Why everyone is so down on Apple (post-iPhone 5S)

And how about high speed wireless?

802.11ac is all but entirely confirmed, at least as far as standards go, and yet the new iPhones, which were led to believe should last at least a year won’t even be able to use a draft variant of the equally new high speed technology.

But we have a new processor, new camera, new flash, new fingerprint scanner, and three new coats of paint in the iPhone 5S, so that obviously counts for something.

Even the camera will have troubles standing on its own feet.

We’re sure it will be excellent, but when 13 megapixel was the new standard in 2013, and we’re now seeing 20 and 41 megapixel sensors in new smartphones, 8 megapixel is harder for consumers to swallow.

Regardless of the fact that there’s more to a camera sensor than megapixels alone, people still look at the number and wonder why a top of the line phone is so low in size.

About the only area that doesn’t need an update is the screen, which supports at least 326 pixels per inch and is still greater than what the human eye can manage.

Don’t let the other manufacturers fool you, while a larger ppi value does mean the screen is more clear, scientist reckon that our eyes can’t really discern the difference beyond 300 pixels per inch, so Apple’s Retina screen still holds up on the iPhone 4S/5/5C/5S, even if every other manufacturer is now well and truly surpassing that value, packing in more pixels per inch than Apple.

Ultimately, the problem Apple has here is a lack of innovation, or at least perceived innovation. We’ve built up this idea in our heads about how the phone can evolve, and should evolve, and about where phones will be pushed to next.

Remember that moment where you used to hear about the new Apple phone and your jaw would drop?

That’s missing here, and the upgrades are barely evolutions on the last generation, not so dissimilar from the minor upgrades that a lot of phones will no doubt have in the near future.

That said, this journalist is actually surprised we didn’t hear Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing act this scenario out, where a little bit of the future comes to life and keeps people hoping:

“One more thing,” he says, the words big on the screen behind him, the audience holding their breath and hoping it will be a big Apple TV, or a new computer, or some new device that the world hasn’t seen coming and never will, bringing Apple back to the glorious status it has held for so long.

“The world is beginning to catch up to us,” Schiller says, “but–” he raises his hands, “the Apple you know is always one step ahead.

“And this year, we’re not just one step: we’re five.”

A hush goes over the room, the room goes dark, and the audience – made up of journalists eager to report, enthusiasts eager to cheer, and analysts eager to criticise – stops typing, except for the few live bloggers who have just written ‘Phil says Apple is five steps ahead. Lol.’ on their websites.

The lights come back up and Phil is holding a device no one has seen before. It looks like an iPhone, but yet it’s thinner, with a larger screen, and there’s no physical button.

“This is the iPhone X,” says Schiller, and the screen behind him changes to a slide showing what he’s now holding up, with the words, ‘The future today’ printed on it.

“We went back to thinking different,” Apple’s lead man says. “We’re thinking of the future.”

He pauses for a second to let that sink in, and then continues.

“The iPhone X is thinner than any smartphone that has come before it, at 5mm thin,” he says, holding the attention of everyone in the room. “To get it this thin, we’ve had to do something no other manufacturer would do: we removed the headphone jack.

“Now if you’ve grown up in a world that Apple helped create, you already exist on Bluetooth headphones, so we’ve taken away the very thing that stopped us from shrinking the phone to be even slimmer.

“Near-Field Communication is in this device too, for easy headphone pairing with devices that support it, and if you need to desperately add the 3.5mm headset, say your headphones are out of power or you want to plug into wired speakers, we’ll be releasing a Lightning to 3.5mm headset adaptor.”

Frantic typing is heard in the room, but not a single person coughs, letting Phil say how the world will begin to see smartphones differently.

“The screen is bigger at 4.5 inches, and for the first time in Apple’s history, the button is gone,” he continues. “Rather, a touch button is always roughly where the button is at the very bottom of the screen, just where the bezel is.

“This means that more of the screen can be viewed, and the few times you need to hit the button, it’s still there, but we have more gestures for getting around the device that pro users can rely on.”

Phil looks around the room, and jaws have dropped, which is exactly what he wants, and this is exactly what the world wants from Apple.

“There’s more in this device, such as the evolution of the iPhone 5 processor, reduced to 12 nanometres, storage choices of 64 and 128GB only, a 12 megapixel camera with the TrueTone flash resized to match the tiny size, and a battery capable of offering a day of life on Category 4 LTE connections, but we think the size and shape of the future will be what impresses you most, because the iPhone X is about feeling the future in your shirt or jeans pocket, and realising that it’s effortless.”

And the scenario ends, as the world sees a vision that Apple has created, a benchmark that pushes itself ahead of everyone. Even if an iPhone X had cost more – twice or three times as much – there are people that would have purchased it.

Not just the fanboys, but those keen to get a taste of the future ahead of everyone else.

It’s a fiction, because Apple did no such this thing year, bringing in updates that most users won’t see as worthy to upgrade to, and may even push them the other direction, to another manufacturer and another operating system.

But imagine if Apple had. Imagine if Apple had reinvented itself by trying something no one saw coming.

If Apple had reinvented the iPhone, people would be less down on Apple.

 

Screen grabs pulled from Apple’s podcast on the iPhone announcement.