“Though Apple’s iPhone franchise might be staring at a tough 2019, some recent reports give reasons to think its 2020 iPhones will be well-received,” Eric Jhonsa writes for TheStreet. “”
“Earlier this week, in a report about a potential bailout for iPhone LCD panel supplier Japan Display, The Wall Street Journal stated (citing people familiar with Apple’s production plans) that Apple is ‘likely to drop LCD displays altogether in its 2020 iPhone lineup’ in favor of OLED panels,” Jhonsa writes. “The report follows one which indicated Apple will launch an iPhone XR successor in 2019 that still features an LCD panel, partly because it’s too late to change production plans. The XR, which (unlike the iPhone X, XS and XS Max) has an LCD rather than an OLED screen, appears (judging by reports as well as iPhone usage data) to have contributed heavily to Apple’s recent iPhone pressures.”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s certainly not because of the display. iPhone XR sports a very fine Reina display and the vast majority of XR buyers have no idea what type of display it has nor do they care.
“Meanwhile, a number of reports indicate that 2020, rather than 2019, will also be the year that 5G-capable iPhones arrive,” Jhonsa writes. “Also reportedly on tap for 2020: A 3D rear-camera system made possible by the integration of a time-of-flight (ToF) sensor. A ToF sensor, which calculates how long it takes a laser to reach an object picked up by a camera, could improve image quality and the performance of Apple’s ARKit augmented reality developer platform. Importantly, much as Apple’s TrueDepth front camera system enables its Face ID unlocking system and Animojis, a ToF sensor could also allow users to obtain 3D models of captured objects that could subsequently be used by various augmented reality apps.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, 2020 would be a “Stupid ‘S’ Year.” Hopefully, Apple will finally put the self-defeating, these-iPhones-are-no-big-deal “S” nominclature to death once and for all!
Name them, thusly: [display size] iPhone [year].
For 2020, we’d love to see:
• 4.7-inch iPhone (2020)
• 5.8-inch iPhone (2020)
• 6.5-inch iPhone (2020)
XX: $1199
XXS: $1299
XXX: $1499
Apple Care + = $399
Starting at 64GB of storage
Storage: 256GB = $199
512GB = $399
1TB = $899
SE2.
As tempting as it would be to “stock up” before Apple screws up another good product, there’s still the core mission requirements on the desktop to consider.
To this end, “No New Apple Products until the new Mac Pro SHIPS”.
“For 2020, we’d love to see:
• 4.7-inch iPhone (2020)
• 5.8-inch iPhone (2020)
• 6.5-inch iPhone (2020)”
Overall great idea though I would have the smallest size be 5″
Pipeline’s Apple isn’t nimble enough to give the people what they want. So it’s almost certain that Pipeline will soldier on with the oversized XR as the only “affordable” current chip phone, using an LCD screen to save cost, and no doubt he wants to axe all sub-5″ phones. That’s a mistake. The iPhone 8 models can and should be refreshed one more time and made even more affordable and appeal to a larger market. Kill off the XR in mature markets, offer it as the top end in lieu of OLED models in price sensitive emerging markets only. It is simply not a winning design since large LCD displays are battery hogs.
Here’s what a competent mobile phone manufacturer with the resources Apple has would offer for 2020 to affluent markets like US, EU, Japan:
• 4.2-inch LCD, 64 & 128GB, all new thick curved back chassis, latest cpu, modest cameras, less than $500 to start, USB-C, most battery life of any phone ever made.
• 4.7-inch LCD in iPhone 8 chassis, 128 & 256 & 512 GB, latest cpu, no change to cameras, less than $600 to start
• 5.5-inch LCD in iPhone 8+ chassis, 256 & 512 GB, latest cpu, no change to cameras, less than $700 to start
• 5.8-inch OLED without notch, on screen touchID enabled, 256 & 512 & 1024 GB, USB-C, less than $850 to start
• 6.5-inch OLED without notch, on screen touchID enabled, 256 & 512 & 1024 GB, USB-C, less than $1000 to start
Then in 2021, drop the 5.5″ LCD model and move all phones to USB-C, new cameras and new colors as appropriate.
Work harder to drive a consistent display ratio and bring back real rectangular screens without notches and corners missing, and add battery capacity by rounding the back of the chassis like the original iPhones.
Completely redesign accessories for the USB-C era with chargers adapters and cables to be more ergonomic, more durable, woven metallic or black and keep the prices down. Give every device buyer his choice of free adapter and/or a discount on new accessories with each new device purchase rather than including headphones and dongles in the box.
Fix iTunes.
Fix Maps.
Fix Podcasts.
Fix iBooks.
Fix or kill Siri.
Eliminate Google and Facebook from OSes permanently.
Guarantee privacy and security in user agreement.
Simplify iCloud, make it a standalone deletable app (for those who use their own servers).
…. and so on.
Gee Mike, you’re so full of bright ideas, one has to wonder why the hell YOU aren’t CEO of Apple.
Mike offers a compelling suggestion.
You offered what?
Based on how slow Pipeline is, I’d be willing to let somebody with bold product vision like Mike shake things up in Cupertino. At least customers would get a full selection of affordable & up to date iPhones and Macs.
But don’t worry, tweaker, I’m sure someone would hire you as janitor, assuming you could get clean and pass the drug test.
I think 2019 is going to be disastrous year for Apple. 5G capable phones are going to be important to many people and they’ll be waiting until 2020.
Hey Timber we want a flip phone option. Start innovating!
I could care less what they do with the iPhone in 2020. Yes I have a iPhone (iPhone 6 still works fine) but Apple needs to focus on the Mac. We need some real wow factor that was the Mac. So real Steve Jobs innovation shit.