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Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,101
1,576
I hope they don't call the next one iPhone 7 if it looks the same from the front.
 

epicrayban

macrumors 604
Nov 7, 2014
6,517
5,353
Personally, I don't mind all glass phones as I think aesthetically they can look nicer. Plus, it would eliminate the need for those unsightly and awkward-framing antennae lines in the current design. And this could give way to wireless/contactless charging.

The one thing I don't like, however, is that it's just for one of the models? That's perplexing, if true. And might that mean only the glass model can do wireless/contactless charging?

Not the first rumor we've heard of that says Apple might be saving the best features for the higher end model. This whole "iPhone 7 Plus Pro" rumor is worrisome...
 

HighDesert50

macrumors regular
Jan 23, 2011
104
67
Mr Cook sits back and with a smile muses at the frantic managers at Samsung attempting to thwart and counter this new plan from Apple. Well seeded rumor, yes, well seeded indeed ...
 

2457282

Suspended
Dec 6, 2012
3,327
3,015
Back to this.
SDC14326.JPG
And back to bumpers :D
iPhone-5-Bumper-case-is-virtually-invisible-pic-1.jpg
 
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Ynot

macrumors member
Jan 14, 2006
62
20
It always seems so strange to me that people complain about glass phones because the back might shatter. If you drop your phone you risk shattering the display, too. You should never be dropping your phone. If you find yourself dropping your phone frequently, buy a case.

Its not Dropping the Phone that brakes the Glass its the Landing. Making it out of Glass Increases you Chances to 100% that it will land on that side which has Glass. Apple can't even make a Phone were the one side made of Glass isn't Breaking on a Regular basis so go ahead an stack the odds. I work at a small Apple Reseller and we see close to 20 Brocken screens a day not every body wants to pay close to 1/4 price of the Phone to have it repaired. But it is a great Business model increase your after sale reduce the value of Applecare by half by doubling the Chances of brocken Glass LOL
 

cmichaelb

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2008
2,280
739
Italy
But srsly tho... Either would be quite the departure from Apple's historical trend.

Year 1: New design and internal upgrades
Year 2: Internal upgrades/no redesign

It's been this way since 2008. Any suggestion that this won't continue will, understandably, be received with surprise and reaction.

Year 2 - some slight redesign possibly. See 4S antenna bands, 5S not coming black, now space grey.
[doublepost=1463692995][/doublepost]
This is what I don't get. Why so much on the 2017 model?

10 year anniversary of the original iPhone.

___________________________________________________________________________

I assume with Apple having a 4-5 year product road map all the time, the GT Sapphire experiment was for a stronger back glass for a future model.
 
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mcarling

macrumors 65816
Oct 22, 2009
1,292
180
The one thing that is obviously nonsense in the story is the idea that Apple might return to offering only one size of iPhone. The most obvious lesson of the last two years of iPhone releases is that different customers want different sizes of iPhones. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus showed that it was a mistake to not release iPhones larger than 4" until 2014 and the iPhone SE is showing that it was a mistake to not keep the 4" iPhone up-to-date.

For more or less obvious reasons of physics and engineering, the 4" iPhone would be the easiest to encase in Gorilla Glass without a metal backing. So my conjecture is that the 4.7" and 5.5" iPhones will continue to have glass and metal cases and be released on a regular schedule at least for the next two years, while the 4" iPhone SE will be replaced with an all glass design whenever the development will be completed, perhaps in 2018 or late 2017.
 

doelcm82

macrumors 68040
Feb 11, 2012
3,771
2,775
Florida, USA
Won't all these news rumors on 2017 model cut into sales of the next model? (2016)

This is what I don't get. Why so much on the 2017 model?

My guess is that many of the changes Apple is working on are not far enough along to include in the 2016 model. It might even turn out that some of them don't make it into the 2017 model. They'll get to a certain point in the design and decide they can't reliably include a feature like true wireless charging, and that feature will be dropped. None of the sometimes contradictory rumors we have been reading constitute confirmation from Apple about what their future plans are.

Then again, we might get a surprise with the 2016 phone. Maybe wireless charging is ready for prime time, and we will see it this year.

I'm not making either prediction. But the feeling I get is that Apple wants to make the tenth anniversary iPhone something special, that will push the envelope and make the iPhone stand out from the crowd in new ways.

I do think it will sap some of the enthusiasm from the 2016 model if it resembles the 6 and 6s models. But there are those who swear by the 'S' models and wouldn't get anything else. Whatever new design Apple releases in 2017 will be derided by some as spoiling the perfection of the 6s. (I only say that because every re-design gets some of that response). The 2016 may be Apple's gift to those who think the 6 series is as good as it can get.

Though some will undoubtedly complain about the loss of some of the antenna lines.
 

Mac 128

macrumors 603
Apr 16, 2015
5,360
2,930
If you're clumsy, yeah.

Look, I've never broken the glass on my phone (though I have chipped it), but it's a fairly common occurrence for the average person.

So let's look at the odds. With glass on one side, there's a 50/50 chance that the glass will break, assuming the glass is going to break in an accidental drop. With glass on both sides, there's a 100% chance that a glass panel will break in a drop that results in glass breaking. Likewise, the odds are increased that both glass panels will break.

There's a legitimate concern here for the average consumer.

That said, many people use cases. I know when I had my iPhone 4, I had a leather adhesive panel I stuck to the back, which probably gave it some protection. So in the end, it really just ends up being a marketing gimmick. I suppose if I end up upgrading to the all glass iPhone, I'll likely do the same thing and get another leather cover for the back since I hate cases.
 
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lazard

macrumors 68000
Jul 23, 2012
1,608
818
Mr Cook sits back and with a smile muses at the frantic managers at Samsung attempting to thwart and counter this new plan from Apple. Well seeded rumor, yes, well seeded indeed ...

Samsung doesn't really care since they're migrating to flexible OLED phones.
 
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