iPhone XS Max APPLE FALLING BEHIND IN HARDWARE

[ab2c4]

How come the display is lacking behind, it's one of the best (maybe in top 3). The notch doesn't count as a flaw.

We're supposedly getting back the Touch ID next year or the year after. IMO FaceID is better, but each on its own.

Also 5G next year (I don't get why everyone is in hurry, 5G isn't available in A LOT OF countries yet)

GPU - I think it's arguable. Apple's CPU and GPU are the best yet.

DVS is a gimmick, but if you want it then get the Xperia.

Audio jack - learn to live without it. Almost everyone is removing it and USB-C audio is better.

Obviously there is more involved for wired sound quality than just the port, but is the USB-C port supposed to offer better sound quality than the audio jack? If so I never knew that.

On topic, the one big thing off the top of my head hardware wise that I think Apple at this point is really really lagging behind the big Android makers is phone weight. Iphones are like heavy boat anchors while the same size phone from Samsung/LG/Google weigh considerably less even though they have bigger batteries.

If I wanted to get picky I would say the resolution on the XR is way too low for a $750 phone in today's world. Should have at least a FHD+ resolution on it.

I know people have mentioned cameras but I would disagree with that. My previous phone, Iphone 6S Plus took great pics/vids, and my wife's Iphone 8 Plus I think is fantastic for pics and video. I currently have a Pixel 2 XL (I usually alternate between Iphone and Android with my phones the last few years as I get bored with each OS after awhile and switch back and forth) and I actually like the pics/vids from my wife's 8 Plus a little better than my 2 XL.

Other than that though I think iphones are pretty much on par hardware wise with the high end Android phones.

 

[The Game 161]

Only thing on the OP’s list that I agree with is the camera..

Which won’t be the case in a month...

 

[DevinNj]

Wifi 6 and 5G are still years away from mass adoption.

Exactly. Just some people act like it's mature technology that will be everywhere in 2020.

Have to agree with both of you here. In my area of northern New Jersey which is quite rural, solid LTE coverage is sketchy on all carriers. 5G is anything but a pipe dream at this point. Love to see this become a reality sooner than later, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[I7guy]

Here are few:
Display
Cameras
Sound : Dac + Amp
Design
Un display ultrasonic FP scanner
Modems: lte, 5G and wifi 6
Gpu (imo snapdragon adrenos from 845 and 855 are better)
Dynamic Vibration System - see sony xperia 1
Audio jack
Etc
[doublepost=1565949772][/doublepost]Usb C 3.1 with 5Gbps speed and Hdmi support
[doublepost=1565949814][/doublepost]And thats only hardware side ...

My take: (although no one android phone can tick every one of these boxes either, and since these are broad brush comments I’ll just answer yes or no)

- display no
- camera no
- dac I’ll give you
- design no
- modem unknown for now
- under display fp sensor offset by Face ID
- gpu debatable
- dvs okay

 

[I7guy]

Have to agree with both of you here. In my area of northern New Jersey which is quite rural, solid LTE coverage is sketchy on all carriers. 5G is anything but a pipe dream at this point. Love to see this become a reality sooner than later, but I'm not holding my breath.

IMO, most of New Jersey is a pipe dream for 5g, except for some of the more populated areas.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

To be honest, Apple's grand hardware innovations were:

• the original iPhone (of course)
• maaaaybe a focus on performance with the 3GS (which is what really made mobile gaming possible)
• Retina Display
• Touch & Face ID
• That's about it

Other smartphones have always been ahead on hardware. When the iPhone came out, I had a Nokia N95 with speakers loud enough for a moderately-sized football stadium, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. Then Android had OLED for years before the iPhone. Then they've had 6 and 8-core processors for about 3 years.

Apple's hardware is not the most powerful, but it feels solid and high-quality. Sort of old-school Sony.

 

[NikkoTuason]

I had a chance to test the latest flagship Note 10+ camera along side my Xs Max and I preferred the Xs Max. Maybe I'm being bias.

 

[Abazigal]

To be honest, Apple's grand hardware innovations were:

• the original iPhone (of course)
• maaaaybe a focus on performance with the 3GS (which is what really made mobile gaming possible)
• Retina Display
• Touch & Face ID
• That's about it

Other smartphones have always been ahead on hardware. When the iPhone came out, I had a Nokia N95 with speakers loud enough for a moderately-sized football stadium, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. Then Android had OLED for years before the iPhone. Then they've had 6 and 8-core processors for about 3 years.

Apple's hardware is not the most powerful, but it feels solid and high-quality. Sort of old-school Sony.

That’s the thing people don’t seem to understand. Apple doesn’t sell you specs. They sell you a user experience, made possible by their control over hardware, software and services.

Remember when the A7-chip was announced and Anandtech explained why 2 faster cores were better than 4 or even 8 slower cores in a smartphone which tend to be thermally-constrained?

Android phones boast better specs on paper, but the good games seem to come to ios first, and tend to be better optimised for the iOS platform.

And of course, if you want the Apple Watch, you have to be using an iphone.

Hardware in itself doesn’t always guarantee a better user experience.

 

[AustinIllini]

Android devices are terrible overall. There are a few good ones but honestly the compromises you make for the first phone with a 5G modem make the whole experience worse. Apple doesn’t sacrifice experience to meet OP’s entitled checklist.

 

[ApplesandOranges]

“The notch sucks but hole punch is far more distracting”... seriously? A hole at the top of a screen is more distracting than a notch that covers 80% of the top of the screen? You can’t be serious. There is some serious denial not to mention some spectacular stretches of reality going on here.

OP you do realize you are posting to an Apple forum? Although the responses are entertaining, they are going to be a bit biased I hope you know.
[doublepost=1566018225][/doublepost]

Android devices are terrible overall. There are a few good ones but honestly the compromises you make for the first phone with a 5G modem make the whole experience worse. Apple doesn’t sacrifice experience to meet OP’s entitled checklist.

How so? I really like the look and feel of the new Note, but if they are terrible overall I’d like to know how. I’ve used every iPhone since waiting in line for the very first one. So if I am going to consider a switch I’d like your expert opinion...

As far as falling behind all I have to say is Mac Mini. How long were they selling underpowered outdated hardware for? MacBook Air took how long to update to current standards and then we are graced with a crappy keyboard? Cmon people take off the blinders.

Then when they do come out with new hardware they want to charge us how much for a monitor stand?

 

[I7guy]

That’s the thing people don’t seem to understand. Apple doesn’t sell you specs. They sell you a user experience, made possible by their control over hardware, software and services.

Remember when the A7-chip was announced and Anandtech explained why 2 faster cores were better than 4 or even 8 slower cores in a smartphone which tend to be thermally-constrained?

Android phones boast better specs on paper, but the good games seem to come to ios first, and tend to be better optimised for the iOS platform.

And of course, if you want the Apple Watch, you have to be using an iphone.

Hardware in itself doesn’t always guarantee a better user experience.

To your point with iOS 13 I feel like I bought a brand new phone. Some really welcome changes. Especially the new keyboard.

 

[The Game 161]

To your point with iOS 13 I feel like I bought a brand new phone. Some really welcome changes. Especially the new keyboard.

That’s what I like about iOS...yearly updates do matter and can make your phone feel new with some useful features even if you don’t upgrade yearly.

 

[tonybarnaby]

For people who upgrade phones yearly, Android is just as viable as Apple. You will be able to buy a year old Android flagship for a huge discount. Apple knocks what, $50 or $100 off of their previous year phones? The OnePlus 7 pro is probably the best phone across both sides, and you'll be able to get one for $5xx at this time next year. Android support usually only lasts 2 years, so take that however you want.

 

[ApplesandOranges]

That’s the thing people don’t seem to understand. Apple doesn’t sell you specs. They sell you a user experience, made possible by their control over hardware, software and services.

Remember when the A7-chip was announced and Anandtech explained why 2 faster cores were better than 4 or even 8 slower cores in a smartphone which tend to be thermally-constrained?

Android phones boast better specs on paper, but the good games seem to come to ios first, and tend to be better optimised for the iOS platform.

And of course, if you want the Apple Watch, you have to be using an iphone.

Hardware in itself doesn’t always guarantee a better user experience.

They sell user experience? My experience has been returning two faulty MBP’s in the last three weeks. “User experience” and “eco system” are the most overused catch phrases I’ve ever heard.

Sorry to be so negative, but since 2015 my Apple experience has been anything but pleasant. They may still innovate, but their reliability has suffered greatly. They screwed up the hardware “user experience” so bad that now they are focusing on “services”.

 

[bingeciren]

That’s the thing people don’t seem to understand. Apple doesn’t sell you specs. They sell you a user experience, made possible by their control over hardware, software and services.

Remember when the A7-chip was announced and Anandtech explained why 2 faster cores were better than 4 or even 8 slower cores in a smartphone which tend to be thermally-constrained?

Android phones boast better specs on paper, but the good games seem to come to ios first, and tend to be better optimised for the iOS platform.

And of course, if you want the Apple Watch, you have to be using an iphone.

Hardware in itself doesn’t always guarantee a better user experience.

I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. I bought a Samsung S10+ to play with it and I’ve been using it for the past 7 months on an experimental base. I’ve gone through loops to make it a candidate to replace my iPhone X. DAVx5 in order to use my CalDAV servers, AirMessage to use iMessage, which by the way works incredibly well, and many other tweaks here and there. I’d say I’ve come close to the level of an iPhone but still cannot switch over to make it as my main phone.

I have to agree with the OP that the display of the Samsung looks much better than my X. Camera too clearly runs circles around my X’s camera. I like the widgets and utilities offered by Samsung’s implementation of Android. Having an SD card slot, a USB-C port that accepts external storage and peripherals like screens and mice are clearly a step above the IOS.

Yet iPhone still offers a better user experience and almost flawless, fluid usage. I use IOS’s Notes, Reminders Remote, ATV remote, Find Friends, AirPlay, iCloud based services heavily and those are hard to replicate on Samsung. Oh and the Face ID works 99% reliably and quickly for me that I don’t find Samsung’s under display FP ID any superior or preferable.

Last but not least, I also bought a Galaxy watch to complete the picture. Galaxy watch is very pretty. Incredibly nice to be able chose among the thousands of free watch faces. But, I find my AW4 still gives a better and more utilitarian experience than the Galaxy watch.

In the end, I give kudos to Samsung for the hardware but IOS, despite its shortcomings and its locked nature is still going to be my choice for now.

 

[apolloa]

Apple used to be a leader an innovator when it came to iPhones but now it seems that Apple cares more about services for the iPhone. Really hate to see Samsung and others make more enticing phones
If Apple gives people new styles of iPhones people would upgrade quicker

But they stated they would be concentrating more on services several times now? Not sure why you seemed surprised by this?
And yes and no to the hardware, with regards to the design yes a bit as the majority of Android flagships are moving to pin hole cameras in big OLED screens, and under screen biometric scanners.
But not when it comes to CPU and GPU and smoothness and how it all integrates everything, they are still very competitive in that regard.
Apple were also reasonably quick for them to launch full screen iPhones too.
[doublepost=1566030703][/doublepost]

Same story every year. Apple will still sell millions of iphone 11s over the next year despite the obvious competition, then will come with a redesigned iphone to put them ahead of the curve again (which other manufacturers will clone).

The only thing Apple are falling behind on is quality control in my opinion.

Think your wrong there and drunk that koolaide, the majority of Android flagships have superseded the iPhones designs and do not ‘copy’ it one bit, Apple will be copying them.
The Note 10 is far superior in fact and many are now claiming only Apples iOS and ecosystem keeps them in the brand, not their designs. Android also still has the majority of the global market.
I’d predict iPhone sales will continue to fall as they aren’t giving people any reason to upgrade.

 

[Coffee_Time]

Most of users are writing like we, android users, never had iphones. Weird. Yes, we had iphones and yet here we are using other brands. Whats so hard to understand that once you switched, may, or never go back. My last iphone was 6s, but that doesnt mean I did not play with 7, 8, x, xr, xs max. For me are overrated. Also here in europe the b...t with ecosystem doesnt sell that much like in the us.
[doublepost=1566033884][/doublepost]Back on topic:
Display - yes Apple has lost in this hardware aspect. Lost to Samsung, new LG line-up (my wife has regular s10 and I have LG V50 and I can tell you that LGs P-Oled is better than samsungs hdr10+, comparing them everyday) not to mention iphone. Also there are phones like oneplus and asus with 90 and 120 hz refresh rate amoleds. Apple has lost also to them.
Regarding cameras. Nice joke. Pixels, s10, huaweis, lg kills the iphone. Even in video recording the lg murders it. Not to mention where on earth is the iphone ultrawide sensor!
Modems? Best lte is quallcom, 5g around the corner, wifi6 for removing cables like hdmi and usbc for high data transfer.
Design? What about underglass back cameras like my v50 has?
.... More to come

 

[bingeciren]

Some may disagree but I think exactly the same.

 

[bingeciren]

Unfortunately the user experience of Apple seems to be on the decline. Form over function and killing or crippling good features seems to be what they do best.

 

[jimmy_uk]

Think your wrong there and drunk that koolaide, the majority of Android flagships have superseded the iPhones designs and do not ‘copy’ it one bit, Apple will be copying them.
The Note 10 is far superior in fact and many are now claiming only Apples iOS and ecosystem keeps them in the brand, not their designs. Android also still has the majority of the global market.
I’d predict iPhone sales will continue to fall as they aren’t giving people any reason to upgrade.

The Note 10 does look very impressive but the pointless curved glass, less than secure operating system, not as secure face ID keeps me with iPhone.

I have tried and tried to switch but always go back because of iOS stability. The only real glitch I get with my iphone is the keyboard sometimes gets confused from using SwiftKey to standard.

I can buy an iphone and use it for years and it still works like day one and is still in top condition. Android users, because of the vast never ending choice of handsets, usually upgrade their handset more regularly. Always chasing the bleeding edge, I don't need to be on that train.

And I have little trust in the Android OS. I have an Android tablet for streaming TV apps but everytime I want to install something it wants access to all my data. I use my phone to shop, bank and communicate. How do I know that one rouge app hasn't infected my device? Sure I can try and be careful and use common sense but the open nature of Android is a concern. I admit I don't know enough it about to feel secure.

I use MacOS all day at work but choose Windows for home. I can fix, tweak and service Windows with ease and knowledge.

I choose iOS for my phone. It's the device I use the most and I need it to be stable and fault/glitch free. iPhone has not let me down in all the years of use so I stay because I trust it. Yes of course I want Apple to do more and, if Apple made the Note 10 (with a flat screen) I'd be over the moon. But everything has it's compromise.

It's really not just about physical design and jamming as much technology into a device to be the latest and greatest.

 

[The Game 161]

Most of users are writing like we, android users, never had iphones. Weird. Yes, we had iphones and yet here we are using other brands. Whats so hard to understand that once you switched, may, or never go back. My last iphone was 6s, but that doesnt mean I did not play with 7, 8, x, xr, xs max. For me are overrated. Also here in europe the b...t with ecosystem doesnt sell that much like in the us.
[doublepost=1566033884][/doublepost]Back on topic:
Display - yes Apple has lost in this hardware aspect. Lost to Samsung, new LG line-up (my wife has regular s10 and I have LG V50 and I can tell you that LGs P-Oled is better than samsungs hdr10+, comparing them everyday) not to mention iphone. Also there are phones like oneplus and asus with 90 and 120 hz refresh rate amoleds. Apple has lost also to them.
Regarding cameras. Nice joke. Pixels, s10, huaweis, lg kills the iphone. Even in video recording the lg murders it. Not to mention where on earth is the iphone ultrawide sensor!
Modems? Best lte is quallcom, 5g around the corner, wifi6 for removing cables like hdmi and usbc for high data transfer.
Design? What about underglass back cameras like my v50 has?
.... More to come

Er no nothing compares to Samsung’s screens. Hense why the max looks so good along with what Samsung uses themselves. LG aren’t comparable to the screens Samsung produces and as for cameras everybody knows what is in android phones is coming in less than a month to the iphone and rumours are suppose to be even better than what we have seen so far.

more to come? not really. The reasons you have provided have been rather bad.

 

[apolloa]

The Note 10 does look very impressive but the pointless curved glass, less than secure operating system, not as secure face ID keeps me with iPhone.

I have tried and tried to switch but always go back because of iOS stability. The only real glitch I get with my iphone is the keyboard sometimes gets confused from using SwiftKey to standard.

I can buy an iphone and use it for years and it still works like day one and is still in top condition. Android users, because of the vast never ending choice of handsets, usually upgrade their handset more regularly. Always chasing the bleeding edge, I don't need to be on that train.

And I have little trust in the Android OS. I have an Android tablet for streaming TV apps but everytime I want to install something it wants access to all my data. I use my phone to shop, bank and communicate. How do I know that one rouge app hasn't infected my device? Sure I can try and be careful and use common sense but the open nature of Android is a concern. I admit I don't know enough it about to feel secure.

I use MacOS all day at work but choose Windows for home. I can fix, tweak and service Windows with ease and knowledge.

I choose iOS for my phone. It's the device I use the most and I need it to be stable and fault/glitch free. iPhone has not let me down in all the years of use so I stay because I trust it. Yes of course I want Apple to do more and, if Apple made the Note 10 (with a flat screen) I'd be over the moon. But everything has it's compromise.

It's really not just about physical design and jamming as much technology into a device to be the latest and greatest.

The majority of Android flagships use finger print scanners under the glass, Apple is rumoured to be copying this idea next year. I think Face ID must have been a flop? It’s not as fast as Touch ID in my experience with my XR and 6S. But not a massive difference either?
But not sure why you bought it up for Android handsets as most don’t rely on Face unlocking.
As for the curves sides I guess people like them as they keep making them...

Agree with the rest though as Samsung make stunning designs but don’t support the phones for long? I guess a ploy to make you upgrade?

 

[I7guy]

The majority of Android flagships use finger print scanners under the glass, Apple is rumoured to be copying this idea next year. I think Face ID must have been a flop? It’s not as fast as Touch ID in my experience with my XR and 6S. But not a massive difference either?
But not sure why you bought it up for Android handsets as most don’t rely on Face unlocking.
As for the curves sides I guess people like them as they keep making them...

Agree with the rest though as Samsung make stunning designs but don’t support the phones for long? I guess a ploy to make you upgrade?

Apple is rumored to be adding something related to FPS under glass. All android manufacturers using the qualcomm chipset are the ones copying each other. And imo, face id is staying.

 

[Tsepz]

Would love to see more Zoom Capabilities in the iPhone as well as Power Sharing, it’s two features I’ve really like in the P30 Pro, being able to charge my BT headphones in a few mins on the P30 Pro and also zoom into objects that are pretty far away and maintain great quality.

Oh and definitely In-Display Fingerprint Readers as well as Fast Chargers in the box.

Hopefully 2021 iPhones will bring these things.

 

[I7guy]

Would love to see more Zoom Capabilities in the iPhone as well as Power Sharing, it’s two features I’ve really like in the P30 Pro, being able to charge my BT headphones in a few mins on the P30 Pro and also zoom into objects that are pretty far away and maintain great quality.

Oh and definitely In-Display Fingerprint Readers as well as Fast Chargers in the box.

Hopefully 2021 iPhones will bring these things.

Apple is rumored to incorporate reverse charging into the 2019 models. However, I hope the battery is up to it. As far as the zoom, it's the high megapixel count that enables that. I'd be surprised is Apple could match that feature unless they have some trick up their sleeve. Of course one could always get a DSLR with a 100-500mm zoom.