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iPhone 11 Pro What should be the thickness of future iPhones?

What should be the thickness of future iPhones?

  • iPhone 11 thickness is about right, going forward

  • iPhones should now begin to be thinner in future models

  • iPhones should continue to be thicker

Results are only viewable after voting.
miamialley

miamialley

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 28, 2008
3,609
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California, USA
We all know Apple seemed determined to make thinner products for years, but has stopped recently with iPhones. Do you think future iPhones should get thinner, thicker or stay about the size of iPhone 11?

Personally, I hope they get thinner and lighter without sacrificing features/performance.
 
They need to be as thin as they can to be practical. Don't go thin just because you can if it means 4 hours of battery life and overheating.
 
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I would rather keep a phone that is thin and light enough but still packs enough battery and all features. For me , increasing the thickness to accomodate more feature or bigger battery is an ok sacrifice .
 
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Weight for me is more important than thickness.

Found tear down component weights for 6s. Front and back halves of case plus LCD screen was 55% of total. Battery was only 18% (would have lost a bet on that).

Based on this, Apple should consider titanium case. Would reduce iPhone weight dramatically. Alternatively, could dramatically increase battery size at same weight.
 
No thinner than is necessary for the camera module to be flush with the casing.

There should be zero camera bump. At all. Period. Totally flush. If it's thinner than that and creates a camera bump then it's too thin.
 
I don’t care about the thickness but I’ve absolutely felt the weight increases the past few years.

The steel and glass back are pretty to see before the phone goes into a case but I don’t think they were worth the extra weight.

I’d give up wireless charging to shave off weight (and I use wireless every night) but I don’t want to give up any of the battery.
 
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brucemr said:
Based on this, Apple should consider titanium case. Would reduce iPhone weight dramatically. Alternatively, could dramatically increase battery size at same weight.
Click to expand...

Titanium would not reduce weight by any appreciable amount. There would only be a 9g difference.

Apple Watch Series 5 titanium only weighs 13% less than the stainless steel version. The iPhone XS Max contains 67g of stainless steel, so you would only see a 9g difference.

Aluminum is the optimum material for weight and strength.
 
After using the X/XS for a couple of years, you do really notice the thinness when holding e.g. an iPhone 6. I would love iPhones to get back to that one day, but I guess the battery improvements are an acceptable tradeoff.
 
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I've always been a fan of thinner devices, purely based on how it looks and feels. I started out with iPod touches, the second gen was 8.5mm and my fourth gen was 7.2mm - incredibly thin at the time, felt amazing.

Nowadays my previous XR was 8.3mm and my current XS is 7.7mm (11=8.1mm). I couldn't have figured they were so similar from memory, but apparently they are. It's maybe not that big a deal, weight reduction would be more impressive.
 
JPack said:
Titanium would not reduce weight by any appreciable amount. There would only be a 9g difference.

Apple Watch Series 5 titanium only weighs 13% less than the stainless steel version. The iPhone XS Max contains 67g of stainless steel, so you would only see a 9g difference.

Aluminum is the optimum material for weight and strength.
Click to expand...

Density of titanium about 56% of stainless steel, so could achieve up to about 30g weight reduction in XS Max, assuming it contains 67g of stainless steel parts. This would reduce the weight of Xs MAX down to the weight of the XS which is significant.

But agree Aluminum is a good material. It’s density is somewhat lower than titanium. Downside is it’s lower strength and hardness vs. steel or titanium. Lower relative strength can be compensated for (only to the extent needed/desired) by thicker and/or other component design changes.

If titanium was optimum, we’d see more titanium in premium smart phones. Its high cost is a major downside.
 
brucemr said:
Weight for me is more important than thickness.

Found tear down component weights for 6s. Front and back halves of case plus LCD screen was 55% of total. Battery was only 18% (would have lost a bet on that).

Based on this, Apple should consider titanium case. Would reduce iPhone weight dramatically. Alternatively, could dramatically increase battery size at same weight.
Click to expand...
I agree. If they go too thin, I'm worried I might snap the thing in half accidentally.
 
eyoungren said:
No thinner than is necessary for the camera module to be flush with the casing.

There should be zero camera bump. At all. Period. Totally flush. If it's thinner than that and creates a camera bump then it's too thin.
Click to expand...

that would be a monstrously big and heavy phone. Not practical at all.
 
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I have to be honest - and I’m sure I’m in the minority here. I really dislike how since the iPhone 6 at 6.9mm these iPhones have slowly gotten thicker. The 6s went to 7.1mm (when 3D Touch was added), iPhone 8 went to 7.3mm, iPhone X was 7.7mm and the iPhone 11 Pro is now 8.1mm (I believe the XR and 11 were slightly thicker as well).

I get it, the materials have changed, wireless charging was added, significantly larger battery with the 11/Pro. But I find it quite noticeable at this point, and compared to my case-less iPhone X that I’ve been using for 2 years, I find the 11 Pro too heavy for my taste, and the increase in thickness, while just 0.4mm does throw me off.

My favourite apple product of all time, the 2018 iPad Pro still amazes me that its 5.9mm thin.
 
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They should be whatever they need to be to fit what they need to. Features or battery life. I don't mind them being thicker.
 
I see almost no difference between my 11 pro and my previous XS and the battery life increase is most welcome
 
The 11 Pro models sound like they're now big enough to offer the battery life we all want in a still relatively svelte package, so hopefully they will stay around 8mm. Personally I find the current rounded edge design and large size of the 8+ (which is only 7.5mm) makes it awkward to hold when taking a photo in landscape for e.g. and prefer how it feels in a case. Having said that I do think too much chunkier would definitely start to make it look and feel less premium.
 
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