What is your assumption based on?
What happens when people strip or lose the screws?
How can you maintain waterproofing with removable covers?
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Other iPhone in 2027: will we get user-replaceable batteries?
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What happens when people strip or lose the screws?
How can you maintain waterproofing with removable covers?
I just wish it was possible, like it was possible 25 years ago with the Palm PDAs who ran for weeks on a pair of AAA batteries, and you never had to worry about built-in batteries degrading over time. Unfortunately, technical evolution also comes with certain kinds of regressions.
The weight isn't the problem, AAA batteries only weigh around 11.5 grams. The problem is you'd need 8–10 of them just to match the capacity of a present-day iPhone battery.
Another example is the Sony MZ-E909 MiniDisc player I owned, which in addition to its built-in rechargable battery, also allowed adding an AA battery for around 100 hours of playback. It had about the same volume as an iPhone mini, at only 76 grams including the AA battery. Granted, the iPhone Pro Max reaches similar audio playback times, but at triple the weight and without an easily replacable battery.
Both of those items you mentioned are VASTLY less capable than even the oldest iPhone.
We all wish it was possible, but science sorta tells us it isn't.
Unless we want to trade our iPhone for Palm Pilots, that is.
Which...given the state of social media and the internet in general, might not be the WORST decision.
Of course, but they are worse in that specific respect. I like imagining what could be. It puts what we have in perspective.
Samsung has done it. IP68 with swappable batteries and no screws. Apple could do it, too, if they tried.
Samsung and Fairphone both sell ingress-protected handsets with removable batteries. If a shoestring company like fairphone can do it then imagine what a company with infinite R&D like Apple can come up with.
What's the waterproof rating? How many of those phones are still in circulation? Why aren't those phones more popular?
They both run Android. One is an ethical company dedicated to repairable devices with IP55. The other is a 'tough' phone from Samsung meant for building site work with IP68.
So none of them are sleek IP68 rated devices like Apple sells? None of them show that it is possible to build some like the iPhone 16 PM with a easily replaceable battery without anything else changing at all. Same materials, same design, same weight, size, IP-rating and so on.
Having the battery being easily replaceable comes with compromises with todays technology, in 15-20 years who knows what happens though.
Compromises that in my opinion are worth it. Signed, a happy Fairphone user.
Yeah, different strokes for different folks. I would rather have fewer compromises and just buy a new phone when it breaks outside warranty.
As I said earlier, it’s a design decision not to. It could be done.
Yes as I said it can be done but there are compromises, you will never get the seal and screws to have the same volume and weight as the glue used does. Glue is just very effective in those areas and something easily openable and closable that are also IP68 rated will not be.
I don't see the notch/dynamic island as a compromise. A place that doubles as a functional spot for cameras/sensors as well as a notification/state-update/etc spot. Not everyone will like it, but it's not a compromise.
Again, not seeing these as compromises. Apple makes what sells. They keep trying smaller form factors, but they just don't sell enough. If more people purchased small devices, Apple would make more small devices. As it turns out, most folks are like me and want the larger phones.
Not a compromise. I would agree the usefulness of the camera control button is questionable (I use it as a quick launch for the camera as it's the fastest way I have to do that), but nothing was given up to bring that button onto the device.
I find the 'action button' (I assume that's what you're referring to by the 'mute' switch) to be mildly useful (I currently have it set to toggle transparency on/off for liquid glass -- now that liquid glass has been dialed in more, I'll probably change it back to 'take screenshot' -- slightly more convenient than the two-button press for screenshots). What was given up for this? Nothing. Also, not sure why it would be characterized as an 'abomination'.
I never use cases on my phones, so I don't have an informed opinion about finding cases that hide features.
This may be a compromise. It depends.
iPhones are almost universally lauded for their build quality and materials.
That said, a shift back to aluminum, if the rumors hold true, could be considered a compromise. My guess is that it's for weight and cost. As well, drop test studies are showing that titanium, as it's used in phones, doesn't really protect the phones any better than aluminum.
iOS 7, anyone?
Major UI look/feel will always be contentious. I've been running iOS 26 since dev beta 1 and I think Apple's done a pretty good job dialing it in. It will be divisive, at first, as any major aesthetic change will be, but people will quickly adapt and it'll be a non-issue pretty quickly.
I've never had any interest in doing this, nor does anyone in my family (of which I'm the de facto tech support), so I have no opinion on this one way or the other.
This goes both ways, but, yes, Apple is well known for waiting a while before introducing new features in an attempt to:
- avoid pulling in features that are just pure gimmick (Samsung throws gimmicks into their phones all the time)
- take the time to do a more robust, mature version of the feature in question
Also, and I can't emphasize this enough, most iPhone users don't care, at all, if a feature new to iPhone has existed on other platforms for some time already. It's entirely irrelevant.
The Apple Intelligence announcement was definitely premature. Tim and Craig have learned from that and are changing how they communicate and socialize their approach to AI integration, catchup, future features, etc. But, no, of all the Apple Intelligence features I currently take advantage of, exactly zero of them are the ChatGPT launch.
If you glance at my sig, you'll see I also have had every flagship iPhone since the original in 2007. I don't share the perspective that Apple doubles down on failures.
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This is kind of infinite loop. They have made mini phones back in the days but those weren’t “Pro” enough, just a smaller version of regular slate. I personally wasn’t interested in one because there was no third telephoto camera which I use a lot.
People don’t purchase small devices because there are no small devices, and that’s the issue with every major smartphone maker. This is exactly when supply creates demand.
Sure, but imagine if Apple actually overhauls their “Wallpapers” settings and renames them to “Themes” as Samsung did? It would be massive, people gonna create their icon packs and start customizing looks of their phones.
One can already change icons via Shortcuts workaround (making shortcut to launch app and adding custom icon to it), but it shows big progress bar each time app is opened which kinda ruins experience.
There is even whole subreddit where people share their iOS looks they have created using this workaround (or just generally share their wallpapers/lock screen looks).
So there is a market for that feature, Apple just doesn’t understand that (yet). It would become social media phenomena if Apple adds a feature to style iPhones more than baseline lockscreen fonts, for example replacing (totally unreadable IMO) San Francisco OS font to something different, adding such ability to Safari so all sites can be forced to use certain fonts (already can be done with Safari extension - FontFlex), and so on. Lots of ideas that are worth exploring, even if some people gonna be uninterested, others will love that, it costs them nothing, even less than the App Library🤣
The issue with the market for small iPhones is that the potential buyer for a small-ish iPhone falls into one of two categories.
Some people want a small iPhone for the convenient form factor, but don't want to compromise on a reduced feature set. The basically want a full featured, small flagship iPhone. An iPhone mini Pro.
Then another set of buyers want the lowest cost, most affordable iPhone. They don't necessarily want a small iPhone for the form factor, it's just that consumers have been conditioned to expect the smaller device to cost less. These buyers were the ones that bought the iPhone SE iterations.
A few years ago, Apple saw the market for small iPhones and compromised with the 12/13 mini. It was a phone that didn't really sell well because it was too expensive for Group 2, and too compromised for Group 1. Could Apple have forced SE buyers to move up to the mini by scrapping the SE? Perhaps, but they likely had research indicating that a significant percentage of these folks would just more to Android.
Apple scrapped the mini, kept the SE. Now, they've introduced the 16e with a big screen. I wonder if Apple is seeing the same demand for the 16e as they had with the SE.
There's just no market for a small iPhone pro ... at least it's too small for Apple to chase. It's interesting to see on the Android side that there's no major OEM making a small flagship Android either. You would think that if there were a market for small full-featured phones, an Android maker would try to tap into that market, but nope.
Apparently not, but likely just due to price. The size did not make up for the extra cost I guess.
It seems that the market for people who want "a flagship in a smaller form factor" is tiny, which sucks for the people who really do prefer that form factor. I suspect Apple was seeing that "slightly cheaper modern iPhone with smaller screen" was losing out to "Android phone with larger screen at the same price" and probably pretty significantly in carrier stores (which is where most sales happen, at least in the US). If you're a price conscious-person looking at an iPhone with a small screen vs. an Android with a significantly larger screen (and probably a manufacturer incentive for the salesperson and/or promo for the consumer) at the same price, most customers end up picking the Android. Estimates were that the 12/13 minis were like 3-5% of iPhone sales at launch.
Maybe as wearables get more capable or AI-first interfaces get developed then the phone size will shrink, but as long as people are using phones for things like watching video, my guess is most people will likely think "bigger screen = better." Or maybe someone will get a foldable down to a mini form factor.
This entire path is not 'winning'. By forcing regulations, your take away from the consumer in the misguided vein of providing for them. You force something you think you want or need for everyone by most often taking away from the experience and the overall product. Most people want a device that has a good water resistance rating, can go in the pool, etc. and want to know it is thin and fairly bulletproof, yet modern. Most people don't want a user replaceable battery. I have a 3 year old iPhone 14 Pro Max that is doing just fine. I don't need a new battery for it, and would not want a replaceable battery for it in 3-4 year when it might finally need it.
If user replaceable batteries are your dealbreaker item, purchase a device in the marketplace that has one. Surely if there is demand, the marketplace will offer it. If there isn't demand, then it is not a significant enough feature to warrant customers moving away from a manufacturer. That is basic economics. Any attempt to force the manufacturer to offer it is over regulation, something the EU is unfortunately over zealous at aspiring to do.
What Apple should do is offer an arcane device that meets the standard while also continuing to offer unlocked devices in the current roadmap. By doing so, EU customers will flock to channels for acquiring the rest of the world product, and the arcane device will have poor sales because no one actually wants it.
Hey! I had an iPhone 5s that also had a swollen battery, what pushed the screen from behind and looked like a shadow on the display. Maybe the iPhone 5s wasn’t as perfect as I thought back in the day… but then, the OG iPhone SE was released in 2016. What a sweet device.
And yes, for me it hasn’t been a problem either. Since then, I’ve had an iPhone 8 which I replaced the battery on 3 occasions in my local Apple Store, and now an awesome iPhone SE3, which after 2 years of continuous use, is stuck at 86% of battery life. And I have a second, spare SE3 with 100% battery life.
If we consider that Apple will offer battery replacement service at least during the 5 years after the device being discontinued, which was the end of 2024 for the SE3, I’ll be able to replace it until 2030 and then, I guess I’ll continue to use it with no problems for a couple more of years.
Of course I’d like to keep using it past 2032, but let’s be honest, by 2030 this iPhone will be completely obsolete tech-wise. It won’t receive new software updates anymore, and the new systems will probably squeeze that 2.000 mAh battery much faster than iOS 18. So… I won’t complain.
Yeah, I definitely need my smartphone to be compact, as I use my iPad or Mac for content consumption (video), and for me, a mobile phone is all about ease of use.
But I do also understand that most people use their smartphones in a very different way that I do, and people use social media a lot and it’s better to have a bigger screen. It is also better, easier, for manufacturers, as they can keep rising the chips clock speed with better thermal dissipation and fitting bigger batteries in for those bigger power draws. If you think about it, it’s a win/win for manufacturers and most of the customers. Also, smaller phones such as the iPhone mini are, like you said, the poorest selling when placed on a flagship price level (the SE3 though, that one had relatively good sales until replaced by the 16e).
My strategy on this issue, as someone who cannot use a phablet as a smartphone? As someone who uses his phone with one hand while doing other things? Well, for now I’ve stuck with an iPhone SE3, which is an awesome device, compact enough for me, with good performance and battery life. And it still receives most of the new iOS features, including Machine Learning ones. So I’m quite happy with it.
What will I do in the future, once this iPhone SE 3 doesn’t get new iOS updates, in 3 or 4 years? Well, I’m PWM sensitive, but I’ll keep trying new OLED models, specifically the “e” lineup, until one doesn’t give me eye strain. I really hope the iPhone 17e, 18e, 19e is kept at just 6.1”. I think I can still manage that size with one hand, although with more risk of dropping it. The problem with the 6.1” screen size device is that once you put it in a regular case, the size of the device increases again, and it becomes more and more difficult to use one handed. I guess I’ll get an ultra-slim case, with worse protection, but at least better grip and without making it much bulkier… but as I said, currently two factors are holding me from getting a new iPhone: humongous size and PWM modulated brightness in OLED. So maybe this SE 3 is my last iPhone, but it’s not like there are many alternatives in the other side (Android), so…
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No, one cannot. Apple specifically states on their website that water damage is not covered by warranty.
Same for sauna or any place where condensation might happen - condensate will kill iPhone from inside. And you know what is the fun irony? The only way to try and save it from such exposure is to remove the power source, the battery. After you remove and dry phone and battery, it will most likely work again as before. People have been drowning their Nokias for ages and simply took out batteries, dried with rice and these Nokias outlived the iPhones🤣
It is water-resistant, not waterproof.
Think it the other way: maybe corporations are forcing their ways on users? Glued, ugly-shaped, poorly designed, non user-replaceable batteries all around. You simply cannot buy a device these days with replaceable batteries, at least the flagship - the one that doesn’t lag.
I see it as a cartel conspiracy where major corporations have suddenly decided to remove option of user-replaceable batteries to earn additional money for battery replacements (+75-200% of original battery cost) and phone replacements, thus cultivating “upgradeditis” culture and, subsequently, generating BILLIONS of e-waste.
And obviously EU decided to intervene and break that conspiracy into shards. I dunno if it will work out, however.
That unfortunately not true. The second any iPhone hits some strong surface, it breaks (unless with case). That’s why I use case btw.
Even with replaceable batteries phones will still be easy to break, because outer shells are not made from plastic, since plastic is non-recyclable.
I am not sure about that. If there are coalitions in Europe who are lobbying right to repair and removable batteries, then people DEFINITELY want that: someone is sponsoring these orgs, giving them real money, real support.
Pretty sure if there was independent poll organized, majority of consumers would have already opted for batteries to be user-removable, replaceable and serviceable, just like back in the days.
Classic slop.
“If you don’t like iPhone go and buy your stinky green droid”
“If you don’t like Samsung or Google go back to your closed rotten fruit ecosystem”
IF only there was a choice.
There WASN’T. Almost no adequate or non-lagging smartphones with removable batteries. And I want all-in-one package: replaceable battery, good camera, fast processor, modern apps.
And when there is no choice - it is basically cartels shaping market to THEIR needs, not caring about customers, ecology, e-waste and such. Thus EU is right to intervene
Apple had pretty weird pricing strategy. I can only blame them for failing to sell mini phones, they were overpriced comparing to other iPhones in the lineup, while should have been budget options.
I totally understand you. I am same in this regard, but I still use 11 Pro, don’t even wanna waste money on another OLED phone that will give me eye strain.
Tho over many years I’ve found workarounds. I use FontFlex and BlockBear to replace Safari font with Georgia - serif typeface that is super convenient for my eyes. Eye strain decreased significantly since I can finally read texts, Apple’s San Francisco is the least legible font I’ve ever seen…
Also I disable any HDR content, whenever I see HDR I set low power mode on to block it.
It is still not ideal but I believe the only good thing that should happen is OLED displays to become obsolete and being replaced by some newer, more advanced tech without flicker
That’s because it is impossible to make todays flagship phones with a user replaceable battery without compromising something (size, weight, design). If you like having a compromised usage experience why even buy a flagship to begin with, that is what the Fairphone is for.
I’d rather have a good device and pay less than the price a dinner at a restaurant for Apple to replace my battery if I want to keep my phone longer than 3 years than compromise my usage experience for those 3 years.