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This is something I never thought I'd ever say, but these camera bumps/designs on the iPhone are so bad now, that I actually think Samsung's S23 is a nicer looking design. How on earth did Apple go down such a bad design path?
 
It doesn’t bother me at all, why are people so obsessed with this? Do you all just sit and stare at the back your phones all day?

The iPhone takes worse pics than several year old Android phones, and you want them to revert back to iPhone 4 sized optics? No thanks.
 
why are people so obsessed with this? Do you all just sit and stare at the back your phones all day?

The iPhone takes worse pics than several year old Android phones, and you want them to revert back to iPhone 4 sized optics? No thanks.

Why? For a few reasons.

1. It's a sloppy design. It just doesn't look great, and there are other phones out there that have a sleeker look to them.
2. It's annoying when your phone wobbles on any surface you place it on, or starts to resemble a corn hole board.
3. If they're going to make the phone thicker by adding a giant camera bump, just make the phone itself thicker and make the battery larger. Very few people are going to complain about that I'm guessing.

If the iPhone takes worse pics than sever year old Android phones, how were those phones avoiding such large camera bumps and can we to the size they're at?

They're fair questions/complaints. You can love Apple and feel this way because you want what you choose to be better.
 
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Why? For a few reasons.

1. It's a sloppy design. It just doesn't look great, and there are other phones out there that have a sleeker look to them.
2. It's annoying when your phone wobbles on any surface you place it on, or starts to resemble a corn hole board.
3. If they're going to make the phone thicker by adding a giant camera bump, just make the phone itself thicker and make the battery larger. Very few people are going to complain about that I'm guessing.

If the iPhone takes worse pics than sever year old Android phones, how were those phones avoiding such large camera bumps and can we to the size they're at?

They're fair questions/complaints. You can love Apple and feel this way because you want what you choose to be better.

1. In your opinion. It doesn’t look sloppy to me at all, in fact I wish it was much bigger! gives you something to hold onto when not in a case, and saved my phone several times before my case arrived. It’s a slight raised area on the back of a phone, have you ever used a dedicated camera? You think the iPhone has a big lens bump? Carry around a 400 or 600mm lens all day on a DSLR. Besides, most cases have a raised lip around the camera array along with little raised areas in the corners so cases protect the lenses and the phone lays down flush.

IMG_6307.jpeg


And yes other phones don’t have lenses that protrude so much, I personally wish they’d make the entire area around them one raised area so everything blended in like this.

IMG_6308.jpeg



2. My phone is always in a case except after I wash it and I never lay it down on a hard surface and rock it back and forth.

3. I think more people would be turned off by a 1 inch thick phone that weighs 2 pounds than the handful of people here that don’t like little lens protrusions. Of course everyone wants more battery life but there’s a limit to how thick and heavy they can go.
 
1. In your opinion. It doesn’t look sloppy to me at all, in fact I wish it was much bigger! gives you something to hold onto when not in a case, and saved my phone several times before my case arrived. It’s a slight raised area on the back of a phone, have you ever used a dedicated camera? You think the iPhone has a big lens bump? Carry around a 400 or 600mm lens all day on a DSLR. Besides, most cases have a raised lip around the camera array along with little raised areas in the corners so cases protect the lenses and the phone lays down flush.

View attachment 2163522

And yes other phones don’t have lenses that protrude so much, I personally wish they’d make the entire area around them one raised area so everything blended in like this.

View attachment 2163525


2. My phone is always in a case except after I wash it and I never lay it down on a hard surface and rock it back and forth.

3. I think more people would be turned off by a 1 inch thick phone that weighs 2 pounds than the handful of people here that don’t like little lens protrusions. Of course everyone wants more battery life but there’s a limit to how thick and heavy they can go.

1. In many people's opinions. Look through the comments in this thread. You said you didn't get it, I'm explaining it to you. Also, yes, I've shot with a DSLR for years. I don't have the same heft expectations with my phone, and neither does anyone else.

2. My phone is never in a case. Cases are ugly, and I don't have problems dropping my phone. Given that I'm paying so much for something I expect to be beautiful, it's a shame that it isn't.

3. I think regardless, people are turned off by the camera bump. Apple either needs to lean into it, or do something about it, because it's clearly annoying a lot of people. You may not be one of them, but I bet if I ran a poll, most would say they find it off-putting, and unnecessarily large.
 


And yes other phones don’t have lenses that protrude so much, I personally wish they’d make the entire area around them one raised area so everything blended in like this.

View attachment 2163525


I don’t know much about photography so maybe even with a periscope zoom lens the optics of a decent camera system are such that the lenses need that much depth so, short of making the whole body really thick, the bump is here to stay in some form or another. In that case I agree with you that a more symmetrical and to me less visually intrusive bump such as the one in your picture would get my vote. It also gives more internal volume so might open up the possibility of shifting stuff around internally to free up a bit of space for more battery.

I worry a bit about the internals of this year’s phone. I can’t remember which model (the 5S?) but when Apple first introduced the haptic engine it was accompanied by a reduction in battery capacity because the space needed for the haptic engine took away some of the volume previously used for the battery. This year we have rumours about extra haptic engines to replace the current buttons. I really hope that doesn’t end up being another case of loss of volume available for the battery hence a reduction in capacity - which if it happened would be 2 years in a row given the 14 Pro batteries are very slightly smaller than their 13 Pro equivalents. I can see how the designers trying to fit everything in would love to get their hands on that extra internal space to the right of the lenses (in your photo) that extending the bump to full width would give them.
 
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