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Lower-Cost iPhone Said to Use 'Super-Thin' Plastic and Fiberglass Shell in 4-6 Colors
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i think this is a good move from apple. aslong as they are very careful in where it takes their philosophy as a company.
if apple do not lose their philosophy of premium, and 'best' in the categories they compete in, they should be okay.
the smart phone market is now pretty much for all people. years ago, the smart phone was for people who were more akin to using computers.
that has changed. a 'smart phone' is pretty much The phone most people use.
apple's software is aimed to appeal to all users: old, young, computer literate, and the not so computer literate.
the problem is, apple make great products, but not everybody they appeal to, want to Invest so much money into technology or even a Phone.
so a lower priced Phone is a good idea.
apple have varying lines of products in their computer and ipod ranges. and now most recently, their iPad range.
we have -
iPad - main user tablet.
iPad Mini - for users looking for more portability on the go. i.e. the anywhere tablet.
Macs:
iMac - Desktop, pretty much consumer or pro.
MacBook Pro - portable desktop power ideal for Pro
MacBook Air - ultra portable for users who want even more portability, and the MBAir essentially replaced the 'macbook' line, as a lower cost option. its power is on par with Pro use as well.
Mac Pro - Pro use desktop station.
iPod:
Touch: users who want iOS and iPhone experience but not looking for a Phone. or simply all the great features apple designs inside an ipod with a large touch screen.
Classic: users looking for large storage capacity to take large or entire music collections on the go. less concerned with consumer features.
Nano - Lower cost touch experience with ultra portability, for users who want to listen more than interact. for more portability.
Shuffle - play-pause music on the go, also especially for people who want to be physically active while enjoying their music.
so..
iPhone.
old iPhones are or were a convenient way to maintain lower priced options without starting from scratch.
i think that was more appropriate before, but the market is not being dominated by one company now.
the current premium type of iPhone could be considered the 'pro' type of model.
which could come in two sizes, larger and more like the current.
a lower cost iPhone for people who might be less crazy about the latest and greatest camera lenses, megapixels, and A5/6/7 chips or premium builds. but simply users like me who want an iPhone because of:
the OS system. and the ecosystem.
shouldn't have to go buy an old 'iPhone 3gs' which cant use newer iOS updates.
i personally prefer the idea of bringing out iphones in as imilar design to the original bondi blue imac. the white macbook was okay i guess. but i honestly think a theme based on the translucent original imac would really stand out, and compliment the philosophy of the product - consumer.
iPhone (low cost) = consumer.
iPhone Unibody Alumnium (Pro), 2 sizes possibly.
if apple do not lose their philosophy of premium, and 'best' in the categories they compete in, they should be okay.
the smart phone market is now pretty much for all people. years ago, the smart phone was for people who were more akin to using computers.
that has changed. a 'smart phone' is pretty much The phone most people use.
apple's software is aimed to appeal to all users: old, young, computer literate, and the not so computer literate.
the problem is, apple make great products, but not everybody they appeal to, want to Invest so much money into technology or even a Phone.
so a lower priced Phone is a good idea.
apple have varying lines of products in their computer and ipod ranges. and now most recently, their iPad range.
we have -
iPad - main user tablet.
iPad Mini - for users looking for more portability on the go. i.e. the anywhere tablet.
Macs:
iMac - Desktop, pretty much consumer or pro.
MacBook Pro - portable desktop power ideal for Pro
MacBook Air - ultra portable for users who want even more portability, and the MBAir essentially replaced the 'macbook' line, as a lower cost option. its power is on par with Pro use as well.
Mac Pro - Pro use desktop station.
iPod:
Touch: users who want iOS and iPhone experience but not looking for a Phone. or simply all the great features apple designs inside an ipod with a large touch screen.
Classic: users looking for large storage capacity to take large or entire music collections on the go. less concerned with consumer features.
Nano - Lower cost touch experience with ultra portability, for users who want to listen more than interact. for more portability.
Shuffle - play-pause music on the go, also especially for people who want to be physically active while enjoying their music.
so..
iPhone.
old iPhones are or were a convenient way to maintain lower priced options without starting from scratch.
i think that was more appropriate before, but the market is not being dominated by one company now.
the current premium type of iPhone could be considered the 'pro' type of model.
which could come in two sizes, larger and more like the current.
a lower cost iPhone for people who might be less crazy about the latest and greatest camera lenses, megapixels, and A5/6/7 chips or premium builds. but simply users like me who want an iPhone because of:
the OS system. and the ecosystem.
shouldn't have to go buy an old 'iPhone 3gs' which cant use newer iOS updates.
i personally prefer the idea of bringing out iphones in as imilar design to the original bondi blue imac. the white macbook was okay i guess. but i honestly think a theme based on the translucent original imac would really stand out, and compliment the philosophy of the product - consumer.
iPhone (low cost) = consumer.
iPhone Unibody Alumnium (Pro), 2 sizes possibly.
Exactly.
And the thinner casing doesn't have to be used to make a thinner device either. A lower cost THICKER iPhone (back to 3GS thickness) with an extended battery life by taking advantage of the space given by the thinner shell to fit a larger battery would be a perfect match for a lot of people.
That day is already here. Get a mobile wi-fi. Then pick the device size, form factor and brand that suits your needs. 4" iPod, ~8" iPad mini, 15" macbook, whatever. If you need to call someone, log into skype. Done.
No, they didn't. They felt plasticky and cheap in the hand compared to original iPhone and iPhone 4/4S. They were more comfortable to hold than the 4/4S though.
Why surrender the small screen market when you can (a) keep the 4S going easily and (b) revamp it with a new design. The 3.5's will be out there in the market for another three or four years, so you might as well except that you will have screen fragmentation and embrace it.
But I also think Apple should do an iPhone Plus with a 5 inch screen. Three sizes going forward, each top quality and each selling about 50 million handsets a year. Done.
I don't see the iPhone getting much thinner....it might it they were to adopt the iPod touch design, but given how slow battery tech is moving we might be stuck at the ~7mm range for a while.
No... they have just saturated the market of people willing to settle on a color that isn't what they want, to get the phone that otherwise meets their needs. With genuine competition from other manufacturers, providing the product the customer wants becomes more important. Adding colors may be a necessary means of maintaining and expanding the market share.
Think about it this way: What would the world be like today if cars had never moved on from Ford's "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." philosophy?
Yes, Apple should not go thinner. By having by far the smallest battery on the market they are not using their strength which is great battery management. If they put a battery the same size as the GS4 in a 3.5 or 4 inch phone, they would have a three day battery life phone. Even folks who fiddle with their phone all day would never kill an iPhone with 2600 m battery. At least not in one day.
Well... some 90's Apple products were terrible
Apple currently only has one iPhone product line... with 3 models (plus different colors and capacities)
This would add a "lower-cost" iPhone product line. It shouldn't be too confusing.
IF this true... I wonder what the phone hardware will be? Would they dare go back to non-Retina screens to reduce cost?
It's not like Apple does plastic. Their aluminum products are always awesome (iPhone 5, all of the iPads, even the iPhone 4.. which wasn't aluminum, and almost every Mac made in the past 5 years).
On the other hand, the plastic products are a little.. problematic. Even the plastic iPhones had hairline crack issues. Then there were the MacBooks, the iBooks, the G4 cubes, and the plastic PowerMacs that usually generated hairline cracks around the screws that held the side panels to the case.
The OCD freaks that go crazy about finding a 0.01mm nick in the aluminum on the side of their brand new iP5 will never be able to buy an iPhone again if they go plastic.
I do anticipate a lot of hypocrisy from the "ew samsung cheap plastic ugh tacky!" camp when a plastic iPhone comes out (again). Just like I'm seeing from the samsung camp now that the new S4 (same as the old S3) came out XD
On the other hand, the plastic products are a little.. problematic. Even the plastic iPhones had hairline crack issues. Then there were the MacBooks, the iBooks, the G4 cubes, and the plastic PowerMacs that usually generated hairline cracks around the screws that held the side panels to the case.
The OCD freaks that go crazy about finding a 0.01mm nick in the aluminum on the side of their brand new iP5 will never be able to buy an iPhone again if they go plastic.
I do anticipate a lot of hypocrisy from the "ew samsung cheap plastic ugh tacky!" camp when a plastic iPhone comes out (again). Just like I'm seeing from the samsung camp now that the new S4 (same as the old S3) came out XD
Apart from making all these people shut up who admire Samsung for the technological advance that is needed to create a five inch phone, cell phone features in the iPad mini would be quite useful. I can see an iPad mini being carried around all the time by some people; it fits into many handbags, some coat pockets, and even in some trouser pockets (not in mine
), and if you are not a heavy phone user, being able to make calls from the mini means you don't need a phone with you at all. And if you have 3G anyway, the hardware cost would be zero.
Can't wait for this to happen just to see what all those isheep say ... You know, the ones who have been dissing the Galaxy S plastic case all these years!!!!
Guy No. 1: "I'd never buy a crappy POS Samsung plastic phone"
Guy No. 1 - 10 minutes later: "I see Apple are making a plastic phone, for emerging markets. That will help expand their market penetration, which is good for my stock."
Guy No. 2 -
I see your point, but don't forget that Samsung's flagship phone is plastic. We're talking about Apple making a cheaper phone made with plastic, AND continuing to produce phones made from premium materials.
Yup! Makes complete sense and there are other compelling reasons too.
In the iPhone and to a lesser extent the iPad, Apple breaks their ipod/mac approach and sells old models of its devices along with new ones. Apple will get back to their iPod/mac approach of selling clearly differentiated new products for different markets and budgets. Recent changes we've been seeing, like the iPad mini and the new 16:9 iPhone 5, set the stage for this transition to only selling new devices.
Soon there will be a new retina mini sold along side the current non-retina mini. The non-retina full-sized iPad will go bye-bye so as to simplify things and they'll give the retina full-sized iPad the most horsepower to further distinguish it from the retina mini.
The recent transition to the 16:9 iPhone 5 sets the stage for the larger 4.8 inch iPhone. They need 16:9 to make the phone 4.8 not too wide in the hand and by tripling the horizontal resolution of the original iPhone it all makes sense. You really must see Jason's Richmond's take on it all.
So the iPhone 5 now becomes a kind of "iPhone mini" and the new 4.8 iPhone becomes the full-sized iPhone. Both will sell like hotcakes just like apple's iPad line. The new plastic iPhone will not require a case and be more artsy and consumery like their ipod line. It will also have less horsepower and less features (like fingerprint recognition) than its metal mini cousin.
I'm marking this post for future boasting rights
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while not weighing in the on rumor, two notes:
1) i loved my plastic 3G and 3GS. maybe more than the slab designs.
2) nobody who says it's the "beginning of the end" or "apple is going downhill" or "apple is doomed" on here can be taken seriously.
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low-cost and low-quality are two different words. the ipad mini is the low-cost ipad, but it is not low-quality.
that the iphone4 design was improved from the 3G is debatable. i certainly feel its less ergonomic. but it's certainly not arguable that it would be like reverting the current iMac to an Apple II. at all.
Good god, I am getting sick of this rumor thread, either release it or dont but for the love of god, shush about it lol
Well of course! If you make a high end halo phone, why should you charge the same for it being made out of plastic as everyone else charges for metal or glass? The Galaxy S4 should have been made of something more luxurious then plastic... again...
True that and by the time the Liquid Metal large screened iphone 6 comes out
samsung might come out with an aluminum phone but it will pale in comparison to the LM iphone 6.