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iPhone (Reportedly) Moving to a Three-Year Cycle for Major Upgrades... Thoughts?

One aspect it could help is the current OS upgrade locked to hardware upgrade cycle. That should significantly help out OS bugs.
Then again, maybe not. Major worry is perception in the morphing of units sold. A three year cycle will definitely shift that. If the Chinese keep on the current trend of flagship level low cost Android devices we could see a significant negative impact to iPhone sales over the next two-three years.
 
I don't care much about physical redesigns. I can do just about everything I want on my phone and that's sufficient for me.
 
M. Gustave said:
Or, what if you just didn't buy a new phone for no good reason? Crazy, I know...
Click to expand...

To me, being able to die saying I've owned every single iPhone model since the beginning is a good enough reason. Assuming it doesn't ever go the way of the BlackBerry.
 
Savor said:
You will get bored of a new redesign anyway after a few months and sometimes will upgrade to an uglier one (5 series > 6 series). The "s" models are the best ones to get. The iPhone 4 and 6 have aged the worst. The 4 was the last single core and never got updated passed iOS7. The 6 only has 1 GB of RAM and the little SE outclasses it internally and externally.

I like the idea but we were headed to this direction anyway since design, internal hardware, and platforms have already hit maturity. I hope the next decade gives us robots and we can stop worrying about our phones a little less. I love smartphones (now), but seeing us debate about these disposal gadgets is not something I want to occupy my mind with for the rest of my life.

Good for Apple. Video game consoles are starting to have similar update cycles too. Year 3 is always when you get everything corrected.
Year 1, bugs
Year 2, bugs are corrected but not everything.
Year 3, refining more refinement.

This applies to Android (ICS->JB->KK, LP->MM->N). To paraphrase a song, ~It takes THREE to make a thing go right.~

Good - > Better - > Best.

iPhone 5 (good)
iPhone 5s (better)
iPhone SE (best)

iPhone 6/6 Plus (good)
iPhone 6s/6s Plus (better)
iPhone 7/7 Plus/7 Pro (best)

Revamp 2017. Heck, even this year Apple will work with three different models. I think having a third model of a flagship offsets the need to be revamped every two years. Apple will have the sizes and tiers covered.
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That's an excellent point. Even further would be iPhone OS 1-3, iOS 4-6, and iOS 7-9.
 
Being able to keep my phone a bit longer before having to upgrade seems welcoming. Like others said, should up the resale value. I dislike minor upgrades so I'd rather wait a bit longer for a major upgrade.
 
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I'm not convinced that the iPhone 7 will be released this year. I think there will be a further iteration of the 6 series, maybe a 6SE or some thing similar.

Two things make me think this. First, that we are seeing a move away from the two year cycle in chips to a three year cycle. I think that the rate of evolution of devices is slowing a little.

Second, and more importantly, the frequent rumours that the iPhone will move to OLED next year. Surely a change of that magnitude would herald a new index number for the phone? It will trigger a move from a white base to a black base for all apps. Also, the rumours that next year's phone might have a wrap around screen. Whilst I personally think this rumour is less likely (how would you put a case on the phone?) if it turned out to be true then, again, a change of such significance would surely be associated with a new index number?

So, what do people think about this radical idea? Have there been major form changes on an S model in the past?
 
There is a huge difference between "radical" and "ignorant".
... and it is probbaly the 1764455th Thread on that topic
 
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It's a laugher that the OP has this "radical idea about the ip7..."

You're more than a few dollars short and quite a few days beyond late.
 
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danmart said:
I'm not convinced that the iPhone 7 will be released this year. I think there will be a further iteration of the 6 series, maybe a 6SE or some thing similar.

Two things make me think this. First, that we are seeing a move away from the two year cycle in chips to a three year cycle. I think that the rate of evolution of devices is slowing a little.

Second, and more importantly, the frequent rumours that the iPhone will move to OLED next year. Surely a change of that magnitude would herald a new index number for the phone? It will trigger a move from a white base to a black base for all apps. Also, the rumours that next year's phone might have a wrap around screen. Whilst I personally think this rumour is less likely (how would you put a case on the phone?) if it turned out to be true then, again, a change of such significance would surely be associated with a new index number?

So, what do people think about this radical idea? Have there been major form changes on an S model in the past?
Click to expand...
"Interesting" idea, but not original: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ar-cycle-for-major-upgrades-thoughts.1975743/
 
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