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I am not sure where I will find a high end 4" phone, that's what kept me with Apple. But now that they don't offer one anymore I will have to switch to the best 4" phone I can find. I was so hoping they would come out with an updated version of one this year.

Yea, that's where I'm at too (though I wouldn't go with an Android, so not sure what I'll do). The 5s, IMO, is the pinnacle of Apple's iPhones. The 6, is a downgrade (both in size, for me, and design).
 
Exactly! Apple's #1 concern used to be user-experience. And, in the past, if you opted to buy the very bottom model of their product line-up, you still had a good experience. Sure, maybe you had to add some RAM, or change-out the storage not too far down the road, but that was a possibility, and not too expensive (in fact, I used to often recommend the entry model and 3rd party upgrades to save some money).

But, now that most of the product line can't be upgraded, it isn't the consumer's responsibility to go, "Hmm, I could buy this entry-level model, but then it's not going to work well, so I'll spend the extra $100 (or whatever) to get the model that really works." That's Apple's problem, because as you said, it's going to come back to bite them. And that bite is going to be far worse than the $100 (or whatever) they made in profits THIS quarter.

A wise business recognizes this. Unfortunately, most CEOs, whether they recognize it or not, are driving by spreadsheets or shareholder demands. Jobs wasn't. If Cook can't follow in Jobs' shoes in that regard, Apple is in for a problematic future.

Absolutely agree. I mean, I don't think Apple is going to be anywhere near bankruptcy ever again- or at least not for a very, very long time. They simply have too much money in the bank. But they could fade into irrelevance and still have a pile of cash to sit on, rather like Microsoft right now. When the iPad alone outsells any given PC manufacturer, you know that Microsoft officially doesn't make anything interesting and are only still profitable because of some cash cows they set up long ago (like getting money off of huge licenses of Windows XP and 7 that businesses bought years and years ago). Windows 10 does look a whole lot better than 8, to be fair, but they have a ton of ground to make up to get to where Apple and Google are right now...

That's what I don't want to see happen to Apple. I think they're still the best company on the market, and that's why I buy their products and am on this site right now. But if the best they have to offer are a Spotify clone without a free option that's built into your phone and finally allowing iOS to multitask... I don't know. Even Ive's very best designs can't hide software mistakes forever (or, more specifically, services; I think Eddy Cue is more to blame than Craig Federighi for Apple's bigger missteps as of late, but in general the company seems to consider software less important lately). Their hardware team is top notch; correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard of no legitimate problems with Touch ID so far and haven't heard of a display issue since the first Retina MacBooks came out, which deserves some credit considering the sheer quantity of devices they produce. Between iPhones and iPads (not even counting iPods), Apple sold 100 million iOS devices in Q1 2015- if we estimate that to be about 90 days, that's over 1.1 million iOS devices PER DAY.

The problem, I think, is that Apple's business model is entirely based on them making products that blow away the competition. If they don't, there's absolutely no reason to get an Apple product. Microsoft or Google can sell subpar products and still make money at it because people often buy cheap things, and both have business models that put you in a much larger ecosystem than Apple's, so your LG G4 is almost entirely interchangeable with a Samsung Galaxy S6 (or HP is entirely interchangeable with Dell, for Microsoft). Apple clearly has a great business model when they do things right, but the reason people study Steve Jobs so much is because he defied traditional business logic in a million different ways with Apple. He didn't listen to customers much; he didn't go the cheap, more profitable route with products very often (if ever); and he didn't try and chase the market to make a million different products that suited everyone's needs and yet pleased no one (which is exactly what Apple's competition does- and now Apple is starting to fall into the trap, too). If Apple tries to sell products the way they do by following conventional business models, their products will have no purpose- rather like the Macs of the 90s.
 
Very opinionated. Plenty of people want a smaller screen, especially when mass upgrades from the 5, 5C and 5S kick in.

The 4 inch screen is not useless. Personally I find the 6 and 6+ useless as they are too big to use one handed, too big physically and unnecessarily so. However that is just my opinion ( and that of many others) so I support Apple making a range of sizes unlike people like you who seem fixated on hate for a device that won't have the slightest bit of a negative impact on you.

Typed on my apparently useless, perfectly sized iPhone 5.


Even using an iPhone 5 one-handed is hard for most women and below-average-size guys. I had a 5C, I'm 6' and have average hands. I could barely use it one-handed, preferred two-handed. So if anything bigger than a 3.5" screen (which is horribly useless, and also something I lived with for almost 2.5 years with my iPhone 4) requires two hands...why not go to a screen size that actually makes sense. Most of us use our phones for consuming media, reading books, viewing long timelines in social media, something smaller than 4" for sure is utterly useless for that, and even phones less than 4.5" are pushing it. Again, the sales numbers of all phones ever show that you're in the vast, vast minority. I'll be generous and say maybe there's 20k of you. That's not even a rounding error on the sales. Meanwhile, it adds complexity and cost to the production of the phone. I think you're projecting a bit when it comes to "hate"...I can't hate something that doesn't exist. However a lot of the hate I see on this forum comes from the die-hard tiny screen brigade members telling everyone how stupid and horrible phones bigger than the iPhone 5 (or even the iPhone 4S) are. The 4" has another year left, most likely, as the 5S will be the new cheapest option. But after that...I don't see an iPhone smaller than 4.7" sticking around.
 
Even using an iPhone 5 one-handed is hard for most women and below-average-size guys. I had a 5C, I'm 6' and have average hands. I could barely use it one-handed, preferred two-handed. So if anything bigger than a 3.5" screen (which is horribly useless, and also something I lived with for almost 2.5 years with my iPhone 4) requires two hands...why not go to a screen size that actually makes sense. Most of us use our phones for consuming media, reading books, viewing long timelines in social media, something smaller than 4" for sure is utterly useless for that, and even phones less than 4.5" are pushing it. Again, the sales numbers of all phones ever show that you're in the vast, vast minority. I'll be generous and say maybe there's 20k of you. That's not even a rounding error on the sales. Meanwhile, it adds complexity and cost to the production of the phone. I think you're projecting a bit when it comes to "hate"...I can't hate something that doesn't exist. However a lot of the hate I see on this forum comes from the die-hard tiny screen brigade members telling everyone how stupid and horrible phones bigger than the iPhone 5 (or even the iPhone 4S) are. The 4" has another year left, most likely, as the 5S will be the new cheapest option. But after that...I don't see an iPhone smaller than 4.7" sticking around.

Well, if there is a sizable contingent of people on these forums who want 4" iPhones, imagine how many there are out of the hundreds of millions of iPhone users.

The thing is, we have no idea how popular a 4" model would be compared to larger screen models (of the same technical capabilities), as that option has never been offered. And, obviously, people vastly prefer 4.7" to 5.5", os it isn't a matter of, the bigger, the better.

Or, to put it another way, I'm sure there is a sizable group of people who want a phone (that fits in their hand and pocket), rather than a really small tablet.

This argument would be like Ford deciding to get rid of their car lineup because the trucks are better selling, and can obviously haul more cargo.
 
Even using an iPhone 5 one-handed is hard for most women and below-average-size guys. I had a 5C, I'm 6' and have average hands. I could barely use it one-handed, preferred two-handed. So if anything bigger than a 3.5" screen (which is horribly useless, and also something I lived with for almost 2.5 years with my iPhone 4) requires two hands...why not go to a screen size that actually makes sense. Most of us use our phones for consuming media, reading books, viewing long timelines in social media, something smaller than 4" for sure is utterly useless for that, and even phones less than 4.5" are pushing it. Again, the sales numbers of all phones ever show that you're in the vast, vast minority. I'll be generous and say maybe there's 20k of you. That's not even a rounding error on the sales. Meanwhile, it adds complexity and cost to the production of the phone. I think you're projecting a bit when it comes to "hate"...I can't hate something that doesn't exist. However a lot of the hate I see on this forum comes from the die-hard tiny screen brigade members telling everyone how stupid and horrible phones bigger than the iPhone 5 (or even the iPhone 4S) are. The 4" has another year left, most likely, as the 5S will be the new cheapest option. But after that...I don't see an iPhone smaller than 4.7" sticking around.

All based on opinion again. I almost feel theres any point arguing, because you're obviously hard set that the 4.7 inch phone is perfect. There are no sales numbers to show anything at the moment. There are an awful lot of 3.5 and 4 inch iPhone users out there, but obvious they must be using their phones as paperweights because they're either useless or nearly useless (Well in your opinion anyway). Sales for the 5S are higher in proportion than pretty much any other year.... so if thats not saying something I don't know what is.
 
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All based on opinion again. I almost feel theres any point arguing, because you're obviously hard set that the 4.7 inch phone is perfect. There are no sales numbers to show anything at the moment. There are an awful lot of 3.5 and 4 inch iPhone users out there, but obvious they must be using their phones as paperweights because they're either useless or nearly useless (Well in your opinion anyway). Sales for the 5S are higher in proportion than pretty much any other year.... so if thats not saying something I don't know what is.

Actually, I think the 5.5" phone is perfect *for me* and clearly so do many millions of other people. And many, many millions more think the 4.7" is indeed perfect. No sales numbers? What? That's...not true at all. There most certainly are, and the new phones are far and away selling the best of any iPhones yet. It's pretty easy to see on here that the 3.5-4" die-hards are in fact not using their phones that heavily, which makes perfect sense. Nobody wants to watch Netflix on a 3.5" screen, that's just masochism.
 
Well, if there is a sizable contingent of people on these forums who want 4" iPhones, imagine how many there are out of the hundreds of millions of iPhone users.

The thing is, we have no idea how popular a 4" model would be compared to larger screen models (of the same technical capabilities), as that option has never been offered. And, obviously, people vastly prefer 4.7" to 5.5", os it isn't a matter of, the bigger, the better.

Or, to put it another way, I'm sure there is a sizable group of people who want a phone (that fits in their hand and pocket), rather than a really small tablet.

This argument would be like Ford deciding to get rid of their car lineup because the trucks are better selling, and can obviously haul more cargo.

Never been offered? It's been around since 2012...

The 4.7" iPhone is literally not a big phone...if you think so, you're either very small or haven't used one.
 
Actually, I think the 5.5" phone is perfect *for me* and clearly so do many millions of other people. And many, many millions more think the 4.7" is indeed perfect. No sales numbers? What? That's...not true at all. There most certainly are, and the new phones are far and away selling the best of any iPhones yet. It's pretty easy to see on here that the 3.5-4" die-hards are in fact not using their phones that heavily, which makes perfect sense. Nobody wants to watch Netflix on a 3.5" screen, that's just masochism.

And many millions more have 4 inch screens. There are no sales numbers where a 4, 4.7 and 5.5 inch phone were offered side by side with equal specifications, or at least similar specifications. Although, sales numbers do show usually high sales numbers for the 5S compared to previous mid range iPhones. Again, another opinion about whether or not 4 inch phone users are using their phones heavily. And yet again, another opinion about watching netflix.

I'm not quite sure what your problem is, you've got your big phone. Others want a small phone so get over it. We're not asking for them to take away the bigger phones sizes.
 
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Never been offered? It's been around since 2012...

The 4.7" iPhone is literally not a big phone...if you think so, you're either very small or haven't used one.

Or you just don't like the size because its too big. Screen size is opinion based. I have bigger than average hands and I can't stand the iPhone 6.
 
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And many millions more have 4 inch screens. There are no sales numbers where a 4, 4.7 and 5.5 inch phone were offered side by side with equal specifications, or at least similar specifications. Although, sales numbers do show usually high sales numbers for the 5S compared to previous mid range iPhones. Again, another opinion about whether or not 4 inch phone users are using their phones heavily. And yet again, another opinion about watching netflix.

I'm not quite sure what your problem is, you've got your big phone. Others want a small phone so get over it. We're not asking for them to take away the bigger phones sizes.

Lol, I have no problem. Your arguments are irrational, and I see no point in continuing this.
 
I've been really happy with my 4 inch 5C and thought I wanted to stick with the smaller screen size. My iPhone usage is fairly light, and I can always airdrop to my Air 2 if I need more screen real estate for tasks like photo editing. But after trying out the S6, I'm on board with a slightly larger iPhone display.

If they do release a 6C, it will likely have the internals of a 6 (give or take a few tweaks), and from a spec perspective, the current 6 model doesn't bring enough improvements to make it much of an upgrade for me. So bring on the 6S!

That being said, I still think there's market for 4 inch iPhones, and if the 6S was released with a 4 inch display option it would do well. Same with the 6C, as long as they keep it at 16GB and above. 8GB is unacceptable.
 
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I was reading a review of the new Sony Xperia X5 Compact and I realized that the screen size isn't hte issue so much as it is the body around the screen. The Sony has all the features of a full sized phone but uses a 4.6" display, roughly the same size as the iPhone 6. The key is that the body around the display is the size of the iPhone 5C. The reviewer noted that it was very easy to use the phone with one hand, and his thumb could reach across the entire display. If you are considering a switch to Android (as I am now that I've spent time with a Samsung) it might not be a bad choice.
 
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I was reading a review of the new Sony Xperia X5 Compact and I realized that the screen size isn't hte issue so much as it is the body around the screen. The Sony has all the features of a full sized phone but uses a 4.6" display, roughly the same size as the iPhone 6. The key is that the body around the display is the size of the iPhone 5C. The reviewer noted that it was very easy to use the phone with one hand, and his thumb could reach across the entire display. If you are considering a switch to Android (as I am now that I've spent time with a Samsung) it might not be a bad choice.
Thanks for the suggestion. It's a possibility, but still a collection of compromises:
The 5C is larger than the 5(s), which itself is a size compromise to get a larger screen. Back then, there were all those mock ups of bezel-less and homebutton-less designs to demonstrate how Apple might keep the ergonomics with a larger screen.
I have long fingers, and no problem reaching across the 5S screen. That doesn't mean it's ergonomically suitable though.
Plus; I would rather not leave the iPhone ecosystem unless I have to.
I'll be waiting to see if there is a "one more thing" before evaluating the alternatives.
 
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