“Apple’s CEO Tim Cook claimed at the September 7 event that iPhone 7 is the best iPhone ever. I came away from the event thinking that although iPhone 7 was greatly improved, it would not sell itself as iPhone 6 had,” Mark Hibben writes for Seeking Alpha. “Partly this is a consequence of Apple’s evolutionary approach and of increasing competition. Partly it’s the result of the enormously negative coverage of iPhone 7 that began early this year. Apple has to counteract the “no innovation” mantra that has been chanted endlessly by technology pundits. If it can do that, iPhone 7 can be very successful.”
MacDailyNews Take: The display size changes sold the iPhone 6/Plus. That’s the main reason why subsequent iPhones (6s/7/Plus) have had a comparably tougher time; the display sizes are the same.
“The improvements were substantial and vitiate the argument that iPhone 7 lacks innovation. Apple’s key technology innovation continues to be in the area of processor technology. Apple’s A10 Fusion system on chip (SOC) now features four CPU cores, once again, of its own design. Two cores are “high performance” cores that provide 40% better performance than the A9 of the iPhone 6s. The other two cores are ‘high efficiency’ cores that perform tasks that don’t require the speed of the high performance cores,” Hibben writes. “Apple claims that the A10 is the fastest smartphone processor in the world, and I have no reason to dispute that claim… In addition to the 40% CPU speed improvement, Apple claims a 50% speed improvement for the GPU section. More importantly, Apple has been able to do this while substantially increasing battery life.”
“Technology analysts, in general, have underestimated the importance of Apple’s processor design expertise. We’re seeing that flow into other products such as Apple Watch Series 2, which also got a new faster processor, as well as Apple’s new wireless AirPods,” Hibben writes. “The rapid progress Apple has made in processor design has implications throughout the personal computing industry. Last year, the A9X SOC already compared favorably with low end Core M processors, so it will be interesting to see how the A10 compares this year, especially when an X version arrives.”
“Apple is offering the myriad improvements of iPhone 7 at virtually the same price point as the previous generation. I think that adds up to a very compelling value proposition for consumers,” Hibben writes. “It’s the value proposition, rather than a breakthrough feature, that’s going to sell the phone. Apple merely needs to communicate this proposition in a relentless and all pervasive way.”
MacDailyNews Take: This is how Apple is going to market iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus:
The first image of the new iPhone you see when visiting Apple.com is the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual-camera on the Jet Black model.
Apple.com’s introductory image for “iPhone 7” is the top rear of the Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus model featuring its dual-camera and Quad-LED True Tone flash
The first meaningful text you encounter is “iPhone 7 dramatically improves the most important aspects of the iPhone experience. It introduces advanced new camera systems. The best performance and battery life ever in an iPhone. Immersive stereo speakers. The brightest, most colorful iPhone display. Splash and water resistance. And it looks every bit as powerful as it is. This is iPhone 7.”
