iPhone 14 Pro Which smartphone innovations shown off at Mobile World Congress 2023 does the iPhone most need?

[257Loner]

Is it time for the iPhone to make another leap forward instead of incremental steps? What next big thing for smartphones does the iPhone most badly need? Please vote in the poll.

MWC 2023 was a preview of what future phones could (and should) look like

Here’s hoping these one-offs turn mainstream.

www.theverge.com

 

[AlixSPQR]

Better repairability, like the regular iPhone 14, would be nice, but if the Pro model gets a periscope camera for telephotography, a one like in the Samsung S23 Ultra, I'll certainly buy one (not otherwise)!

 

[ian87w]

From those choices, repairability. And not just the phone, but access to components by third parties since Apple doesn’t have actual presence in many markets and the authorized resellers they picked have zero interest in supporting, only selling. With modern phones can still be usable for years, being able to repair them easily for the consumables like battery imo is a good thing.

Personally I don’t find the other options are that crucial. Camera sensors? Computational photography and machine learning are the key today, not the sensor. Faster charging? I think up to 60w USB-PD is good enough, but those high wattage with proprietary cables and chargers will only make things less convenient. Foldable screen? Still in its infancy.

 

[257Loner]

From those choices, repairability. And not just the phone, but access to components by third parties since Apple doesn’t have actual presence in many markets and the authorized resellers they picked have zero interest in supporting, only selling. With modern phones can still be usable for years, being able to repair them easily for the consumables like battery imo is a good thing.

I completely agree. Apple wanted to charge me $200 and 5-7 days of travel and repair time to replace my MacBook Pro's battery. I remember paying $80 for a new MacBook battery a long time ago. All I had to do was use a coin on its coin-operated battery lock to get the old one out and put in the new one. Nowadays, it's much more expensive and inconvenient.

 

[257Loner]

I forgot the biggest innovation of all—new colors! I'll add that to the poll.

 

[I7guy]

I would like to see better camera sensors. Charging speed or repairability is not as important to me.

 

[257Loner]

I would like to see better camera sensors. Charging speed or repairability is not as important to me.

All of that stuff seems pretty neat, but I would agree that better camera sensors would affect me the most. It will be interesting to see how much better smartphone camera technology can get in my lifetime.