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Other Ground breaking features in upcoming iPhones?

T

tonybarnaby

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 3, 2017
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I'm coming up on 2 months with my 8 plus, and 2 months for my wife with her X. She has no desire to upgrade, but my plan was to get an X plus this fall. The more I use the 8 plus, the more I realize I don't really think an X plus is going to be ground breaking for me. I'm coming from an s8+, so AMOLED isn't something I need to have. The X plus sounds like a bigger and better s8+.

There are only a few things that will make it a must have for me:

Band 71
True 5G
Some new battery tech

I'm pretty sure the only one of those we will get is band 71. It depends how soon it's adopted and an everyday thing. Without any of these, an X plus is just a bigger and nicer looking phone, but doesn't change my user experience. I got a text from TMO saying I was automatically enrolled into the annual upgrade program, but part of me feels like it's always better to sell a phone on swappa and buy a new one. It's paid off, so I might as well.

It will probably come down to how well the 8 plus holds up. I can't imagine the a11 not being good for 3-4 years, but what kind of havoc will iOS 12 or even iOS 13 do to the phone? This is my first iPhone, and one of the main draws was buying a phone I expected to last me 3-4 years. I'm tired of going thru 3+ Android phones a year.

Anyone think we will see any of my 3 main must have features in 2018?
 
5G? We don't even have networks supporting it. Apple usually waits 2 years after network deployment to ensure bugs have been worked out of the radio chips.

Battery tech? Unknown.

As per B71, this is not Apple, but rather Qualcomm or Intel. I don't see any new ground breaking features happening. What I see is the fixing of the issues that plague the new lineup.
 
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jav6454 said:
5G? We don't even have networks supporting it. Apple usually waits 2 years after network deployment to ensure bugs have been worked out of the radio chips.

Battery tech? Unknown.

As per B71, this is not Apple, but rather Qualcomm or Intel. I don't see any new ground breaking features happening. What I see is the fixing of the issues that plague the new lineup.
Click to expand...
I guess I'll wait and see if Apple decides to cripple the 8 plus when iOS 12 comes out then. It's great in it's current state to me. What are the current issues you referenced?
 
2018 - Gigabit LTE for more reliable network connections, Apple-developed power management IC
2019 - 5G chipset; rear dot projector for sensing depth to improve photos and AR

A12 will probably feature better much better graphics performance. A11 was the first time Apple developed an in-house GPU.
 
No screen, no onscreen keyboard. Just a little cube that projects an image and a novel way to interface with it.

I feel modern devices are already groundbreaking. If you want the next level this is it. A complete rethink on how it looks and how we interface with it.

Otherwise, it's just an evolution of the same, wonderful thing. I'm ok with that. Others, not so much. Except they don't realize what they're asking when they ask for "groundbreaking".
 
I agree with DNichter. Hardware is completely superficial and has its limitations in some respects. Software is imperative in the user experience and ultimately will lead the way long term.
 
As tech enthusiast we are too hard to please and nothing will be truly "ground breaking". Ground breaking is also subjective.

FaceID for example in its current implementation could be considered ground breaking however many people just see natural evolution of facial recognition that other manufacturers have implemented for years. They are unwilling to look passed the end result (phone unlocks when it sees your face) to see how it works.

Apple updates are also incremental. You likely being a tech enthusiast will more than likely not find anything that impressive from the next iPhone unless something in particular peaks your interest. You mention "bigger and better" like (and I could be wrong) bigger IS better. That is completely uninteresting for me and prefer smaller phones.

I would expect 5G integration to be awhile. Probably one of the last to the market similar to LTE depending on the radios Apple uses. Until its wide spread the cost (battery life due to inefficient initial radio designs) vs reward (speeds we aren't even seeing with current techs) isn't there.

Battery tech is unlikely to change for a while. Even once something ground breaking is realized it will be way to expensive for the production requirements of the iPhone. Expect to see something in more niche devices. Currently device efficiency is key and Apple has been reported on working on vastly superior energy management system for upcoming iOS devices.
 
The x is apples best attempt at ground breaking and imo there is little ground breaking technology in the X. That being said I'm not sure we'll see any major updates in 2018
 
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I want 3 features I've seen in the pixel 2 that I want on the iphone.
  1. PIP
  2. Split screen, 2 window even at least in landscape mode
  3. An updated portrait mode to be as sharp as the pixel with a single lens
  4. Waze like features in the apple maps
hmmm I guess this is more IOS requests.
 
I just don’t think smart phones are capable of anything “ground breaking” any longer. Truly a stale category now imo.

The software, as good as it can get will always be limited by the hardware. What else can a manufacturer do to a smart phone?

They will get faster, the cameras will get better and the battery last longer. But I wouldn’t really call that ground breaking.
 
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what will be groundbreaking, imo, is seeing the prices fall to keep sales up as innovation declines/ maxes out for a smartphone

then again, maybe Apple is counting on those that upgrade every year with the "zero interest financing" to just have a monthly payment forever on their phones
 
The phone, for all intent and purpose, is a compact computer which, in my opinion, can already do more than we actually need at this point in time. I am happy with the iPhone X. If I need to accomplish a task that can’t be done on the phone, I use my new IMac.
 
It's not expected for hardware to change every year, but the changes we do see are not enticing others to upgrade, partially because of price point. Others are more than content enough to use their devices for what they need on daily basis. And iPhones have a long life span, which some will use until they are no longer supported with iOS.
 
Relentless Power said:
I agree with DNichter. Hardware is completely superficial and has its limitations in some respects. Software is imperative in the user experience and ultimately will lead the way long term.
Click to expand...

I was holding my friend's Pixel 2 while it vibrated in my hand and boy, it felt bad. While many people understate it, hardware improvements like the taptic engine or TrueDepth's attention awareness are the bits that make the software experience more immersive and unbeatable imo.

It's these kinds of things that keep me interested in the next iPhones.
 
tonybarnaby said:
I'm coming up on 2 months with my 8 plus, and 2 months for my wife with her X. She has no desire to upgrade, but my plan was to get an X plus this fall. The more I use the 8 plus, the more I realize I don't really think an X plus is going to be ground breaking for me. I'm coming from an s8+, so AMOLED isn't something I need to have. The X plus sounds like a bigger and better s8+.

There are only a few things that will make it a must have for me:

Band 71
True 5G
Some new battery tech

I'm pretty sure the only one of those we will get is band 71. It depends how soon it's adopted and an everyday thing. Without any of these, an X plus is just a bigger and nicer looking phone, but doesn't change my user experience. I got a text from TMO saying I was automatically enrolled into the annual upgrade program, but part of me feels like it's always better to sell a phone on swappa and buy a new one. It's paid off, so I might as well.

It will probably come down to how well the 8 plus holds up. I can't imagine the a11 not being good for 3-4 years, but what kind of havoc will iOS 12 or even iOS 13 do to the phone? This is my first iPhone, and one of the main draws was buying a phone I expected to last me 3-4 years. I'm tired of going thru 3+ Android phones a year.

Anyone think we will see any of my 3 main must have features in 2018?
Click to expand...

3D screen like Nintendo 3ds XL.
 
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