iPhone 6 Interest Remains Strong as Consumers Look to Larger Displays

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Kind of surprising that the 4.7" (38%) over the 5.5" at 28%! I thought it would be the other way around.

There's pricing bias in the survey. The survey makers decided that the 5.5" should be shown at $100 more. And the 4" models have the most attractive (price) options in the survey. I suspect the pie would look very different if the price variable was removed and people voted solely on size of screen.

It's not an automatic that a 5.5" iPhone should cost more than a 4.7" iPhone which should cost more than a 4" iPhone. We assume that because there's recurring rumors of Apple seeking a $100 price hike and we're mentally associating that with the 5.5". But it doesn't HAVE to involve in that kind of pricing. I wonder what the pie would look like if the "miniaturization costs more" mentality was applied such that the 5.5" was free*, the 4.7" cost more and the 4" cost the most.

I look at the real-world "survey" of what models are being pushed. I think if there was all this genuine demand for "smart phone" nano, the Android makers would have a few models to feed that demand. And those would be pushed to highlight a viable fit for that great demand. Where are those commercials? Where are those point-of-sale exhibits in stores pushing the small?

And it seems there would be this defection from iPhones to small-screen Androids as a kind of mirror of those who went to big-screen Androids instead of iPhones for the last couple of years. Or at least big threats of defection if Apple doesn't roll out an iPhone 6 at 4". There's a little of that around here but it seems the <=4" crowd is increasingly embracing moving to 4.7" while finding "need new pants pockets" issues with the 5.5" rumor.

Those who are really locked on that <=4" or bust should conceptually follow through by either clinging to 4" iPhones or shifting away to <=4" Androids. But I have HUGE doubts that there will be much of the latter. Instead, I think it's a "same old thing" issue: 4" is the currently ordained "perfect" size per Apple's current product mix. Until that changes, the accumulating rumors are still rumors so there's the possibility >4" won't happen. If it does, the mass sentiment of perfection will shift… as it does just about every time that Apple decides to make such a change.

 

[bb-15]

This is a US customer survey.

Daryanani, whose survey was among U.S.-only consumers, ...

1) nearly 50% of consumers who plan to upgrade their phone intend to purchase an iPhone within the next three months;

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtrader...to-larger-screen-iphone-says-rbc/?mod=BOLBlog

If Apple were to boost its US iPhone marketshare to 50%, that would be a nice change. Right now the iPhone US marketshare is ~ 41 to 42%.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/16/apples-iphone-dominates-us-smartphone-market-in-q4
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/M...ch-2014-US-Smartphone-Subscriber-Market-Share

And it doesn't surprise me that 64% in the RBC survey wanted bigger phones.
That is where the smartphone market is heading as phones are becoming more like portable computing devices.

 

[MicaSbg]

~4.7" screen for ~$349 unlocked w/ NO contract.

I just bought a Nexus 5 for 399 unlocked and new. If Apple would have a pricing like this, I would have bought the iPhone today. I wonder how many people would want to buy a larger screen iPhone if Apple had such a low price for a 5s sized iPhone6. I bet 70% of the people would buy the cheaper alternative and live with the smaller screen, which really IS ok on the current model.

 

[xmichaelp]

.
Where's the survey question about wanting a bigger bezel?

1. Bezel size varies from mockup to mockup. We don't know what it will be.
2. Even the biggest one isn't "bigger" than the current iPhone. Same size at worst.

 

[GuitarDTO]

It was a post for dramatic effect. Jesus Christ.

Ah. My bad

 

[2ms]

This is great news for Apple in the US. Unfortunately, the US is only one country in the world. The rest of the world is completely different, doesn't have these phone subsidies, and is the future of phone sales. China has 1.5 billion people. The US 319 million. The world over 7 billion. If Apple is making their business decisions based on dynamics in a tiny market with unique conditions (phone subsidies), they can forget about it.

I live in Europe. Here iPhones are considered great but too expensive. The more Apple continues to design phones for their one little local market, the more they become irrelevant to the rest of the world.

Bay Area Bubble thinking. Cook already shows it all the time with his lectures on holier-than-thou environmentalism. Watch Apple become irrelevant and all that potential consumer electronics sales go to companies in the Far East with practically no environmental standards at all (i.e. Tim Cook cause more pollution and greenhouse gas rather than less).

 

[Tumbleweed666]

Looks like virtually no one here will be buying the 5.5" one if it comes out then huh?

Quite possibly not. But somehow, I don't think Macrumours posters form a representative sample of iPhone purchasers

 

[Toltepeceno]

Think smaller. A lot of people are now watching TV shows on 9" iPads instead of 19" to 40" sets.

Before smartphones, the expensive and most sexy mobiles were the smallest ones. I expect the pendulum will eventually swing back in that direction, and being seen with a big phablet will start to appear low class, like carrying a full-sized boom box on your shoulder instead of using a discrete iPod with Beats plugs.

I don't know of anyone (mexico or us) that watches tv at home on a tablet while sitting in front of a big wide screen tv. If everyone was there would be no big screen tv's selling. There ARE exceptions, but that does not make them the rule.

Portable? Nothing new. I had a 5" portable tv in the 70's, I didn't watch it at home though.

The switch came from big boom boxes to smaller devices as said devices became better sounding not to mention earbuds getting better. The trend then was also to "share" music, now people are more individual.

I had a huge boom box back in the day (again, 70's). Huge with a camera strap which was typical then. Smaller devices were typically a small radio with a single earphone. With time smaller devices got better so there was no need for huge boom boxes. That was a great sounding boom box, you could not match it remotely in a small device at the time. It had nothing to do with appearing low class when smaller got better and there was no need to carry a big one around.

That's audio though, size is unimportant as it's all about sound quality. TV's have never made a swing backwards though. TV's were typically 13-15" from the 30's to the 50's. In the late 60's (our first color TV) 25" was large size and what we got. The last CRT I had was 36" and with led/lcd/plasma they have just gotten larger. No pendulum swing there over the last 80 years. Audio devices = totally different, smaller as long as sound quality is there. I could see "tv glasses" at some point becoming vastly popular, but they could appear even larger than the widescreen tv's.

 

[iamPro]

No, they had no choice for iOS on a larger screen. It's not about other benefits outweighing their desire for a bigger-screened iPhone; it's about having NO CHOICE but to go with the screen size Apple deemed "perfect" IF one wanted iOS.



No, there was no "forcing". Android comes with LOTS of choices of screen sizes. So if one can be happy with Android, they can pick just about any screen size. There was no "prematurely". Instead, there was a variety of choices and customers who could not see the ONE and ONLY way to go for phone OSs voted with their wallets.

If there was this big market of people wanting small-smaller-smallest smart phone screens, the Android-makers could jump on it… and would. What Android makers appeared to figure out some time ago is that a fair chunk of the market wanted screens bigger than what Apple deemed "perfect".

Apple itself acknowledged this as revealed in the Samsung trial. So Apple is shifting to give the market what it wants. It's not some natural progression where it just now makes sense for Apple to go there. It's the marketplace being heard (again as evidenced within that trial). It's consumer wallets actually driving some change at Apple (which, IMO, is very good).

I think it's great for us consumers AND great for Apple. One of the most tangible reasons to buy Android is about to fall. I think sales will be crazy now that Apple is giving the big-screen Android crowd a real iOS alternative(s). As such, I think a lot that went there because of the influence of that bigger screen will come back to iPhones with bigger screens. It will bring 2 big draws together- bigger screens + iOS- for the first time.

Those locked up on "one handed use" and the perfection of 4" or 3.5" will likely just shift as soon as Apple drops the one-handed use bullet from the marketing spin and anoints the bigger screens as the new perfect size. Sure, there will be a few longing for the old perfection but the mental shift is already on "abomination" to "wait & see" to "kind of growing on me") and will significantly spike as soon as rumor becomes Apple-endorsed reality.

Not sure, if we're necessarily disagreeing here...since I agree with many of your points.

But to point out a few things. Apple did provide no choice. Yet the users had the choice to switch to Android. My point was, the user didn't think the switch to Android (need for a larger screen) out weighted the benefit of sticking with Apple. If they really wanted a larger screen, they were able to at any time. Well people gradually did switch over time. But also, many did find the smaller size "perfect" for much longer than how Android users perceived as the "perfect" size. And I just happen to find that reasonable according to my understanding of the history of the recent smartphone era (2007~).

I didn't say Apple didn't acknowledge the need for the larger screens due to trends in Android. I even agreed Apple is late. I'm just saying the point in time Apple acknowledges the shift and the need to respond, coming after the early size wars of Android is what makes sense. Apple and many of its users didn't feel the need for a larger screen until much later than Android. And its not due to some evil propaganda by Apple to brainwash people that larger is not better. There were less need for Apple to throw things out and find what sticks. You can't deny that Apple and its users were quite happy with just refining what Apple got right on its first try in 2007. But that's only until after Android recently established the 5"+ market. And no doubt Apple and its users are now responding to that.

So, I believe we're mostly saying the same thing that Apple is late and is reacting to market trends. It just that I don't see the late response as being hypocritical or Apple loosing is innovative edge.

 

[xmichaelp]

No, you are one of the very few. And I salute your ability to have a mind of you own, well done, and good on you for not doing what most others are doing now.

Are you kidding me? It goes both ways.

If anything wanting a bigger screen is having a mind of your own. Apple proclaimed both screen sizes of theirs the "perfect" size therefore the majority of Apple fans took it as gospel.

Nice ancient polls by the way. Those say nothing. Of course people didn't want a bigger screen because they didn't make them and people never tried them out. Once people actually had them in hand they go "Wow, this is actually really useful."

 

[Trius]

This just in! The iPhone 6 is not out yet.

People are still interested..

Stay tuned...

 

[NY Guitarist]

Really? There are people that carry their "large screen multimedia systems and/or computer" with them on the go? Otherwise I'm betting they DO use their phone as a replacement in these cases.

My experience has been that people who regularly need these functions use a laptop with an iPad coming next.

As I mentioned in my post:

Having said that, it seems the large screen is related to the trend toward mobile devices becoming an individual's primary computer.

I do see the trend where people are adopting phones as their primary computer.

 

[TouchMint.com]

I think 4.7 is going to be just right for me. Hopefully they get it into the smallest form factor possible.

 

[Michael Scrip]

This is great news for Apple in the US. Unfortunately, the US is only one country in the world. The rest of the world is completely different, doesn't have these phone subsidies, and is the future of phone sales. China has 1.5 billion people. The US 319 million. The world over 7 billion. If Apple is making their business decisions based on dynamics in a tiny market with unique conditions (phone subsidies), they can forget about it.

I live in Europe. Here iPhones are considered great but too expensive. The more Apple continues to design phones for their one little local market, the more they become irrelevant to the rest of the world.

Bay Area Bubble thinking. Cook already shows it all the time with his lectures on holier-than-thou environmentalism. Watch Apple become irrelevant and all that potential consumer electronics sales go to companies in the Far East with practically no environmental standards at all (i.e. Tim Cook cause more pollution and greenhouse gas rather than less).

Apple is still the #2 smartphone manufacturer in the world by sales volume.

A world where there are 7 billion people, cheap phones, and Apple selling only rather expensive phones.

And it's been like that since the inception of the iPhone... you don't think Apple's thought of that already?

.

 

[bearboy]

"Aw, you can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of all people know that."- Homer Simpson

 

[2ms]

Apple is still the #2 smartphone manufacturer in the world by sales volume.

A world where there are 7 billion people, cheap phones, and Apple selling only rather expensive phones.

And it's been like that since the inception of the iPhone... you don't think Apple's though of that already?

I think it's clear to anyone living outside of the USA that Apple is not selling remotely as many phones as they could be with only relatively minor tweaks to their overall strategy. A midline iPhone 5s in a large European country costs 1,140 dollars. I doubt you had any idea that that is the case. Did you?

I get that Apple is happy to make the Mercedes of phones and I respect that. And I think that you think that they are making the Mercedes of phones.

If you think that Apple is merely making a luxury phone then you are wrong. They are making the BUGATI VEYRON of phones. $1,140. Most Europeans have full-fledged computers that they make their livings on that cost half that. The contrast is even greater in most of The Far East.

It's perfectly fine and sensible that Apple doesn't want to be the VW of phones. Fair enough and all power to them. But if they're going to continue to mostly sell phones that cost more than a thousand dollars each, then they are consigning themselves to a fate of the same kind of relevance to the world as Bugatti Veyrons have.

Wake up Apple. The world's different outside of The Bay Area Bubble. Do something about it other than begging the world to forgive you for being successful by advertising that you give celebrity charity auctions and using green power.

 

[512ke]

My point is that having a big screen phone is becoming a status symbol AND a selling point.

Buy/get this phone, it has huge screen! You will have symbolic power and status!

Whereas back in the day, status was having a tiny iPod. And a sales point was, look how small is the new iPod!

Are there great reasons to have a big screen? Sure. Is that the only reason people will buy a new iPhone? No way.

But come this Fall, folks will EASILY be able to tell if you have the NEW iPhone.

No human being likes to think of ourselves as status-minded, but it WILL be a factor resulting in ginormous sales.

There may be a zillion valid reasons to own a bigger screen iPhone, but a lot of people, I personally predict, will be buying them at least in part for the showoff status factor.

 

[dojoman]

Excellent post, agreed with all of it.

I picture those that like 3.5" and 4" phones as having 19" square tv's in their houses. I have an iphone, but it's really to small for me.

iPhone is not small, this is the normal size. 5.5" iPhone would be consider large.
Carrying large phone is cumbersome, but having 19" TV vs. 60" does not affect the portability unless you move your TV around in your house.

I prefer smaller screen phone but I would have largest TV I can afford.

 

[AFDoc]

I shall buy a 5.5" iPhone.
Should someone call me on it, I shall hold to my ear and speak.
People will laugh but I don't care; they're so small I can't even see them...

D.

This was awesome, thanks.

Several years ago I was the one saying "why does any one need a bigger phone" yadda yadda 5.5" iPhone? YES PLEASE!! I can't wait to get my hands on this thing..... As I type this on my 5s I can only dream of how wonderful it will be to type this on a large screen with the new iOS 8 features...... Can't wait!

 

[MacOG728893]

Truth is, I do love having the ability operate my phone easily with one hand. Using my father's Galaxy Note 3 is annoying and something I'd prefer not to use. When I want a larger screen, I'll reach for my iPad.

However, if Apple is switching to 4.7" screens, I suppose it will be something I will learn to live with. While I'd prefer no bigger than my current iPhone 5's screen, it's not a deal breaker. People on these forums are acting like it's the end of the world.

Change will happen, it's how we embrace it that makes the difference.

 

[GeneralChang]

Really? There are people that carry their "large screen multimedia systems and/or computer" with them on the go? Otherwise I'm betting they DO use their phone as a replacement in these cases.

I think you’re ignoring the option to just not consume multimedia entertainment on the go. I have books for on the go entertainment.

 

[AFDoc]

Funny how "time changes" and "how people use their phone changes" right in line with the likelihood of changes with Apple's releases. Either Apple is completely amazing of knowing exactly when to change models to stay right with those changing times or that's just a great default to overcome 500 old posts calling anything bigger than 3.5" (and later a 4") an abomination, "99.9% don't need big-screened phablets" etc.

In any event, it's some great spin. Rather than finding fault with Apple for not having changed with the times several years ago- and thus giving a lot of that bigger-screen business to rivals like Samsung- we simply spin this so that it seems like the overall landscape is shifting and "our" needs are shifting with it.

Sprinkle in a few "wait & see" comments, seg into "it's starting to grow on me" and then when accumulating rumors become reality at the launch ("now that I've got to actually see one"), it's "shut up and take my money" and "I'm already in line". All that negative "anything bigger than 4" is <negative descriptor> just evaporates. Once rumor becomes reality, Apple's choices are the new perfect and anything different than those choices are the new "stupid" and "abominations."

Personally, I like Apple stuff just fine but I'm deep in the "long past due" camp with this one. And after years of seeing overwhelming bashing of anything bigger than 3.5" and then 4" as "abominations", "stupid", "99.9% of phone buyers don't want", "need new pants" etc, I find it hilarious to see so many of the very same crowd seemingly accepting of the larger sizes, looking forward to adopting those abominations, not seeing them as "stupid" and apparently finding themselves in that .1%.

Most concerning though: I don't see the pants makers responding to the massive wave of demand for new pants with bigger pockets; instead, the same old pants with the same old pockets seem to still be on store shelves. Whatever are we going to do?

Your argument is bunk because people have wanted a larger iPhone for years.... BEFORE apple decided to pull their head out of their butts and give it to us.

 

[firewood]

I don't know of anyone (mexico or us) that watches tv at home on a tablet while sitting in front of a big wide screen tv. If everyone was there would be no big screen tv's selling.

Of course. One person hogs the big TV. The other two (roommates, SO, kids) don't want to watch what the person with the remote chose, so they 're watching their favorite show or video on smaller screen tablets. More mobiles than fixed wall mounts.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I think it's clear to anyone living outside of the USA that Apple is not selling remotely as many phones as they could be with only relatively minor tweaks to their overall strategy. A midline iPhone 5s in a large European country costs 1,140 dollars. I doubt you had any idea that that is the case. Did you?

I get that Apple is happy to make the Mercedes of phones and I respect that. And I think that you think that they are making the Mercedes of phones.

If you think that Apple is merely making a luxury phone then you are wrong. They are making the BUGATI VEYRON of phones. $1,140. Most Europeans have full-fledged computers that they make their livings on that cost half that. The contrast is even greater in most of The Far East.

It's perfectly fine and sensible that Apple doesn't want to be the VW of phones. Fair enough and all power to them. But if they're going to continue to mostly sell phones that cost more than a thousand dollars each, then they are consigning themselves to a fate of the same kind of relevance to the world as Bugatti Veyrons have.

Wake up Apple. The world's different outside of The Bay Area Bubble. Do something about it other than begging the world to forgive you for being successful by advertising that you give celebrity charity auctions and using green power.

I said Apple is the #2 smartphone manufacturer in the world... and you compare them to a virtually unobtainable supercar?

Apple phones are relatively expensive... sure... but they clearly have no problem selling them.

You don't become #2 by having products that NO ONE can afford.

More iPhones are sold outside the US, btw.

And other companies sell phones that are equally expensive as iPhones.

 

[MrX8503]

I hope there's still a 4" screen option.