Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Industrial designer Don Lehman takes a look at the iPhone casing leaks that have surfaced so far, analyzing in great detail how Apple appears to have refined its iPhone with a new unibody design that should make the device stronger, lighter, and thinner than previous models.

In looking at the probable antenna design of the next-generation iPhone, Lehman notes how the antenna design evolved between the GSM iPhone 4 and the CDMA iPhone 4, the latter of which then carried over to the iPhone 4S. Following the "Antennagate" controversy with the original iPhone 4, Apple redesigned the antenna system in order to push the antennas to the top and bottom portions of the stainless steel band wrapping around the device, leaving the portions along the two long sides as structural and decorative pieces.

Lehman believes that Apple is using a similar principle for the next-generation iPhone, but has made the move to a "unibody" design in which the long side pieces and the large central section of the rear shell are machined from a single piece. The texture seen on the inside of the shell in leaked photos are in fact the tool marking showing how Apple machined the part out of a single block of metal.Image


Lehman notes that even the bosses where screws for other components will attach are machined out of the single rear shell piece, increasing strength while reducing thickness and weight.

While Apple would certainly prefer to build the entire rear shell out of a single piece of metal, the realities of signal transmission mean that the company needs to use more transparent materials in locations where the antennas are. With the iPhone needing to send and receive Wi-Fi, cellular, GPS, Bluetooth, and perhaps NFC signals, Apple has pushed those hardware functions to the top and bottom of the device where they are the least shielded by other device components and the user's hand. Accommodating those functions has led Apple to adopt its new strategy of using a high-quality, thin metal shell wherever possible on the back of the device to increase strength and decrease size and weight while using glass or plastic windows for the antennas.

Image


Lehman wraps up his post by addressing several other design aspects of the next-generation iPhone shell, including an examination of Apple's tinting of the metal on the black version of the device and placement of the rear camera with respect to the device design, as well as giving an overview of some of the other changes Apple has made for the forthcoming device.

Article Link: A Closer Look at Apple's Next-Generation 'Unibody' iPhone Design

Lame. It looks just Like the last two models just longer. No thank you.
 
What you're seeing here is marketing at its very best.

My goodness, a visitor from a planet where leaked product shots and rumors count as 'marketing'. Have you been on Earth for very long?

Lame. It looks just Like the last two models just longer.

When I go to buy a phone, I always ask "Does this look at the same as a previous product? If it does, I won't buy it. Money doesn't grow on trees and I have my priorities straight, you know."
 
Oh now everyone loves it? Lol you guys are funny.... For real

Seriously, 6 months ago this forum was plastered with comments about how 3.5 was the only size ever needed and any bigger would be ridiculous. Now everyone loves it. Lol no wonder apple does whatever it feels like. They could literally release identical products over and over and their fans would never stop buying them.
 
I'm really hoping all these consistent iPhone rumors are fakes deliberately set up by Apple. This phone looks AWFUL!!!!

Here's hoping that Tim surprises up with a completely NEW, never before seen iPhone!!!

If not, then Apple is going down the toilet.

Apple is going to shatter iPhone sales records once this bad boy is released. You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
 
I've opened my current and previous unibody MBPs more than a couple of times and I've never seen such coarse tooling tracks.

Maybe it's because the innards of an iPhone aren't meant to be seen??? But I'd still expect consistent tolerances from a common manufacturing process.
 
I don't think he meant that he wouldn't like a battery that last a long time. I mean, heck, I'd like a phone that never needs charging! But the point is that, with the Razr Maxx, you're sacrificing size and weight for a long battery life. Granted, it's a hair thinner than the iPhone 4S at the thinnest point but it's a darn site wider and taller and made of tacky plastic in place of metal and glass - even with those lighter materials it's still heavier.

It's an ugly, bulky design with a huge battery shoved into it. If the huge battery is your thing then that's cool. Each to their own. I wouldn't be seen dead with one! I'm too stylish ;)
Your the first person I have heard say the material choices on the RAZR feel Tacky and cheap. Most people actually said the build quality and feel is one of the best on the market. Also its thickest point is still thinner than the iphone4's. And it actually has a higher average user rating on phone arena as well.

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Motorola-DROID-RAZR-MAXX,Apple-iPhone-4S/phones/6644,5257
 
Last edited:
I've opened my current and previous unibody MBPs more than a couple of times and I've never seen such coarse tooling tracks.

Maybe it's because the innards of an iPhone aren't meant to be seen??? But I'd still expect consistent tolerances from a common manufacturing process.

the full breakdown includes speculation that this case is machined from steel, not aluminium. Steel is significantly harder. Maybe it's not so easy to get a clean finish when you're machining from steel as it is from aluminium?

----------

Your the first person I have heard say the material choices on the RAZR feel Tacky and cheap. Most people actually said the build quality and feel is one of the best on the market.

Each to their own.
 
This model revamp is going down as the worst kept secret in iPhone history, even more than the one that was stolen from the bar (iPhone 4), and possible in Apple history.

It would be cool if these leaks turned out to completely be a diversion by Apple, but I highly doubt it. Still looks sharper than anything else I've seen out there IMHO.
 
These leaks are getting ridiculous. Apple doesn't even need a event. They should just release it on the website saying "The new iPhone, the one you've been seeing for months now" :p
 
I find this argument strange on so many fronts. Do you have difficulty holding books because they're not tapered to fit into your palm? When you lift up the flat lid of a box do you find your fingers slipping off?

The iPhone 4/4S design is easy to hold. Just use your fingers to grip the thing! Place one thumb along the near edge and wrap two of three fingers around the far edge. When you want to use your thumb to touch the screen you can hold it easily between your palm and your fore, middle and ring fingers with your little finger resting underneath.

Honestly, the way people go on about the "uncomfortable" and "slipper" 4S you'd thing they didn't have opposable thumbs!

But this design has other useful attributes. It allowed the phone to be really thin and still have great reception and powerful internals. You could have had the tapered plastic of the 3GS but the smoothness of that design actually makes gripping the phone harder in some ways. You don't have the nice, flat band around the edge to grip.

There is no "form over function" because function follows form. All designs have compromises and you don't have to agree that the choices made were right for you - that's a personal choice. But the iPhone 4/4S was not a result of seeking beauty instead of functionality. The entire design is about functionality.

The benefit of a tapered design is two-fold. First, It sits in your palm better without having to constantly squeeze your fingers on the edge. Second, it's easier to pick up when it's sitting on a table or other surface. I thought the 3G/GS design was superior in function while I find the 4/4S design superior in form.

I think this is why most everyone uses a case with the 4/4S. And I'm not even talking about protection for the fragile glass on the back.
 
I'm not shocked that we find more members here now saying they "like" the design. Bottom line is, it's why Apple die hards are so widely referred to as sheep. When the leaks were just early rumors, the so called loyalists spoke their mind and said "Yuk!" But now as it gets closer to show time, and the leaks become more detailed and consistent, the loyalists are now realizing, this may indeed be the next iPhone. Now they obviously can't be seen bashing their religion, so they now have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a nice design, and it has somehow "grown on them." These same blind followers feel a few hours with any other phone is enough time to judge and conclude these other phones as crap; yet somehow these same people find an endless amount of time for their upcoming iDevice (they have never held) to "grow on them." It's laughable when people don't see their own blind loyalty.
People nothing wrong with blind loyalty when you admit it. ;)
 
This model revamp is going down as the worst kept secret in iPhone history, even more than the one that was stolen from the bar (iPhone 4), and possible in Apple history.

It would be cool if these leaks turned out to completely be a diversion by Apple, but I highly doubt it. Still looks sharper than anything else I've seen out there IMHO.

Apple security is laughable. They need to learn a thing or two from Samsung.
 
The benefit of a tapered design is two-fold. First, It sits in your palm better without having to constantly squeeze your fingers on the edge. Second, it's easier to pick up when it's sitting on a table or other surface. I thought the 3G/GS design was superior in function while I find the 4/4S design superior in form.

I think this is why most everyone uses a case with the 4/4S. And I'm not even talking about protection for the fragile glass on the back.

Unless you have your entire palm cupping the phone you still need to grip the edges and if you're doing that with the 3GS you're gripping very thin edges. It's swings and roundabouts. Same goes for picking it up from a table - the flat edges of the 4 allow you to grip it while also allowing it to lie flat and not rock or move if you touch the screen while it's resting.

I see a lot of people not using cases with the 4 and 4S. As for "fragile" glass, well, if you're dropping your handheld computer that's probably not a good idea whatever it's made from!

A last point - form and function are not two separate things that can be weighed up. One follows the other. They are two sides of the same coin. You're talking about what something looks like - that's not it's form. In good design, form and function are the same thing.
 
Funnily enough, those three stages are completely understandable when the design is actually innovative.

People don't like what's good - they like what they know! That's why there are millions of people who will claim that McDonalds burgers are excellent. I've seen people turn their noses up at tender, perfectly seared fillet steak who will wolf down a bag of chicken nuggets and lick their fingers afterwards. There's no point telling them they're wrong - they like what they know and the know what they like!

The same is true for art and I consider great design to be akin to art. People like what they grew up with or what is normal and standard for their cultural/socioeconomic sub group. That's fine but it takes really great art and really great design to bring about something new. That's why you absolutely MUST design from function first. Aesthetics will mislead you. No, that's not right - aesthetics are also from function - designing based on what you think LOOKS GOOD will mislead you. That's how you end up with instantly pleasing but equally instantly forgettable designs like those seen in most high end smartphones.

When you do design from function first and you eschew the bubblegum rubbish in favour of something that will stand the test of time, those designs often leave people cold at first. People are hooked on fashion so they want something like what they know but... you know... more! A faster horse! But then, when people get over the shock of the new, they start to calm down a little. Then someone shows it to them - properly, and explains why it is the way it is. Suddenly, if they're relatively enlightened people, they will start to get it. The thing that looked odd and random before is now merely a signal of the excellent design that underpins the object. Without knowing the function the form seems strange but things that are functional are always beautiful when you really understand them. Then they get excited. Then they want it!

Nobody will be studying the Samsung Galaxy S3 in future lessons on industrial design but there will be a whole module based on the iPhone 4/4S. The GS3 looks nice but it's boring nice. It's cold beer to the iPhone 4's aged scotch. It's something designed by committee and put together by a talented team who's brief was to design something that looked nice. They succeeded. But the iPhone 4/4S and this new iPhone by the looks of it, were clearly designed by a team with a higher minded brief. The antenna band may have had it's flaws but those flaws were fixed. The steel band and the glass back allowed for a rigidity and strength along with a clean, polished, high quality finish that, to this day, no one has yet surpassed. Sure, some newer phones may out-spec the 4S but that's just technological progress. No one has yet fundamentally out-designed the 4S.

You can argue about laundry list of features all day long. For me, here in the UK, LTE is a nothing feature. NFC might have some interesting uses but it's not a deal breaker. But I love great design and when that great design goes into a mass market product that I can own that's even better. This isn't a luxury sports car, a yacht or a $10000 Bang and Olufsen sound system. This is a smartphone that I can buy and use and I'm just some guy on a decent but not exceptional wage working in an office. Nobody makes products like this that are within the reach of normal people. I look around at all the things I own and nothing comes close to the quality of design and engineering that I get in my Macbook, my iPad and my iPhone.

Let the philistines fondle their plastic slabs and compare spec sheets. Whatever makes the knuckle draggers happy. Their chipsets will be obsolete next year, even before then, but great design stays great. I know which one I choose. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Apple security is laughable. They need to learn a thing or two from Samsung.

1.) are most people leaning towards the black or white based on current images? ( if you simply intend to respond with how you dont like the design just dont)

2.) Whats the deal with all the Safari is snappier on this form factor? Surely its some joke im just curious as to its origins.

3.) what ever happened to the Vote a post down feature? Did things get so out of hand with that it necessitated removing the feature altogether?
 
I hope the screens this time around are much more durable. I cringe everytime I see some one with a cracked iPhone screen .
 
I'm not shocked that we find more members here now saying they "like" the design. Bottom line is, it's why Apple die hards are so widely referred to as sheep. When the leaks were just early rumors, the so called loyalists spoke their mind and said "Yuk!" But now as it gets closer to show time, and the leaks become more detailed and consistent, the loyalists are now realizing, this may indeed be the next iPhone. Now they obviously can't be seen bashing their religion, so they now have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a nice design, and it has somehow "grown on them." These same blind followers feel a few hours with any other phone is enough time to judge and conclude these other phones as crap; yet somehow these same people find an endless amount of time for their upcoming iDevice (they have never held) to "grow on them." It's laughable when people don't see their own blind loyalty.
People nothing wrong with blind loyalty when you admit it. ;)

There is a fine line between blind (and misplaced) loyalty and learning to better appreciate and accept an engineering masterpiece for what it is.

The fact remains that many of us are not engineering experts. I am not embarrassed to admit that when the design was first revealed, I found it fugly (and to some extent, I still do). However, that was also because we did not understand the rationale behind those design decisions. Just look at the people who flocked to the S3 just because it boasts a larger, brighter screen. I guess we humans are superficial in that aspect. :)

If what Lehman says is indeed true, then there really is a method to Apple's apparent madness. Every step they have made in designing the new iphone is a carefully calculated step to make it as functional and practical as possible. These are features which I feel are every bit as important in a phone, yet they may not be readily apparent (like you can tell how durable a phone is just by looking at it?).

They are nowhere close to scrapping the bottom of the barrel for new ideas; they have a good reason for not wanting the screen to be more than 4 inches and so on. I still find it fugly, but at the same time, this newfound insight allows me to better appreciate the effort that has gone into crafting the next gen iphone. :)
 
1.) are most people leaning towards the black or white based on current images? ( if you simply intend to respond with how you dont like the design just dont)

2.) Whats the deal with all the Safari is snappier on this form factor? Surely its some joke im just curious as to its origins.

3.) what ever happened to the Vote a post down feature? Did things get so out of hand with that it necessitated removing the feature altogether?

1) I genuinely don't know yet but I usually go for black because it makes the front face look cleaner. They both look pretty cool. The treatment the steel is getting to make it look darker has a really sci-fi edge to it.

2) I think it's a joke. Origins being that whenever there is a software update on an Apple machine people always say that Safari feels snappier. It's a meme.

3) I don't know. I guess they wanted to stop people constantly down voting in herds. I don't mind it. What I would like is a quicker ignore button. That way it's easier to block out the trolls. I find I'm using it more and more these days.
 
Unless you have your entire palm cupping the phone you still need to grip the edges and if you're doing that with the 3GS you're gripping very thin edges. It's swings and roundabouts. Same goes for picking it up from a table - the flat edges of the 4 allow you to grip it while also allowing it to lie flat and not rock or move if you touch the screen while it's resting.

I see a lot of people not using cases with the 4 and 4S. As for "fragile" glass, well, if you're dropping your handheld computer that's probably not a good idea whatever it's made from!

A last point - form and function are not two separate things that can be weighed up. One follows the other. They are two sides of the same coin. You're talking about what something looks like - that's not it's form. In good design, form and function are the same thing.


You are trying to deny the obvious. Tapered shape is much more convenient. And I can easily prove it. New design will be much slimmer. Let's crank it up a notch. Lets take an example of a coin with flat edges. How do you like picking this one up from a table? With flat edges one needs to squeeze phone sides very hard to create enough friction. With tapered shape you can slide you fingers under the phone (or press on one phone side to make the opposite side pop).
 
Last edited:
We have had speech recognition software tied into apps before Siri "2.0". Had Siri launched this way, I would agree with you. As is, the new Siri features are about the same as when Apple added MMS, copy and paste, etc. Not innovation, just features that needed adding because they were relevant.

If Siri were speech recognition your explanation woud make sense.
 
Lehmann post is referring to or inferring quite a bit of mis-information about the iPhone structure. First, my understanding is that the iPhone 4S steel band is actually 3 piece: the top, bottom + right, and left. Also, It was never acknowledged that the wifi, blutooth, gps antenna's are now inside the phone, so...that means the left side of the band is for these antennas.

Lehmann's point about this being a 'unibody' design is misplaced. The new design seems as unibody as the 4S design is. The only difference is that in the new iphone the unibody structure runs through the back instead of running through the middle of the phone in the case of the 4S.
 
Glad someone has done a real analysis of this.

Not to mention, someone with some actual background and education in ID.

Simply saying OMG THE BATTERY IS ONLY SLIGHTLY BIGGER!!! Means nearly nothing.

non-Engineers talking about engineering :) It's not unlike the non-photographers babbling about the camera ("Hey man, mega-pixels don't mean anything...")

Lame. It looks just Like the last two models just longer. No thank you.

Like the new Porsche 991 platform. Superior engineering, looks longer, has a longer wheel base, improvements in weight, HP, handing dynamics, etc., yet is just an evolution of the outstanding 997 platform.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.