These are good points, but I would add that the iPhone 6 and 6 plus came out under Cook, and it was welcomed. We probably wouldn't have gotten bigger screens from Jobs.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Where has Apple taken the biggest step back on the iPhone compared to the competition?
- Thread starter saintforlife
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
These are good points, but I would add that the iPhone 6 and 6 plus came out under Cook, and it was welcomed. We probably wouldn't have gotten bigger screens from Jobs.
Saturation, stagnation and of course Apples focus on form over function isn't helping. I forget how thin a device is immediately after the battery dies.
You keep overlooking the profit motivation. I personally would love it if Apple sold a 128 GB iPhone model for the price they are currently selling a 16 GB iPhone model, I'm sure that most others would too. The point is that Apple is not going to do this (at least not in the next year or two) as it is far too profitable for them to sell storage upgrades. They make larger margins on their higher storage devices and that is their main motivation for keeping the entry storage level at 16 GB as more people are likely to drop another $100 to get 64 GB. Sure, they might actually sell more iPhones if they all sold with 128 GB of storage (temporarily at least, until Android manufacturers started doing the same to be competitive), but ASP (average selling price) and margin would decrease and they would possibly make less money while selling more devices.
Much smaller is pushing it, but I agree about the antenna lines on the gold models, the space grey and silver have much better color as it's the same as the body.I think form-factor is one of the biggest issues, iPhone 6s is practically a dinosaur, it's got huge top and bottom bezels, big side bezels, it's really archaic compared to a phone like the S7, I mean look at this, same screen size, yet the S7 is much more elegant and smaller:
And the ugly antenna bands? How in the world did Apple think this would be acceptable? It's really a joke, how can they expect the market won't react at some point? If this design was branded with a Microsoft logo, everyone at Macrumors would be making fun of it all day, but oh no, it's Apple must be cool right? No.
Recall those Android commercials from a few years back mocking Apple users standing in lines overnight for phones that had features long available on Android . . . there's the problem. As an Apple user, I expect that my bright shiny thing is going to be a better bright shiny thing than all the other "lesser" bright shiny things. However, One Infinite Loop has to build and price the bright shiny things to sell in China.
Yes, despite the inferior screen and comparatively massive bezels I actually like the 6S. But the idea of having that phone be current in August 2017 is kind of a joke. If Apple wants to stay competitive hardware wise they need to introduce the redesigned OLED phone this year. If not, its ok, and the new one will still move lots of units, but it doesn't hold a candle to Samsung as far as modern goes in my opinion.
Well in some ways it doesn't hold a candle to the s7 and in some ways it beats the s7. I don't think either company's target market buys by the spec. There are some who compare each and every component on a checklist and the model with the most checks win. Nobody I know in the real world does that. I agree in one year, if apple hasn't moved the hardware up a notch their bad.
But I don't think that is the game plan at all.
To me, it's not that Apple has taken steps back (at least not in terms of the iPhone), but that it refuses to take meaningful steps forward and thus allowing the competition to surpass them.
Low-light capabilities, screen resolution, and battery size are all things they could improve but refuse to, probably holding these improvements back on purpose in order to make each new iPhone have something meaningful (and not give them all to us at the same time). It's greedy, but now that sales growth has stopped for the first time, we shall see if their strategy changes.
Low-light capabilities, screen resolution, and battery size are all things they could improve but refuse to, probably holding these improvements back on purpose in order to make each new iPhone have something meaningful (and not give them all to us at the same time). It's greedy, but now that sales growth has stopped for the first time, we shall see if their strategy changes.
I think form-factor is one of the biggest issues, iPhone 6s is practically a dinosaur, it's got huge top and bottom bezels, big side bezels, it's really archaic compared to a phone like the S7, I mean look at this, same screen size, yet the S7 is much more elegant and smaller:
And the ugly antenna bands? How in the world did Apple think this would be acceptable? It's really a joke, how can they expect the market won't react at some point? If this design was branded with a Microsoft logo, everyone at Macrumors would be making fun of it all day, but oh no, it's Apple must be cool right? No.
I am not a big fan of the edge/curve screen. I tokk the s6 edge plus Samsung test drive for 30 days and hated it. Too gimmicky. I guess the s7 edge is better but I still opted for the S7 cause a case fits better. I use a thin clear military clear case from speck and the s7 is very easy to hold case or no case but I got 3 and 5 year old kids. Gotta have a case.
Battery life on the s7 is pretty good. I can make it a full day with around 5 hours of screen time (which is good for android phones). I also carry the iPhone 6s Plus with me as well. Phone junkie. I know the s7 edge battery is even better.
The thing is Google doesn't and will not reign in on battery killing apps. Facebook on android is notorious for battery drainage even with all the notifications turned off. I have att version so I don't even think it's an option to permanently delete it (thank u att for bloat ware). I disable it.
Always on display is a nice feature. It drains about 1% per hour. I think it interferes with Google "doze" feature on android 6.0 especially since i wear hospital scrubs and put it in my shirt pocket. So unless I put the phone face down (where always on mode deactivates) it will drain battery in my shirt pocket.
Samsung touch wiz is still a pain. I've owned galaxy s 1-4. Skipped the 5 and 6. I am
Still not a fan of it. For a $694 phone plus taxes Wished I had the option of getting google play edition.
But the Galaxy s7 hardware is just beautiful. Camera great. Screen awesome. Water resistant (without having to close a port (aka S5) (Speaker does sound slightly muffed but people say it's likely due to the water sealing materials Samsung put in it). It's a trade off but worth it.
Just curious, are you using inductive charging? I think that's an awesome feature as well and I wish Google would adopt that in their Nexus line as well.
Personally, I would turn off the always on display and I don't FaceBook, so nothing lost there.
Have you been aggressive with battery saving features...maybe turn on low power mode, etc?
Thinking SOT could be better still for those that want it w/o giving up too much.
Last edited:
I've noticed my iPhone 6s Plus battery life has sucked lately. Maybe it's because I'm using the beta 9.3.2 but right now from 100% it is already at 55% and it's not even 13:00 yet.
My edge is at home waiting for me so will be testing out the battery life by putting the same stuff on my edge that's on my 6s plus.
My edge is at home waiting for me so will be testing out the battery life by putting the same stuff on my edge that's on my 6s plus.
Thats great, I love that feature. Hopefully apple does something similar. This is one of the positives of OLED. Only the pixels that need to be lit are on, unlike LCD.
It's nice that you can opt to turn on or off...depending on preference. Choice is always good. /grin/
I wonder if Samsung offers a sub-setting where you can schedule the always-on to turn off automatically...the idea being let's say between 12am - 6am turn the always-on to off and then at 6:01am, turn it back on.
Would be neat if it could.
Screen quality and storage options are the big ones for me.
Also the ugly bezels and crippled OS (I can't even save an email attachment, edit it in another app and re-email it). iOS is just a simple App launcher and folder system that makes windows 3.1 look advanced. Little things, like the hardware back button on android make a huge difference.
And I'm not even getting into the shiny new features android has like a scrolling information ticker along the side of the screen when the phone is in sleep mode.
The iPhone 6s doesn't really stand out as that different from the 4s besides screen size.
I'm going to have to side with you on the storage issues. My sister in-law bought a 16 GB iPhone 6 Plus. She is not tech savvy at all. She didn't even understand what the difference between 16 GB and 128 GB meant except that here was a significant price difference so of course she went cheaper by default. What was a small difference in cost to Apple was a huge difference in price to the consumer because Apple chooses to differentiate in part based on storage.
She ran into storage problems very quickly because with the new screen size and better camera she wanted to take more pics and videos than she did on her iPhone 5. She gets furious with her iPhone and now think Apple puts out crap. We explained to her how she didn't choose the right storage size for her needs but the damage is done and she's not a happy customer.
She just knew or believed IPhones are the best, she thought got the top of the line Plus model...and it gives her nothing but grief. She's nearly 60 and she's a businesswoman and quite intelligent but she's got a blind spot with tech. Oh and she's got a mouth on her and she's been badmouthing her iPhone and scaring a lot of her friends away from it.
Anyway she's not a rare case of ignorance. I've asked around very carefully to gauge how much of a grasp the iPhone users in my social circle have on the differences between storage sizes as it relates to how many pics and vids and music they can store on their iPhones. Their grasp is vague. Many went cheap by default. And we know late model iPhones are not cheap!
If the cost of storage to Apple is not huge, it would be better for them to pick one generous storage size and price point or perhaps two, that would be more user friendly than 16 GB. They may be losing customers' good will. Not everyone hangs out on forums learning the ins and outs. They buy something as expensive as even a 16 GB iPhone is and expect it to work and not throw error codes at them. Which can happen too soon on a 16 GB iPhone, especially given the video capabilities and live photo features on the newest models.
I think display. While the iPhone 6s/6s plus display is decent, it could be better. Apple should have gone with OLED display when the iPhone 6 was released.
I also think it is ridiculous that in 2016 we still cannot choose our default programs on iPhone.
I also think it is ridiculous that in 2016 we still cannot choose our default programs on iPhone.
I use Cloud storage. But those of us who travel a lot often find we need to have things stored on our device because internet access isn't always at the speeds we are used to at home or in regions with good wifi. And good luck trying to get Grandpa to offload photos and vids to a cloud drive on a regular enough basis to avoid storage errors.
Yes you can do that by scheduling the night clock option for certain hours everyday. It stops the always on and starts a dim clock on the edge panel to use while sleeping.
I swear I saw a review where you can do that..will get mine next week and see if it's possible.
That's what I'm talkin' about!
That sort of customization is something that Apple isn't keen on giving iOS users.
Android continues to impress in little ways...stuff that's fallen by the wayside with Apple.
Nowadays at Apple, there's less focus with adding features via software instead of doing it with hardware a la 3D Touch, etc which forces one to buy a new phone or iPad.
Want another example? Recent thread where iPhone user w/16gb storage (business phone) wanted option to attach USB key with music files and have Apple play or other app to play off the USB key.
Can't do it with iOS, but can do with Android. Moreover, w/Android it would be a snap to just add sdcard to the phone (unless you are a Samsung S6 owner).
You can't be serious... Most people are on limited data plans, with maybe 2-6GB per month. Do you have any idea how large HD and 4K videos are these days? If you uploaded all your photos and videos and then streamed them from the cloud, not only would this require you have good-great service (forget loading it in a congested area or poor coverage area), but it kills the battery a lot faster as you are using the radio heavily, and on a fast connection a few minutes of scrolling through photos or videos could eat hundreds of MB's. Sure most people have WiFi at home, work, and school, but a lot of people are out and about in between and on the weekends, where WiFi isn't available or it's not reliable.
Having all your camera photos and videos on your phone mean you don't need to rely on having cell service, WiFi, use up your data plan, etc. Plus, cloud storage does nothing if you want to load many games on your phone or watch movies on a plane.