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Apple's Risky Balancing Act With the Next iPhone (macworld.com)
Long time columnist Jason Snell: As there always are at this time of year, there are lots of rumors out there about what the next iPhone will be. This year we're hearing that Apple is going to release a high-priced, next-generation phone in addition to the expected iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus models. [...] By most accounts, Apple's next-generation iPhone will offer a similar design. But also, by many accounts, Apple is struggling to create that product -- and when it arrives, it may be expensive, late to ship, and supply constrained. This is one of those areas where Apple may be the victim of its own success. The iPhone is so popular a product that Apple can't include any technology or source any part if it can't be made more than 200 million times a year. If the supplier of a cutting-edge part Apple wants can only provide the company with 50 million per year, it simply can't be used in the iPhone. Apple sells too many, too fast. Contrast that to Apple's competition. On the smaller end, former Android chief Andy Rubin announced the Essential phone, but even Rubin admitted that he'd only be able to sell in thousands, not millions. Same for the RED Hydrogen One -- groundbreaking phone, hardly likely to sell in any volume. The Google Pixel looks like it's in the one million range. Apple's biggest competitor, Samsung, has to deal with a scale more similar to Apple's -- but it's still only expected to sell 50 or 60 million units of the flagship Galaxy S8.
If anything, the loss of the home button will be a bummer:
They've reached the point where they're just making "courageous" changes which benefit their own assembly & engineering but lack significant user value and don't solve obvious consumer problems with the device. Case in point, the headphone jack.
My guess is they are on the cusp of a "Windows 8 Start Menu" kind of change where the fuck up the design enough to seriously damage their user base.
Revert to including headphone jack.
People do not care and the AirPods are the most beloved bluetooth headset ever sold. Even Android owning friends I have love them (I don't have them myself as I still preferred wired headphones, and just use the adaptor that comes with the phone).
For the love of storage include a MicroSD slot.
99.9999999999% of phone users do not use those, so they are basically just a giant security hole waiting to bite you in the ass.
Please revise / update iTunes, it's horrible.
Well yes, it's horrible, but why does that matter in relation to the iPhone? I've not connected to iTunes in years, all backup is handled via iCloud and all app purchases are made on the device.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If anything, the loss of the home button will be a bummer:
They've reached the point where they're just making "courageous" changes which benefit their own assembly & engineering but lack significant user value and don't solve obvious consumer problems with the device. Case in point, the headphone jack.
My guess is they are on the cusp of a "Windows 8 Start Menu" kind of change where the fuck up the design enough to seriously damage their user base.
Very doubtful. Unlike MS and Linux/Android, Apple moves VERY slowly and carefully with UI paradigm shifts.
For example, In the computer world, a user familiar with a 1984 Mac would have less difficulty acclimating to macOS 10.12 than a Windows 7 User would have with Windows 8. And in the mobile world, a person familiar with iPhone OS 1.0 for the most part would feel right at home with iOS 10.3. I can't speak for Android, but I think they have far too many "customizations" to say anything close to the same thing.