But then Apple would need to include a proper zoom. Something the camera system could really use.
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iPhone 15 Pro Leak Reveals Unified Volume Button and Mute Button
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But then Apple would need to include a proper zoom. Something the camera system could really use.
Siri has been poor for many years now and it’s about time they did something about it. When the likes of Amazon and Google who produced products after Apple are significantly better in regards to voice assistants, it’s unacceptable, especially as Apple charges a premium. My problem with Maps is it’s inaccurate and I couldn’t rely on it as a satnav. I don’t have the faith in it to set a destination to a place where I’m unfamiliar and for it to reliably get me there. The interface is nice but that’s about it. Considering Maps came out with the release of the iPhone 5 in 2012, Apple really have failed to develop this feature at an acceptable speed.
I’m not worried about how much profit Apple make and if they have to make less to improve the products, then absolutely they should be making less if that’s what it takes. The standard iPhones are pitched in a market where many of the hardware features Apple reserves for their Pro devices, are found on £700-£1000 phones by other manufacturers. Their business model is starting to date very poorly as the market standards appear to be innovating past what Apple seem to be offering. A dual camera system and a 60hz display on an £949 phone in 2023? No wonder we are seeing reports of slowed sales in this sector. Not everybody wants to pay upwards of £1300 to get features that can be found on smartphones elsewhere in the market. I prefer iOS myself but struggling to justify in my mind these exorbitant price hikes levelled at us.
I dont use google or Alexa. Siri suits my needs. In comparisons it’s a mixed bag. For me Siri does what I need it to do. I dont know if apple plans to turn Siri into an internet assistant or not. I don’t know how many really care.
I understand you are not concerned with apple finances, and you want what you want at the price point you want it at. Apple has been going down the path of differentiating it’s lower end models from its higher end models and that path is likely to continue.
If the change is not that significant, then why not just leave it alone.
Oh, sure, if they left it the way it is, I wouldn't complain (and assuming this change is coming, I won't complain either). My point is just that I've seen over the decade and a half since the original phone that even the most minor of changes will get a really loud chorus of 'wtf?!', generally not commensurate with the level of the change. I knew this one would be the same, and it looks like it's come to pass.
My prediction: we'll all enjoy our new phones about the same regardless of the mute button/switch setup.
Except for those that say they will never buy another iPhone because of this. Although they’ll be queuing on launch day 😂
Apple has certainly marketed Siri as a smart assistant with products like HomePods solely reliant on it. If people don’t care about accuracy, then I suppose Siri performs very well in sly hat respect. The whole ‘Ask Siri’ marketing project promotes Siri as a smart assistant for your device so I think people do care. I’d be happy if my Apple Watch could do the basics like set a timer every time I ask rather than tell me I don’t have a timer installed, only to then work on the fifth or sixth frustrated attempt. I don’t think there’s anyway of downplaying the fact Siri is poor compared to its rivals. With a company the size and resource rich as Apple, it should be one of the best.
Well I am a consumer, not a shareholder so I want a product that is competitive by offering what is standard elsewhere in the market. I’m aware Apple has been trying to differentiate ‘lower end models, from ‘higher end’ but the lower end now carries a high end price point. It feels like a forced model to hold back features as this is about money, not offering the customer a good choice of models. Consumers like myself are getting frustrated by this and it’s no longer just YouTubers picking up on it. I know you are one of the most fiercely defensive posters of Apple on this forum, but we all use these products and I’d hope we all share the same desire to see these products improve at a consumer level, not just as a shareholder level.
This path of dumbing down standard models and raising their prices over the £1k mark may well continue, but then reluctantly i’ll be in the percentage who moves on to what might be a better product elsewhere. The options are rich, unlike a few years ago where Apple were the leaders.
Except for those that say they will never buy another iPhone because of this. Although they’ll be queuing on launch day
I think in the grand scheme of things the iPhone has bigger issues than a haptic mute switch. The iPhone isn’t the must have it used to be as the market has matured and Android manufacturers are offering Pro specs on devices several hundred less. It’s become a buyers market, rather than one manufacturer leading the field.
The iPhone may not be the must have across the Atlantic but it is the must have in the US. How are the sales of those pro-spec android devices compare to the iphone? What are people buying?
people have different expectations for so called smart assistants. Siri performance is okay for what I request. But I agree with you within the apple ecosystem it should work properly.
People seem to be okay with this differentiation else they would have voted with their $$$. Well they kind of did as the pro models seemingly sold well. I’m not going to not get my next phone as some internet protest against apple pricing. Only by not buying apple products will they change their sales strategy. Apple operates like car manufacturers. But they have the customer base that is okay with the way they sell phones.
And there’s always the chance any awful change (if the execution is awful) will get fixed by cooler heads. Butterfly keyboards. Port hate.
Although, I’m still waiting to hear a good example of how the current design is broken. Bueller. Bueller?
The US has always had a bigger preference for the iPhone compared to Europe and right now a lot of that is because our exchange rate and inflation has driven iPhone pricing up over the last 12 months. The iPhone range occupies about 26-27% marketshare in Europe which is about the same as Samsung. The other 48-ish% is shared between the likes of Oppo, Xiaomi, Huawei and the rest. I know a lot of pro Apple people here will try and pin point sales per model to try and inflate success or point out Apple makes more profit, but at a consumer level that is irrelevant. Apple for example makes £598 profit from a £1099 iPhone 14 Pro (119% mark up), whereas other manufacturers perhaps opperate much lower to keep prices down. Its great for the figures at Apple, not so great for us. This is why I am a bit peeved by the fact the standard iPhone's are creeping up in price but features are stagnated and barely improved over a number of years.
You say they seem to be okay with the differentiation but for those not wanting to spent £1099 to £1749 for an iPhone Pro, there is not much choice if they want to remain with the iPhone. The data suggested that bigger phones tend to sell better in the market, yet reports suggest the iPhone 14 Plus has been disappointing. Could it be the £949 starting price? Some may have paid the extra £150 to downsize but spec up with the 14 Pro, but then the market suggests upgrades across the industry are down. I'm sure its different in the US where you can get a 14 Pro for the same price as a European 14 Plus. People are voting with their wallets in my part of the World where the cost of living is extortionate at the moment with a monthly gas and electricity bill being roughly half the retail cost of an iPhone 14 Pro. People have no choice but to cut back and I have noticed it even amongst my peers who are middle to high earners. This is probably why phone upgrades are generally down and have been for a number of years.
I don't know that Apple claimed the current design was broken.
The new design, however, does make for a more intuitive 'action button' if Apple were to make it assignable. E.g., if I could map it to launch the camera, I would enjoy that. Yes, they could technically add support to be able to map the current rocker switch, but that's an awkward use case (flip the switch to the 'other' position to launch the camera would feel weird).
Exactly, that's my point.
I questioned the motivation for a possible mute button change. The two main reasons deserving of a design change are to fix aspects of a broken design or improve a good design. I can't see anything broken with the current mute button that would drive the need for a change. The current button is well-optimized for its function, to be quickly-activated *and* provide a non-contact confirmation of the mute state. ("non-contact" means you don't need to even touch the phone).
So therefore, the driver for any change to the mute switch must be Apple thinking they're improving iPhone function.
So let's explore that.
To date, Apple has considered volume, power, and mute to be "high priority" functions deserving their own button. (the iPhone/iPad home button was once a high priority button but no longer; now it's relegated as a lower-priority function enacted by screen swipes), bunched in to the secondary functions enacted by swipes, the control center, or buried within the Settings. Things like camera, timer, flashlight, rotate, etc. Actually, they semi-prioritized camera & flashlight by making them actionable on the Lock Screen, and they retained the ability to use the volume buttons as shutter clicks.
If a driver (for Apple) is to improve function by changing a primary functions to be a reprogrammable 3rd button for secondary functions, then why not add more reprogrammable buttons?
Basically, it's still not clear to me whether any simplified solid state mute button (that would possibly be reprogrammable), should it come to be, is really an improvement or just a change. It's certainly not fixing anything broken. And it'd be opposite of an improvement for me who prefers the current mute slider because of how it confirms the mute state physically and visually, either by touch in a pocket or by sight when placed on a table.
The only answer can be; it'd be a change, for sake of a change, and at the expense of the decrease in functionality of the current mute slider.
Maybe I'd grow to like a touch mute button, but there's no way I could see there being a touchless visual indication of mute state, which is great for me when my phone is on the desk in a meeting 10x/day and I don't want to touch my phone to verify the mute.
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Exactly, that's my point.
I can't see anything broken with the current mute button that would drive the need for a change. The current button is well-optimized for its function, to be quickly-activated *and* provide a non-contact confirmation of the mute state. ("non-contact" means you don't need to even touch the phone).
So therefore, the driver for any change to the mute switch must be Apple thinking they're improving iPhone function.
So let's explore that.
To date, Apple has considered volume, power, and mute to be "high priority" functions deserving their own button. (the iPhone/iPad home button was once a high priority button but no longer; now it's relegated as a lower-priority function enacted by screen swipes), bunched in to the secondary functions enacted by swipes, the control center, or buried within the Settings. Things like camera, timer, flashlight, rotate, etc. Actually, they semi-prioritized camera & flashlight by making them actionable on the Lock Screen, and they retained the ability to use the volume buttons as shutter clicks.
If a driver (for Apple) is to improve function by changing a primary functions to be a reprogrammable 3rd button for secondary functions, then why not add more reprogrammable buttons?
Basically, it's still not clear to me whether any simplified solid state mute button (that would possibly be reprogrammable), should it come to be, is really an improvement or just a change. It's certainly not fixing anything broken. And it'd be opposite of an improvement for me who prefers the current mute slider because of how it confirms the mute state physically and visually, either by touch in a pocket or by sight when placed on a table.
The only answer can be; it'd be a change, for sake of a change, and at the expense of the decrease in functionality of the current mute slider.
Maybe I'd grow to like a touch mute button, but there's no way I could see there being a touchless visual indication of mute state, which is great for me when my phone is on the desk in a meeting 10x/day and I don't want to touch my phone to verify the mute.
It’ll also enable Apple to justify another price hike to themselves as it’ll be a physical hardware change. It’s getting more and more difficult to innovate in this market as smartphones have reached a point where they are good enough for years of use and people know what they want and need. For me this sort of irrelevant change is just Apple trying something to get more money out of the yearly upgraders.
Because you or average users can't understand doesn't mean its not the best option. Takes a bit of vision to see past that.
It’s probably more a case that average users can’t be bothered to use it, it’s easy enough to understand. So many new features come to iPhones and are tried when new and then ignored thereafter. Shortcuts is one for me. I set up loads of shortcuts and gestures and no longer bother with them as I just want to use simple functions without the effort. It’s why I use an iPhone after all.
Lmao. So when you look at the new button and there is a magic orange indicator for mute...you just wont be able to see it or something?