Apple Acknowledges Consumers Want Larger and Cheaper Phones

[Naimfan]

I have a 5, and look forward to having a choice of something bigger. I'd love to be able to compare the 5 to a 4.7" and a 5.5" phone - I suspect my preference will be for a 5.5" version.

 

[kdarling]

Knowing that a lot of people never follow the source links, has anyone posted all three slides yet for them? If not, here they are. It helps to have the entire context.

 

[typeadam]

When I had the 4 and 4S I thought the screen size was perfect. And right before the 4 I had a 4.3" Android (which I also thought was perfect in size).
When I switched the 5S I thought that too was perfect. Holding a 4/4S after that seemed very small (short and fat, more like it).

Then yesterday at work they gave me a new company phone - Nokia Icon, which is 5" - and I LOVE it!
But the thing is, the shell of the phone isn't really all that big! That's b/c the screen is nearly edge-to-edge. AND the top and bottom parts are narrow as well. So the majority of the face is the screen.
Looking at my 5S and seeing that thick top and bottom now is very...meh...
I thought I would be happy w/ the 4" 5S as THE perfect size but after handling the 5" I hope the 6/6S/6C (whatever) is AT LEAST 4.5" big.

The only other thing to keep in mind is these >4" phones are NOT 16:9, otherwise they'd be way too tall...

As for one-handed operation on the Nokia, the only part of the screen I can't reach w/ my thumb is the top-left corner. So if this were an iPhone screen, I wouldn't be able to tap that icon or pull down the notifications unless I adjusted my grip.

 

[hansonjohn590]

Considering Android is not a cell phone, I'm sure they don't have much to worry about.

Considering the existence of these memo's, clearly they are.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Considering the existence of these memo's, clearly they are.

Ummm...the article does not specifically mention Android, aside for the one picture of the robot.

Considering large screens are not synonymous with all Android phones ( Most likely due to price point ) or cheaper like the note series from Samsung. This is more geared toward flagship phones that most likely have larger screen sizes. My assessment still stands. This only applies to certain phone models and not necessarily apply to all phones that uses Android as a whole.

 

[medazinol]

Not sure I if I'd go that far with your statements but when Apple didn't increase the size of the iPhone 5 screen significantly it switched over to Android. In some ways I feel that Apple has missed the ball completely when it comes to screen sizes and I'm sure they're feeling the pinch now, as shown in the documents during the current legal disclosures. What they do about it however is another matter entirely. In some ways their steadfast position on smaller screen sizes is going to be a detriment to keeping and gaining some customers.

Some may say that Apple doesn't care about market share but instead on quality but they sure do like to tout how many phones they sold during keynotes and PR releases. Apple *does* care about market share and they are very afraid of losing it to Android. So in a lot of ways they are in a defensive position now and have to fight to stay relevant. This "war" they're in with Android is very real.

It's interesting in hindsight to see that Apple has indeed gone to bigger screens with the iPhone 6. And now that they've announced sales of 10Million units over the weekend of the launch it's very apparent that customers really like and want larger screens. I'm sure Apple was really feeling the pinch because of that. Glad to see they've dealt with it so there's no more reason to consider Android just because of the larger screen sizes. I'm going back to iPhone now because of the larger screens and iOS 8.

 

[spider-neil]

It's interesting in hindsight to see that Apple has indeed gone to bigger screens with the iPhone 6. And now that they've announced sales of 10Million units over the weekend of the launch it's very apparent that customers really like and want larger screens. I'm sure Apple was really feeling the pinch because of that. Glad to see they've dealt with it so there's no more reason to consider Android just because of the larger screen sizes. I'm going back to iPhone now because of the larger screens and iOS 8.

I was going to jump ship to Galaxy Note until Apple announced the bigger phone and I've been with Apple since the 3GS.

 

[medazinol]

It's interesting in hindsight to see that Apple has indeed gone to bigger screens with the iPhone 6. And now that they've announced sales of 10Million units over the weekend of the launch it's very apparent that customers really like and want larger screens. I'm sure Apple was really feeling the pinch because of that. Glad to see they've dealt with it so there's no more reason to consider Android just because of the larger screen sizes. I'm going back to iPhone now because of the larger screens and iOS 8.

Very true. Apple has indeed dealt with their "deficiencies" and very adeptly I might add. Doing the 2 screen sizes was a very smart business decision.
Anecdotal evidence is suggesting that there is significant movement from Android to iOS. How many of those were on iOS before going to Android and coming back in unknown but I am in that category.