7 and Beyond: What's left to do with a phone?

[brianric]

Ha. I was thinking more iPhone 7/8/9 not iPhone 20.

I'll been pushing daises by the time iPhone 20 comes out.

 

[bushido]

water resistent so i can take selfies in the ocean (last part is sarcasm) and longer battery life. oh and less of a bezel as well. hate pressing the home button to get to the app switcher, always have

 

[squirrrl]

One thing to look out for would be a one-port device, where the headphone/charge port are one and the same. They did it with the MacBook.

Actually the new macbook has a USB type C on the left side and a standard headphone port on the right. Though I see your point. I definitely wouldn't mind a single port (since lightning port can be used for audio output) but the only problem i see with a completely portless device (though it would make waterproofing much easier) is that bluetooth headphones eventually run out of juice, and I'm sometimes listening to my headphones for hours at a time while I'm working. i would find it a total pain to run out of batteries for my headphone and have to keep recharging them.

 

[clukas]

Things left that they could do (not necessarily all of these will be in the 7, but are likely in the few couple versions). I've been talking about many of these on the forums for a while.

• Liquid Metal enclosure using a seamless design in a multitude of colors as you can mix colors into the material that doesn't scratch or dent very easily
• Sapphire display coating to resist scratches. This will likely be combined with stronger glass underneath like a veneer.
  
• Thinner and lighter…you know the drill
  
• Remove all ports
  • Integrated programmable sim card
  • Inductive charging with a hidden diagnostic port like the AW
  • Bluetooth Earpods (might be too thin for a headphone jack)
  • Remove mute switch to streamline design, moved to control center like on ipad
• Waterproof or at least water resistant would be a lot easier after removal of ports
• Touch ID integrated into display using 3D Touch in place of a home button
• Much slimmer bezels, especially on the top and bottom, making the devices smaller
• They may simplify to 4", 5", and 6" sizes, especially with the smaller bezels that will make those sizes similar to existing ones and would make a 4" device that is the total size of a 3.5" device.
  
• Better battery life
• True @3X retina displays across the line
• OLED or other new display tech that has much better contrast outdoors
• 32/128/256GB sizes
• MIMO WiFi
• 5G wireless
• The rumored "dual camera, dSLR-like camera" improvements. It apparently uses two or more cameras to not only make a higher-resolution photo, but to fake depth of field effects to make subjects pop from their background using the offset between the cameras and software algorithms
• Even slower slow-mo
• 4K 60fps
• Apple Pencil support for making quick sketches
  
• Usual speed improvements, including a faster flash storage controller like on the iPad Pro to make apps open faster
  
• That rumored tech that changes the feel/friction of items on the touch screen surface. Could maybe simulate keyboard key edges to make typing better? Better taptic engine feedback could be a part of that.

You pretty much spoiled the next 5 keynotes, thanks .

 

[Cryates]

I think it's clear by now that Apple is never going to include a notification LED.

Actually the new macbook has a USB type C on the left side and a standard headphone port on the right. Though I see your point. I definitely wouldn't mind a single port (since lightning port can be used for audio output) but the only problem i see with a completely portless device (though it would make waterproofing much easier) is that bluetooth headphones eventually run out of juice, and I'm sometimes listening to my headphones for hours at a time while I'm working. i would find it a total pain to run out of batteries for my headphone and have to keep recharging them.

I don't think a port less device is possible anytime soon, and won't be a for a long time. Too many people rely on cables for charging, and those are much cheaper and more obtainable than a charging pad. How am I going to charge in the car if I can only use a wireless charging pad?

That's a LONG way off.

 

[squirrrl]

Clearly a charging pad connected to your car's USB or 12v outlet.

I think it's clear by now that Apple is never going to include a notification LED.

I don't think a port less device is possible anytime soon, and won't be a for a long time. Too many people rely on cables for charging, and those are much cheaper and more obtainable than a charging pad. How am I going to charge in the car if I can only use a wireless charging pad?

That's a LONG way off.

 

[eyedoc2020]

I would love for a version to be right in between the iPhone 6 and 6plus size wise. That would be the perfect sized phone.

 

[macduke]

You pretty much spoiled the next 5 keynotes, thanks .

No problem—it's what we do here at MacRumors. Though I'd hope all of these changes could be implemented in less than 5 iPhone keynotes! The 2020 keynote should be talking about some pretty crazy stuff. Like a smallish iPhone that unfolds into a phablet when you need to watch videos or whatever. The perfect device! Or maybe an iPhone that snaps onto your wrist like those slap bracelets from the 90s. Haha ok so maybe I'm thinking more like 10-15 years out. But it's true that the iPhone and starting to seem feature complete. They're going to have to innovate a ton over the coming years. 3D Touch is an example of that—something that no other company has that seems like it's useful and has future potential.

 

[stulaw11]

Heres the biggies:

1) The regular size to at least 1080p even if the screen stays 4.7"
2) Remove the huge bezels
3) remove the home button which will help #2 happen
4) bigger battery in the regular size phone. Make it 1mm thicker who cares just get a better battery in. Get a 2000mah battery into the regular size iphone.

They could probabaly get a 5" screen in if they shrunk the bezels and axed the home button.

 

[yaboyac29]

Clearly a charging pad connected to your car's USB or 12v outlet.

A cable costs $20 from Apple.. A cable that costs them pennies to make.

Now imagine extra charging pads??

I expect it to be around $60. I doubt we will even have one included when we get an iPhone that has it compatible with inductive charging. It will be a separate accessory.

 

[AbSoluTc]

- thicker, round back (like the LG G4, iPhone 3G/3GS)
- bigger battery
- smaller bezels
- inductive charging
- notification LED (before you tell me the camera flash is a notification LED, go on youtube and watch a video of how it works cause you're ignorant on the topic)
- amoled display

Will never happen.

You need a notification for a notification?

 

[yaboyac29]

Will never happen.

You need a notification for a notification?

it's to let me know i have an alert without waking the screen.

if i'm away from my phone and it's sitting on my desk (and i didn't hear my phone go off cause i was away), if i see a subtle red light (or whatever colour) flashing, it would indicate that there is a notification to be checked.

and if they did it properly, you can make it so certain colours blink for certain contacts/apps/etc.

 

[Pelea]

only thing left before we have an iphone that i would keep for 10 years without upgrading:

- +2 hours of screen on time compared to the current 5:30h usage time on the iphone 6
- MUCH smaller bezels (remove the home button if necessary, idc)
- waterproof
- scratch resistant display (it sucks having 1000 mini scratches appear on your screen, without knowing where they came from, as soon as the sun hits it)

that's it. the camera, the speed and performance are enough now. anything else is just a gimmick (wireless charging, dual cameras, whatever)