Other What would a revolutionary iPhone look like?

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

The haters here will never admit to it, but Apple is missing out on a foldable iPhone/iPad. I want an iPhone/iPad that’s 10” when folded out and folds to about the same size as a Pro Max. Yes, the crease looks bad from an angle, but the Samsung Fold looks amazing. Have dual app support with great features. My ultimate phone is a dual OS that runs iOS and Android at the same time. Android on one side of the fold and iOS on the other? Sometimes both? Samsung builds it and it runs Apple SoC and OS including MacOS. Just rip the bandaid off and let us run our devices the way we want to… Laugh all you want, but people who actually want to “own” their devices should want this too. We pay for the devices, and we should be able to do whatever we want for them. I am sick of AAPL by TIM. I want a real device I own and can do whatever I want with THAT FOLDS!

I don't know. I hate the folding phones BECAUSE I played with the Samsung Fold. The crease was awful, the hinge felt flimsy, it unfolds into a weird and awkward resolution that I can't think of any use for, and it felt cheap overall. I don't feel it's worth half what they charge for it. But that's just me. I had a Motorola flip phone back in the day, the one everyone loves, and I hated it too. Folding phones are a niche, and I'm certain Apple will jump in with their own version once they're happy material science lets them build one that meets their standards, and there's enough of a market. Then a lot of the people who want something different for changes sake will have it!

 

[ZiBart]

A thin full spec’d foldable running ios. And when connected to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse, it auto switches to full MacOS. When connected to an Airplay compatible TV , it switches TV to tvOS with console gaming capabilities and a geforce now and xcloud app. When connected to a yet to be made, cheaper and lighter sunglass style VR glasses, it drives and switches to visionOS (on the glasses). Making it a truly all in one device with a small carbon footprint. Id pay a huge premium for this. This would be the endgame.

 

[polyphenol]

I'd like a screen which works well in very bright sunlight. I'd trade colour quality and refresh speed for usability. Imagine a current screen which can become like the best colour digital paper screens - without compromising quality in normal use.

 

[Marty80]

How are you supposed to hold that phone? I already have problems with accidental screen touches with my 14! Sure, it looks good from a sci-fi perspective, but unless accidental touch rejection gets a LOT better, that phone is just going to be a frustration factory for me.

Apple may restrict the touch screen functionality where the bazels where. That’s a wild guess.

 

[Diorama]

I can imagine Tim Cook reading this thread and throwing his phone in rage. “A stronger phone?! WE’RE LITERALLY MAKING IT OUT OF GOD DAMN TITANIUM AT THIS POINT! Does nothing satisfy these people?!?”

 

[Circa1984]

Top hardware feature that would make the current iphone pro ideal for me is a 6x optical 48MP telephoto lens - and ideally have one single camera lens instead of the (ugly) three, but I realize a periscopic lens & law of physics may not make that possible.
Top software feature - make Siri flawless

 

[redbeard331]

The blooming onion phone.

Think the Sphere in Vegas. When you need to put it in your pocket or use it to watch a video it unfolds into a flat circle.

No keyboards or any old fashioned buttons.

To control and hold it, the underside has 3 finger holes like a bowling ball, you “type” with your thoughts that are read by sensors that also monitor your heart rate, BP, blood sugar, and oxygen.

A full frame sensor with one internal lens that moves with the phone. When in a full round shape acts like an ultra wide angle lens, and can optically zoom by flattening out and taking on a pill-like shape for a true 400mm.

In crystal ball mode laying on a table the screen becomes translucent and a hologram is displayed inside the sphere for a 360 degree immersive experience. In development Tim refers to it as the “snow globe”.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

Apple may restrict the touch screen functionality where the bazels where. That’s a wild guess.

They’d have to do something, otherwise that would be borderline unusable.

 

[B_mark_R]

I want an iPhone mini version of the original body with full-screen display, same rugged aluminum back, flush single updated camera, comfy rounded edges, and I'd even buy the USB-C retro dock for it.

View attachment 2417765

Ive been saying this forever. I want the iphone 3GS design with an edge to egde display and all the latest and greatest hardware features.

 

[AppleTO]

The iPhone X size/rounded form factor.

 

[springsup]

I’d want to see a revolutionary new battery technology - a new kind of battery chemistry, with an order of magnitude greater energy storage capacity. Allowing for thinner, lighter, safer devices with even better battery life.

Of course, that kind of development would change the entire world (electric cars, power grids, etc), but it would also allow a much better iPhone.

 

[ForkHandles]

The blooming onion phone.

Think the Sphere in Vegas. When you need to put it in your pocket or use it to watch a video it unfolds into a flat circle.

No keyboards or any old fashioned buttons.

To control and hold it, the underside has 3 finger holes like a bowling ball, you “type” with your thoughts that are read by sensors that also monitor your heart rate, BP, blood sugar, and oxygen.

A full frame sensor with one internal lens that moves with the phone. When in a full round shape acts like an ultra wide angle lens, and can optically zoom by flattening out and taking on a pill-like shape for a true 400mm.

In crystal ball mode laying on a table the screen becomes translucent and a hologram is displayed inside the sphere for a 360 degree immersive experience. In development Tim refers to it as the “snow globe”.

This!!

So
Much more interesting to read than
“I’d like the camera bump to disappear”
Or
“If only it weighed less and came in my favourite colour Barbie Pink!”

Chapeau!!

 

[Nikhil72]

Sooner or later my phone 12 pro max will become unsupported, when that day comes I would like to buy something new not the same.

Would you buy the same year of car, when you need to replace it.

If that car had a beefed up motor, better mileage, better infotainment, higher durability? Yes…a different look for aesthetics sake is not a new phone.

I shoot a ton of photos. I have 60,000 in my iCloud Photo Library. I’m never near an outlet. I don’t use a case. My 12 Pro Max would not have yielded me the same results as my 15PM and soon to be 16PM. It looks similar, sure. The body is so much more durable (my 15PM has hot concrete without a mark outside a case). I shoot in 48mp RAW and edit, miles better than a 12MP RAW. My battery lasts significantly longer (a full day from 6am to 11pm when I’m not near a charger? Doable!) I’m very excited for the camera button, also allowing the action button to be used for whatever else I intend (I’ve left it as camera for now). An increase in screen size? Excellent for long reading sessions.

I drive a Mercedes. They don’t go through huge design revolutions every year. If I’m due for a new car and the general upgrades are notable to me, I don’t care if the design changed much if the design itself feels timeless. And right now, the rectangular shape with thin margins reminds of the aesthetic of an old Leica.

 

[Siliconguy]

I can imagine Tim Cook reading this thread and throwing his phone in rage. “A stronger phone?! WE’RE LITERALLY MAKING IT OUT OF GOD DAMN TITANIUM AT THIS POINT! Does nothing satisfy these people?!?”

That's the compromise you need to choose. A stronger phone will be heavier even if it's titanium. Titanium is strong for the weight, but in absolute terms it's not all that strong. Beryllium alloys can be even stronger for the weight, but beryllium is toxic. If they make the phone thicker that increases the cross section and that will make the phone stronger AND heavier. The good news is the battery can be much bigger.

If you want to clamp the bottom edge of the current dimension phone in a vise and have Duane Johnson use a three foot pipe wrench to try to bend the phone and fail there is very little material science can do for you.

 

[Parowdy]

We’re not talking about pre installed privacy shields. We are talking about display tech that can limit viewing angles on-demand.

You’re in your banking/finance app? Boom, it kicks in. You leave the app? Back to great viewing angles.

Yeah but that's not gonna happen for a couple of years at least I'd believe. I don't know how HP made it work, I guess through some grid that can move close or further away from the individual pixels or groups of pixels to either allow off angle viewing or not, but I don't know how possible or desirable that tech would be in a phone. The screen would be thicker, probably considerably, like it was with 3D Touch displays. It would also probably incorporate some not-so-solid-state technology. If what im thinking isn't too far off, that'd mean an extra layer between the glass and the pixels, which means the picture itself might not appear as close to the screen as Apple desires since laminated displays. It also means the screens are more expensive and not as durable, with or without actually moving parts. I don't think it's gonna happen for a long time, but maybe screens that are blurry except for the user, that seems a lot more likely. Like the 3D displays in Nintendos that work at a certain Angle but not at another, with Apples multi layered OLED screens in iPads, ehh im not convinced they haven't been playing with 3D displays and are slowly starting to ship these new technologies to see how they fare and to get experience with them. You know, like they first started using OLED in watches before they had high res and bright, mass produced OLEDs for the X, or like they did with Pro Motion in iPads and then iPhones and Macs. Mate display options for displays and now iPads, mini LED in iPads and then in Macs. I for one wouldn't be surprised if that's the direction they go to, but anyway, privacy shield tech would definitely be appreciated but I don't know if Appel will do it HP does it or the screen protectors are doing it.

 

[Parowdy]

I know someone who ACTUALLY literally returned their MacBook for this reason. This is someone who speaks 5 languages. Who am I to judge personal experience? I’ve had a medical issue that nobody believed me about once, so I don’t think people should be too quick to judge.

But.

1) Tens of thousands of people (at least) in the UK suffer from peanut allergies, but they ain’t changing the Snickers recipe just for them.

2) I remember this experiment the BBC carried out at the height of the ‘mobile masts cause headaches’ fears 25 years ago, the best bit:

The Should I Worry About team decided to carry out a test. We put ten students in a house for ten days and erected a mobile mast in the garden. We weren't entirely honest with them though; we told the students the mast was on at the start of the experiment and off at the end. In fact it was off at the start and on at the end. What's interesting is that the only time any of the students felt ill was when the mast was OFF but they thought it was ON.

Sorry but, so what? You just made the point that the amount of languages someone speaks has little enough to do with how they interpret and experience the world.
Snickers are a commodity, smartphones are a necessity, even in the UK. Comparing the market share of Snickers in the snacks and sweets industry and Apple iPhones in the smartphones industry, you can't expect me to take your comparison seriously.
Yes, there sure are people that feel a certain way, and yes there surely are people that only feel as though they can't use OLED screens. But then there are the people that actually throw up or simply can't even really see OLED screens, and those people don't just feel this way.
If you wanna compare firms in these different industries, maybe take a look at Coca Cola. They offer everything for everyone because they are actually trying to be market dominant, just like Apple in their markets. Coca Cola can't afford to not offer diet, light, vanilla, cherry and whatever cola, because then somebody else does it and takes their sweet sweet money.
Apple doesn't worry about any of that, do they? They are already market dominant and decide they at most offer Diet Coke in .2l bottles, aka the iPhone SE, that's it.
If you compare Apple to Snickers, you'd have to compare them to the parent firm, Mars. What's Sneakers for Mars was the iPod touch for Apple, now the iPhone SE, if you will. One recipe, basta. Buy it or don't. Apple can afford to only have a couple recipes, but no one in the sweets industry does.

 

[Parowdy]

Maybe they used their MacBook while plugged in, it's a common issue: https://www.google.com/search?q=macbook+grounding

yeah my space grey MacBook Pro actually burns me when its charging and I touch one of the corners of the top case, like, only when I baarely touch the machine. when I touch the aluminium above the keyboard of the thin strip between it and the trackpad ai can definitely feel the electricity as well.

 

[TracerAnalog]

Tungsten Carbide iPhone, anyone?

Only 525 grams

Don’t forget the unbreakable sapphire glas and the 7-day battery!

 

[ThatsMeRight]

Yeah but that's not gonna happen for a couple of years at least I'd believe. I don't know how HP made it work, I guess through some grid that can move close or further away from the individual pixels or groups of pixels to either allow off angle viewing or not, but I don't know how possible or desirable that tech would be in a phone. The screen would be thicker, probably considerably, like it was with 3D Touch displays. It would also probably incorporate some not-so-solid-state technology. If what im thinking isn't too far off, that'd mean an extra layer between the glass and the pixels, which means the picture itself might not appear as close to the screen as Apple desires since laminated displays. It also means the screens are more expensive and not as durable, with or without actually moving parts. I don't think it's gonna happen for a long time, but maybe screens that are blurry except for the user, that seems a lot more likely. Like the 3D displays in Nintendos that work at a certain Angle but not at another, with Apples multi layered OLED screens in iPads, ehh im not convinced they haven't been playing with 3D displays and are slowly starting to ship these new technologies to see how they fare and to get experience with them. You know, like they first started using OLED in watches before they had high res and bright, mass produced OLEDs for the X, or like they did with Pro Motion in iPads and then iPhones and Macs. Mate display options for displays and now iPads, mini LED in iPads and then in Macs. I for one wouldn't be surprised if that's the direction they go to, but anyway, privacy shield tech would definitely be appreciated but I don't know if Appel will do it HP does it or the screen protectors are doing it.

They're all good questions and relevant points... but that's something for Apple to figure out, haha. All I'm saying: if Apple somehow managed to build this into an iPhone, I think it would be a 'wow'-moment for many. And if they combine it with some feature like "it kicks in when typing a password", "it kicks in when you're inside private apps like financing", then people will also go 'Wow, amazing tech - and really the Apple way with how they implemented this feature!'.

 

[1096bimu]

I don't want the notch/pill gone because it would look cooler, but because it is distracting and cuts into the shape of the display. It is a utilitarian demand. I'd rather have larger bezels at the top/bottom.

you've just admitted you only want it because it looks cooler.

"distracting" as in you don't want to see it, that's just a preference and not a utility thing.
same with "cuts into the shape of the display", there's no utilitarian issue for something to cut into the shape of the display, you just hate it plain and simple, there is no argument from utility.

also you've failed to answer the original question, what UI elements needs to be in the place of the pill/notch if it wasn't there? If you take a look at the Android phones that don't have cutouts, or as big of cutouts, those spaces are usually empty anyway, because it's the least used spot on the screen.

 

[splifingate]

Siri flawless

Circa1984 goes Off-Reservation...

 

[Parowdy]

They're all good questions and relevant points... but that's something for Apple to figure out, haha. All I'm saying: if Apple somehow managed to build this into an iPhone, I think it would be a 'wow'-moment for many. And if they combine it with some feature like "it kicks in when typing a password", "it kicks in when you're inside private apps like financing", then people will also go 'Wow, amazing tech - and really the Apple way with how they implemented this feature!'.

I agree, that’d be such an Apple thing to do and despite the days where they were first are for the most part gone, their stacked telephoto lenses, their sensor shift, tandem OLED; their custom made silicone that they use across the board, even in their new AI/CGPT servers; a dedicated button for camera controls (which seems like the biggest and most obvious commitment to something (cameras in future devices) since they started using OLED in iPhone), incorporating the notch into the system, leveraging the White House to get hearing aids sold over the counter (I’m not from the US but that seems like a huge huge thing to “just” do (and not release a new hardware version but instead a software update)) and on and on and on, proof Apple has still a lot of juice left, even if they might not be first to do something, they at least (for the most part) know how to do it right.

Long story short, if someone can figure out how to actually do it, it do be Apple. And yes, consumers will go crazy for this.

 

[headlessmike]

I can imagine Tim Cook reading this thread and throwing his phone in rage. “A stronger phone?! WE’RE LITERALLY MAKING IT OUT OF GOD DAMN TITANIUM AT THIS POINT! Does nothing satisfy these people?!?”

And do you know what is stronger than titanium? Steel! Imagine that, an iPhone made out of steel, perhaps even stainless steel. It could be the premium tier iPhone above the standard aluminum model.

 

[TroyBoy30]

they should make it in the shape of a Chinese throwing start so I could also use it for self defense

 

[Diorama]

And do you know what is stronger than titanium? Steel! Imagine that, an iPhone made out of steel, perhaps even stainless steel. It could be the premium tier iPhone above the standard aluminum model.

I’m going to be honest, the weight of my iPhone 14PM is getting real old real fast