iPhone 7 Display Photos Show Reversed Orientation, Usual Home Button Cutout

[EricTheHalfBee]

Yes. The 6s has been on the market longer than the galaxy s7, but the s7 has already sold more units. It's not really fair, but it's not fair in Apple's favour, and Apple still lost the current generation.
[doublepost=1470949095][/doublepost]

That Kantar study is cited all over the internet. If major media outlets accept it, it must have some merit and you can't reject it just because you don't like it.

I was talking specifically s7 vs 6s, but there's a lot of info on samsung in total vs apple in total. Even if you reject the Kantar study, globally, Samsung beat Apple by 100 million phones in 2015.

The Kantar study was for a single quarter, not total. Where did you get the idea it was overall? Stating the S7 has "already sold more units" than the iPhone 6S is an outright lie.

Beat Apple by 100 million phones? So now you're going to add up sales of phones like the Galaxy Star 2 ($65 brand new) and compare them to the iPhone 6S? What's next, claiming that Lexus (S7) outsells BMW (iPhone 6S) just because Toyota has higher sales numbers?

 

[cycomiko]

The Kantar study was for a single quarter, not total. Where did you get the idea it was overall? Stating the S7 has "already sold more units" than the iPhone 6S is an outright lie.

Beat Apple by 100 million phones? So now you're going to add up sales of phones like the Galaxy Star 2 ($65 brand new) and compare them to the iPhone 6S? What's next, claiming that Lexus (S7) outsells BMW (iPhone 6S) just because Toyota has higher sales numbers?

Lexus (made in China) outsells a Dodge (made in China)

'merika not German

 

[Mac 128]

I, like most people, use headphones that plug into a 3.5mm Jack. I carry one set of headphones/earbuds on me which over the course of the day I may plug into my phone, my tablet, my laptop, or my desktop. It's not necessarily a deal breaker, but it's certainly not an improvement if I need to carry a set of earbuds that only work with my phone, and another set for everything else, or I need to carry some adapter or dongle to simulate something so basic.

Is it the biggest inconvenience in the world? No. But I've grown accustomed to new devices making my life easier and better. Even a small inconvenience is annoying considering that I'm paying a lot of money for a better experience.

I was mainly addressing the appearance that you were using one set of headphones (which is still the case) primarily with your iPhone. In which case the switch shouldn't affect you at all. There will be some fairly innocuous adapters designed for this purpose. And I wouldn't be surprised to find some with some custom adjustments that will make your old headphones sound even better, perhaps even adding noise canceling tech, and/or microphones to existing headphones, and other benefits.

But I do get the plight of the person that uses their headphones with multiple devices throughout the day, especially if some of those devices are not new Apple products. The total Apple person who has the latest of everything will likely be spared, as I suspect Macs will get the Lightning port as soon as the headphone jack is dropped from the iPhone. Most other Apple folks will have to swap around the adapter for a while until they upgrade. But if someone is regularly plugging into a PC at work, their Car jack, an old personal Mac, a new Android work phone with only a USB-C port, etc. then I'm certainly empathetic.

And I understand those people who have several different headphones for different purposes -- which can make swapping adapters from one to the other, or having several adapters, and inconvenient and/or expensive option.

Your case is actually the easiest of them all, as you only have one set of headphones, and only need the adapter with your iPhone, and presumably nothing else, or vice versa depending on which headphones you use. Not ideal, but as you say not the worst. I'm actually counting on Lightning equipped headphones to be the easiest to adapt, as I believe the smart chip could allow an analogue signal to bypass the headphone's built-in DAC, and just send the analogue output straight to the speakers. That would be a simple, cheap option, for which people could easily have a dozen on hand, incentivizing upgrades to Lightning headphones instead of the more expensive reverse option.

And wireless is going to likely experience a revolution in sound quality, battery life, and ease of use, driving much higher adoption, especially as prices fall in the wake of increased demand. That alone is going to alleviate compatibility issues for many people, while also offering detachable cables for any device they might want to plug into. I"m expecting third parties to offer hybrid cables with any connector a person needs built-in, making keeping track of an adapter less of a problem.

 

[joeblow7777]

I read it and my response is the same... I just didn't want to tap out a lengthy response while walking.

There are already multiple headphone standards. If you spent a $1,000 for a good pair of headphones, you'll get a 1/4" plug with a 3.5 adapter so you'll get less convenience for higher sound quality... I've not once heard a single complaint about that.

Buying a $1,000 iphone and getting a lightning to 3.5 is the same. Youll get less convenience but a boost in camera capability, battery life, additional speaker or whatever benefits Apple has planned.

It's a smart and thoughtful approach to product design... Why have a headphone jack when the port right next to it goes unused 95% of the day and wireless is quickly becoming the norm? That space could be used for a number of things that will benefit the vast majority of users on a daily basis as opposed to the slight inconvenience users may face once in a blue moon from not having a 3.5 jack.

Except, every "advantage" I've heard so far for removing the jack is already offered by other phones without having lost it. That's the part that I don't understand. People talk about what we'll gain in place of the headphone jack, but other than extra speakers (which I don't care about) none of these gains actually require the loss of the jack. It's just Apple being Apple.

Ah well. Time will tell how people respond to it.

 

[Juicy Box]

Yes. The 6s has been on the market longer than the galaxy s7, but the s7 has already sold more units. It's not really fair, but it's not fair in Apple's favour, and Apple still lost the current generation.
[doublepost=1470949095][/doublepost]

That Kantar study is cited all over the internet. If major media outlets accept it, it must have some merit and you can't reject it just because you don't like it.

I was talking specifically s7 vs 6s, but there's a lot of info on samsung in total vs apple in total. Even if you reject the Kantar study, globally, Samsung beat Apple by 100 million phones in 2015.

Just my thoughts, selling more isn't always better, which is pretty subjective anyways.

In many cases it is the opposite, imo.

Look at the Mac vs Pc era.

Chromecast vs ATV.

A good non-tech example of two competing companies' with similarly priced products that had a pretty clear winner and loser for sales, but the loser beat the winner on almost every performance spec, and imo looks: SW20 MR2 vs Miata MKI

That said, I really think Apple is going down the wrong road for many of their devices, software, and services. Hopefully all the recent bad Apple news might shake things up at Apple.

 

[Karma*Police]

In no world is using an adapter considered "best" of anything. It makes a very common usage more complicated and less ergonomic.

Imagine plugging in a very common 90-degree 3.5mm plug into the adapter, and how that will lay in your pocket. Even Apple's own Beats headphones today use a 90-degree 3.5mm plug.

And what for? It won't have inherently better sound quality. For thinness? Is that worth it?

Clearly not for thinness but that 3.5 jack takes up a lot of space for not much utility when there's a port right next to it that goes unused 95% of the day. That huge space will undoubtely be put to good use; one that will likely provide more benefits to a lot more users than it will inconvenience.

An adapter will simply add an inch or 2 to your current wire; not much of an inconvenience, and your 90-degree comment goes to my point in other posts about the already inconsistent headphone jack standards so this is no big deal... A few years ago, I had to get an adapter for one of those 90 degree plugs because it wouldn't work with my iPhone case.

 

[CarlJ]

Why have a headphone jack when the port right next to it goes unused 95% of the day and wireless is quickly becoming the norm? That space could be used for a number of things that will benefit the vast majority of users on a daily basis as opposed to the slight inconvenience users may face once in a blue moon from not having a 3.5 jack.

I'm still waiting to see exactly what they come up with. One of my very common use cases currently is wired headphones (non-Apple, upscale IEMs) and an external battery connected at the same time, for long periods (Ingress player). I'm not gonna go Android - I like the iOS ecosystem too much, but exactly how Apple handles the headphone port issue (how well their solution works for me, not simply is the jack there) will make a pretty significant impact on how much I like or dislike future iPhones. How much this affects the iPhone's public image depends on how they address the use cases, and there are many - very easy for folks to extrapolate their use case to everyone.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Clearly not for thinness but that 3.5 jack takes up a lot of space for not much utility when there's a port right next to it that goes unused 95% of the day. That huge space will undoubtely be put to good use; one that will likely provide more benefits to a lot more users than it will inconvenience.

An adapter will simply add an inch or 2 to your current wire; not much of an inconvenience, and your 90-degree comment goes to my point in other posts about the already inconsistent headphone jack standards so this is no big deal... A few years ago, I had to get an adapter for one of those 90 degree plugs because it wouldn't work with my iPhone case.

The speakers also take up "a lot" of space, and goes unused 95% of the day. Let's make those external lightning accessories as well. The camera takes up a lot of space, is rarely used for more than a few seconds at a time, 1% of the day tops. Let's make that an external lightning accessory as well. I hardly ever touch the mute switch, lets get rid of that too, it takes up a lot of space.

Indeed, the iPhone 8 should be nothing more than an aluminum box with an SoC and a battery, and 4 lightning ports. You plug in an external screen, external speaker, external camera, external amp and dac, external everything!

And then we're back to this:

At the end of the day, I don't owe Apple anything. On the contrary, if Apple wants me and those of my demographic to buy their product, they owe us a product that we are willing to buy. We will see once the earnings call of Q4 2016 comes out how well this will work out for them.

 

[Karma*Police]

Except, every "advantage" I've heard so far for removing the jack is already offered by other phones without having lost it. That's the part that I don't understand. People talk about what we'll gain in place of the headphone jack, but other than extra speakers (which I don't care about) none of these gains actually require the loss of the jack. It's just Apple being Apple.

Ah well. Time will tell how people respond to it.

I'm not sure what advantages you're referring to, but product design is all about trade-offs and those other phones could absolutely have improved somewhere by removing the headphone jack; whether it's longer battery life, better camera, better mic, another speaker, etc.

And that's the million dollar question... What benefit(s) will we see as a result of Apple dropping the headphone jack? Once that's revealed, everyone can decide for themselves whether it outweighs the cost. My guess is that most people will use the adapter or headphone included with the iPhone and not think much about it. It may even spur users to go wireless which is the future anyway.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

You're holding it wrong!

Can't believe it took 45 posts before someone said this.

 

[SoSickSadNslOw]

Apples's giving us an upside down phone?

You're holding it wrong!

 

[x-evil-x]

I don't know if there is any data on this, but I think more people use the headphones than you think.

I use my headphones so much more than my camera. I use the Apple headset for music, and probably 95% of all my phone calls. I hate Bluetooth audio quality and much prefer to use the headset.

But, my wife almost never uses the headset unless she is working out. still, the amount of time spent on the headset is more than the amount of time that she uses the camera.




Good point, I noticed the same. Also, check out how many headsets/headphones you see at a gym.

which bluetooth headphones/earbuds have you tried lately?

 

[Juicy Box]

which bluetooth headphones/earbuds have you tried lately?

None lately, I have not had a need to. The last Bluetooth headset I used was back with my original iPhone days.

But the Bluetooth quality issues I was referring to were with headunits in my cars. Both phone calls and music.

 

[DevNull0]

Just my thoughts, selling more isn't always better, which is pretty subjective anyways.

In many cases it is the opposite, imo.

fwiw, I do agree with you on that.

I was replying to someone who was smugly mocking another poster by basically saying "so what, the next iPhone will outsell everything else anyway."

 

[vigilant]

More then the type of home button... it looks the like the bezel around the screen is smaller, and the screen is slightly larger.

Do we know if this is a new display this year? It looks like a Plus display with a revised layout on the front glass.

 

[Eggtastic]

More then the type of home button... it looks the like the bezel around the screen is smaller, and the screen is slightly larger.

Do we know if this is a new display this year? It looks like a Plus display with a revised layout on the front glass.

You may be on to something, or my excitement in hoping you are correct is getting the best of me. I really want to like this phone, but it seems with the recent leaks that apple is going to hold off another year before their 10 year mark where they can truly do something drastic.

If so, I will be keeping my iPhone 6+ as it has been an excellent phone with still excellent battery life. I may buy a new case soon just to shake things up.

 

[keithtae]

Please provide a source for this. And don't link to that Kantar study that provided percentages without giving any actual numbers. If they can't give numbers then they're just making stuff up (probably by taking a survey and extrapolating from that).

Let's say (for arguments sake) they are right. So a brand-new S7 in their launch quarter with pent-up demand from 2 previous lame upgrades (S5/6) "slightly" outsold the iPhone 6S that was released 9 months previously. Wow, that's SO impressive.

iPhone sales over an entire year (from model introduction to the next model) absolutely CRUSH Samsung Galaxy S sales by at least 2x (more like 3x). But it's hard to tell since Samsung has stopped reporting numbers. For good reason.

There will be a time I'm sure other phones will outsold the Iphones. No one, and nothing will stay on top forever. It may not be the galaxy this time, and it might be other phones next time.

Apple used to grab 92% of all the profit in the mobile industry but has dropped to 85%. Yes it is still impressive but there will be a time things will fall and that's the nature of things. Numbers and charts and bars will not be needed.

 

[32828870]

Or Zoolander...

What is this? A phone for people who only like to see the color RED? How can we expect people to use this phone if they can't see other things on the screen??

Derek this is just a mockup...

I don't want to hear your excuses. The phone has to show at least... three times as many colors as this!

"You mean, the files are in the iPhone???"

 

[keatth]

You're holding it wrong

- Dammit too late

 

[Karma*Police]

The speakers also take up "a lot" of space, and goes unused 95% of the day. Let's make those external lightning accessories as well. The camera takes up a lot of space, is rarely used for more than a few seconds at a time, 1% of the day tops. Let's make that an external lightning accessory as well. I hardly ever touch the mute switch, lets get rid of that too, it takes up a lot of space.

Indeed, the iPhone 8 should be nothing more than an aluminum box with an SoC and a battery, and 4 lightning ports. You plug in an external screen, external speaker, external camera, external amp and dac, external everything!

And then we're back to this:

At the end of the day, I don't owe Apple anything. On the contrary, if Apple wants me and those of my demographic to buy their product, they owe us a product that we are willing to buy. We will see once the earnings call of Q4 2016 comes out how well this will work out for them.

No, you've got that backwards... the lightning port that goes unused 95% of the day should be utilized to plug in headphones which is already an external accessory.

We go through this every time, no matter how logical the decision, because people have evolved to focus more on loss than equivalent gains. Combine this with Schopenhauer's 3 stages of truth and people ridiculing and getting upset over changes that seem radical at the time is nothing new. In a couple of years, this move will be seen as being self-evident; just like with floppy drives, optical drives, SCSI, ADB, flash, 30 pin, etc.

 

[Blaze4G]

The Kantar study was for a single quarter, not total. Where did you get the idea it was overall? Stating the S7 has "already sold more units" than the iPhone 6S is an outright lie.

Beat Apple by 100 million phones? So now you're going to add up sales of phones like the Galaxy Star 2 ($65 brand new) and compare them to the iPhone 6S? What's next, claiming that Lexus (S7) outsells BMW (iPhone 6S) just because Toyota has higher sales numbers?

Just so you know, Lexus was the top selling luxury brand in america a few years ago. Then Japan had the tsunami and caused their sales to decline due to lack of inventory. Lexus should overtake BMW this year (they only missed by 2k units in 2015). Shocking when you think BMW has more than twice the amount of models or there about.

 

[lordofthereef]

The speakers also take up "a lot" of space, and goes unused 95% of the day. Let's make those external lightning accessories as well. The camera takes up a lot of space, is rarely used for more than a few seconds at a time, 1% of the day tops. Let's make that an external lightning accessory as well. I hardly ever touch the mute switch, lets get rid of that too, it takes up a lot of space.

Indeed, the iPhone 8 should be nothing more than an aluminum box with an SoC and a battery, and 4 lightning ports. You plug in an external screen, external speaker, external camera, external amp and dac, external everything!

And then we're back to this:

At the end of the day, I don't owe Apple anything. On the contrary, if Apple wants me and those of my demographic to buy their product, they owe us a product that we are willing to buy. We will see once the earnings call of Q4 2016 comes out how well this will work out for them.

I actually think Apple could rather easily get rid of the mute switch without much blowback, particularly with how ios10 does "raise to wake". I never really understood why iPhones need a hard silent switch. I think most other phones have gone without that since, well, forever.

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

Just so you know, Lexus was the top selling luxury brand in america a few years ago. Then Japan had the tsunami and caused their sales to decline due to lack of inventory. Lexus should overtake BMW this year (they only missed by 2k units in 2015). Shocking when you think BMW has more than twice the amount of models or there about.

Worldwide BMW sold 1.9 million vehicles in 2015, not including Rolls Royce and MINI. Lexus sold 652,000 in 2015. It's not even close, with BMW basically having 3X the sales.

Using numbers from a single market to imply one company is winning (Lexus or Samsung) is asinine. Only thing that counts is worldwide sales of similar products (Lexus to BMW or Galaxy S to iPhone). And both BMW and the iPhone are killing it.
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fwiw, I do agree with you on that.

I was replying to someone who was smugly mocking another poster by basically saying "so what, the next iPhone will outsell everything else anyway."

And you were being called out for A) using results from a single market and different launch quarter to try and prove a point and B) apparently not understanding that most Samsung phones sold are low-end models and flagships like the S7 account for about 1/3 of their sales.

 

[enriquesh96]

is it me or the bezels look smaller (especially the bottom bezel) ?!

 

[44267547]

I actually think Apple could rather easily get rid of the mute switch without much blowback, particularly with how ios10 does "raise to wake". I never really understood why iPhones need a hard silent switch. I think most other phones have gone without that since, well, forever.

Agreed. Apple to me, is the one manufacturer that will ultimately reduce any external hardware in place of ease or software to replace the switch. Apple could have easily implemented a vibrate/mute into the control center, aside from 'Do Not not disturb'. Galaxy Phones have had this since the S2.

The mute switch has sort of an iconic Appleish design. Even the power button could have some form of innovation behind if Apple truly wanted to.

Eventually external hardware will be trimmed down for less issues with repair or malfunction and of course, for waterproofing.
[doublepost=1470983741][/doublepost]

I'm sorry bruh, but that's just not believable... You forgot the MASSIVE FAIL, Apple is DOOMED, and some kind of reference to "Timmy" to make absolutely clear to others you are still in high school.

Wait..wait...you forgot to add 'Can't innovate' and 'The iPhone is fragmented' and the infamous 'That's it! I'm switching to Android' comments.