KGI Shares Latest on 6.1-Inch iPhone, Next iPhone X and iPhone X Plus to Have 4GB of RAM and Two-Cell Batteries

[gijoeinla]

Let me get this straight. The majority here are already making their purchase decisions based on a research note published on January 28th??

The ONLY thing I believe is that Apple will produce a flagship model to compete with the Note... Otherwise...

 

[Mc0]

3D Touch is under used, it's not worth the cost to include and helps differentiate the models.

So true. Apple have yet to find a way to make 3D touch more useful. As for the battery, 3300-3400 is something hehe. Exciting times!

 

[Kabeyun]

How is it annoying to have more choices? Please explain.

A lot has been published about how too much choice actually can be a liability, notably Barry Schwartz’s Freakonomics and the Columbia study that preceded it, in which people were more likely to buy jam if they were presented with 6 choices that if they’d been presented with 24. “Choice overload” suggests that at some point there can be too much of a good thing, as it were. I don’t know if four iPhone models crosses that threshold. But the phenomenon is probably true, so it’d probably be good to bear in mind that more choices isn’t automatically a better thing. Just saying.

 

[gijoeinla]

The biggest problem Apple, and the rest of the industry, faces is that the smartphone is a mature product.

Incremental improvements are no longer enough for the public at large to drop $1000 every year or two on a new phone that fundamentally performs the same functions as the one they currently use.

A slightly larger screen? A better camera? Slightly better (but still just adequate) battery life? Design decisions like "the notch?" That's strictly fanboi fodder.

Most people are just going to replace their phones when they die, or some other circumstance calls for it. Not because of rote upgrade-itis like the makers would have you subscribe to.

Replacement cycles for smartphones are naturally lengthening as they have for computers, tablets, and every other piece of technology.

The question for Apple is, "what comes after the iPhone?" This cash cow won't live forever. It doesn't seem to have a hardware answer, so it's doubling down on ecosystem lockdown and captive services.

AirPods..Watches etc etc in colors and more ecosystem expansion especially content...

Can’t say enough about AirPods.. was just in the Bay Area of California - they are everywhere now.

 

[HallStevenson]

Let me get this straight. The majority here are already making their purchase decisions based on...

Remember, many here replace their iPhone every single time a new model comes out, even when it's on a yearly basis. They would do it anyway, regardless of a research paper (gossip).

 

[nzcatfood]

I am confident that the notch was a design sacrifice and mark my words, in a few years they will get rid of it and acknowledgement of this sacrifice will be admitted only then.

I disagree. The notch serves a purpose like a luxury car grill, a marketing feature that enables the phone to be casually identified by others in a public setting. With phone faces basically all screen now, the notch is there to advertise iPhone.

 

[ckhris1613]

A lot has been published about how too much choice actually can be a liability, notably Barry Schwartz’s Freakonomics and the Columbia study that preceded it, in which people were more likely to buy jam if they were presented with 6 choices that if they’d been presented with 24. “Choice overload” suggests that at some point there can be too much of a good thing, as it were. I don’t know if four iPhone models crosses that threshold. But the phenomenon is probably true, so it’d probably be good to bear in mind that more choices isn’t automatically a better thing. Just saying.

U really think 3-4 choices is too much? You read too much.

 

[Keirasplace]

Why is haptic feedback needed when it would be obvious that the long-press was registered by the fact the context-sensitive menu popped up in response to it?

Long press is NOT THE SAME, good god. Man. Tiresome.
I can get 3 contextual pop ups with 3d touch in the time it takes for up long press response.

 

[Baymowe335]

My initial thoughts as well (with the exception of not avoiding updates as I need the security updates). I've been pondering on whether to get myself an iPhone 8, but it might not be such future-proof now.

Very true, and we'll all do just that.

HOWEVER, it's still worth pointing out that change-for-the-sake-of-change has always been problematic. Getting rid of the fingerprint reader (a feature that took a long time to win over the masses) in favor of a different biometric does not seem to many consumers a reasonable tradeoff. It's totally fair to voice our opinions. From my perspective, having both for a couple of iterations would have helped those masses make the transition.

FaceID isn’t and will not be only a biometric authentication feature. It is much more versatile. Wasn’t a one for one swap. TouchID has limitations too and was very single task oriented.

Why are you struggling with this?

 

[BenTrovato]

I disagree. The notch serves a purpose like a luxury car grill, a marketing feature that enables the phone to be casually identified by others in a public setting. With phone faces basically all screen now, the notch is there to advertise iPhone.

Lol. That’s like putting a mound of poo on the front of a bmw to “differentiate” it from other brands. The notch is there because the technology cost is too expensive to put it under the screen. There are better ways to differentiate the iPhone than a notch.

 

[BootsWalking]

Long press is NOT THE SAME, good god. Man. Tiresome.
I can get 3 contextual pop ups with 3d touch in the time it takes for up long press response.

A long press for Android is 500ms (1/2 second). I just did a 3D press on my iPhone 7 and it took about the same amount of time.

 

[jonnyb098]

As iPhones are rapidly increasing in price I am judging them more harshly because i want to be satisfied with my purchase. The more expensive anything is, the higher the expectation. If they are removing key features and still charging a premium then I can’t look past it and will just seek an older iPhone with less compromises and more sensibly priced.

Exactly. What I take issue with is that while the iPhone X looks like a great phone it’s filled with compromises. Face ID, the notch, restarting the damn thing. It’s just a phone full of compromises. Touch ID was something that was ZERO compromise and just was layered on top when you inevitably press the home button to wake the phone. Now that all the hype is wearing off loads of reviewers are admitting there are lots of little annoyances with iPhone X. Reminds me of the Apple Watch, three years in NOW more people want it but in the beginning Apple had no idea how to sell it to people or tell us why we needed to lust after it (something Steve Jobs was famous for making us feel). Same goes for iPhone X......why exactly do we need to compromise?

Also the fact that people are perfectly content on this thread and others with the iPhone 8 or even getting one later this year to avoid the iPhone X is very telling. If iPhone X were truly the best, the 8 wouldn’t exist.

 

[PickUrPoison]

<snip> The notch is there because the technology cost is too expensive to put it under the screen. There are better ways to differentiate the iPhone than a notch.

Is the technology merely too expensive, or is it simply nonexistent? Seems like the latter.

In any case, Apple had a choice of full bezel or partial bezel. They chose to use the areas to the left and right of the sensors/transducers as additional display, instead of leaving them as unusable dead space. It’s a design choice; surely Apple prototyped both options. They chose the notch over a full width bezel.

Those that can’t deal with it won’t buy it, but it looks like Apple is tripling down and expanding the notch from just one model to three, according to rumor.

 

[Tiger8]

Lol they’re literally creating a “knockoff” of their own phone. Oh you want the X but can’t afford it? Here’s a gimped crappy version of it! Get the look without the price! Their product line grow more confusing by the minute. SAD.

Not the first time, remember the 5C?

 

[intz2nu]

I think the plus size X should come down a bit as it would be bigger than the Galaxy Note 8 which is a pretty large phone.

 

[jonnyb098]

Is the technology merely too expensive, or is it simply nonexistent? Seems like the latter.

In any case, Apple had a choice of full bezel or partial bezel. They chose to use the areas to the left and right of the sensors/transducers as additional display, instead of leaving them as unusable dead space. It’s a design choice; surely Apple prototyped both options. They chose the notch over a full width bezel.

Those that can’t deal with it won’t buy it, but it looks like Apple is tripling down and expanding the notch from just one model to three, according to rumor.

The tech does exists. I forgot the name but a phone just came out at CES with the fingerprint reader in the screen and it works great. Problem is the tech wasn’t there a couple years ago when Apple started work on iPhone X so we have this dreaded notch.

 

[Roadstar]

FaceID isn’t and will not be only a biometric authentication feature. It is much more versatile. Wasn’t a one for one swap. TouchID has limitations too and was very single task oriented.

Why are you struggling with this?

I'm not sure why my post was quoted here as I was referring to the amount of RAM and what it could mean for system demands for future iOS versions, i.e. if I get a 2GB iPhone 8 now, how soon will that amount of RAM be insufficient for running iOS smoothly.

 

[AdonisSMU]

The amount of fragmentation is just getting absurd. They need to trim the SKU's, the feature vs price difference just isn't there.

Especially since they aren’t actually “killing them with breadth”. Or are they?

 

[himanshumodi]

Lack of 3D Touch? These "analysts" are taking a shot in the dark. There is no way Apple does this.

3D touch is one of those features that some claim is indispensable, and most have no idea what to do with.

 

[AdonisSMU]

1) MacRumors seems to have completely obliterated from its 2018 iPhones roundup the forthcoming new iteration of iPhone SE, which will be assembled at least in India. Being the entry-point iPhone, it will be a key component of the 2018 iPhone lineup and, i.m.o., it may deploy a low-cost 2GB RAM A12.

2) The A12 cpu is a must across the entire 2018 iOS lineup since it is likely to be the first A-line cpu to carry reliable hardware-based patches for the Security Enclave Processor (SEP) hack by xerub, and the Meltdown & Spectre vulnerabilities, both supposedly known by Apple since summer 2017 (so Apple had enough time to hardware-patch and re-design the A11).

3) I wouldn't be surprised to discover that the HomePod carries a special updated version of the A8 processor including hardware-based patches for the SEP hack by xerub, and the Meltdown & Spectre vulnerabilities. How could an old A8 still be used for pervasive Siri-centered home use considering the A8 privacy now potentially flawed, after all these recent Class Actions?

4) The same logic may apply to the forthcoming iPod Touch 7th generation (if any): being one of the most popular mHealth field test sensor unit for Apple ResearchKit and CareKit, how could a regular A9, despite being an upgrade from the A8-based iPod Touch 6th, still be deployed in an iPod Touch 7th if its privacy is inevitably flawed today in such a privacy-sensitive sector such as healthcare?

Bottom line:
If I was Apple, I wouldn't be releasing in 2018 iOS devices with A-cpu still tainted by these privacy threats (SEP xerub hack + Meltdown & Spectre) and which cannot be efficiently eliminated via software-only patches.
By radically refreshing the A-cpu in its entire 2018 iOS line, Apple would be renewing and boosting its marketing message of "THE privacy-wise" company.
This is also the reason, i.m.o., why Apple may leave no 2017 iPhone model still for sale by the end of 2018.

Logically would it make sense to push the iPhone announcement up a quarter?

 

[dwaite]

2) The A12 cpu is a must across the entire 2018 iOS lineup since it is likely to be the first A-line cpu to carry reliable hardware-based patches for the Security Enclave Processor (SEP) hack by xerub, and the Meltdown & Spectre vulnerabilities, both supposedly known by Apple since summer 2017 (so Apple had enough time to hardware-patch and re-design the A11).

Just wanted to point out, the SEP hardware wasn't hacked, its firmware decryption key was dumped. This means that the firmware code is available for 3rd parties to read, and they could potentially find a hack to the OS running in the SEP. However, any iOS update can patch the SEP firmware to close a vulnerability.

3) I wouldn't be surprised to discover that the HomePod carries a special updated version of the A8 processor including hardware-based patches for the SEP hack by xerub, and the Meltdown & Spectre vulnerabilities. How could an old A8 still be used for pervasive Siri-centered home use considering the A8 privacy now potentially flawed, after all these recent Class Actions?

I'd be surprised to find out that they have hardware patches in the HomePod. First, the vulnerabilities aren't as big a concern for hardware which doesn't run third party code. Second, they have mitigations in software.

But more importantly, we would be talking about five months to decide to correct the processor scheduler logic, lay out new silicon, do validation, a test run, and a production run before validating the chip as part of the design and spinning up HomePod production. It would be unprecedentedly aggressive and likely cost 10s of millions of dollars in excess of a traditional run. And they would lose the ability to reuse processors from other devices (or binned processors where one of the cores failed validation) in the HomePod, increasing the per-device cost.

I say five months since the device was supposed to be released last year, which I suppose means missing that deadline without saying why might be construed as them wanting to get a new CPU rev in and still being under NDA, perhaps. Personally, I think the likely culprit is whatever else has been impacting software development speed and quality at Apple the last 9 months or so

 

[HarryWild]

Why not 16GB of ram?

It would make the iPhone never obsolete! LOL! That the last thing Apple wants! It wants you to upgrade every two or three years based on slowing down due to not even RAM!

 

[saudade]

New price i$ GOOD

 

[Keirasplace]

A long press for Android is 500ms (1/2 second). I just did a 3D press on my iPhone 7 and it took about the same amount of time.

Right...

Lets see, presses on email list hard (it doesn't just depend on putting your finger on the screen, there has to be some pression), bang, instant popup, but hey my 6s strangely faster than your "7" huh.

You do know that there is a detection (which if you press hard enough is near instant), and then there is a retrieval and showing the info, the retrieval part in the Android case starts after that 0.5 second, so how the hell could it take the same time as a hard press that right away tell the sensor to act?

By 0.5s, if you press an icon, you already got the contextual app menu and selected which one you want, before 1 second, you've selected the first item and the app is almost opened with that context.

That's especially funny as even a medium 3d touch sensitivity, I still get a faster response than 0.5s which is the short settings on Android (which gives more false long touches).

Putting the pressure as "sensitive" on IOS, you get a reaction even before the sensor has received the full press and it is a extremely short time shorter than 0.5 second. You can test that by simply force touching any icon.

What you are saying makes no god damn sense. You know it yet you peddle your crud.

Straight up BS.

 

[iReality85]

Again with the lame notch design? How many more iterations of the iPhone will it take before I will be able to purchase new device? Still not buying one as long as they’re “settling” on aesthetics with that ridiculous notch.
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Apple is discontinuing 3D Touch. As it was an under-used, under-developed, and mostly unwanted feature, like most things they release these days.

Today I finally, finally got to play around with a X at the Apple Store. Between launch, and the holidays, every time I went there the place was mobbed.

I can’t underscore enough how freaking ugly the notch is. Granted, I already disliked it from seeing photos, but I tried my best to reserve judgment. No, it actually is that unsightly IMO.

That and I was really surprised at how cheap the phone felt, given that it’s $1000. It was the white version with the shiny stainless steel sides. Maybe that coupled with how shockingly lightweight it was, I don’t know but it felt cheap, and it’s been quite a long time I’ve ever felt that way about an Apple product.

I will say though that the “home bar” or whatever it’s called now that the home button is gone did feel natural, and I liked it!