New Backlight Enables iPhone 6's Thin Design, May Cause Production Challenges

[CaryMacGuy]

I don't need the device to be thinner...it needs to be faster, have better battery life, and reliable.

 

[BigHonkingDeal]

oh another production problem report from analysts. rare...

Don't worry, it's just the odd/even day "Shortage" / "No Shortage" rumor....

 

[MacrumoursUser]

Every year some production challenges.

 

[lik]

Only Apple. Lots of people here will claim they covet "thinner" but I speculate that that is mostly driven by them knowing Apple is going thinner so they want what Apple is going to give. You'll find few (any?) griping about the onerous thickness of the 5s or 5. And when Apple launched the 4, 5 and 5s, there were few-to-none griping about it being "too thick".

I think the rhythm of spinning "thinnest" at each launch event has simply set in such that it becomes a quest with every re-design. It's no longer the market faulting how heavy or thick the current generation device is now; it's just something that is internally important for marketing spin. I'm sure 20 guys will come back spinning how they desperately need an even thinner iPhone to try to rationalize it but I bet it would be hard to find any of those 20 griping about the thickness of their current iPhone in any other thread.

Ya, and it is so useless. I tweeted Tim Cook even: I gladly take 1 or 2 mm more - HOW ABOUT A WEEK'S BATTERY LIFE for a change? We were all used
to that in 2006, so … please? Would also be a game changer like battery life in MacBook Airs.

 

[DonRivella]

Apple has (temporarily) lost the 'thin and light' race in the tablet world - maybe they want to make up for in phone world. I personally would prefer a compact form factor over thin and light on a phone, a la LG G2/3 with very thin bezels.

 

[jctevere]

Who said we want thinner? My iPhone 5 is already thin enough (if not too thin). I feel like I could snap it in half if I really wanted to...

I would rather keep the thickness of the current iPhone 5 (or even slightly thicker) and have double battery life.

I think it's fair to say that I am not alone in my opinion.

 

[jonnyb098]

Is this really suprsing? I think we can expect every year that there will be short supply of iphones. It's been like this for 6 years.

 

[Mildredop]

Who is driving this thin obsession?

Consumers. With every iPhone release, the phone gets thinner and sales go up. So clearly, the consumer wants them thinner.

 

[iisdan]

Apples products are looking more and more generic every time

 

[Kariya]

Backlightgate here we come. Wait until the 6S for a solution.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If it's so thin that the camera lens protrudes, it's probably too thin.

No, they'll just take the camera out to achieve a thin target. Remember when their all-in-one computer had a super drive? Then, having that super-drive collided with making a desktop thinner, so it was jettisoned (but the price didn't fall with that loss of utility). Is a thin-edged desktop really that important?

Yes, yes, I know: "why include a dying piece of tech that not everyone needed anymore- just get an external drive." But that could be argued for EVERY piece of tech inside an iMac (maybe eventually the iMac will be just a thunderbolt 6 hub to which the rest of the computer must be attached via external devices? thinnest & lightest, all-in-one* iMac ever sold at about the current pricing of iMacs).

See the future of iDevices. The quest for thinner will start jettisoning utility parts that don't support that goal.

----------

Backlightgate here we come. Wait until the 6S for a solution.

Or do what "we" usually do- hope to get the Samsung (made) one. Almost every bad or yellow screen thread goes that way: "I hope I get the Samsung one".

 

[SanJacinto]

I would really love if that Apple logo glowed for notifications.

You know some indicator that you have a notification

"An indicator has value when it’s indicating something, but if it’s not indicating something it shouldn’t be there."
(Jonathan Ive in Objectified)



But I agree. This would be great and really apple like. A sportive little detail.
And I wish they would put in a larger battery. Please. Battery life would be a great advantage.
All my Windows friends aren't jealous on my Mac but for only one reason (all the other advantages are ignored by them because they are ignorant): my battery life.

 

[supersalo]

I'm not buying this "rumor" for a second. They're *this* close to production (or are already in it) and they're looking at second suppliers?

"To meet demand for this new part, Apple allegedly is looking to OMRON and Radiant as suppliers to supplement the projected output from Minebea."

If this rumor is true, it was true months ago.

 

[mscann]

I would really love if that Apple logo glowed for notifications.

You know some indicator that you have a notification

Or they could put an LED ring around the home button/fingerprint sensor and let that ring glow

 

[Tiger8]

Cmon with the "thinner is better" obsession. Make it a little thicker and give me twice the battery life. Is that so hard?

Thinner is better though, did you see the original iPad from 2004 mockups?

 

[lincolntran]

I heard the Apple logo on the back will glow if there's Orcs or Goblins nearby.

I want it to glow when there's a fandroid near by.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Or they could put an LED ring around the home button/fingerprint sensor and let that ring glow

That would work much better for cases- especially battery cases

 

[kemal]

Thinner is a feature target for Apple. Seems they are about to discover their own version of Moore's law failure.

 

[MrXiro]

so thin, it'll make it even harder to pick up from the table than the 5S!

This is an issue for you?

 

[Bubba Satori]

Who is driving this thin obsession?

Neurotic teenage girls.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Jony Ive?

And the spirit of Steve Jobs.

 

[oliversl]

That gray iPod Touch is the best iPhone ever designed.

 

[rcalderoni]

no more flat edge

I love my iPhones without cases, but this new form factor won't be able to stand up by itself... a handy feature for taking group or solo photos/videos. Maybe someone will make flat edge a case for it... but I hate cases.

 

[iSee]

...Sharp faces some risk in this strategy with large swings in monthly production due to Apple's once-a-year product refresh cycle...

That's not why Sharp faces risk. The once-a-year product refresh is relatively predictable, so it's not a high source of risk. It's hard to guess to specifically what Sharp's risk is because it depends on the details of their contract with Apple. But I'd guess their biggest risk is if a device does worse than projections (the internal projections between Apple and Sharp, that is, which I'm sure are a hotly negotiated part of their contract.)

 

[SmoMo]

Please ignore the small protrusion.

If it's so thin that the camera lens protrudes, it's probably too thin.

the protruding camera is from some case mockups right?
So maybe its just an easy to way to ensure your case doesn't cover the camera at all when you are designing it.

Any iPhone6 case manufacturers that happen to be here on MacRumors today who can verify this?