What has Apple actually taken away anything from the iPhone as it's evolved over the years?

[Starfyre]

I know people say "FaceID" is the future! (and Apple is likely to say the same thing due to their failing of including TouchID in the phone).

I am getting the feeling people on the forums or maybe in the interwebz that they are "coping" with the fact that TouchID won't be in the shiny new OLED iPhone this year by trying to hype up confidence in FaceID when really they are complimentary!

That said, people are also pretty "anti-TouchID" in that people seem to have this belief that if Apple gets rid of TouchID, then FaceID is the future, and they will go with it all the way. There is some concrete evidence/assumption that FaceID is REPLACING TouchID and TouchID will never come back if its removed (which if leaks are true about failures to incorporate, then TouchID won't be included in the iPhone 8, but probably still be in the 7S until maybe next year??)

So the question is, has Apple actually "taken" away anything (software-specific functionality or hardware) from iPhones (similar to how people are hawking about how FaceID will replace TouchID, regardless of whether its due to technical failure to incorporate or not) as they've evolved over the years? Or is this year going to be the first time something like this happens? Have things actually been better or missed?

 

[Gathomblipoob]

This may be a little obscure, but the headphone jack?

 

[terraphantm]

Headphone jack is the big one.

For other Apple devices, if I remember correctly the iPod touch lost the ambient light sensor. And the iPad lost the mute/rotation lock switch.

 

[ges]

Tasteful design.

 

[profets]

Well, if rumours are true this is more about replacing one form of biometric authentication with another.

Only other thing I can really think of is when the 30 pin connector went away in favour of Lightning.

 

[iOSUser7]

3D Touch multitasking gesture.

 

[JohnApples]

30 pin was "taken away" and replaced by Lightning, which was touted as an all around better implantation.

Vibration motors replaced by Taptic Engine.

Headphone port of course.

Physical button replaced with "fake" one.

So no, not the first time Apple has gotten rid of existing hardware for new.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

Tasteful design.

That's more subjective, though, isn't it?
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3D Touch multitasking gesture.

And this feature is the one I'm most upset about. I actually used this all the time to switch between two apps. Not thrilled with iOS 11.

 

[AFEPPL]

innovation... replaced with copy and paste.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

innovation... replaced with copy and paste.

Again, subjective.

 

[AFEPPL]

No, Apple gave up after the 5.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

No, Apple gave up after the 5.

Yep. They gave up and brought me some of the best iPhones I've ever used, including my 5S and my 7 Plus. Too bad sales after the 5 tanked, though, huh? Guess no one wanted anything after the 5.

 

[AFEPPL]

List those killer features that came from apple and not from else where...
Round corners? Rectangle? large screens?

 

[I7guy]

30 pin was "taken away" and replaced by Lightning, which was touted as an all around better implantation.

Vibration motors replaced by Taptic Engine.

Headphone port of course.

Physical button replaced with "fake" one.

So no, not the first time Apple has gotten rid of existing hardware for new.

Apple hasn't removed functions as you said. You still feel vibrations. You can still listen through headphones. Pressing home still does it's thing. 2.5 headphone jack was replaced early on by 3.5 as 40 pin was replaced by lightning.

 

[JohnApples]

Apple hasn't removed functions as you said. You still feel vibrations. You can still listen through headphones. Pressing home still does it's thing. 2.5 headphone jack was replaced early on by 3.5 as 40 pin was replaced by lightning.

Okay but OP's question was "Has Apple removed hardware before" as tech has evolved and my answer to that was yes, they have.

Also, TouchID is being replaced by FaceID so one could argue that in terms of biometric security, Apple has not removed a function here either.

 

[9594864]

3D Touch multitasking gesture.

It doesn't count if <1% of users used the feature
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List those killer features that came from apple and not from else where...
Round corners? Rectangle? large screens?

Touch ID
Retina
Siri
3D Touch (doesn't count because it's nearly useless, but I'll list it anyway)
Dual Camera being used as such: telephoto and normal
Facial recognition that doesn't get tricked by a 2D image
Chips that are about 3 times better

 

[iOSUser7]

It doesn't count if <1% of users used the feature

And where did you get that number sir ? From what I can read on the forums, a lot of people got pissed when Apple removed this feature.

 

[yep-sure]

The overarching thing taken away from iPhones in recent years is user-centric design. Apple products used to be designed around designing the best possible end user experience. Remember, "it just works" being a reason many of us switched to Apple in the first place?

From the iPhone 6, this changed. Since then, we've had change for changes sake, and gimmicks crammed into each iteration. Camera bumps. Phones that bend in your pocket. Phones that don't even fit in your pocket. A phone that feels like a delicate, slippery bar of soap in hand. Phones that are awward and too big to use properly when walking down the street. Phones that catch your hair and rip it out of your scalp. Awful battery life. No Headphone jack. Software that destoys your music/photo libraries, etc...

 

[9594864]

And where did you get that number sir ? From what I can read on the forums, a lot of people got pissed when Apple removed this feature.

Forums on Apple technology? 99% of users didn't even know that feature existed, and most who did, tried it a few times and stopped using it, or never tried it to begin with. Simply put, it was too unintuitive and complex for mass usage.

You wouldn't believe the percentage of users who aren't aware of or don't use swipe back from the left edge of the display, and that's categorically more simple and intuitive.

The multitasking feature was poorly done also. I would have made the feature 10 times better if I was in charge. It used a peek and pop methodology to go from the ability to swipe to the previous app (peek), into the full multitasking menu (pop). This was poor design, because peeking was far too finicky to function quickly, and you couldn't instantly get to the multitasking because the OS had to go in order peek, then pop. It should have only had pop into multitasking so it could more instantly been brought up and far less pressure needed to activate it. Finally, the OS should've been design such that it new the intent was multitasking if the thumb was apply pressure on the edge and out further onto the display, but instead, you had to isolate the pressure directly onto the edge to bring the functionality into action. These are all contributing factors as to why most of those who knew of the functionality, stopped using it.

Basically I'm saying either the engineers at Apple were not allowed further time on the feature, or they weren't smart enough to do what I just suggested.

 

[44267547]

Tasteful design.

Apple has not taken anything away from design, as that's in the eye of the beholder. So that's not much of a category to use in this specific situation, as would be the 3.5 mm Jack or physical (Push) home button for example.

 

[iOSUser7]

Forums on Apple technology? 99% of users didn't even know that feature existed, and most who did, tried it a few times and stopped using it, or never tried it to begin with. Simply put, it was too unintuitive and complex for mass usage.

You wouldn't believe the percentage of users who aren't aware of or don't use swipe back from the left edge of the display, and that's categorically more simple and intuitive.

The multitasking feature was poorly done also. I would have made the feature 10 times better if I was in charge. It used a peek and pop methodology to go from the ability to swipe to the previous app (peek), into the full multitasking menu (pop). This was poor design, because peeking was far too finicky to function quickly, and you couldn't instantly get to the multitasking because the OS had to go in order peek, then pop. It should have only had pop into multitasking so it could more instantly been brought up and far less pressure needed to activate it. Finally, the OS should've been design such that it new the intent was multitasking if the thumb was apply pressure on the edge and out further onto the display, but instead, you had to isolate the pressure directly onto the edge to bring the functionality into action. These are all contributing factors as to why most of those who knew of the functionality, stopped using it.

Basically I'm saying either the engineers at Apple were not allowed further time on the feature, or they weren't smart enough to do what I just suggested.

And again where did you get that 99% ? Are you an Apple employee or something like that ?

That said, I understand your point and agree with you on a personal opinion because I never used and liked this feature, I think it was working poorly and was not user friendly at all. But I don't see the point of removing it especially when it did not bother me, I just had to not use it.

 

[AFEPPL]

It doesn't count if <1% of users used the feature
[doublepost=1504911140][/doublepost]
Touch ID
Retina
Siri
3D Touch (doesn't count because it's nearly useless, but I'll list it anyway)
Dual Camera being used as such: telephoto and normal
Facial recognition that doesn't get tricked by a 2D image
Chips that are about 3 times better

So no killer features then... just like i said..
Finger print id was used as far back as 2007
Retina is just an IPS panel, not really qLED is it..
Dual Camera 2011
Siri sucks, 3rd only to Google and MS.
3D touch you discounted yourself
Chips based on ARM, better in what way - OS software has not got faster or smoother..
Facial software/hardware is not out as yet - so to be determined.

 

[9594864]

So no killer features then... just like i said..
Finger print id was used as far back as 2007
Retina is just an IPS panel, not really qLED is it..
Dual Camera 2011
Siri sucks, 3rd only to Google and MS.
3D touch you discounted yourself
Chips based on ARM, better in what way - OS software has not got faster or smoother..
Facial software/hardware is not out as yet - so to be determined.

Let me amend it: all features first to iPhone, first to the market leading smartphone group, and/or features that worked 1 million times better (Touch ID).

 

[AFEPPL]

So not killer features or even from Apple...
So, back to the original question "List those killer features that came from apple and not from else where"

 

[Nozuka]

The overarching thing taken away from iPhones in recent years is user-centric design. Apple products used to be designed around designing the best possible end user experience. Remember, "it just works" being a reason many of us switched to Apple in the first place?

From the iPhone 6, this changed. Since then, we've had change for changes sake, and gimmicks crammed into each iteration. Camera bumps. Phones that bend in your pocket. Phones that don't even fit in your pocket. A phone that feels like a delicate, slippery bar of soap in hand. Phones that are awward and too big to use properly when walking down the street. Phones that catch your hair and rip it out of your scalp. Awful battery life. No Headphone jack. Software that destoys your music/photo libraries, etc...

Apple products always had problems. Nothing is perfect. The more users you get, the more people will complain in the internet if something goes wrong.

- what you call gimmicks (without even listing them), others might actually enjoy
- change for changes of sake - again no examples, hard to dispute
- camera bump: i personally like a phone as thin as possible and will take the bump in return.
- how many phones did actually bend? there was also antenna gate, way before the 6.
- slippery, very true.
- awward and too big to use: apparently most people want bigger phones, that's where the market went and personally i'm happy with the size of the 4.7 phone.
- hair thingy: haven't heard of this before? still have all my hair
- battery life: my day ends with 50% battery left. for comparison: galaxy s7 was around 20-30%
- no headphone jack: you get a free adapter you can keep on your headphones
- sofware that destroys libraries: software bugs always existed. and always will. very small percentage of people affected.