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The next iPhone: what can we even add to phones anymore? Have they reached their peak

I see the trends before everyone else does usually. When the 3GS came after the 3G, I guessed the 4S would come after the 4. When the industry got confused when the next iphone was called a 5, I knew the follow up would be a 5S and then a 6.

I saw how the 4 upgraded the screen from the 3GS with retina display, and the 5 upgraded the screen from the 4S with a larger screen. Again, the 6 upgraded the screen from the 5S.

The S editions mostly add convenience. The 4S added Siri, the 5S added Touch ID. I think the 6S will again be similar, probably something akin to NFC easy payments or something we didn't know we wanted or needed until Apple showed it to us.

For the most part I'm happy with what my phone is and does. I'm still on the iP5, no reason I see to upgrade yet.
 
The smartphone market has moved into the maturity phase. But the industry still has to 'feed the monster.' A large portion of their revenue is based people buying $650-$1000 devices every one to two years.

Is there a risk that some point customers will say 'this is good enough to last awhile?' If you look at the home computer or tablet market, most people expect to get many years out of those devices...even though they are often less expensive (in per year cost) than a smartphone.

Apple addresses some of that with planned obsolescence. New iOS releases aren't optimized to run as well on older devices. Older devices aren't supported after a few years, even though they still work fine.

But you have to keep raising the bar for people to feel like the 'new shiny phone' is worth it.
 
Forget a notification light.. Just give me Glance like the lumia phones have. Much better than the old notification light.
 
The 5s already has the notification light using the flash. The problem is there is no option to let you know you missed a call. You can only get reminders when you miss a text. How many years will it take before we have that technology available? I can only dream that one day I could answer my iPhone with MY gloves on, or I could block out of area callers like I used to do on my Palm Treo by adding 1* to my block list. The software side needs easy fixes.

Now the hardware could use the usual, longer battery life, more ram that will come due to more demand from software, waterproof, wireless charging, yada yada yada.

The next big thing for me is a big screen that can somehow fold back into a small phone. My 5s is huge compared to my old phone, but I only bought it cause it was smaller than anything else out there with any kind of power. I need to keep it in my pocket all day and not get in the way or get damaged.
It all comes down to the interface. I'm not interested in wearing a watch, so I guess I'll wait for the brain chip. I wonder if I will still be able to make phone calls.
 
I've read about tactile screen feedback. Don't know if it's vaporware or not. But if it's real, I'm sure that will be added as a big new feature at some point.
 
1. Please keep home button.. I like having an actual button to press vs stupid android "back" "home" crap on the screen....

2. Not sure if sapphire is actually better... It is more durable to scratching, but mine doesn't scratch now.. Sapphire is not very pliable.. so when dropped it shatters still just like ours do now.. ( research other phones that use sapphire)

3. I love the idea of a ring around the home button that can be different colors for different notifications! LEGIT.

4. Always improved battery life, ALWAYS.

5. Hopefully a quick charge like some phones have? 0%-50% in 30 minutes.. or maybe 0-100% in 30mins? :D

6. Waterproof would be nice if it doesn't require me putting plugs in my lightning/headphone port... That would be annoying.
:apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:
 
Safari tabs that don't reload, more RAM, proper multitasking, bigger batteries, better cameras, less bugs in the o/s, arresting the slide in build quality....etc. There is lots to improve on.
 
*~Kim~* said:
This is why I think they should've introduced the 4.7 model now and held back on the 5.5.

More colour options? I don't think it was the colours that people were objecting to in the 5c, but the lack of a storage option above 32GB, the price of last year's tech and the whole plastic thing.
Click to expand...

So you want updates to phones to be even more incremental than they already are?
 
SMIDG3T said:
The iPhone will never be shorter in height, the space is needed at the bottom for the Home button.
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If they don't find a way to incorporate the sensor into the screen itself in the next few years it'll be a big fail on their part.
 
The big advancements we'll c this year and can look forward to next Sept will b software related, the plus is a joke right now without app's designed specificly for it
 
hardware:
1080p display on both phones
24 hour battery regardless of use(talking, internet, video playback, etc).
More LTE bands(missing T-Mobile band 12).
bring back the all black iPhone like the 5. space grey sucks.

software:
lift all restrictions on downloading large content over cellular(should warn/accept instead).
give me the option/toggle to show -dB rating instead of bubbles/bars. i shouldn't have to use a "hack" to get this.
 
TJ82 said:
Still not waterproof (Samsung lead the way here).

Gaming is still awkward (touchscreen gaming can't compete with D pads).

Still waiting for a phone battery that can last for two days, or some sort of tech where the phone can recover some charge with movement.

Lightweight. 6+ under 100 grams would be immense from a hiker's POV.

Projector.
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I don't want a + specifically because I am a hiker and outdoor enthusiast. Too big to avoid pressure points. I'm already wondering if the 6 will be too big.

To the OP - there really isn't anything else I want.
 
Battery will always be something that needs improvement.

The camera can always get better.

The power of the hardware and the eventual opening up of options.

As far as anything big, it's kind of hard to imagine for me.
 
It would be nice to have ad blocking abilities. It would also be nice if the front facing camera snapped a picture when someone entered the wrong passcode. The front camera could also be used to detect eyes and not shut the screen off when you are reading ( I have mine set to shut off at 1 minute)
 
With the Apple Watch being integrated with the iPhone, I think we'll start seeing a lot of new innovations using both products together. The smartwatch market is just beginning.

Beyond that, who knows?
 
Better screen. Not size just ppi count.

Better camera. Current one is nice but for how long?

Better speakers. Maybe two? Beats audio? Hopefully they have something up their sleeves.

More ram. The 64 bit processor supports more. 1 gb ram us fine right now but why not take advantage of the processor?

Maybe some detachable lenses for the camera? There was a patent for that earlier this year I believe.

Nfc sharing with other devices.
Less bezels. Here are a few phones in the market with the same size screens that are smaller.

A better led notification alert option. The flash is night but I really don't want everyone to know I have a message. I really like the led ring idea another user mentioned.

Better battery life.

Faster charging.

And personally I like the little wrist attachment the iPod has. I'd like to have that on the phone since it's so darn bug and won't fit in my pocket.

Apple gas a pretty solid physical build and I think they cab do soo much more on the software end.
- themes
-Custom app placements
-Customers gestures
-an icloud storage app
-add more Siri functions.
-multitasking as in side by side apps.
 
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One feature I'd like to see is some way to clip your bluetooth headset on your phone so it's easier to keep them both with you at all times.

For me, it's much more efficient to have a bluetooth headset because my arms gets tired of holding the phone and it frees up the arm so I can multitask. Also, people on the other side say that my bluetooth sounds much clearer than just using the phone up to my ear.
 
generalsmart said:
One feature I'd like to see is some way to clip your bluetooth headset on your phone so it's easier to keep them both with you at all times
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Wow. That's a really good idea. They could probably use magnets. It could have multiple functions
 
4K video capture. Samsung has had this since the Note 3. I can see it now: "The new iPhone 6s 4K!".
 
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