Is apple lacking innovation for future iPhone?

[DBZmusicboy01]

I feel like the 5S won't be that big of a deal except the finger print...
NOW I am very sure the iPhone 2014 will be amazing and everyone will love it. But I believe it might be the last phone that is going to be like how amazing iPhone 4 was when it came out. The only things remaining to make a phone amazing is anti shattered glass and extreme battery life and speed.
But I think phones are almost so matured that it won't be big of a difference in the future...What can the iPhone 10 really have to make it be special?
I believe the iPhone 4 was the last of it's kind. There will never really be a phone as special as the iPhone 4 was when it first came out..

 

[venetian-glass]

The iPhone 5 is pretty nice. You just have to let things mature naturally.

Apple is working hard on its next breakthrough.

 

[ahfu25]

Apple is falling behind as far as specs. But hardware is the best as far as build quality and the software is buttery smooth. I just want a S4 size screen along with iOS 7

 

[AFDoc]

I love these types of threads because all of the unrealistic MR members will come flooding in saying how apple isn't doing it anymore and blah blah blah.


What do you (those that believe this) want? I know what you want is a 12 core processor with a week long battery life, 1080p screen that can read your mind and do what you want it to but that's not going to happen.

What do you (those that believe this) honestly expect in 2013 to be innovative and new?

 

[makotoisle]

Maybe I'm not up to snuff on my tech, but I honestly thought a fingerprint scanner was pretty innovative. Yea, I know they've been done before, but never like this. Apple's version sounds like a much more matured version.

 

[satchmo]

Unfortunately, Apple's become rather predictable in their upgrade product cycle. This has given competitors the ability to trump Apple spec-wise.

I'd wish Apple would surprise us with a radically different iPhone 5s...but I guess we'll have to wait till iPhone 6.

 

[Jimmy James]

You are simultaneously suggesting that Apple is lacking innovation, while also stating that their phones are so good that there is little that can be done to improve them. Oxymoron.

 

[Aluminum213]

I feel like the 5S won't be that big of a deal except the finger print...
NOW I am very sure the iPhone 2014 will be amazing and everyone will love it. But I believe it might be the last phone that is going to be like how amazing iPhone 4 was when it came out. The only things remaining to make a phone amazing is anti shattered glass and extreme battery life and speed.
But I think phones are almost so matured that it won't be big of a difference in the future...What can the iPhone 10 really have to make it be special?
I believe the iPhone 4 was the last of it's kind. There will never really be a phone as special as the iPhone 4 was when it first came out..

Why are you so sure the 2014 iPhone will be so amazing? People said the same thing about the iPhone 5 before it was released and it was just a taller thinner iPhone 4 with a dud iOS 6.

Apple is sadly the safest tech company out there for phones and tablets, sad really

 

[maxosx]

There's a rapidly growing distance between Apple and innovation, where once they existed hand in hand. Once Apple became wildly successful, the demon known as addiction kicked in. Having fallen in love with the almighty dollar, while identifying exactly how little they could do and get away with, Apple manipulated their way to their present position.

Now having rested on their laurels for awhile, they've refined their profit taking practices even more. With hoards of their followers making excuses and standing up for them, Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. Naive and unable to see how the Apple apologists are enabling Apples behavior, all but guarantees that this pattern will continue. Why spend the time and money in R&D, when you've got a huge cadre of people that keep the bar of accomplishment as low as possible.

 

[jav6454]

There are several things the iPhone has yet to do which can be added. There is no need to rush somethings. Gotta give people a reason to come back for the next model.

 

[Michael CM1]

There's a rapidly growing distance between Apple and innovation, where once they existed hand in hand. Once Apple became wildly successful, the demon known as addiction kicked in. Having fallen in love with the almighty dollar, while identifying exactly how little they could do and get away with, Apple manipulated their way to their present position.

Now having rested on their laurels for awhile, they've refined their profit taking practices even more. With hoards of their followers making excuses and standing up for them, Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. Naive and unable to see how the Apple apologists are enabling Apples behavior, all but guarantees that this pattern will continue. Why spend the time and money in R&D, when you've got a huge cadre of people that keep the bar of accomplishment as low as possible.

That's a nice rant. It's just missing that one little thing we call facts.

I hear these all the time about how Apple can't do anything new. Yet aside from the continuous complaining about no NFC and screen size, I never really hear anything concrete. NFC so far is mostly a feature to tick off on a spec sheet, and screen size is debatable on whether bigger is better -- ask everybody who bought an iPad mini.

Apple hit a home run with the original iPhone then in about three years did it again with the iPad, which was pretty much "make the iPhone into a 10-inch device."

As Apple showed with the Mac Pro preview, it can innovate. It's just hard to fix something that's pretty close to perfect. No phone manufacturers are exactly re-inventing smartphones because there just isn't any reason to re-invent what's working.

 

[Dented]

I just wish people would stop mixing up the term "innovation" with that dreaded word "specs". Apple have never been about raw specs - specs are how the other guys differentiate. Apple is about the experience, and what the device can actually do for you - that's where they excel, and why often their phones with "lower" specs on paper work better, and even faster, than the latest Android with twice the memory, three times as many processor cores etc

Crucially, there's nothing "innovative" about putting in a faster processor or a bigger screen, that's just basic evolution. True innovation shouldn't just improve, it should completely change something for the better; Apple have done that a few times and they'll do it again, it just may not come with every iteration of the iPhone. I don't believe it's something the competition have ever done, by themselves.

 

[Di4mondz]

I just wish people would stop mixing up the term "innovation" with that dreaded word "specs". Apple have never been about raw specs - specs are how the other guys differentiate. Apple is about the experience, and what the device can actually do for you - that's where they excel, and why often their phones with "lower" specs on paper work better, and even faster, than the latest Android with twice the memory, three times as many processor cores etc

Crucially, there's nothing "innovative" about putting in a faster processor or a bigger screen, that's just basic evolution. True innovation shouldn't just improve, it should completely change something for the better; Apple have done that a few times and they'll do it again, it just may not come with every iteration of the iPhone. I don't believe it's something the competition have ever done, by themselves.

You deserve a reward. I've been saying this same argument with the iOS vs Android topic..

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

NFC, better battery, better resistance to drops.

 

[venetian-glass]

There's a rapidly growing distance between Apple and innovation, where once they existed hand in hand. Once Apple became wildly successful, the demon known as addiction kicked in. Having fallen in love with the almighty dollar, while identifying exactly how little they could do and get away with, Apple manipulated their way to their present position.

Now having rested on their laurels for awhile, they've refined their profit taking practices even more. With hoards of their followers making excuses and standing up for them, Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. Naive and unable to see how the Apple apologists are enabling Apples behavior, all but guarantees that this pattern will continue. Why spend the time and money in R&D, when you've got a huge cadre of people that keep the bar of accomplishment as low as possible.

Apple only became relevant when the iPhone came out. Before that, they were irrelevant.

 

[surjavarman]

I can't believe how naive and unrealistic people are. The only innovations we will see for the next couple of years are faster CPU's and bigger storage. Its unrealistic to think each year there will be some huge new thing. The PC industry hasn't had a breakthrough in decades. Who would smartphones be different at this point?

Its waiting for quantum computing, holographic phones, smart glass or infinite battery life or something. In the mean time just be satisfied with the incremental cpu/storage upgrades

 

[atlatnesiti]

Unfortunately, Apple's become rather predictable in their upgrade product cycle. This has given competitors the ability to trump Apple spec-wise.

I'd wish Apple would surprise us with a radically different iPhone 5s...but I guess we'll have to wait till iPhone 6.

Agee, so what did Apple offered us so far?
iPhone 3G and year later the same looking 3GS
iPhone 4.and year later the same looking 4S
and it looks that yet again we will get unchanged year old design in form of another "S", yawn...
Kind of glad, because I wan't be spending my hard earn money on the same iPhone 5 I already own. Updated camera? Never use it? Faster processor? 5 is fast enough - don't play games. Finger print scanner? You've got to be joking.
How about something a lot of people would appreciate Apple? - BIGGER SCREEN!
Oh well, that will probably come next year and will be announced by Apple as the best iPhone ever (as every year)...

 

[bp1000]

It is easy to innovate early on, processing power is down, phones are big, batteries are low capacity, screens are basic etc.

Once you reach retina, maxed out battery space, thinned down as much as current components allow, installed hardware that is already near instant it is much harder to go the extra mile.

The innovation has to come from different areas.

I expect some innovations yet to come are

Redesign removing the two tone

Usage of new tougher glass and redesigned glass casing to house camera and flash behind transparent glass for a cleaner look

Water proof components

New LTE chips

New image orientation processing

Smaller camera in housing and better focus system with virtual image stabilisation

Flexible connector pins

Pico projectors

Improved gaze detection so videos, games pause when you look away

Other software enhancements similar to mavericks to cut background power usage

One of my favourites - AirPlay 2.0 - 2 way airplay system which with the up and coming Apple TV enhancements should give true Internet tv hooking you straight into program's that use twitter hashtags for example and in future products, app interactions etc

Indoor gps

Zero border display

Eye spy type gestures using built in FaceTime camera to navigate the OS

New speaker with sound radiating surface

Inductive charging

NFC and iWallet enhancements for near field payments

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I just wish people would stop mixing up the term "innovation" with that dreaded word "specs". Apple have never been about raw specs - specs are how the other guys differentiate. Apple is about the experience, and what the device can actually do for you - that's where they excel, and why often their phones with "lower" specs on paper work better, and even faster, than the latest Android with twice the memory, three times as many processor cores etc

Crucially, there's nothing "innovative" about putting in a faster processor or a bigger screen, that's just basic evolution. True innovation shouldn't just improve, it should completely change something for the better; Apple have done that a few times and they'll do it again, it just may not come with every iteration of the iPhone. I don't believe it's something the competition have ever done, by themselves.

I think you have just explained what many of us try to explain on here daily, but you've put it in a much better way. I don't think many people discussing this actually understand what innovation is. All I see is bigger screen's, more features in the software, but a lack of appreciation for what the iPhone actually offers. Well done for putting it across quite simply.

----------

How about something a lot of people would appreciate Apple? - BIGGER SCREEN!
Oh well, that will probably come next year and will be announced by Apple as the best iPhone ever (as every year)...

What about the audience who do not wish the screen to get much bigger? Its rare I hear anybody away from here complain about the size of the screen on the iPhone 5, yet its almost a trend here. If Apple could implement a screen that is bigger but keep the overall size of the product the same, then I see that as a possibility. However if they start chasing down the route of making the phone as big as some of its rivals in the market, I think that would be a silly mistake.

 

[R.Stoychev]

I don't think that apple is lacking in innovation, they are making "specific" products. Most people using apple computers/products are not so into tech at all. They love the simplicity using apple products and the quality. There will be always people bored from apple etc. and saying there is lack of innovation and there will be people buying the new apple products.

 

[xArtx]

Soft home button would be nice.

 

[Cod3rror]

This happens with every product category, it's a normal cycle.

A new product category gets invented, fast innovations occur, then it matures and a basic product paradigm is established, from then on there are slow evolutionary improvements, sometimes even revolutionary, but those are very, very rare.


What's there to innovate about cars? It's a steering wheel and four wheels.

What's there to innovate about airplanes? It uses the same jet propulsion.

What's there to innovate about firearms? It's the same mechanism.

But all the above slowly progressed and improved.



Personally, I don't expect any revolutions, however what I'm interested in, are improvements. Integration of USB 3.0, 2GB RAM, Improvements to camera quality like OIS, maybe even OCS like the Olympus cameras, night performance, oversampling, H.265 Hardware Decoding, aptX BT.

There is a lot to look forward to.

If you're looking for a revolution, IMO there is going to be one when smartphones are powerful enough to run a desktop OS. When a mobile OS and a desktop OS will be united in one mobile device that will replace your laptop/desktop. Now that's going to be a revolution! That'll happen probably in 10 years.

 

[Dented]

Not sure why you'd want a desktop OS on your phone, or how that would be revolutionary at all. More likely just a PITA!

 

[Cicatrix]

I just wish people would stop mixing up the term "innovation" with that dreaded word "specs". Apple have never been about raw specs - specs are how the other guys differentiate. Apple is about the experience, and what the device can actually do for you - that's where they excel, and why often their phones with "lower" specs on paper work better, and even faster, than the latest Android with twice the memory, three times as many processor cores etc

Crucially, there's nothing "innovative" about putting in a faster processor or a bigger screen, that's just basic evolution. True innovation shouldn't just improve, it should completely change something for the better; Apple have done that a few times and they'll do it again, it just may not come with every iteration of the iPhone. I don't believe it's something the competition have ever done, by themselves.

basically, Apple needs to get with the basic evolution then, and use a bigger screen for the iphone. Apple is great but come on already!

 

[Dented]

basically, Apple needs to get with the basic evolution then, and use a bigger screen for the iphone. Apple is great but come on already!

No, doesn't work like that either. Plenty of people are happy with the screen as it is, and unlike other "specs" bigger is not always better, otherwise we'd all be lugging around 32" phones by now. Like I said, it's about the user experience with apple, and sometimes less is more.