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Last year: 4" perfect/this year 4" not even made

We're you surprised apple didn't offer a 4" iPhone 6?

  • Yes, I was surprised

    Votes: 12 10.3%

  • No, I wasn't surprised

    Votes: 92 78.6%

  • Other (or:this poll is horrible)

    Votes: 13 11.1%
  • Total voters
    117
Italianblend

Italianblend

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
1,794
247
Fatima
I find it very ironic that for the past few years apple was preaching about how a 4" phone is the perfect size for your hand.

I was highly surprised that the iPhone 6 wasn't even offered in a 4" model. What happened to their "perfect size?" Why not offer a 4" along with the other models so that those who like the "perfect size" can have it.
 
Yep that's life.
One year the say they don't need multitasking, the next they're touting how great it is.

I'm not knocking apple for this, its actually smart business on their side.
 
Steve121178 said:
It's called progress. Things change and nothing stays the same forever.
Click to expand...


I think his point is the hypocrisy. Apple dug in so deep on the 4" is perfect theme that it's now hilarious that all of a sudden it's bam 4.7 and 5.5 is perfect.

"4? What are you talking about we never said that was perfect. We don't even make a 4" flagship anymore!"
 
What is even better is the community's independent attitude towards Apple's choices. Totally not blindly following anything. :D
 
phositadc said:
I think his point is the hypocrisy. Apple dug in so deep on the 4" is perfect theme that it's now hilarious that all of a sudden it's bam 4.7 and 5.5 is perfect.

"4? What are you talking about we never said that was perfect. We don't even make a 4" flagship anymore!"
Click to expand...

4" was perfect at the time, but how we use our devices has changed. Years ago a 4.7" device would have been massive and very chunky. It's a testament to technology and Apple's designers that they can make large screened devices so slim & light.

4" is too small for most people in 2014 due to what we want to consume on our devices, hence why Apple's new phone comes with 4.7" or 5.5". Apple made the correct decision.
 
Italianblend said:
I find it very ironic that for the past few years apple was preaching about how a 4" phone is the perfect size for your hand.

I was highly surprised that the iPhone 6 wasn't even offered in a 4" model. What happened to their "perfect size?" Why not offer a 4" along with the other models so that those who like the "perfect size" can have it.
Click to expand...

Times change and consumers needs, rather wants, change. Apple isn't going to push out a 4" iPhone when it seems as though forward progress is moving towards a larger screen regardless of manufacturer. They would be shooting themselves in the foot by doing that.

Maybe it is ironic to you, but i don't think that this word applies to this situation.
 
I think that their one handed mode makes the difference. Their point was that the 4 inch was perfect because you can use it with one hand. I still agree with that... But their new mode changes the game for me (small hands). With that option, a larger phone might be the new perfect. Without it I wouldn't consider it user friendly... for me at least.
 
I think it was more Steve Jobs' philosophy as opposed to Apple's. Now he's gone and Apple is under different leadership things like this were bound to change. Apple realised to keep up with the competition they had to increase the size of the display.
 
Don't misunderstand me. I am glad they have a bigger phone now. I just wish they would have kept the 4" model. Especially since it was touted so much as the perfect size for one hand. I'm sure they could have done 3 sizes.
 
Steve121178 said:
4" was perfect at the time, but how we use our devices has changed. Years ago a 4.7" device would have been massive and very chunky. It's a testament to technology and Apple's designers that they can make large screened devices so slim & light.

4" is too small for most people in 2014 due to what we want to consume on our devices, hence why Apple's new phone comes with 4.7" or 5.5". Apple made the correct decision.
Click to expand...

hahahahahaha. too funny.
 
Are you guys surprised? It's called marketing.

Now I'll be interested to see what happens NEXT year. Do they leave the 4 incher behind for good? Or do they come out with an iPhone 6 mini for people who still want the smaller screen?
 
it's just that they were so stubborn on the 4 inch thing and then all of a sudden they don't even offer it.
 
That's Apple. See one-button mouse.

And don't take them literally. What is "perfect" is what they have for sale at any given time, not the literal definition of the word perfection. They made a huge marketing push for retina but then rolled out an iPad Mini 1 without retina. Much like that situation, this new iPhone has Apple formally endorsing two choices so the fans are having to find their way to rationalizes how both can be "perfect". Go back to that iPad Mini 1 launch and you'll see lots of rationalizing how it made perfect sense for a 7.9" screen to lack retina while a 9.7" had to be retina. Of course, when an iPad Mini 2 launched with retina, all that rationalization no longer applied. 720p was "good enough", "1080p is a gimmick", "the chart", etc when :apple:TV was capped at 720p but no such arguments turned against Apple when they rolled out a 1080p :apple:TV3. The fun is watching the fan base rationalize such things on Apple's behalf.

Apple flip flops regularly and sometimes dramatically. See: http://www.techlicious.com/blog/5-big-flip-flops-from-apple/ and http://www.phonearena.com/news/Tim-Cook-says-Steve-Jobs-taught-him-about-flip-flopping_id30702

"We" seem to think Apple acts above the business of making money. But they just want the money. If this year's iPhone would have been star-shaped, the new star-shaped iPhone would have been the new perfect. If it came only in lime green with pepto bismol pink dots, it would have been the new perfect too. If the battery was ejected in the name of "thin", this crowd would pay the full price anyway and spin it as "everyone buys a battery case anyway" or "now everyone can get just the amount of battery they want".

Again, the fun is watching the fans go right along. When 3.5" was the "perfect", everything bigger than it was "abominations", "stupid", "99% don't want". Then 4" was deemed the new perfect and the same adjectives shifted to everything bigger than 4". When these bigger 6s phones were first rumored, there was heavy psychological "Apple would never" rebellion. But as the rumors piled up, the crowd started increasingly adopting that the 4.7" will be THE (next) one while mostly rejecting the 5.5". Now they are both announced and will quickly take their place as the new perfect. It should be only a short time before this crowd is poking at the 4" as "puny", "how did we ever get by with such tiny screens", etc.

This is all just normal operations by Apple and it's fans.
 
I think Steve Jobs thought the size was perfect and it was really difficult for them to go against that even though the market has clearly spoken.

I personally know several people who bought Android phones just because they want the bigger screen and its probably the single largest factor other than price which has let Android gain marketshare.
 
Jobs has been dead for 3 years. The 5S and the 5 was not under his leadership. Thy could have easily offered a bigger device.
 
Apple's not the only person to do this, either.

When the iPad came out, Microsoft it would never take off because it doesn't use a pen input, or have a keyboard, and that Windows (at the time Windows 7) was better suited for a "tablet" than iOS.

Oh but look, Windows 8 was designed specifically for finger touch input, and most models that run Windows 8 don't feature any kind of stylus input.
 
Italianblend said:
Right, I meant that its not being used in their new products. Apparently it was so perfect that they can't even use it anymore.
Click to expand...

Maybe this will open people's eyes about how Apple's sales have a whole lot to do with marketing.

I am not saying they make bad priducts by any stretch of the imagination. But people should think twice when quoting Apple about what the perfect setup for ANYTHING is when someone is complaining about a lack of a feature. It seems "something Apple said" is the goto retort, right up there with "then get an Android instead".
 
phositadc said:
I think his point is the hypocrisy. Apple dug in so deep on the 4" is perfect theme that it's now hilarious that all of a sudden it's bam 4.7 and 5.5 is perfect.

"4? What are you talking about we never said that was perfect. We don't even make a 4" flagship anymore!"
Click to expand...

They had a choice... Simple really

A. Conform and evolve to customer desires
B. Falter and become a lagging/struggling/dying market share
 
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