Next-Gen iPhone & iPhone Nano Speculation

[ltcommander.data]

Maybe I'm nitpicking (kinda necessary to figure out what Apple might realistically do) but I feel that solution would benefit from better contrast (i.e. blacker blacks). An AMOLED would be ideal but unrealistic, however I suppose there's still plenty of room to improve on the good old LCD front (ala Droid 2: http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4643/40430.png)

Do we know what type of IPS Apple uses for their current screen? 24-bit AH-IPS? Moving to 30-bit color may be the next logical step allowing them to market Deep Color support, HDRI display, and other catchy terms. Perhaps the blacks won't be blacker, but there would be more shades of black, which may have the similar effect of increasing the perceived contrast to the viewer.

http://www.oled-display.net/lg-disp...etina-vs-galaxy-s2-super-amoled-plus-display/

There's an interesting article here where an LG sponsored study claims a 4.5" 1280x720 329dpi variant of the AH-IPS screen used in the iPhone 4 surpasses the Galaxy S2's Super AMOLED+ in color accuracy and power consumption. If that's true, Apple doesn't have much reason to switch, particularly with the power consumption claims. It's interesting too that Apple does have a 4.5" version of the iPhone 4 display available if they wanted it.

Ah yes, I forgot the reflection light is much greater than leakage light, I suppose that won't really help then. I agree black bars and/or a wallpaper isn't the end of the world, although Apple seems to value full backwards compatibility by quadrupling the number of pixels in the iPhone 4 and, if the rumours are true, the iPad 3. I wouldn't be surprised if they at least stuck to the same aspect ratio for that reason. I think 1200x800 (like the Galaxy Note) and Horizontal Edge-to-Edge (like the rumored 2011 iPhone 5) on a ~4.2" screen would be an interesting solution.

The skeptic in me thinks 3.7" Horizontal Edge-to-Edge with the same 960x640 resolution is more likely for the iPhone 5 though, but we'll see.

I remember Apple mentioning that they arrived at their aspect ratios through lots of trials for usability. 4:3 for the tablet, and 3:2 for the phone. These do seem very versatile regardless of orientation. I don't see them changing.

Would a 1.5x increase in resolution make things a blurry mess? It would be 3x the iPhone 3GS resolution, which seeing it's currently selling and apps still made for it, is convenient. 1440x960 on a 4" screen would end all resolution and dpi concerns, and quiet the size concerns, although perhaps the technology doesn't exist to produce a 433 dpi screen in volume yet.

Do edge-to-edge screens bring usability problems in terms of accidental inputs from holding the phone? I suppose software can be used to negate some of the stray input, but it might be finicky. It also makes it more difficult to make a case. If it wraps over to the screen you'll lose display area. If you don't wrap, it'll make for very weak cases along the sides of the phone, especially for the rubbery type cases.

It probably makes sense for them to just go with a 3.7" screen at 960x640 and cut down the side bezel by half, just enough for their bumper case. Overall device dimensions may have to increase slightly, but with a tapered design it'll only be for the display face, and won't be noticeable when held in the hand.

 

[zed]

Though I'd kill for a 4.5-5" screen, HW qwerty kb and 3000+ mAh battery phone. I don't care if it weighs >200g and is 2cm thick. I've got big hands and pockets

Thats my dream phone as well.
Gotta have a torch also (Its the num1 feature I use on my cheap phone, after communication)

 

[sebbbi]

What is the killer app for these big screens with high resolution?

1. Web browsing. 1280x800 resolution exceeds netbooks. And a 5.3" screen makes it usable (you can hit the links without having to zoom in/out all the time, like you have with a 3.5" screen).

2. Typing... yes typing. 3.5" inch screen is slightly too small for my fingers. I press adjacent letters too often. With a bigger screen I can type a lot faster (5.3" should be pretty much as good as 10.1" tablet for typing).

I mainly use my phone to browse web, call, write text messages and email. Web browsing gets much better with a bigger screen, as does email writing (bigger virtual keyboard + more text visible at same time in the screen). I am also interested in reading technical white papers and maybe some books on my phone (technical pdf reading needs really good display resolution, 1280x800 should be enough). With the small 3.5" iPhone screen reading hasn't been that enjoyable for me. I also use my phone as a navigator and to read maps, and both benefit nicely from a bigger screen + higher res.

 

[wco81]

Well Apple is going to emphasize apps. and they're not going to change resolutions unless they see proof that it's a competitive disadvantage.

They know what percentage of apps. added support for Retina Display and what percentage came out with iPad versions. They will have some kind of idea about how well and how quickly a new resolution would be supported.

If they did change resolutions, it was probably unlikely that they'd do it in successive models.

 

[Pressure]

Your arguments lose validity once you talk about user experience.
A larger screen enhances the user experience greatly. Specially if you go from 3.5 to ~4".

With at least a 3.7" 16:10 screen, they could even keep the same dimensions and just cut on those huge top and bottom bezels.

Let's agree to disagree.

You are basically alienating half your potential customers if you increase the physical size of the iPhone.
Women already find the iPhone 4 on the large side but I am all for a screen that goes out to the rim.

A bigger screen doesn't increase the user experience. It all boils down to the software. 960 x 640 pixels at 4" isn't going to revolutionize the device. You would still be interacting with the device using the exact same gestures and see the same animations, only at a lower PPI.

 

[wco81]

People always demand that bezels be minimized.

But is that always feasible? Probably would have to make the unit thicker or compromise in other ways, have less battery capacity.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

With at least a 3.7" 16:10 screen, they could even keep the same dimensions and just cut on those huge top and bottom bezels.

You are basically alienating half your potential customers if you increase the physical size of the iPhone.

#facepalm#..

A bigger screen doesn't increase the user experience. It all boils down to the software. 960 x 640 pixels at 4" isn't going to revolutionize the device. You would still be interacting with the device using the exact same gestures and see the same animations, only at a lower PPI.

I wonder if you'd keep the exact same speech had apple announced an iphone with a 4" screen...
Sure, that may be your honest opinion (eek..) but it's nonetheless the verbatim copy of last year's PR speech about iphone 4's screen.

 

[mboeller]

Though I'd kill for a 4.5-5" screen, HW qwerty kb and 3000+ mAh battery phone. I don't care if it weighs >200g and is 2cm thick. I've got big hands and pockets

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-GALAXY-Note_id6116/fullspecs
http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote/note/spec.html

...but no qwerty, only 2500mAh and only 9,65mm thick

 

[hoho]

...but no qwerty, only 2500mAh and only 9,65mm thick

No HW kb = not for me, unfortunately. Also, android is way too limited for my taste as well.

 

[ltcommander.data]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-05-chair-talks-infinity-blade-2-iphone-4s

"I'm still shocked that, with the iPhone 4S, I'm literally running around with a 1080p video camera in my pocket, with an eight megapixel camera, 64GB of hard drive space and an A5 chip with 512MB of memory. This is a really powerful computer, right?

So Donald Mustard of Chair has confirmed the iPhone 4S has 512MB of RAM like the iPad 2. Not pushing any boundaries for sure, but when the iPad 2 launched, Epic already said they are happy with 512MB for this generation and it's not the major limitation, so it should be even less so here given the iPhone 4 has a lower resolution than the iPad 2.

 

[sebbbi]

You are basically alienating half your potential customers if you increase the physical size of the iPhone.

Yes, but you are alienating the other half (those who are willing to pay for more) if you keep the phone at 3.5" for another year while everyone else is moving to larger and better resolution high end models. Apple used to manufacture the phone that was the most expensive and best in all regards. Now the customers who have no limit in money to spend (corporate users) are looking for better alternatives. Apple cannot stay out of the market that has the biggest profits. If they want to keep losing their market share, they have to have more than one sized phone model at the market. There's huge demand for both a smaller and a larger iPhone currently. The customers will choose another brand if the iPhone is too small or large for their needs. I personally love the software quality of iPhone, but that's not enough for me to keep buying products that do not suit my needs otherwise.

 

[hoho]

Apple used to manufacture the phone that was the most expensive and best in all regards.

No they didn't, at least as long as it comes to HW features.

 

[nutball]

Seems to be quite a lot of "I personally want this hardware feature, and Apple will totally fail in the market unless they deliver it" going on in this thread. Just saying.

Of the half-dozen people I know with iPhones, none of them have even considered a larger screen, and even none of them know what Android is yet alone care. Their primary complaint about the iPhone is that it can be a bit tricky to get iTunes to sync the right bits of their music collection on to their phone (or in one case that the recent iOS update seems to have buggered his GPS). That's really all they're interested in. I can quite readily see all of them happily upgrading to an iPhone 4S if offered it for a decent price.

 

[hoho]

Of the half-dozen people I know with iPhones, none of them have even considered a larger screen, and even none of them know what Android is yet alone care

How many of them haven't asked for a bigger screen simply because apple hasn't offered something that has bigger screen?

It's the same old story that people in general have no clue what's good for them and don't even know to want something until something tells them something can be done

 

[Lazy8s]

Apple really just needs to expand the screen by getting rid of the wasted space as much as possible; the size of the current device feels perfect. And whatever they do, I personally hope they keep the glass back. The phone is such a pleasure to hold.

While Apple is very strong in hardware and software, they can't compete with Google in the realm of services. While Google wisely offers most of their services to the large base of iOS users, they save the most feature-rich versions for Android users.

iCloud, and its many facets, and Siri are big steps for Apple there. They've got a competitor to Latitude now. They've got an IM client. They've got a very powerful auto content sync. I wouldn't be surprised if they offer navigation (spoken turn-by-turn directions) someday soon. Nothing to keep Google up at night, but it helps to fill the gap for iOS users.

 

[ltcommander.data]

Apple cannot stay out of the market that has the biggest profits. If they want to keep losing their market share, they have to have more than one sized phone model at the market.

I don't believe Apple has actually been losing market share. Their market share growth has just slowed to slightly above the growth of the overall smartphone industry. Android has been growing in leaps and bounds, but so far it's been at the expense of RIM, Sybian, and Windows Mobile. And while Apple controls a smaller market share than Android, Apple actually controls more than two thirds of the profits in the smartphone industry and that share has consistently grown at the same time as Android market share has grown. So Android makers look to be sacrificing profit margins to gain users, while Apple continues to grow slowly while increasing profits. In that context, perhaps Apple felt they have enough breathing room to go with a more conservative update this year.

I do agree that it makes sense for Apple to split into two models, a larger iPhone and a smaller iPhone Nano. I'm unsure how they should be priced though. Given Apple likes to go for price clarity, it doesn't make sense for both the big iPhone and iPhone Nano to have the same cutting edge internals and the same price range and only be differentiated by screen size. Introducing the iPhone Nano as the new dedicated budget model seems expensive from an engineering perspective compared to just reusing last year's model as the budget phone. Having both the iPhone Nano and lasts year's big iPhone as budget models would again cause price overlap.

 

[ltcommander.data]

While Apple is very strong in hardware and software, they can't compete with Google in the realm of services. While Google wisely offers most of their services to the large base of iOS users, they save the most feature-rich versions for Android users.

iCloud, and its many facets, and Siri are big steps for Apple there. They've got a competitor to Latitude now. They've got an IM client. They've got a very powerful auto content sync. I wouldn't be surprised if they offer navigation (spoken turn-by-turn directions) someday soon. Nothing to keep Google up at night, but it helps to fill the gap for iOS users.

http://9to5google.com/2011/09/21/google-23rds-of-our-mobile-search-comes-from-apples-ios/

Apple obviously isn't likely to get into search, but it's interesting that Google said last month that 2/3 of their mobile search traffic comes from iOS devices. It makes you wonder how much Google depends on iOS traffic for their other services, which Apple seems to be slowly weaning themselves off.

 

[nutball]

How many of them haven't asked for a bigger screen simply because apple hasn't offered something that has bigger screen?

Most of them, that's not the point. The point is they're not sitting there saying "man, I need a bigger screen, if Apple don't put one in the iPhone 5 I'm buying something else".

If Apple produced something with a bigger screen, they'd likely say "hmmm... screen looks a bit bigger than my previous iPhone. Meh. Now, where are those apps I bought and how the hell do a I sync my music on with iTunes?!".

 

[Pressure]

I wonder if you'd keep the exact same speech had apple announced an iphone with a 4" screen...
Sure, that may be your honest opinion (eek..) but it's nonetheless the verbatim copy of last year's PR speech about iphone 4's screen.

No reason to be condescending, women covers a big piece of the marketshare. And no, this doesn't mean the other half will abandon the platform because it only has 3.5" of screen real-estate on it. This isn't a pissing contest after all

I'm not really holding a public speak here, merely discussing the issue regarding having a bigger screen will somehow automatically increase the user experience. It won't.

It's for the same reason why the user interface on the 9.7" iPad is not the same as on the 3.5" iPhone. They share similarities, so the user quickly can identify and use pre-memorized interactions so the device feels familiar to use.

But I'll go along the thought. Let's say the next iPhone have an 4" screen. Two or three Android phones move to 4.5" (frankly, that size is getting ridiculous, even the Samsung Galaxy SII looks humongous compared to the iPhone). Why is it the iPhone have to follow that example? It's a small market. I'll say the current form factor is great but extending the screen to go to the rim would be a fair compromise, if they can keep the 960 x 640 resolution for now (otherwise you will hear the hundred of thousands of developers crying).

 

[hoho]

I'm not really holding a public speak here, merely discussing the issue regarding having a bigger screen will somehow automatically increase the user experience. It won't.

Had they introduced a model with bigger screen they would have definitely gained a few new customers.