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In-Cell Touch Technology Could Help Apple Reduce Next iPhone's Thickness by 15%
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If the camera sensor needs the space Apple will taper the design, à la the 4S teardrop redesign that never came to fruition. Tapered edges are in the design sensibility of Apple's mobile devices (iPad) and have the psychological effect of making things seem thinner than they are (1st gen MBA, which had all sides tapered and looked really slick). I would be surprised if the next iPhone didn't have tapered edges. One of the primary criticisms I noted for the 4/4S design was that it's blocky/ingot-esque.
Hopefully Apple will select a high watt hour battery that will afford a longer charge while maintaining or reducing the physical size of the battery. (I don't think higher Wh always means larger, although someone please correct me if I'm wrong.) Such a battery might cut into profit margins, but I think it's necessary for Apple to retain their edge when it come to form factor.
steve-p
macrumors 68000
A whole 1.4mm thinner, big whoop. Who says "Oh I really like that iPhone with its great integration, app support and cloud infrastructure, but that rival phone is 1.4mm thinner so I'll go with that one instead". No-one really cares about shaving millimetres off except the marketing department.
No
They wouldn't get rid of the glass back or the flat edges. It's one of the only things that makes it look different from other phones.
They wouldn't get rid of the glass back or the flat edges. It's one of the only things that makes it look different from other phones.
Under currently available batteries, more WH always means larger. IBM just announced a new battery type, that is designed to make it into cars that would have dramatically higher energy density, but the technology doesn't seem yet useful in mobile electronics, as it requires the battery to breath, and as with older air technologies that have been moved to mobile electronics, the casings are dramatically larger than the batteries, so at relatively small sizes, once you solve the environmental issues you may suffer dramatically from weight and size issues.
The best techniques will be in use efficiencies for at least the next few years. This is better screens, better memory, better CPU usage, better GPU usage, more efficient radios.
Rocketman
macrumors 603
I for one hope they translate any thickness savings to increased battery mass. The hope for Zinc-air batteries as used in some laptops, is now practical on phones with Li-air and solid state air moving technology. That technology improves volume metric battery capacity by more than 6x and possibly is only a couple of years off and is an IBM thing.
Rocketman
Rocketman
LTE doesn't kill battery life, it ruthlessly murders it, chops it up, cooks it, and then rips through it with the finest corinthian spices.
The only good thing about this story is it predicts a metal back for the iPhone 5, lets hope Liquid Metal, so long as it doesn't kill the radio signals! But otherwise it won't impact the phones thickness if they still use a glass back looking at that diagram.
bn-7bc
macrumors 6502a
I hear this a lot, so my question is: Does LTE use more battery under similar signal conditions and same amount of data transferred?
IMHO when you compare two technologies you have to keep all things equal otherwise your results are useless (no I'm not a scientist, but there method is useful in other fields)
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Make it a little thinner but pack in more battery. Make it slightly thinner with each iphone. It already is rediculusly thin, I don't really even care for it being thinner or lighter.
width
Apple's competitors can easily slim their designs because they're not using the aesthetically pleasing glass that Apple is, and their screens are a ridiculously huge ~4.5" - which makes their phones significantly taller and wider, allowing the batteries to be much, much thinner.
Apple's competitors can easily slim their designs because they're not using the aesthetically pleasing glass that Apple is, and their screens are a ridiculously huge ~4.5" - which makes their phones significantly taller and wider, allowing the batteries to be much, much thinner.
chrmjenkins
macrumors 603
Exactly. Besides, who thinks the iphone 4/4S needs to be thinner? Use extra space for battery/components please.
I'd rather they focus their time on getting the carriers up to speed...literally. Verizon's data is so slow where I am. The phone can be paper thin, but if it downloads data at a snail's pace it's not worth it to me.
This claim is misleading to say the least. The new tech reduces screen thickness from 2.98mm to 2.54mm. That's just 0.44mm or meager 4.7% of the total thickness of iPhone 4S (and not the claimed 15%).
chrmjenkins
macrumors 603
The headline says it enables, not solely responsible. It assumes the battery and back get thinner too.
Who says the iPhone needs to be thinner? I hate the way Androids feel in your hands. I'd rather Apple shrink everything, keep the iPhone the same thickness, and pack in a thicker battery for improved battery life! 😀
So you never actually currently experience how nice it is to hold your 3GS? You only remember how it felt in the past, when you hold it in the present?
Whoa...you just blew my mind!
If I can't slice a tomato with it, it isn't work talking on.
This is ridiculous. The phone doesn't need to be any thinner, and certainly not to "compete" with Android phones.
Thinner components are fine and cool, that means you have more space for components like a bigger battery (absent from the image attached to the article) or your components can be even stronger at the same size.
This is ridiculous. The phone doesn't need to be any thinner, and certainly not to "compete" with Android phones.
Thinner components are fine and cool, that means you have more space for components like a bigger battery (absent from the image attached to the article) or your components can be even stronger at the same size.
fletch33
macrumors regular
my Droid RAZR is 7.1mm and grabbing and holding is no problem and feels comfortable HOWEVER i keep my phones in my front pocket and i often forget it is in there and think i forgot it. when it is that thin and light you really can lose it in your pocket.
The reason for poor battery life on current phones is because LTE is needed as a separate chip thus drawing more power. The Snapdragon S4, new Samsung Exynos, and presumably whatever Apple uses for their chip will have integrated LTE on a smaller die and battery life will be comparable to using 3G on your current iphone.
cocky jeremy
Suspended
Yup. The iPhone is plenty thin enough. Leave it as is to put better camera sensors and bigger batteries inside. As far as size, the iPhone is perfectly fine. Work on nothing but performance from here on out. I don't need my phone to be an extra .5 mm thinner. It's pointless.