“Apple is drawing up plans to skip a generation, launching the iPhone 7 a year ahead of its expected arrival, according to an industry analyst,” The Week reports.
“Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at KGI Securities, says the new phone will introduce significant new features – prompting Apple to break with convention and call it the iPhone 7,” The Week reports. “According to Kuo, whom MacRumors says “has a respectable track record at reporting on Apple’s upcoming plans”, Apple will introduce Force Touch – a technology it developed for the Apple Watch – on this year’s new iPhone, and then update it in 2016.”
The Week reports, “Kuo suggests that the introduction of Force Touch ‘may be significant enough for Apple to call its next iPhone the iPhone 7,’ MacRumors reports – a move that would consign the iPhone 6S to history before it was even unveiled.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Do it, Apple.
It’s as if Apple is naming iPhone models solely for their own internal inventory purposes, just so they can keep track of which model is which, with no regard for how the iPhones are perceived by the rest of the world – the media, the customers, etc. – outside One Infinite Loop.
The “S” doesn’t stand for “Speed,” it stands for “Stupid.” Yes, we know it’s the same case design; we know the “S” version is the one you make the big margins on; we get it. Call it the “S” internally if you must, but don’t be so engineer-ish that you insist on calling it that on the box, too!
Before the iPhone 4S, everyone was waiting for the “iPhone 5.” When the 4S debuted, disappointment reigned. All because of the name. Nearly everything else about the phone was an improvement or a new addition (Siri).
You either leak “no iPhone 5″ to a credible outlet in order to tamp down anticipation beforehand or you name the damn thing “iPhone 5,” even if you don’t think it worthy, and be done with it. The former is far preferrable to the latter for integrity’s sake, but doing neither signals a worrying degree of tone deafness. Managing the media, not to mention peoples’ expectations, is part of your job now, too, Tim. MacDailyNews, “New Apple iPhone 4S fails to wow investors, fans,” October 4, 2011
There are plenty of numbers in the universe. Infinite, actually. Don’t worry, Apple, you won’t run out. Wonder what the mood would be right now had Apple simply named “iPhone 4S” the “iPhone 5?” – MacDailyNews, “Apple underwhelms with iPhone 4S,” October 4, 2011
It’s not about sales figures or the model’s success (as long as “iPhone” is in the name, it will be a success), it’s about setting a tone. In this case, with the “S,” Apple sets a tone that they are just making an incremental update (read: losing their innovation edge) which allows the media and competitors to claim, wrongly, that other companies have surpassed Apple. Why gift the naysayers with the opportunity, Apple? – MacDailyNews Take, April 5, 2013