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Is hardware the most important thing for the iPhone 6 to be successful?

D

DBZmusicboy01

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 30, 2011
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I heard kit kat android is very fast and more stable than iOS 7. But the next samsung s5 will have 2K 5.25inch screen 4GB of ram...2.4hhz 16MP camera with 4K video recording and other amazing things. I believe that apple needs to innovate to be successful in 2014. This time around specs will matter more than software.
No way on earth that 16GB standard is enough for next year because the size of the apps will be huge and the camera will take up way more space and the OS as well. It's not enough for 2 years. 64bit takes up more memory for everything.
 
The spec "hores" (intentional) will buy the latest and greatest. Even though i recently got a 5s, i followed apple for a long time, apple doesn't lead in specs nor follow in specs...they tend to lead in features that make a difference in how the product is used.

That said, im sure there will be some interesting revelations with the iphone 6.
 
The iPhone will continue to be successful as long as you have the tight combination of hardware and software - either of those on their own does not make a successful product.
 
ckorhonen said:
The iPhone will continue to be successful as long as you have the tight combination of hardware and software - either of those on their own does not make a successful product.
Click to expand...

Apple's pattern indicates otherwise.

What's the iPhone 3G? Mostly a new case and only 3G and A-GPS. Same old OS.

What's the iPhone 4S? Same case and only Siri and faster. Same old OS.

What's the iPhone 5S? Same case and only fingerprint sensor. Minorly better camera and hardly faster. New OS though.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Apple's pattern indicates otherwise.

What's the iPhone 3G? Mostly a new case and only 3G and A-GPS. Same old OS.

What's the iPhone 4S? Same case and only Siri and faster. Same old OS.

What's the iPhone 5S? Same case and only fingerprint sensor. Minorly better camera and hardly faster. New OS though.
Click to expand...

64 bit processor....leading the pack. You can say from an end user point of view....meh...but its a game changer as far as future proofing these devices.
 
I7guy said:
64 bit processor....leading the pack. You can say from an end user point of view....meh...but its a game changer as far as future proofing these devices.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but it's hardly an incentive to upgrade from the 5. Fingerprint unlocking is basically the only incentive at this time (other than wanting the latest).
 
I think that if the 6 doesn't have at least 4.7" and full HD display, people will start thinking about switching to Android more and more.

I have a 5 right now, but I switched for a while to Android because of lack of innovation on Apple's part, and because of a lack of even keeping up with the display qualities out there. I only came back when it was jailbreakable and just stayed away from iOS 7, since then I was able to customize it like Android.

6 won't be jailbreakable, at least for a long while. Apple is getting too good at fixing any holes it might have.

Hardware will be paramount.

----------
JayLenochiniMac said:
Agreed, but it's hardly an incentive to upgrade from the 5. Fingerprint unlocking is basically the only incentive at this time (other than wanting the latest).
Click to expand...

So you wouldn't advise upgrading from 5 to 5s?

That's something I'm thinking about at this time.
 
DBZmusicboy01 said:
I heard kit kat android is very fast and more stable than iOS 7. But the next samsung s5 will have 2K 5.25inch screen 4GB of ram...2.4hhz 16MP camera with 4K video recording and other amazing things. I believe that apple needs to innovate to be successful in 2014. This time around specs will matter more than software.
No way on earth that 16GB standard is enough for next year because the size of the apps will be huge and the camera will take up way more space and the OS as well. It's not enough for 2 years. 64bit takes up more memory for everything.
Click to expand...

You heard wrong. Kit Kat is not more stable than IOS, but android is getting closer with every release.
 
4K on a phone?

Hope you like 2 minute clips taking up gigs worth of data
 
DBZmusicboy01 said:
I believe that apple needs to innovate to be successful in 2014. This time around specs will matter more than software.
Click to expand...

So innovate to you means stuff more, bigger, gigahertz.

Going by history, Apple doesn't play that game. Since Samsung issued their octo-core, Apple ain't jumping onto that bangwagon.

Memory wise I would not be surprised Apple keeps it at 16GB, why, notice how Apple wants you to use more Cloud, another source of revenue. They are evil. ;)
 
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Mrbobb said:
Going by history, Apple doesn't play that game.
Click to expand...

Yes they do. Why else go to 64-bit when there still aren't very many apps that can even take advantage of it at this time? It's not to "future-proof" one specific model. Apple wants you to get the 5s now, but it wants you to get the 6 too. And then the 6s. And so on. They could care less if you now have a phone that is great for the next two years.

Headlines. That's all it is.
 
Ender Wiggins said:
I think that if the 6 doesn't have at least 4.7" and full HD display, people will start thinking about switching to Android more and more.

I have a 5 right now, but I switched for a while to Android because of lack of innovation on Apple's part, and because of a lack of even keeping up with the display qualities out there. I only came back when it was jailbreakable and just stayed away from iOS 7, since then I was able to customize it like Android.

6 won't be jailbreakable, at least for a long while. Apple is getting too good at fixing any holes it might have.

Hardware will be paramount.

----------



So you wouldn't advise upgrading from 5 to 5s?

That's something I'm thinking about at this time.
Click to expand...

If the next iPhone has a screen that big I'll have to look at Android. Oh wait, they don't seem to have any great smaller screened phones.
 
There's one hardware upgrade I want more than any other from Apple: more RAM. 1GB just isn't enough. More storage is nice, but not nearly as pressing a need in my opinion.
 
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Jimmy James said:
If the next iPhone has a screen that big I'll have to look at Android. Oh wait, they don't seem to have any great smaller screened phones.
Click to expand...

A lot of my friends said that the iPhone didn't need to go bigger than 3.5, and that it was the perfect size. Now they say the same about the 4".

I know your mileage may vary. My point is, tastes change over time.

Don't worry, you'll get used to it. :p
 
Is hardware the most important thing for the iPhone 6 to be successful?

Android phones can have what they like, I've compared my 5s to many "rival" phones with x amount of RAM, x MHz processor etc... It means nothing on its own. Reality is, I'd rather have my iPhone, it's nice to hold and use, the fonts on screen are nice and not gimmicky etc plus, and this is THE biggest thing for me, apples customer service is second to none! For example my gf's 5 developed a cracked screen from being dropped, we went into apple today and asked how much a new screen would be, £119 we were told so booked the genius appointment for later and came back, the genius we saw then told us as it's hairline crack it's covered under warranty and that she'd get it done within 30 minutes for us, phone now looks as good as new, no cost, no waiting for phones to be sent away etc and back to enjoying the phone...
 
Ender Wiggins said:
A lot of my friends said that the iPhone didn't need to go bigger than 3.5, and that it was the perfect size. Now they say the same about the 4".

I know your mileage may vary. My point is, tastes change over time.

Don't worry, you'll get used to it. :p
Click to expand...

Tastes do change. However, I still prefer the old 3.5 and wish some top phones still offered something like that.
 
Ender Wiggins said:
Yes they do. Why else go to 64-bit when there still aren't very many apps that can even take advantage of it at this time? It's not to "future-proof" one specific model. Apple wants you to get the 5s now, but it wants you to get the 6 too. And then the 6s. And so on. They could care less if you now have a phone that is great for the next two years.

Headlines. That's all it is.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. Yes Apple wants to sell the newest device, but markets share is also very important to them. Having more people using iOS devices = more app and content sales, so two years from now when a casual device user is comparing a 64 bit 5S to a 32 bit GS4 or Nexus 5, the fact that the newest apps run like butter on that "old" iPhone is going to make a difference.

Also consider the fact that app makers aren't going to build apps for a 64 bit mobile OS unless there actually is one that exists.
 
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I don't think Apple will be competing on specs like megahertz or megapixels. We've reached a point where the hardware we have now is good enough, and trying to boost specs alone doesn't provide any tangible benefit.
In fact, when you cram more megapixels in the same (or thinner) form factor, you're actually having a negative effect on picture quality - what you are doing is using smaller pixels, which take in less light, which means worse low-light photos and noisier images in general.

What Apple really needs to focus on is software - fixing all the problems in iOS 7.
 
The balance between hardware software iCloud services and the results of using them are the key:
64 bit processor for playing better games, running processor intensive apps
Better camera to capture better pictures and video without much complication
iTunes Match for videos…
Some games that run via Airplay on the Apple TV that allow multiple iPhones/iPods/iPads to participate…GameCenter next gen

One of the most overlooked hardware components is the M7 coprocessor that Apple sells as something to save battery and increase performance, but I think it is there to capture a lot of data for Apple to data mine and determine next level smart features based on how we are using the iPhone.

I still have my 5 and skipped the 5s, however looking back to the website, I can't deny there are many more things than I initially perceived:
http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/
Interesting also to realize that Apple's website is now mainly aimed to look nice in Retina Displays as I need to scroll way more with my 15" MacBook Pro to see all the nice details presented there.
I need a bigger screen…

Those who always say that Apple is not innovating, what are you really expecting? What is missing that Apple should had done with this latest iPhone 5S that they didn't?
 
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