“The release of the larger screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models has proven to be hugely popular with some of Apple’s customers,” Jim Lynch writes for CIO. “But not everyone wants a bigger screen iPhone that they can’t use comfortably with one hand.”
MacDailyNews Take: We use our iPhone 6 Plus units with one hand very easily with iOS’ Reachability features. We simply double touch the Home button and the entire screen shifts down closer to our thumbs. And to easily navigate Safari or Mail, we just swipe to go backward or forward. All done one-handed.
Lynch writes, “I’ve been keeping track of the media coverage of the possible iPhone 6C, and it’s crystal clear from the comments being posted in articles that there is a big demand still for a 4-inch iPhone.”
MacDailyNews Take: No. Need more data. It’s crystal clear that there are some comments in favor of a 4-inch iPhone (mainly from those who’ve never used an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, in our opinion) which could easily be coming from a vocal minority, not necessarily proof of “big demand.”
“Based on the comments I’ve seen across the Web on many different sites, I have no doubt whatsoever that an iPhone 6C will be a huge hit if it’s released,” Lynch writes. “There seems to be a significant subset of iPhone users who have stubbornly refused to buy the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. These customers have money burning in their pockets, but Apple has not given them the new 4-inch iPhone that they desperately crave.”
MacDailyNews Take: Again: Baseless speculation. We require data.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Reports lately say that there will be no new 4-inch iPhone. While the reports could be wrong, as we wrote in July:
If they’re going to make a 4-inch iPhone, it should be on par (as much as possible) with the flagship iPhones – same processor, same amount of RAM, same storage options, very similar camera capabilities, etc. In other words, a high-margin premium device designed specifically for premium customers who are looking for a world-class 4-inch smartphone. Still:
“In general, the only people who still think they want a 4-inch iPhone are those who do not yet own a 4.7-inch iPhone 6 or 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. After iPhone 5s and 5c go the way of the dodo, the 4.7-inch display should, and likely will, be Apple’s smallest iPhone display going forward.” — MacDailyNews Take, December 5, 2014
That said, there certainly are times now, with Apple Watches on our wrists, where we’d appreciate a smaller iPhone that we could just tuck away in a pocket and forget — at least while Watch is so dependent on iPhone. But, watch OS 2, coming soon, will begin to lessen the dependence, so whatever desire we had developed over the past months months for a small iPhone to support Apple Watch has diminished since watchOS 2 was unveiled. It’s likely Apple is thinking this way, too. Even with Apple Watch and watch OS 1.0, we almost always want a larger iPhone* for the times when we actually use the iPhone anyway. So, we’re back to thinking the 4.7-inch display is the smallest iPhone Apple should make.
*The one major exception would be toting around an iPhone on a run for GPS mapping, but, even then, the iPhone 6 is plenty small and light enough to suffice.
SEE ALSO:
Should Apple make a state-of-the-art 4-inch iPhone? – July 31, 2015
No new 4-inch iPhone? Is Apple making a mistake? – July 29, 2015
Analyst: Apple has scrapped plans for a 4-inch iPhone 6c – July 27, 2015
Analyst: No 4-inch iPhone coming – May 12, 2015
KGI: 4-inch iPhone ‘unlikely’ this fall – April 22, 2015
Five reasons Apple won’t make any more 4-inch iPhones – December 9, 2014