From the “just asking” file: “What’d be wrong with slightly thicker iPhone with more battery life and a flush camera assembly?”
Yes, we know Apple thinks thinness sets iPhone apart from all other so-called smartphones (actually, it’s the operating system, the software and the ecosystem), but the iPhone 6/Plus and iPhone 6s/Plus are simply too thin to house their camera assembly.
iPhone 6s is 0.28 inch (7.1 mm) thin. Samsung’s Galaxy S6 is 0.27 inch (6.8 mm). The “thicker” iPhone 6s easily outsells the thinner Galaxy S6. Obviously, at this point, the selling point of “thinness” is overrated.
iPhone 6 and 6s have battery life issues for heavy iPhone users (hint: get an Apple Watch. You’ll use your iPhone less and the battery will easily outlast even the longest day).
The law of diminishing returns can also be applied to industrial design. Apple’s eternal quest for thinness eventually runs into issues such as bulging camera assemblies, battery capacity, strength (breakability), etc. – is Apple’s quest for thinness now bordering on the quixotic?
So, is it “you can never be too thin” or is it “thin enough is thin enough?”
Nothing. Nothing would be wrong with that.
WHY oh WHY do people do this ??
Do people want a slightly thicker iPhone with increased battery life, a flush camera, and a stronger case???
THEN BUY a Morphie or Anker and get your hearts desire. No issue!
I just do not understand how people just seem to want to bitch about stuff. No matter how good something is, they just got to have it different!!!
Also add people to my “crazy list” that think Apple should sell cheap and BOGO and race to the bottom like the also ran companies.
Now, I totally understand wanting something different, I would like to see a BT mouse for the iPad, but I am not going to rant and rave about how Apple is doomed unless they kiss my butt and sell something like this…. right now..
But most of the intelligent commenters here say just that. Great product, wish it had…. purple flashing lights. LOL or what ever, but not the DOOM is required approach.
OK, rant over, everyone have a great holiday and a very prosperous (Apple share value skyrocketing) year. 🙂
(saw your clarification postscript)
What I really see with this topic is that the perception is that “Too Many” other design considerations are getting compromised in the pursuit of stuff like “THIN!” which is much more of an ego-stroking exercise for the hardware designer than something that customers are clamoring for.
Pragmatically, devices became “thin enough” back in 1999 with the release of the Palm Vx … that PDA was 10mm before the case cover (roughly 12mm with). And it didn’t have problems with getting bent, etc.
Eldernorm, According to Jony Ive, there was a poll a couple years back that had 60% of iPhone users preferring a thicker phone with better battery life over a thinner one. Personally I don’t want to have to buy a battery case that would add FAR more bulk than if the phone had a bigger battery built in.
mpias3785, I totally understand your point. Do you want 30% more life, 60% more life, 120% more life??? How many models does Apple make to adjust for everyones specific desires??
Its like in restaurants where they add less salt than some would like, cause you can add as much as you want, but its really hard to take it out, if they use too much.
So, my point is,
add a case for protection.. if you like
add a battery for longer life…. if you like
add an external camera lens for more ability…..if you like.
But if Apple adds those things, the phone gets bigger and you cannot take them out.
PS, I bought 2 extra chargers, one for car and one for work. When I drive in, I can charge my phone topping it off.
When I am at work, if I need I can charge my phone.
Funny how I am NEVER running low on charge at the end of the day. Maybe I do not need a bigger battery.
Just saying,
MDN:(hint: get an Apple Watch. You’ll use your iPhone less and the battery will easily outlast even the longest day).
Um… if you’re gonna spend $600 for longer battery life, why don’t you just get another phone? Then you can switch at 1pm when your battery is dead.
I can’t speak for the rest of the phone ecosystem, but Apple’s battery is insufficient for its task.
Yes, make the phone thicker if you have to. Otherwise, I bet you could save a few kWh by making the touchID sensor less responsive (people have complained about it being too fast). Or ditching “Hey Siri” eavesdropping. Or a hundred other ways.
Nobody but nobody is asking for a thinner phone.
My problem is more with the protruding camera lens. The iPhone itself is beautiful to behold-but I don’t like resting it on its back (having the lens as a contact point). The alternative is face down (on the glass). Seems to me that it makes a lot of sense to have a thicker phone (or thinner camera is that is actually possible) so that lens is flush or even slightly recessed so you can set the phone on its back.
And yes, I know, I can put a case on (I did) but isn’t it sad to cover up all of Jony’s hard work? Longer battery life wouldn’t suck either 😉
Really? I recall the howls of horror and derision at the antenna lines when the first photos of the 6 were leaked! Ugliest iPhone to date. I had a case all ready so I would only have to look at it for the time it took to get it out of the box and into the case.
Jony seems to be getting crazy in his old age.
Couldn’t agree more.
Perhaps it’s time for this:…
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2015/0042870.html
…technology to be rolled out? It would mean a much better camera – with zoom!…but in an even thinner phone body.
Just pointing out where we are heading. In which case * ‘scuse the pun – everyone gets to win. I get an even thinner phone with a better camera and the biggerbattery_toids get a battery case and phone no thicker than the 6s plus a better camera.
It’s bizzarely odd that folks don’t see how new tech comes from all directions that make the previous generation’s limitations disappear.
But then folk gotta moan.
Mac Plus, sorry comment was in reply to MDN comment thing and not you. 🙂
No worries. I’m elderly too… 😉
Absolutely nothing, except Apple engineers and designers would need to find a new fetish
One can only hope that the “new fetish” that they find is a bug-free OS X along with a major renaissance in OS X “Ecosystem” applications.
There is nothing wrong either way. Grips one direction or the other is anal. It’ just a feature of the phone. Maybe the iPhone 7 will be different. Apple has 800 employees working on the next camera. But as you know, 800 employees could be 8 people working on 100 cameras, with the best one making the cut. Who knows. But I say, lets just leave it alone.
Apple sells so many phones, they could add one more model without creating confusion (and fix the 16GB problem too)
– 6S models: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 128GB + thicker battery
– 6S+ models: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 128GB + thicker battery
Charge $50 extra for the bigger battery. This would even raise average selling price and margins.
Remember when everyone argued about screen sizes? The solution was that different people WANT different things, so Apple just needed to offer the options.
Same with thin vs. battery life. I personally like the thin, but Apple should give Phone Warriors’ their ideal phone too.
I’m really hoping that Apple comes to its senses and builds a thicker iPhone for better battery life and an OIS camera for all models.
There’s no palpable difference between 5.7 or 6.7 mm whereas I can definitely benefit from a 1000 mAh increase.
This is the important distinction. A small increase in thickness would be hardly noticed by anybody, but the resultant boost to battery life will be welcomed by nearly everybody.
I’m guessing that the people posting here constitute a small fraction of iPhone customers. If iPhone sales dropped and people were flocking to some other phone that was thicker and heavier but has 24 hour battery life then Apple would follow suit.
From the diagnostics gathered from iPhones Apple has a pretty good idea how often batteries are drained. They also have a reasonable idea about how phone thickness affects sales. With billions at stake you have to think they have considered this.
Personally, I’d like to see a number of things in hardware and software from Apple but with a demographic of one I’m not holding my breath.
If any other company made an IOS phone with a bigger battery I’d give that company my business. However I am tied into the ecosystem with my mac, watch, apple tv, etc. So the fact that people aren’t leaving to android over an insufficient battery is almost irrelevant. Instead people are living with the annoyance of needing to buy an external battery or charging their phones throughout the day.
It exists, it’s called an iPhone 6+/6S+, it has a bigger battery.
One does need to be cautious in analysis of diagnosis data.
For example, when customers start adding chargers to their car, their desk, etc, it is because they’re not satisfied with battery life performance from just an overnight charge, and the diagnosis tools need to be able to sift this out and alert to the analyst that said altered behavior pattern indicating a very real deficiency … whereas a sloppy analysis could be merely that the “% charged” data seemed to say that everthing’s fine because the battery never got below N% … while ignoring that the device spent 2/3rds of the day constantly tethered to power.
1mm will yield 1000 mah increase…? The engineers at Apple have been through all of this already and they make their choices on size, etc. Funny thing, I knew a guy who made a cell phone holder and battery power with a home made 3 D cell brick. He said it lasted him for 3 months.
One 14500 (AA sized Li-Ion) can put out 8-900 mAh @ 3.7V. The volume of that sized cylinder is about 0.77cc. Now that includes the closed end tube plus the protection circuit and the positive cap so let’s drop 0.1cc to 0.67cc. Now spread that over the ares of the 6s battery (I couldn’t find the dimensions of that battery of that battery) and I’m sure it would be significantly less than 1 mm.
“You could see the outline in my suit.”
– Actual quote from client, which tells you who the Apple demographic is these days.
There seems to be a current trend that has tight confused with well-tailored. Or maybe they want some outlines to show, but not others.
So Apple should produce long fat phones that easily slip into pants pockets?
Yes! Still say the iPhone 5s was the best form factor, but if it was the 4s thickness, it would be perfect for us average-size-handed citizenry. Think of the battery life possible with that volume…
I agree, especially as the flat sides mean that photo-video is that much easier – simply find a table top or similar and you don’t need a tripod.
I don’t want a thicker IPhone but I don’t want it to get any thinner. I emailed Tim Cook two weeks ago that more battery life is far more important than a thinner IPhone. The current one fits very comfortably in my hand and my hands are not large.
Well the main thing wrong is slightly thicker over MILLIONS of phones leads to a greater volume and higher shipping costs. So, do you make a product thicker and heavier “just ’cause?”
Thinner/lighter YET with the same 10 hour battery life forces Apple to come up with new solutions to old problems. Some of Apple’s patents could yield a greatly improved camera in a much thinner profile. We wouldn’t be seeing it if it wasn’t for a drive to be as thin as physics will allow. It’s also driving improvements to both battery capacity and energy efficiency.
So, if telling your teams to make thinner devices forces entire new ways of thinking of things, then that’s what I want to see… Just as long as I still get a full days use 🙂
I own the 6S plus and would love thinner and lighter. I am hoping for a phone that is (at least mostly) display only and thinner. The camera ca protrude, that is fine. Though I like the screen size, the phone is too heavy and too thick for comfortable use. My wife feels similarly about her 6S. Thinner and lighter is better.
I hope they do have a flush camera and better battery, but I don’t want them to make it thicker to do this. I would prefer the thinner design.
Hey – keep in mind – bigger battery, more time for charging. Who want more of a battery than necessary – after all it’s not a point in itself. Think like this: batteries are something we need, but don’t want.
So my opinion: smaller batteries is an advantage taking that the electronics suck accordingly less!
This trend will continue until until new energy sources appear (nano capacitors?, fuel cells?), in conjunction with superior electronics.
If the Plus model’s camera requires a certain thickness, then make the non-Plus model the same thickness. Use all extra space for more battery.
I really don’t see “why not”. It’s getting silly hearing we have the thinnest every year when anything any thinner isn’t necessary.
See above. iPhone isn’t even the thinnest, so it’s obviously not an important sales point.
Typically during a working day when I get home I’m at about 30-40% on average. If I’m out after work or using it more actively at the weekends. It’s often a case that I either have more than enough or need 60-70% more. It’s not a case of being 10-20% short or some smallish amount.
I want it half the current thickness l. That would be best.
It is wafer thin-Monty Python, The Meaning of Life.
Better bring a bucket!
Once you add a case, nearly everyone does, the camera “bulge” goes away. As for battery, I believe myself to be an average user, I usually go to bed with between 30 to 40% battery remaining on my new 6s plus . Maybe some “power” users may need to recharge during the day. A Mophie case should solve both “problems”. Anybody remember Rob and Wendy Winer from SNL ? Some people are impossible to please.
Just had to have my iPhone 6+ replaced because it was bent (“bendgate” strikes!) Yeah, I could use a thicker and sturdier phone.
w/o a case, the iPhone 6+ is too difficult to hold (I drop it all the time when it’s not in a case). Yeah, I could use a thicker iPhone.
Never had battery life problems, but more wouldn’t hurt.
Yeah, I could (and do!) put a case on my phone, but that makes it *too* thick. The 5s thickness was perfect. Wish they’d go back to that.
Soon an iPhone will be so thin that it could be used as a defensive weapon – sort of like Odd Job’s hat.
To put it away for the evening, you could just fling it across the room, embedding it in a door frame like a throwing knife. What a satisfying “thunk!” sound that would make!
It would suck though – cutting your fingers to ribbons every time you put it into or out of your pocket.
The same, even more so, applies to the iPod Touch 6G! It could be double in thickness and still be thin– but that could help solve its rapidly draining battery problem!
I’d take a double-thick iPhone, too for a physical zoom camera lens and 2x or more increase in battery life.
It’s actually a greater issue for the iPod Touch. The Touch gets much heavier use than most people’s phones, since it’s used for hard-core gaming by kids, and many games take up far more battery life than most other apps, phone use, or even browsing the internet.
It wouldn’t surprise me if most of the people that require greater iPhone battery life are gamers (or let their kids game on it). By the end of an average day without gaming, my iPhone 6 is at 80% or better. 20-40 minutes of gaming takes that to about 60-70%.
This is why some people don’t feel battery life is an issue for them – they don’t likely game much. But what’s the point of having an iPhone if you aren’t using it for apps (gaming, GPS, internet browsing, etc.)?
Weight. That’s what’s wrong with the idea. the Plus is heavy enough as it is.
so how about a battery less phone? Have the battery in the case and an ultra capacitor in the phone so you can change the battery without losing power and you can decide how thick you want your phone and how much battery life you want.