Dual Camera Said to Be Exclusive to 5.5-Inch iPhone 7

[sofila]

Bigger phone has more hardware. No duh. Big deal.

This is like people expecting a huge V8 engine in a subcompact car.

You can't expect a sub compact car to have an engine as large as a full sized car.

Same with phones. A large phone just has way more room to put more hardware.

iPhone 7 Pro - 5.5 inch screen, 32GB, dual camera's $750
iPhone 7 - 4.7 inch, 16 GB, single camera $650

I see no problem with this lineup

Yes. 16 or 32 GB it's a matter of physical space.

 

[johngordon]

Sure is, and apple has always been good at it. But they have gotten away with it because they had innovation around every corner, and a leader that people thought was outstanding and fanatical. Tim Cook is not looked upon the same as Steve is, and apple's products have lost their magic. All iterations since x have been small "just barely different enough to succeed another 12 months" type changes.

One may say it's because the smartphone marketplace is maturing, but if you take a look at apple during Steve Jobs, and after Steve Jobs, it's painstakingly obvious that there is more going on.

This whole thing about evolution, not revolution, is usually just lazy journalism.

If, for example, each iPhone has only seen iterations barely different from the last one, then iPhone 6S would be barley distinguishable from the original iPhone.

And yet, it isn't. It is clearly leaps and bounds better in every respect.

And there are definitely rose tinted glasses at work here - its not actually as though Steve Jobs was pulling some revolutionary product from his backside every time he walked on a stage.

There was the original Mac, the iPod and the iPhone. The iPad to a lesser degree - obviously not just a bigger iPhone in a practical sense, but in most technical respects, it was exactly that.

 

[Steve121178]

what if the screen was bigger but the device itself was the same size

Then that's fine.

 

[abcdefg12345]

Why not have 6 models the Pro model has dual camera and Optical image stabilisation, that way if we want extra features without larger screen we can buy the pro model

the pro model costs $200 extra and you get double storage, dual camera and optical image stabilisation

iPhone 7: 4.7 inch
$600: 32gb
$700: 64gb
$800: 128gb
iPhone 7 Pro: 4.7 inch
$800: 64gb
$900: 128gb
$1000: 256gb
iPhone 7 Plus: 5.5 inch
$700: 32gb
$800: 64gb
$900: 128gb
iPhone 7 Pro Plus: 5.5 inch
$900: 64gb
$1000: 128gb
$1100: 256gb
iPhone 7 Mini: 4 inch
$400: 16gb
$500: 32gb
$600: 64gb
iPhone 7 Pro Mini: 4 inch
$600: 32gb
$700: 64gb
$800: 128gb

 

[warrior2000]

Yes. 16 or 32 GB it's a matter of physical space.

We are talking about a dual camera system not fitting in the 4.7 phone not flash memory

 

[TommyA6]

So Apple should spend time and money re-engineering Touch ID to fit a pill shaped home button (a home button that is about as iconic as you can get in a product) to shave a few mm off the top and bottom bezels? That's ridiculous. There are patent applications that indicate Apple is working on imbedding the home button/Touch ID into the screen. Don't change anything until you can radically change it IMO.

iOS 6 look was also super iconic... Until it became stale.

 

[GPDawes]

Everything is getting smaller in the mac laptop world. Yet iphones are getting larger.
Look I dont want a large phone that dont fit in my pocket or falls out of my pocket too easily.

I have a 6 its large. I find it hard to use with my small hands. You cant discriminate a user for choosing a non plus model. Why does the biggest always have to be the best or the pro model. laptops i can choose 13 or 15" , 17" is no more. Phones should be similar, large phones where greed and desire for more functionality over usability will utltimately cause a bad user experience.

I would love an iphone that would fit in my pocket. A flip iphone/ If the iphone folded in half it would be great in my pocket. Even better if I could make calls without unfolding it fully. I miss my old motorola flip phone. After all , most laptop hinge and fold in half to become usable. why not a phone. Large when required, discrete when folded. Not pocket filling.

Have some thought , bigger is not always better. Practicality has to come into play.

 

[warrior2000]

Everything is getting smaller in the mac laptop world. Yet iphones are getting larger.
Look I dont want a large phone that dont fit in my pocket or falls out of my pocket too easily.

I have a 6 its large. I find it hard to use with my small hands. You cant discriminate a user for choosing a non plus model. Why does the biggest always have to be the best or the pro model. laptops i can choose 13 or 15" , 17" is no more. Phones should be similar, large phones where greed and desire for more functionality over usability will utltimately cause a bad user experience.

I would love an iphone that would fit in my pocket. A flip iphone/ If the iphone folded in half it would be great in my pocket. Even better if I could make calls without unfolding it fully. I miss my old motorola flip phone. After all , most laptop hinge and fold in half to become usable. why not a phone. Large when required, discrete when folded. Not pocket filling.

Have some thought , bigger is not always better. Practicality has to come into play.

Its physical limitations. They just can't pack all the features and hardware of an 5.5 inch phone in a 4.0 inch frame.

Look at Android. There are no 4.0 inch phones that come even close to matching the SE.

Second the market as a whole likes larger phones. You can't expect Apple to cater to a much smaller user base (4 inch users) just as much as the mass market (4.7 inch and 5.5). I get it though. I feel the same way about cars. They keep getting bigger and bigger. And the small cars rarely get the premium features.

 

[Mac 128]

Apple updates the camera with every iPhone, I think there will be other features they just haven't leaked out yet so we don't know what they are.

No they don't. The 8mp camera remained unchanged for several generations. Apple routinely argued that pixel count did not improve the camera.

Some would say that the current 12mp camera and the protruding camera bump was a compromise made to attract customers who bought into pixel hype.

 

[Dave245]

No they don't. The 8mp camera remained unchanged for several generations. Apple routinely argued that pixel count did not improve the camera.

Some would say that the current 12mp camera and the protruding camera bump was a compromise made to attract customers who bought into pixel hype.

I didn't say they updated the megapixel every generation, but they do update it making it better with every generation, that's why for a number of years the iPhone has been called the best camera in a smartphone.

Example http://m.imore.com/iphone-5s-vs-iphone-5c-vs-iphone-5-camera-shootout

 

[applezulu]

So you're actually confirming the potential problems that come with too much of fragmentation. No one says Apple is there yet. The concern is that Apple is actually (again!) moving there. And unfortunately there is no definitive threshold, below which one does not need to expect any fragmentation-related problems.

You missed the "orders of magnitude" part of my comment. Microsoft and Google/Android have been writing operating systems to function on literally hundreds (thousands?) of different devices, each with multitudes of component variables. This creates more crashes, bugs and compatibility issues, but apparently not so much so that they can't find people to buy the things. Some consumers actually prefer this, and will take the inherent issues in order to revel in the stats of their multitude of components. (They are the people who frequently post here to deride Apple for not including some particular favored component they view as cutting-edge.)

That's not Apple's business model, and Apple's so-called "fragmentation" isn't anywhere near that league. The list of current and legacy devices that are rated to run on iOS 9.x is quite short, and all of them were designed in collaboration with iOS, thus, for all practical purposes all of the hardware variables are known to the software engineers. You mentioned multiple manufacturers existing for some individual components but ignore the fact that those manufacturers are required to meet the exacting specifications for those components in order to get a pass to play in the pool. This severely limits or eliminates any subsequent variability that would have to be accounted for in the software. So you're still looking at a very short list of devices with a very short list of actual variations of included components.

There is undoubtedly some fragmentation threshold where the hardware variables introduced will cause inherent instability within the software environment. Apple is likely nowhere near that threshold. You also forget one other part of the equation. This thread originated with the speculation that a new multi-lens camera might be introduced in the iPhone 7 line, but only for the biggest phone. If that actually happens, it will coincide with the introduction of iOS 10, and as that is introduced, some number of the oldest legacy devices will be excluded from the iOS update. So as they add variables with the newest devices, they are subtracting variables with the oldest devices. Is that a one-for-one swap? Who knows? You can be pretty certain that it's not an orders-of-magnitude proposition, though. So I wouldn't worry too much about "fragmentation" as an issue.

 

[ksnell]

Hopefully the average Joe will find this forum and learn. That's what I did. I could just rely on my very tech savvy husband to pick my gear for me but I just can't be that passive a consumer.

I hate not knowing what I'm buying. I research everything. Whether it's filters for my aquarium or the best vacuum cleaner for my needs, not a penny gets spent unless I know exactly what I'm buying out of all feasible options. I didn't end up with a car that's served me fabulously for 24 years by chance.

If someone wants to blindly shell out several hundred dollars without knowing what the full range of their options are, that's on them. I think it's crazy when the info is out there for free.

Couldn't agree more. I am a fellow over-researcher but unfortunately the average consumer is not that diligent and will just go for what's easy a lot of the time, so if you want to be successful, you simplify.


This is how Jobs envisioned it, for simplicity (attached).

 

[TommyA6]

By only comparing it to raw material cost? Then you're the one who talked BS.

Have you ever produce something?
[doublepost=1459787523][/doublepost]

Your iPhone focused slowly? What model? If it's the one in your signature then you're using the same model as mine and mine focuses very quick without a need for gimmick marketing term.

Whenever competition has something better, it's always a gimmick.
S7 focuses much faster in lower light and produces much better pictures in those kinds of conditions. That much is a fact.
[doublepost=1459869473][/doublepost]

Its about physical limitations. They just can't fit the dual camera's in the much smaller 4.7 phone.
Its the same reason why there is no 3D touch in the SE. No space.

Or would you rather Apple not include the dual camera in the 7+?

No. The reason is $$$. SE almost certainly wouldn't have been priced at $399 had it included 3D touch.

 

[Tycho24]

what a mistake. the fragmentation is nasty. that 5.5 is WAY to large for active people.

My 4.7 even feels slightly large but i've come to enjoy it. Works for business and is comfortable enough during gym sessions and jogs. But fragmenting it with something so important as the camera is such a mistake.

Apples move and im sure i won't hurt them as a departing customer, but if the S8E builds off of the S7, that'll be my next phone.

I was in the "well, it's only OIS... I'll be ok" camp, but now that it may be an actual 2nd camera I'd be going without in a flagship device in the most popular size; I'm a bit more concerned. =/

 

[dampfnudel]

Why not have 6 models the Pro model has dual camera and Optical image stabilisation, that way if we want extra features without larger screen we can buy the pro model

the pro model costs $200 extra and you get double storage, dual camera and optical image stabilisation

iPhone 7: 4.7 inch
$600: 32gb
$700: 64gb
$800: 128gb
iPhone 7 Pro: 4.7 inch
$800: 64gb
$900: 128gb
$1000: 256gb
iPhone 7 Plus: 5.5 inch
$700: 32gb
$800: 64gb
$900: 128gb
iPhone 7 Pro Plus: 5.5 inch
$900: 64gb
$1000: 128gb
$1100: 256gb
iPhone 7 Mini: 4 inch
$400: 16gb
$500: 32gb
$600: 64gb
iPhone 7 Pro Mini: 4 inch
$600: 32gb
$700: 64gb
$800: 128gb

I seriously doubt that there will be a iPhone 7 mini 4", let alone a Pro mini 4" with OIS this year. The SE will be the only 4" option until next year. Maybe the iPhone lineup this Fall will be:

iPhone SE
$349: 16GB (maybe 32GB?)
$449: 64GB

iPhone ME (4.7") single-lens camera
$549: 32GB
$649: 64GB
$749: 128GB

iPhone LE (5.5") dual-lens camera
$649: 32GB
$749: 64GB
$849: 128GB
$949: 256GB

The ME (Medium Edition) and LE (Large Edition) will look similar to the 6/6s. A new, significantly redesigned iPhone will be released next year to mark the tenth anniversary of the iPhone. That's my two cents.

 

[warrior2000]

Whenever competition has something better, it's always a gimmick.
S7 focuses much faster in lower light and produces much better pictures in those kinds of conditions. That much is a fact.
[doublepost=1459869473][/doublepost]
No. The reason is $$$. SE almost certainly wouldn't have been priced at $399 had it included 3D touch.

SE could not fit 3D touch including the taptic engine. Just look at the teardowns of the 6s and see how much space 3d touch hardware takes up. Then look at the SE teardown. There is no way that hardware could fit in their.

 

[Dave245]

I seriously doubt that there will be a iPhone 7 mini 4", let alone a Pro mini 4" with OIS this year. The SE will be the only 4" option until next year. Maybe the iPhone lineup this Fall will be:

iPhone SE
$349: 16GB (maybe 32GB?)
$449: 64GB

iPhone ME (4.7") single-lens camera
$549: 32GB
$649: 64GB
$749: 128GB

iPhone LE (5.5") dual-lens camera
$649: 32GB
$749: 64GB
$849: 128GB
$949: 256GB

The ME (Medium Edition) and LE (Large Edition) will look similar to the 6/6s. A new, significantly redesigned iPhone will be released next year to mark the tenth anniversary of the iPhone. That's my two cents.

I think it will look the same as the 6 and 6S but with a few tweaks, but I do think there will more features to the 7 then the dual camera, Apple have to give people a reason to buy it and upgrade, even the 6S got 3D Touch, 12MP camera, 4K video recording and Live Photos.

 

[dampfnudel]

I think it will look the same as the 6 and 6S but with a few tweaks, but I do think there will more features to the 7 then the dual camera, Apple have to give people a reason to buy it and upgrade, even the 6S got 3D Touch, 12MP camera, 4K video recording and Live Photos.

It will get stereo speakers.

 

[Dave245]

It will get stereo speakers.

So stereo speakers and dual camera, I think there will be more that we don't know about yet because they haven't leaked. The design may be similar but I think there will be more features, maybe the removal of the headphone jack has something to do with it as well.

 

[dampfnudel]

So stereo speakers and dual camera, I think there will be more that we don't know about yet because they haven't leaked. The design may be similar but I think there will be more features, maybe the removal of the headphone jack has something to do with it as well.

The removal of the headphone jack will allow thinner designs in the future, put it on a path to being waterproof/resistant, allow stereo speakers, remove what Apple sees as technologically obsolete, push companies to improve their wireless offerings, generate more revenue from headphone adapters, etc.

 

[Dave245]

The removal of the headphone jack will allow thinner designs in the future, put it on a path to being waterproof/resistant, allow stereo speakers, remove what Apple sees as technologically obsolete, push companies to improve their wireless offerings, generate more revenue from headphone adapters, etc.

Good point, maybe the iPhone 7S will be waterproof, the S models tend to have some sort of big feature although at the moment that is rumoured to be OLED screens. I still think that the dual camera is not the only feature for the 7, especially if it's only going to be included in the 5.5" that would leave the smaller 7 model without a big enough feature for people to upgrade and Apple will want to give people a reason to buy the 7.

 

[DoctorTech]

They article left that out. There has been rumors that one lens was a zoom and one was wide-angle.
I've seen something on using it for focusing too (I think?).

(3D could be fun.)

Gary

I thought I had once read there was a significant improvement in low light capability with dual lenses. Twice as many photons entering the camera through dual apertures.

 

[dampfnudel]

Good point, maybe the iPhone 7S will be waterproof, the S models tend to have some sort of big feature although at the moment that is rumoured to be OLED screens. I still think that the dual camera is not the only feature for the 7, especially if it's only going to be included in the 5.5" that would leave the smaller 7 model without a big enough feature for people to upgrade and Apple will want to give people a reason to buy the 7.

I think Apple will drop the 's' designation, because Apple probably has realized that in the minds of a significant portion of the iPhone-buying population, 's' stands for same look. That's why I'm speculating with the ME/LE designations. As for a compelling reason to purchase an iPhone [ME/LE], you have to realize that we are now experiencing a saturated, mature market where subsidized contracts have largely gone the way of the dinosaurs. In other words, every iPhone may need to look cosmetically different, even if minor from each other. Improvements from year to year may be a little more subtle as well. The two year "schedule" doesn't hold water anymore. It's not 2010 anymore.

 

[Mac 128]

I didn't say they updated the megapixel every generation, but they do update it making it better with every generation, that's why for a number of years the iPhone has been called the best camera in a smartphone.

Example http://m.imore.com/iphone-5s-vs-iphone-5c-vs-iphone-5-camera-shootout

Fair enough, but even your article is hard pressed to make a case for significant differences between the photos captured by those phones, most of which are the result of software improvements taking advantage of processor speed. Not a huge reason to upgrade between any of those phones. So I guess that's to your original point that they actually need to do something more ...

No. The reason is $$$. SE almost certainly wouldn't have been priced at $399 had it included 3D touch.

No argument there. If Apple could have squeezed 3D Touch into the SE, which I seriously doubt, then they might have charged $50 more.

The removal of the headphone jack will allow thinner designs in the future, put it on a path to being waterproof/resistant, allow stereo speakers, remove what Apple sees as technologically obsolete, push companies to improve their wireless offerings, generate more revenue from headphone adapters, etc.

Stereo speakers on an even thinner phone are completely pointless. If Apple removes the headphone jack for something that pointless, I'll be seriously disappointed.

 

[huntermaclean]

what a mistake. the fragmentation is nasty. that 5.5 is WAY to large for active people.

My 4.7 even feels slightly large but i've come to enjoy it. Works for business and is comfortable enough during gym sessions and jogs. But fragmenting it with something so important as the camera is such a mistake.

I'm an ultra runner and I own the 6 Plus. I don't think it's too big, I just slap it on my arm or throw it in my pack and go. But that could be just me.