Biggest company in the world can't redesign and release a new phone in 16 months

[thegorgatron]

Can you imagine Ford or BMW saying "here's a great new car that can do all these amazing new things, but er its going to look exactly the same as the one we were selling you a year and a half ago....er please still buy it right?"

It would never happen, what on earth were Apple thinking?....they are notorious for drip dripping out each tiny technological advancement in order to maximise profits but keeping with the smaller screen while all other smartphones are going 4"+? keeping a phone made of glass?....

Mental.

I can actually, cars life cycles for body styles will last often 3 to 5 years or more, so yeah I can see Ford and BMW doing that.

Case in point the Ford Focus 1 gen ran from 1998 to 2004 in EU and 2008 in NA looking the same. The Second gen was only an incremental design change.

For the BMW 5 Series these are the years they ran; 1st gen 1972-1981 (9 years), 2nd gen 1982-88 (6 years), 3rd gen 1988-1996 (8 years) etc etc.

Check your facts.

 

[Calidude]

The MAJORITY doesn't even believe they need a smartphone of any type let alone require that it has a 4 inch screen. Amount the community of people that use smartphones there may be a majority that would like a 4 inch screen, but amoung all phone users you won't even get a majority for a smartphone.

I'm speaking of the majority of current iphone owners.

 

[Blueline29]

Implying the iPhone 4 lovers wouldn't whine like little children if your precious 3.5 inch screen were bumped up to 4 inches.

Would a larger screen have been nice? Sure. But I don't want an enormous phone like so many out there, so I'm willing to compromise.

Besides, the 64 GB capacity was the primary bump I was looking for and I got it, so I'm a happy girl today.

 

[Calidude]

Would a larger screen have been nice? Sure. But I don't want an enormous phone like so many out there, so I'm willing to compromise.

Besides, the 64 GB capacity was the primary bump I was looking for and I got it, so I'm a happy girl today.

You can make the screen on the iPhone 4 bigger without affecting the overall size of the phone enough for you to tell the difference.

 

[EmbraceTheOne]

Bigger Screen?

People think,
Just because a percentage of people want a bigger screen…EVERYONE wants I bigger screen.
I certainly don't.

----------

You can make the screen on the iPhone 4 bigger without affecting the overall size of the phone enough for you to tell the difference.

Yeah, You can do that.

But think about the internals. You have to make everything fit.

 

[Calidude]

Bigger Screen?

People think,
Just because a percentage of people want a bigger screen…EVERYONE wants I bigger screen.
I certainly don't.

Why not? You think the phone will be too big? We don't want a giant phone like the Evo. We want the iPhone to be standardized at 4 inches and have it stay there forever.

 

[nefan65]

The only joke is that some people actually thought this was a good upgrade.

Clearly you're not happy with the new phone. Thankfully, we all have choices. There are a number of other phones, and carriers available. Surely one of them will offer something more to your needs/liking?

No I'm not a fanboy, or a blind Apple customer. Just stating the fact that there are options, if you're not happy with what they've released.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

there are no other options if you want to use iCloud and a MBP.

 

[EmbraceTheOne]

Why not? You think the phone will be too big? We don't want a giant phone like the Evo. We want the iPhone to be standardized at 4 inches and have it stay there forever.

"We want the iPhone to be standardized at 4 inches and have it stay there forever."

Again, I'm not part of that "we." I understand 4'' Isn't too big. But I like the current form factor if the iPhone 4. And the screen size. I think it's perfect.

 

[Gen]

Why would they change a great design?
A 3.5" screen is perfect. I don't have giant hands and don't want a giant screen.

It's a phone - not a tablet.

 

[shelbymayer]

I would MUCH rather have a glass back iPhone than a plastic or aluminum back.

If you crack the back glass? Take it to the Apple store and have a brand new back for $29...

Do the same thing to your plastic or aluminum back and it will be scratched/dented all to hell and you won't be able to replace it

Glass = much better option for customers replacement wise

Really?! I dropped my atrix and cracked the back of it...found a replacement back on ebay for $3.94...had it within two days and didn't HAVE to go to an apple store...how is this not easier?

 

[Calidude]

"We want the iPhone to be standardized at 4 inches and have it stay there forever."

Again, I'm not part of that "we." I understand 4'' Isn't too big. But I like the current form factor if the iPhone 4. And the screen size. I think it's perfect.

So what are you going to do if the next iPhone makes 4 inches the standard from now on according to the leaked prototype?

 

[WeegieMac]

Implying the iPhone 4 lovers wouldn't whine like little children if your precious 3.5 inch screen were bumped up to 4 inches.

I would have given it a try and see how it felt in my hand, but I'm not a fan of mini-tablet smartphones. The new Androids coming out with 5" screens are, I'm sorry, ridiculous.

While there is more to a smartphone than calls and texts, the core essence of a mobile phone IS to call people and keep in touch, and often there can be sensitive or private things said that you don't want others to see in public. I could not send a private text to my wife while on the train home from work while sitting on a 5" smartphone ... I might as well tell the entire train my business.

I'm personally a little torn now because my plan was to buy the new iPhone in March, along with an iPad for my wife. My iPhone 4 would also go to my wife, meaning she got her own iPhone and iPad and I had the new iPhone. However, I wasn't buying anything until March next year when I get my annual bonus. Come March, the next iPhone (and definite redesign) will be due in 7 months time ... so do I buy the 4S for the sake of the vastly more powerful A5 chip since I do buy a lot of games (ShadowGun is impressive on the 4, so God knows what the 4S will be capable of).

Siri, hmm ...impressive tech, but not something that would make me want a new model. The iPhone 4 as it stands runs fantastically on iOS 5 and the GM is even better performance wise than the last Beta (No.7). Animations in the UI Kit are fluid, no more stuttering frames when opening multi-tasking on a full page of apps and no more dropped animations when opening third-party apps for the first launch ... it feels far more fluid than 4.3.5, so unlike when the 3GS came out, the now previous phone is no slouch and hardly outdated dramatically.

I don't know, I tend to buy things as and when I can afford them because in the 7 months I mentioned above, I may not have the money for the "iPhone 6" due to other commitments and circumstances. Tough call.

 

[Darthdingo]

I was truly expecting the "iPhone5" to be announced yesterday. After 16 months Apple could have easily created a newly designed and updated device. I just can not fathom why they did not ?

Where is;

- Larger screen ?
- 4G ?
- NFC ?
- thinner and lighter ?
- Widgets ?
- LED Notification Light ?

If Apple came out with redesigned iPhone5 with all those features I would leave Android and go back to Apple again. Now no thanks, bring on the Nexus-Prime.

I was expecting this;

iPhone3GS...iPhone4...iPhone5...

Or this;

 

[applefan289]

That's why people are pissed off. With the kind of sales figures they are making, and a design as problematic to warrant its own Antennagate moniker as well as make people fear breaking the glass back, you'd think Apple would have listened to the consumer and made something we actually wanted.

And the fact that a 3.5 inch screen just doesn't cut it anymore.

Anybody who thinks this isn't a disappointment has either:

1) Never had an iPhone before.

2) Never had another smartphone other than the iPhone and religiously worships everything Apple does.

That's the truth and I'm sticking to it. It's shameful to see grown-up people act like this wasn't the biggest disappointment of the year.

Quite frankly, I'm not disappointed in the 4S. I am a little disappointed that the iPods had practically no update. And yes, the Keynote felt awkward and boring.

I personally feel there's more truth to the people who are not disappointed, than to your viewpoint. Your viewpoint shows that you were most likely fed up with Apple before the keynote, and this put you over the edge.

The 4S is a great phone, and Apple obviously doesn't feel ready to move on to a new design. I'm sure they have a reason for this, just like they have a reason for the 16 month wait. No one said there would be a redesign, and if you look at Apple's iPhone cycle in the past, you should expect something really new next year.

 

[boomish]

It's a very good point the redesign was expected so much it's overshadowed this release, I'm not sure about the screen size as the Samsung Galaxy looks way to big for me, but for sure some kind of increase, in any case I did think a new design was needed, as the Androids are selling 2-1 now according to the latest MacRumors numbers.
On the back of Steve's departure I think Apple may have well shot themselves by relying on their loyal fan base. I know I will wait until next year for a new iPhone I can't see the point of the upgrade, my iPhone 4 cameras is great, it never feels slow and I don't use the voice dialling it already has. And to top it off now the iPhone line up looks odd:

iPhone 4s - not much of upgrade design wise for iPhone 4 users and lots of competition from new Android design's.
iPhone 4 - small memory & not much cheaper to the iPhone 4s unless your on a contract, who would buy this new now!!!
iPhone 3Gs - just feels like you buying a very outdated model and again not that much cheaper unless on a contract.

So for some people it's obviously a great upgrade 3g & 3Gs but new Apple users might now be tempted by the ever more popular Samsung and existing iPhone 4 users may just wait till next year. And I bet with the fall out that looks like it might be that long into the new year before the 5 does come too!

 

[soco]

Oh no... Mr. Pink has a theory.

I'm not sure if this has been brought up in this thread, and I hope it has, but...

Has anyone considered the possibility that Apple is tasked with making enough phones to sell to millions more people worldwide than any other company selling phones of similar feature-sets?

Think of it this way, and I'm going to speak in made up terms for simplicity's sake; The next "BIG" thing in Android is going to be the Nexus Prime. Google and Samsung are tasked with getting 2,000,000 of these phones out the door for purchase by fellows like us.

On the other side of this, Apple is tasked with getting 20,000,000 of their iPhone 4S phones out the door.

These companies rake in quite a bit of cash year to year. I know Apple is up top on the hill, but Google does very very well for themselves. Do you think it's possible Google, given it's lesser demand and/or task at hand, has more money to put better tech into it's phone? All the while Apple has a bunch of money too, but needs to make far more phones to meet demand, and thus, can't put so much fancy tech into it's phone?

Apple didn't do a big fancy screen, a new curved glass or otherwise new design, NFC, LTE, WiMax, laser beams, unicorn semen, etc. because if they did, they wouldn't be able to meet demand and keep profits going in a manner that would allow them to still pay great attention to their other areas of business such as Mac and iPad.

I may be wrong, and I'm always up for correction. I just feel like it was a business decision and not necessarily our favored fruit company resting on any laurels.

 

[applefan289]

I'm not sure if this has been brought up in this thread, and I hope it has, but...

Has anyone considered the possibility that Apple is tasked with making enough phones to sell to millions more people worldwide than any other company selling phones of similar feature-sets?

Think of it this way, and I'm going to speak in made up terms for simplicity's sake; The next "BIG" thing in Android is going to be the Nexus Prime. Google and Samsung are tasked with getting 2,000,000 of these phones out the door for purchase by fellows like us.

On the other side of this, Apple is tasked with getting 20,000,000 of their iPhone 4S phones out the door.

These companies rake in quite a bit of cash year to year. I know Apple is up top on the hill, but Google does very very well for themselves. Do you think it's possible Google, given it's lesser demand and/or task at hand, has more money to put better tech into it's phone? All the while Apple has a bunch of money too, but needs to make far more phones to meet demand, and thus, can't put so much fancy tech into it's phone?

Apple didn't do a big fancy screen, a new curved glass or otherwise new design, NFC, LTE, WiMax, laser beams, unicorn semen, etc. because if they did, they wouldn't be able to meet demand and keep profits going in a manner that would allow them to still pay great attention to their other areas of business such as Mac and iPad.

I may be wrong, and I'm always up for correction. I just feel like it was a business decision and not necessarily our favored fruit company resting on any laurels.

I 100% agree with this theory.

 

[Calidude]

Apple didn't do a big fancy screen, a new curved glass or otherwise new design, NFC, LTE, WiMax, laser beams, unicorn semen, etc. because if they did, they wouldn't be able to meet demand and keep profits going in a manner that would allow them to still pay great attention to their other areas of business such as Mac and iPad.

Samsung makes TVs, laptops, dvd/bluray players, tablets, cameras, printers, hard drives, home appliances, displays for the iPhone, etc and they still do great around the world. Apple is the most valuable company in the world and only does a fraction of what Samsung does. Don't give me that excuse.

 

[admanimal]

Samsung makes TVs, laptops, dvd/bluray players, tablets, cameras, printers, hard drives, home appliances, displays for the iPhone, etc and they still do great around the world. Apple is the most valuable company in the world and only does a fraction of what Samsung does. Don't give me that excuse.

You realize that Samsung has almost 300,000 employees while Apple doesn't even have 50,000, right? Samsung also has about 4 times the money that Apple does ($300B vs. $75B). They might as well be about 10 different companies making all these things.

Apple is only the "most valuable company" in terms of market capitalization, i.e. how much their stock is worth. Many companies, including Samsung, have way more cash in the bank and far more resources available to create new products.

 

[Pomeless]

Wiz Khalifa Busted iPhone Glass

Don't worry about it... Just heed the sage words of Wiz Khalifa.


"Material things... We got our health and we got eachother... and I got some *****!"


...of course unless you don't have any health, friends, or *****.

In that case go ahead and obsess over your phone. It's pretty much all you have.

 

[applefan289]

Samsung makes TVs, laptops, dvd/bluray players, tablets, cameras, printers, hard drives, home appliances, displays for the iPhone, etc and they still do great around the world. Apple is the most valuable company in the world and only does a fraction of what Samsung does. Don't give me that excuse.

True also. I rely on Samsung for everything Apple does not do. Fridge, etc. But Samsung is not as good as Apple, and something tells me Apple has to put forth more effort for every little thing to keep their system working like it is.

Samsung is also a very established company that makes a range of items, but it's not a "special" company. It's just a high-end company.

Apple is a special company.

Don't give me that excuse

Also, Calidude, I don't see Samsung having 350+ stores and growing.

Apple has their marketing ways. They were not being lazy with this update. Just because it LOOKS the same doesn't mean it IS the same.

Just when *you* thought they're being lazy, here comes the next Apple product redesigned. They have a reason for everything.

 

[Risco]

That's why people are pissed off. With the kind of sales figures they are making, and a design as problematic to warrant its own Antennagate moniker as well as make people fear breaking the glass back, you'd think Apple would have listened to the consumer and made something we actually wanted.

And the fact that a 3.5 inch screen just doesn't cut it anymore.

Anybody who thinks this isn't a disappointment has either:

1) Never had an iPhone before.

2) Never had another smartphone other than the iPhone and religiously worships everything Apple does.

That's the truth and I'm sticking to it. It's shameful to see grown-up people act like this wasn't the biggest disappointment of the year.

They fixed the Antenna if you actually bothered to read about it.

 

[kappaknight]

Can you imagine Ford or BMW saying "here's a great new car that can do all these amazing new things, but er its going to look exactly the same as the one we were selling you a year and a half ago....er please still buy it right?"

It would never happen, what on earth were Apple thinking?....they are notorious for drip dripping out each tiny technological advancement in order to maximise profits but keeping with the smaller screen while all other smartphones are going 4"+? keeping a phone made of glass?....

Mental.

Yeah I can cause lots of cars don't get a new shell every year. In fact, many keep their looks for at least a few years. The Ford Mustang was introduced in 1964 - are you telling me there are currently 50+ different models of Mustangs (by Ford) with major exterior changes?

On a side note, most Lamborghini's in the last few years have looked exactly the same to me despite minor changes in their facade.

 

[admanimal]

On a side note, most Lamborghini's in the last few years have looked exactly the same to me despite minor changes in their facade.

And that's exactly why I refuse to buy one!