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Home Button and thick bezels for $649? I don‘t think many people will buy that. If they keep the 4.7" display size but shrink the bezel and add FaceID then people who want an SE2 would buy it.

I, and many others could not care less about Face ID. I love the fingerprint sensing home button. Shrink the bezels, keep the home button, and improve the specs over my current 8plus and I may be tempted. Even if the camera spec is not quite up to the dual lens 8plus. I’ve tried the size of the 8 plus and I am ready to reduce.
 
I honestly don’t understand this obsession about bezels. If you prefer the all screen iPhone that’s fine, but the notion that it’s “unacceptable” for the classic iPhone form factor to exist is really puzzling to me.

The only people I ever see complaining about bezels are techies, your average consumer doesn’t even know the word.

Don’t get me wrong, if an SE2 came out with the all screen display I’d buy it day one (I’m on a 6s that I’ve kept running happily by installing a new battery every 18 months or so since I bought it), but there’s nothing upsetting to me about a bezel.

I think you explained it without realizing it. I can't speak for everyone, but it's the ability to have a larger screen without increasing the size of the phone. Thick bezels are wasted space in terms of screen usability. There may be an aesthetic issue for some as well, but the main reason for anyone would be wanting to have as large a surface area to interact with as possible, in the smallest form factor without sacrifice.

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Nope, because:
- Camera not flush with back (don't like bumps)
- No headphone jack (hate dongles)
- No straight edges (don't like rounded edges)
- Power on button is opposite side of volume buttons rather than on top (hate when changing volume and accidentally pressing power button)

The headphone jack won't be coming back, but I agree with the rest of it.
 
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....
Apple will launch a new version of the 4.7-inch iPhone 8 early next year with updated internals in a bid to boost its share of the mid-tier smartphone market.

... will retain its 4.7-inch LCD display but will include a new PCB design featuring an A13 processor, a single-lens rear camera, and 128GB of base storage.

....EDN believes the new 4.7-inch iPhone 8 will have an aggressive price tag of around $649, as Apple attempts to boost its share of the mid-tier market,
....
Current prices for the existing iPhone 8 series, which include a Home button and thick top and bottom bezels, start at $599 for a 64GB iPhone 8 ...

$599 -> $649 . An 8.35% increase in the price of the device to more robustly address the mid-tier market. Chuckle, yeah that's a great plan ..... not. Cranking prices higher is basically an attempt to leave the mid-tier, not more robustly address it.

I think there is more than a decent chance this is confused. First, that 128GB is not the baseline, minimal storage. (for the top line phones perhaps they'll move to 128GB being the base. But Apple has a long track record of capping the mid-tier model with less than the top line. ). Second, after the baseline storage is reduced to 64 (whatever Apple can minimize on) it will be close to the $599 model currently have. ( which really is only marginally in the 'mid range' with respect to the whole smartphone market. ).

More likely Apple will try to put a 'floor' under the current iPhone 8 price point by putting a new SoC in there. ( A13) and keep the Flash storage the same so as not to increase the price. Apple could add in a 128GB model between the huge gap of 64 -> 256GB they have now (with an associated $150 jump in price. For mid-tier option that is a dubiously large gap. A $50 'step up' option would get far more takers for that range of price sensitivity. $150 is just kicking more than a few folks in the shins. Especially when the NAND is not even remotely close to that in costs. )
 
I think you explained it without realizing it. I can't speak for everyone, but it's the ability to have a larger screen without increasing the size of the phone. Thick bezels are wasted space in terms of screen usability. There may be an aesthetic issue for some as well, but the main reason for anyone would be wanting to have as large a surface area to interact with as possible, in the smallest form factor without sacrifice.

I see what you are saying there regarding bezels, bigger Screed etc without actually getting bigger. My point was more aimed at home button/Face ID and specs though really.
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I guess Apple wants to go in three directions at once... They are probably seeing iPhone SE (despite it keep making a return to the clearance sales), Apple insists to give users wan they want... still..

What's wrong with their iPhone SE ? It fits perfectly, and weather Apple knows it or not by giving in, they ARE creating more models,

Updated internals usually mean Apple isn't satisfied with sales on all better models. So, they gonna get a middle-man, to make people buy the newer ones.

Wha the heck is wrong with people deciding for themselves?
 
I don’t buy this. The iPhone 8 will see another price drop with the new release in September. Why would they update it in March? The pricing of the revised article also doesn’t make sense.

Why? Because Apple's quarterly reports doesn't focus on units sold anymore but on average selling price. A temporary price drop from Sept '19 to March '20 would be covered by an uptick in sales of the new top tier models.

Once the initial sales of those top tier model starts to taper off, they could 'cover' the price decrease of the iPhone 8 model price point by bumping the price back up and rationalizing that by putting a new SoC (current A13) in there and slapping a new name on it (e.g., 8SE ). . So as units of top tier go down, the mid-tier might shrink a bit too, but selling pricing would go back up and they would have a better grip on holding the overall average. ( At that point they'd be selling an almost 3 year old baeline design and relatively close to original pricing. and probably getting away with it too. )

They also get a device to stuff "extra" A13 SoC packages into if their estimates on the top tier model sales in the Fall and early Winter sales are off. If their estimates are on track in late Fall then they can buy some more Spring 'wafer start' slots and make incrementally more as they need them.
 
A 4.7 inch phone with the modern design of the X variants would be a much better choice to me. I get they want to hit certain price points, but other companies can - Apple needs to step it up here. 4.7, 5.8, 6.1, 6.5 - all OLED, all with the X design and same specs aside from cameras, $699, $799, $899, $999 , that is how this lineup should look come 2020.

I think having an iPhone with the "classic" design & updated specs is a great idea. Not everybody needs top of the line features or cares for "edge-to-edge" screen. Plus there are rumors of revamped all-OLED lineup coming next year (5.42", 6.06", 6.67"). I can definitely see the possibility of this being next year's lineup

iPhone LCD (4.8", TouchId, A13, 1080P screen) - $599
iPhone OLED 5.42" - $799
iPhone OLED 6.06" - $899
iPhone OLED 6.67" - $999
 
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Only Apple could get away with relaunching a phone with a design from 5 years ago. Make that 6 years in 2020.

On one hand, I guess that's some kind of compliment, because I bet no one would buy a re-release of the Galaxy S-5 for 650 dollars or so. On the other hand, i think Apple is not paying enough attention to the mid-tier/smaller screen market.

Even though a lot of people doesn't mind having the latest and greatest and want a smaller screen, no one likes buying an expensive piece of tech with such a dated design.

I, for once, have an iPhone 7 and I'm starting to flirt with the Galaxy S10e. If I make that purchase, that will probably be the beginning of my leaving the Apple ecosystem.
 
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Am sad that there isn't similar news of an updated 5.5" "Plus" form factor iPhone. The Plus iPhones are what got me to switch to Android. And once Plus becomes iPhone history, I may very well return to Android, because the XR isn't a viable replacement and XS Max is way too expensive (and even it kills some nice software features that are still exclusive to Plus).
 
Ok? Why are you under the impression that every consumer cares about having The latest hardware, when they would rather have a smaller form factor without having all the unnecessary technology they may not need or care about. Wasn’t that the purpose of the iPhone SE to begin with? To bring a 4 inch iPhone to the market that delivered in terms of being compact and affordable. [Not to mention, we don’t know the price of this new iPhone yet.]
was iPhone SE $650?
a basic,small phone without all the new bells and whistles should have price tag that justifies it's lack of features.
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Single lens? iPhone XR, same DXOmark as Pixel 3, which many considers to be one of the best camera phone.
Dull LCD? Again, iPhone XR, blind tests seem to show that people don't seem to mind.
As for design, we'll see come 2020. We have not even had 2019 iPhones yet. :D
you talk as if iPhone XR is really a great device..again considering the price ..tht thing is trash.
it's a rip off,low resolution LCD screen and single camera lens..it should have been priced lower to be considered a decent budget phone.I will personally NEVER buy something like that,but I've heared complains about low resolution screen from many owners online.
 
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the thing is iPhone Xr is thrash
You can call it whatever you want.
However, DXOmark of iPhone XR is 101, the same as Pixel 3. If the Pixel 3 is considered to be one of the best smartphone camera, wouldn’t it be strange for one to call the XR trash? :shrug:
 
As a UX designer, and a very good one that works for a very big tech company leader in its market (not Apple obviously, so I am not biased) I can tell that you don’t know, or understand, what UX is. What you said makes literally no sense.

Oh okay, third parties being able to crash your device or activate your camera with FaceTime isn't a problem because you've redefined user experience to not include those things, and even have an acronym to back it up.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/iphone-users-hit-with-ios-imessage-emoji-bug/
 
Probably my next phone. Love my 7 and couldn’t care less about the so called bezels the whole world seems so obsessed with.
The thing is I never encounter anyone ion the real world who even cares about bezels or home buttons. These obsessions seem centered on a tiny group on social media types.
 
Bravo !

It's the single smartest move AAPL has made under Cook !

Dumbest, buying into their own Hype (& moving their ENTIRE iPhone product line so Upscale).

This move will help correct their Dumbest move.

Hopefully, they fix the Performance Controller bug(s) in the XR's A12 !
 
I would consider a 4.7 Phone if it was bezelless. There is no way that i am gonna size-upgrade my current SE to such a big clumsy design of the iPhone 6/7/8. I got rid of my horrible iPhone 6 after 12 Months and switched to the SE. Best decision ever.

If my SE dies in a few years and Apple does not come up with a budget small phone or a premium small phone, I will have made alternative plans:

Plan B: Get a small android phone, if available then.

Plan C: Get a dumb but small flip phone and quit smartphones all together.



Screw You, Tim, I won't buy any of Your clumsy fugly phablets !
 
Why do you care what the "base storage" is? If you want 128 GB, buy 128 GB. Today. No need to wait.
You can’t get iP8 with 128GB now.
But doubling baseline storage from iP7’s 32GB & iP8’s 64 GB means that most of those new iP8s will have a long life. Maybe the decline in sales made Apple think more about first time customers which ran out of storage way too fast.
 
A 4.7 inch phone with the modern design of the X variants would be a much better choice to me. I get they want to hit certain price points, but other companies can - Apple needs to step it up here. 4.7, 5.8, 6.1, 6.5 - all OLED, all with the X design and same specs aside from cameras, $699, $799, $899, $999 , that is how this lineup should look come 2020.

All Oled screens??? Are you crazy ??? Oled screens for a lot of people’s are causing eyes strain and headaches :eek:
 
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