Next week, we’ll get to see what the new iPhone will be all about. Gizmodo has a pretty solid rumor roundup, if you’re interested. Most important, to me:
The display is probably going to be four inches, and 16:9.
All in all, the new iPhone looks like another incremental update to the existing product. It will look slightly different (i.e. bigger), will be faster, have a better battery, some new camera features…
In their mobile space, Apple has seen three updates that have been viewed as quite big:
- The original iPhone was eclipsed by the iPhone 3G
- The 3GS was beaten by the iPhone 4
- The iPad saw some serious improvement with the iPad 2.
And then there have been incremental updates, who have not been big enough to entice the lot of current owners to switch to the next thing:
- The 3GS was mostly a speed bump for the 3G
- The 4S did almost the same to the 4
- The ‘new iPad’ had a much better screen than the iPad 2, which was the most important thing about it.
This brings me to ‘the new Apple’, or at least: the new position Apple is in. It seems to have started under Steve Jobs, but has solidified under Tim Cook: the new products they announce aren’t directed at the hardcore Apple fanboy, they’re build with people-who-don’t-own-an-iDevice in mind.
They’re skating for where a puck might be, which is a very good business decision, but often leaves tech journalists hanging. This leads to posts like “The new iPad is a disappointment” or “Apple is no longer the leader in this space”.
I love my iPhone 4S, I love the form factor of it. I can’t see myself carrying around a 4” device, although I know I love using bigger screens from my time with the Samsung Galaxy Note (which, all in all, is ridiculously large). But it’s my mobile phone, it’s strength is the fact that it fits in my pocket. And while I’m a pretty hefty guy, my pockets aren’t enormous.
I love my iPhone 4S, I love the form factor of it. I love the ratio of the screen, I never ever watch movies - except for the very occasional YouTube video - so I don’t see any use for 16:9.
I love my iPhone 4S, and currently I don’t see myself buying the new iPhone. I want to say that Apple needs to convince me - a self proclaimed fanboy - to buy one. But honestly, they don’t need to, there’s more important people to convince, a new segment of the market to talk to.
And they’re totally right in doing so.
