Apple’s John Ternus — the executive ultimately responsible for new iPhone hardware — recently told his division that the upcoming models will be the most ambitious in the product’s history and that the iconic device has an “exciting future,” Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg News.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
We’ll begin to see what consumers think of that future when Apple announces the new iPhone SE this week. The highlights: The low-end phone will get a larger screen and a look reminiscent of the iPhone 14. It also will have the company’s first in-house cellular modem chip, the A18 processor and Apple Intelligence. The home button will be replaced by Face ID, and a USB-C connector supplants the Lightning port. In short, it will feel like a modern smartphone — in a package that costs roughly $500.
The flagship iPhones will get their time in the spotlight later this year, with the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro ushering in updated designs. The lineup also will get an all-new ultrathin version. Though that product may not become the best-selling iPhone, it will likely be the buzziest model. The idea: Showcase what happens when you combine Apple’s design chops with more energy-efficient components, like the new in-house modem.
While these changes represent major upgrades, the real hope is that they set the stage for further breakthroughs. The more power-efficient homegrown modem, which replaces a Qualcomm Inc. component, should eventually allow Apple to produce foldable phones — a market the company intends to enter as early as 2026. Further out, I expect to see other gee-whiz touches, such as under-display cameras and screens that truly span the entire phone (no more cutouts).
MacDailyNews Take: With Apple Intelligence lagging well behind rivals, some whiz-bang hardware designs could help cover that fact while the myopically led company attempts to catch up.
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Is that the iterative, or innovative kind of “ambitious?”
Ambiguous ambition comes to mind. Weird word choice imo.
Dumping Lightning, new modem (increased receptivity?), Face ID replacing Home Button, thinness coming later…will now feel like a “modern smartphone.” What were they before and why change now and not earlier…when the tech allowed/prescribed?
“…the real hope is that they set the stage for further breakthroughs.” “Hope?”
This isn’t just fluff marketing, it’s kind of sad. Facade-Strawman with a sugar coating.
When the ‘new’ iPhone has a different basic design than the 2007 model, that’s when it will be ‘the most ambitious in the product’s history’. If Apple had the guts to try something like the Humane AI Pin, (that actually worked) that would be ambitious.