 4 took many more clock cycles to do the same amount of work as the original Pentium, so its clockspeed was much higher for the equivalent amount of work. This is one core reason why there's little point in comparing clockspeeds across different processor architectures and families—the amount of work done per clock cycle is different for each architecture, so the relationship between clockspeed and performance (measured in instructions per second) is different.

Regarding the SunSpider benchmarks, those are not CPU benchmarks, they are Browser benchmarks. The SunSpider website states:

It is designed to compare different versions of the same browser, and different browsers to each other.

Other sources state that SunSpider was designed:

to measure the performance of the JavaScript engine of a web browser.

When Apple upgraded Safari on the iPhone 4, the SunSpider scores were nearly 3x faster, scoring much better than most of the newer dual-core Android devices at the time.

It's quite clear SunSpider is benchmarking the browser.

If you're basing your assertions on the rated clockspeed of the processed, and Browser Javascript benchmarks, you aren't going to have accurate conclusions.

 

[lilo777]

It is true that the clock speed comparison is meaningless when the two CPUs have different architectures, but this is not the case for most ARM-based CPUs. Out of all ARM licenses only QUALCOMM designs their own architecture, all other companies (Samsung, Appe, TI etc.) use the architecture provided by ARM. With identical architecture, clock speed translates directly to performance. Well, it's not quite that simple still. Memory system design also affects performance a lot and Apple chips are good in that regard. Also, let's not forget that iPhone has the best GPU out there.

 

[robanga]

If one has to ask if a product that sold 35 million units in one quarter, will still be competitive next year...you might want to consider any wild upside down, speculative scenario such as the Mayan Apocalypse. The chance that it will not be competitive is some where in that range.

 

[Lindenhurst]

You you think the iPhone 4s will be like how the 4 is now? which is old but still "in the game"

Just curious, why are you asking this question?

 

[DodgeV83]

It is true that the clock speed comparison is meaningless when the two CPUs have different architectures, but this is not the case for most ARM-based CPUs. Out of all ARM licenses only QUALCOMM designs their own architecture, all other companies (Samsung, Appe, TI etc.) use the architecture provided by ARM. With identical architecture, clock speed translates directly to performance. Well, it's not quite that simple still. Memory system design also affects performance a lot and Apple chips are good in that regard. Also, let's not forget that iPhone has the best GPU out there.

Everything I can find on the Apple A5 simply states that it's a System On a Chip designed by Apple. Do you have a source stating that the architecture is identical so I can read more about this?

In any case, considering that 100% of all CPU benchmarks show the iPhone 4S to be considerably ahead of any Android device, I do not believe you can conclude it is "slower". Even if you go the clockspeed route and say its faster because the clockspeed is literally faster, you have to admit that the iPhone 4S CPU offers better performance, even at the lower clockspeed.

After all, what point is there in claiming to be the "fastest" CPU on the block, if you cannot demonstrably show the chip being faster at anything?