I think that sounds good, too. Are there any numbers that are considered superstitious? Like iPhone 2013 might be fine but iPhone 13 might not be.
Bad idea. That dates the phone automatically. As Apple seems to want to keep a phone around for three generations, that would cause problems. Who would want to buy a phone whose name is two years old? Oh yeah! Give me that two year old model.
The 3GS is going to around in 2-4 years. It is now the cheap model, not the year before last years model. They may change the chip in future versions of this cheap model, and minor design changes but it is now the cheap model.
Yes, we know that. But when the next phone comes out, can't imagine what it will be called, the current 4 will be the cheap model, and the 4S will be the one for $99.
If [5] resonated with consumers, then Apple may want to go with it.
While I can sort of see how this makes sense, I don't know of any instances in Apple's past where it has been the case. Also, I offer this as rebuttal:
Everyone called it iPhone 2 and anticipated "iPhone 2"? until the day of announcement. Apple didn't, and they seamlessly translate into iPhone 3G. I dunno; that's a fair case, I think.
Quote:
Maybe it will be called the 6, or maybe the 4x, it maybe the LTE.
And now that Sprint actually has LTE, I've personally upped the odds of "iPhone LTE" from 0% to 5% in my own book.
Quote:
But none of those follows any scheme.
"iPhone 6" follows the second most recent naming scheme that Apple has used on iPhones. As for "4x", I love reading about people's theories that Apple wants to "milk the '4 name'" as much as possible, but I personally doubt that, too. And LTE doesn't follow anything Apple has used before; you're right. Apple names iPhones after the overarching type of telephony, not a subset. We didn't see the "iPhone HSDPA", we saw the iPhone 3GS. And since Apple has explicitly stated they're "going to let the telecoms decide what '4G' means", "iPhone 4G" is also unlikely.
I am pretty sure that you believed they would drop the 3GS before this year with the release of the iPhone 4S. As did many others. It seems impossible to explain to people that the more models there are across price points the better. Faced with a device which is out-selling all Android competitors you want them to drop it?
I can't agree with this. Right now, it's still popular, but you really think that by the end of this year, it will still be? How much cheaper than $0 on a contract can a phone get? So, ok, maybe it could remain in the line for developing countries if Apple can charge even less for it off contract there than they are now. But even there, people will shy from buying a phone that will be so old in design.
Keeping it this year made sense, as they could have all prices covered on contract. But next year, that won't be the case.
A problem is that many developers are still targeting the 3GS for their apps, and that includes games. With that out of the lineup, things will get better. Remember that the 3GS has only 256MB RAM.
Quote:
That same resolution at a larger size makes no sense. Anyway there is no way that Apple will end the 480x320 model. When the 5 ( or whatever comes out) they may rename it, and even update the chip set. But they will have an entry level model with 480x320 selling for buttons (off contract) to entice people into the ecosystem.
The design will remain the same, at least for some time. This is the way Apple does their other line-ups - Mac Book, Mac Book Pro, Mac Book Air etc.
Different models.
Why do you think that phones and tablets are like conventional computers in that respect? I would think that Apple is tearing to get rid of the 480 x 320 model. It's a pain for developers to need to keep updating the old, low Rez versions. It's also fragmentation.
They've been changing the body every two generations, why believe they will suddenly stop?
What's the problem with a slightly bigger screen? I doubt they would go to anything larger than 4". But 4" offers advantages, especially with the edge to edge screen I brought up earlier. The phone wouldn't have to be much wider for that. And the apparent resolution wouldn't change much. In practice, I've not yet met a person who could see the pixels. I doubt they could with a 4" screen.
How do you get that idea? Even your list shows it should be "5". You're making a joke, right?
Does it really matter? The only place you even see the moniker 4S is on the box. The actual phone just has iPhone on the back and now doesn't even have the capacity showing.
I'd rather not to be honest. To look at Island Hermit's list, crystal clear as it is, and then claim that it doesn't support his point it nothing short of idiotic. I don't mean that as a cruel insult, it's simply an inevitable observation.
I think that's a very good shout. I think Apple will be keen to get away from using numbers sooner or later. They simply call their computers 'iMac', 'MacBook Pro' etc. They are referred to as entities rather than date-specific models. That ended with the move to the Intel architecture (no more iMac G4, G5 etc.). I don't think Apple can do that with phones because they are by the nature of the beast upgraded every 2 years and this year's flagship is next year's budget model. People need to be able to differentiate at a glance, at least for now.
iPhone Air is a great brand name, but it doesn't solve the problem long-term. They may well use that in the summer but at some point they'll want to solve the problem. With Macs we have to say 'mid 2010 Macbook Pro'. It's not wonderful but it doesn't matter because you can only ever buy the latest model. The only time I have to refer to my model of MacBook Pro is when I require technical assistance. Phones, which are sold in a maelstrom of marketing and jargon, need a snappy suffix.
Maybe one day when iOS isn't being advanced at such a rapid rate and the previous two models can run the latest version several years into their life-cycles Apple will do away with the suffix and just call the product like 'iPhone'. You choose what spec you want, but they're all 'iPhone'. Just like 'iMac'.
Precisely
It wasn't a very smart insult. Most mods at most sites would have thrown you off right away. I'm a bit more liberal.
The problem you guys are having with this is that the generation phone has nothing to do with the numbering. That's really pretty clear. The first phone was simply the iPhone, like someone's father is named Sr., but only after his son is given his name, and then the kid is jr.
So the first named phone was the 3G. Nothing to do with generation there. The next is (almost wrote "was") the 3GS. Not named after the generation, but after "speed". The 4 followed the 3 series, also getting two generations in with the 4S. So why would anyone think that Apple will change and skip to 6?
yeah, they'll pay people with a cheaper contract with the same data plan. Like, you know, outside the US.
The price of a cheaper phone wouldn't really reflect the price of the plan. Once phones get down to a couple hundred bucks, over two years, three in Canada, the difference is very small.
In fact there are really three models here - as APple designates models based on the look and feel, and design. The 3 model, the 4 Model and the 5 model.
One with no retina, one with a retina, one with a New Design - and possibly a bigger screen.
The non-retina display, and it's form factor ( which is still awesome), isnt going away. It will be the cheap model for contractless phones. And it isnt relatively , that cheap now. It sells at £100 more than newer low level Anrdroid models. Of course it is a better machine.
Lowering the off contract price to $250 would see it run out the door. In fact I expect the 3GS to over take the sales of the 4 anyway, this year.
Funny thing that, I got my 4S last month and first thing I noticed is my 3GS feels better in the hand when making calls, prob due to the rounded back.
I'm as much of and Apple fan as the next guy but the product cycles for their phones are ridiculous. It seems like each phone now is just a marginal improvement over the previous generation for a not no marginal cost. I understand they're trying to make money but how about stretching it out a bit so each phone seems like it is something amazing instead of just a retread. It's starting to seem like they think Apple fans are stupid and are willing to shell out for the latest bell and whistle.
Yeah, coming out with ONE new phone per year (or 18 months, as was the case for the last update) is just absolutely ridiculous, right? Can you name me ONE company that updates on a slower cycle than that? It seems every company producing android phone has a new device every couple weeks. How much do you want them to 'stretch it out'? This industry moves insanely fast, and as far as I can tell Apple is the only company with predictable, stable release cycles that are definitely much slower than the norm. Maybe when you come back down to reality you'd realize how ridiculous your complaint sounds, how disconnected from reality you are, and how much of a troll you seem to be with the 'Apple fans must be stupid to xxx' garbage.
While I can sort of see how this makes sense, I don't know of any instances in Apple's past where it has been the case. Also, I offer this as rebuttal:
Everyone called it iPhone 2 and anticipated "iPhone 2"? until the day of announcement. Apple didn't, and they seamlessly translate into iPhone 3G. I dunno; that's a fair case, I think.
I don't think that is a fair case, because there was no history behind it. If Apple named the first iPhone the iPhone 1, or some such thing, then people would have had an expectation that the second would be called the 2, or perhaps the II. But Apple didn't do that. It was just the iPhone.
But now they have four generations of phone with that naming scheme. People know it, and are familiar with it. If you ask Joe Public what the next phone will be called, almost every one will say the iPhone 5. why go against that? Apple could have called the 4 the iPhone hi def, or something like that, but they didn't. They could have called it the Glass iPhone, but they didn't. There were a lot of ways they could have gone, but they chose to stick with 4, and added the S
Again.
Quote:
And now that Sprint actually has LTE, I've personally upped the odds of "iPhone LTE" from 0% to 5% in my own book.
You guys do understand that LTE is a very rare bird outside of the US? What will people in countries where there is no LTE think if the phone is named that? Unlike other manufacturers, Apple keeps the same name all over the world.
Quote:
"iPhone 6" follows the second most recent naming scheme that Apple has used on iPhones. As for "4x", I love reading about people's theories that Apple wants to "milk the '4 name'" as much as possible, but I personally doubt that, too. And LTE doesn't follow anything Apple has used before; you're right. Apple names iPhones after the overarching type of telephony, not a subset. We didn't see the "iPhone HSDPA", we saw the iPhone 3GS. And since Apple has explicitly stated they're "going to let the telecoms decide what '4G' means", "iPhone 4G" is also unlikely.
Which naming convention for the phone that 6 would fall into is that?
Does it really matter? The only place you even see the moniker 4S is on the box. The actual phone just has iPhone on the back and now doesn't even have the capacity showing.
I don't particularly care. But Apple advertises it as the 4S. it's in all of their web pages where the phone shows up, and, yes, it is on the boxes. Do you know of anyone who doesn't refer to Apple's phones by their numbers and letters? Anywhere?
Bigger screen, same resolution, less portable. Hmm...I'm not seeing the upside.
If I wanted to watch high-def movies, nothing below 50" and 5.1 surround sound impresses.
My stance here is that Apple could reduce thickness by spreading the components over a larger display footprint and by using newer tech to make vertical bezel thinner thus getting the device to be as comfortable for use with a single hand. Going 0.5" on the vertical adds 306% more display area but only adds 0.28" to the width which can hopefully be accounted for in the previously mentioned areas.
My Phil Schiller reaction image aside, let's go over my reasoning again.
"iPhone 5". What about the next iPhone would make ANYONE ON THE PLANET think it's going to be "5"?
Is it the 5th model? No, it's the 6th model.
Will it have an A5 chip? No, it will have an A6 chip.
Will it run iOS 5? No, it will run iOS 6.
Will it have 5G telephony? No, it will have 4G telephony.
So let's see, that's three points for "iPhone 6" and zero points for "iPhone 5".
Can't we just have one thread where we all make our pointless predictions about the name of the next phone and then come back in 6-9 months and eat crow or celebrate our genius?
I think it's possible and not altogether unlikely that the next iPhone will largely stick with the same form factor. I don't think Apple are in the habit of changing things for changes sake, and the design of the 4 and 4S still stands out head and shoulders above the market. There is no rule that says Apple changes the external design every two years.
Agreed. Just look at the iMac & Mac Pro. Their physical form factor hasn't changed much in the last few years.
Maybe it's my monitor or that the phones aren't shown in perfect relation to each other, but the green areas aren't the same size on those two phones. The green on the Samsung phone is about 1/8" narrower and 5/8" shorter than on the iPhone. That give a false representation of the screen size.
I can't agree with this. Right now, it's still popular, but you really think that by the end of this year, it will still be? How much cheaper than $0 on a contract can a phone get? So, ok, maybe it could remain in the line for developing countries if Apple can charge even less for it off contract there than they are now. But even there, people will shy from buying a phone that will be so old in design.
I am surprised that it is not out-selling the iPhone 4, actually, as mass market items tend to.
It's cost is not $0. It has a sticker price which is more expensive than the contract price. What happens with the release of the iPhone 5 is that the contract offers more features - better data - for a $0 iPhone 3GS, and less features for a $0 iPhone 4.
This is standard outside the US. Its the way cheaper ticket priced Android phones sell.
We need to get over developing countries vs non-developing countries. Probably the middle income groups in China and India are richer than the bottom 20+% in the US. If Apple wants to extend it's market it will keep the 3GS everywhere. See it as a model - with a design philosophy ( non-retina, curved) different from the higher models. They can update the insides going forward.
As for the design, I love it, Much better than the 4 series.
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Keeping it this year made sense, as they could have all prices covered on contract. But next year, that won't be the case.
That contract malarky - once again - makes sense only in the US. In any case it is the carriers who determine that price, not Apple.
Quote:
A problem is that many developers are still targeting the 3GS for their apps, and that includes games. With that out of the lineup, things will get better. Remember that the 3GS has only 256MB RAM.
Not a problem, no real issue. It works. There is an issue with OpenGL 2.0, but the solution is simple. Build your game for the mass market. If a game needs the latest hardware, people will buy the hardware for it if it is any good.
The real reason to not get rid is that it is selling. Possible 20M units a year, or more this year.
Bad idea. That dates the phone automatically. As Apple seems to want to keep a phone around for three generations, that would cause problems. Who would want to buy a phone whose name is two years old? Oh yeah! Give me that two year old model.
I agree. And I was the fool popping that idea. Fortunately they don't name their products like Samsung does; when someone mentions 'Galaxy' I don't know if they're referring to a phone or tablet.
Yes, yes, redesign, yes, yes, 5" screen. Yes, yes, LTE. Yes, yes, wider, thinner, and with an aluminum back; let's get this all out of the way.
Gotta space these threads out, guys. We have until October until it happens?
My target is $370 after the earnings call, but that's me.
Oh, great. Now I have to assume it'll go to $350?
I vote NO on the 5" screen. 4" maximum. I don't care if it's thinner. I'd rather have better battery life than lose half a millimeter in thickness. And whatever happened to that company Apple bought that did radio-transparent ceramics? Could that be used for the back of the phone?
When is the iPhone 5 supposed to be released? I hope after Qualcomm releases their new LTE 28nm chips. They should be more power efficient.
Comments
I think that sounds good, too. Are there any numbers that are considered superstitious? Like iPhone 2013 might be fine but iPhone 13 might not be.
Bad idea. That dates the phone automatically. As Apple seems to want to keep a phone around for three generations, that would cause problems. Who would want to buy a phone whose name is two years old? Oh yeah! Give me that two year old model.
The 3GS is going to around in 2-4 years. It is now the cheap model, not the year before last years model. They may change the chip in future versions of this cheap model, and minor design changes but it is now the cheap model.
Yes, we know that. But when the next phone comes out, can't imagine what it will be called, the current 4 will be the cheap model, and the 4S will be the one for $99.
Is 11% really worth wreaking havoc for Apple and 3rd-party devs?
Bigger screen, same resolution, less portable. Hmm...I'm not seeing the upside.
If I wanted to watch high-def movies, nothing below 50" and 5.1 surround sound impresses.
If [5] resonated with consumers, then Apple may want to go with it.
While I can sort of see how this makes sense, I don't know of any instances in Apple's past where it has been the case. Also, I offer this as rebuttal:
Everyone called it iPhone 2 and anticipated "iPhone 2"? until the day of announcement. Apple didn't, and they seamlessly translate into iPhone 3G. I dunno; that's a fair case, I think.
Maybe it will be called the 6, or maybe the 4x, it maybe the LTE.
And now that Sprint actually has LTE, I've personally upped the odds of "iPhone LTE" from 0% to 5% in my own book.
But none of those follows any scheme.
"iPhone 6" follows the second most recent naming scheme that Apple has used on iPhones. As for "4x", I love reading about people's theories that Apple wants to "milk the '4 name'" as much as possible, but I personally doubt that, too. And LTE doesn't follow anything Apple has used before; you're right. Apple names iPhones after the overarching type of telephony, not a subset. We didn't see the "iPhone HSDPA", we saw the iPhone 3GS. And since Apple has explicitly stated they're "going to let the telecoms decide what '4G' means", "iPhone 4G" is also unlikely.
I am pretty sure that you believed they would drop the 3GS before this year with the release of the iPhone 4S. As did many others. It seems impossible to explain to people that the more models there are across price points the better. Faced with a device which is out-selling all Android competitors you want them to drop it?
I can't agree with this. Right now, it's still popular, but you really think that by the end of this year, it will still be? How much cheaper than $0 on a contract can a phone get? So, ok, maybe it could remain in the line for developing countries if Apple can charge even less for it off contract there than they are now. But even there, people will shy from buying a phone that will be so old in design.
Keeping it this year made sense, as they could have all prices covered on contract. But next year, that won't be the case.
A problem is that many developers are still targeting the 3GS for their apps, and that includes games. With that out of the lineup, things will get better. Remember that the 3GS has only 256MB RAM.
That same resolution at a larger size makes no sense. Anyway there is no way that Apple will end the 480x320 model. When the 5 ( or whatever comes out) they may rename it, and even update the chip set. But they will have an entry level model with 480x320 selling for buttons (off contract) to entice people into the ecosystem.
The design will remain the same, at least for some time. This is the way Apple does their other line-ups - Mac Book, Mac Book Pro, Mac Book Air etc.
Different models.
Why do you think that phones and tablets are like conventional computers in that respect? I would think that Apple is tearing to get rid of the 480 x 320 model. It's a pain for developers to need to keep updating the old, low Rez versions. It's also fragmentation.
They've been changing the body every two generations, why believe they will suddenly stop?
What's the problem with a slightly bigger screen? I doubt they would go to anything larger than 4". But 4" offers advantages, especially with the edge to edge screen I brought up earlier. The phone wouldn't have to be much wider for that. And the apparent resolution wouldn't change much. In practice, I've not yet met a person who could see the pixels. I doubt they could with a 4" screen.
How do you get that idea? Even your list shows it should be "5". You're making a joke, right?
Does it really matter? The only place you even see the moniker 4S is on the box. The actual phone just has iPhone on the back and now doesn't even have the capacity showing.
I'd rather not to be honest. To look at Island Hermit's list, crystal clear as it is, and then claim that it doesn't support his point it nothing short of idiotic. I don't mean that as a cruel insult, it's simply an inevitable observation.
I think that's a very good shout. I think Apple will be keen to get away from using numbers sooner or later. They simply call their computers 'iMac', 'MacBook Pro' etc. They are referred to as entities rather than date-specific models. That ended with the move to the Intel architecture (no more iMac G4, G5 etc.). I don't think Apple can do that with phones because they are by the nature of the beast upgraded every 2 years and this year's flagship is next year's budget model. People need to be able to differentiate at a glance, at least for now.
iPhone Air is a great brand name, but it doesn't solve the problem long-term. They may well use that in the summer but at some point they'll want to solve the problem. With Macs we have to say 'mid 2010 Macbook Pro'. It's not wonderful but it doesn't matter because you can only ever buy the latest model. The only time I have to refer to my model of MacBook Pro is when I require technical assistance. Phones, which are sold in a maelstrom of marketing and jargon, need a snappy suffix.
Maybe one day when iOS isn't being advanced at such a rapid rate and the previous two models can run the latest version several years into their life-cycles Apple will do away with the suffix and just call the product like 'iPhone'. You choose what spec you want, but they're all 'iPhone'. Just like 'iMac'.
Precisely
It wasn't a very smart insult. Most mods at most sites would have thrown you off right away. I'm a bit more liberal.
The problem you guys are having with this is that the generation phone has nothing to do with the numbering. That's really pretty clear. The first phone was simply the iPhone, like someone's father is named Sr., but only after his son is given his name, and then the kid is jr.
So the first named phone was the 3G. Nothing to do with generation there. The next is (almost wrote "was") the 3GS. Not named after the generation, but after "speed". The 4 followed the 3 series, also getting two generations in with the 4S. So why would anyone think that Apple will change and skip to 6?
yeah, they'll pay people with a cheaper contract with the same data plan. Like, you know, outside the US.
The price of a cheaper phone wouldn't really reflect the price of the plan. Once phones get down to a couple hundred bucks, over two years, three in Canada, the difference is very small.
? ?
Because I can count Apple's numbering system, which is pretty clear. And that's what matters.
In fact there are really three models here - as APple designates models based on the look and feel, and design. The 3 model, the 4 Model and the 5 model.
One with no retina, one with a retina, one with a New Design - and possibly a bigger screen.
The non-retina display, and it's form factor ( which is still awesome), isnt going away. It will be the cheap model for contractless phones. And it isnt relatively , that cheap now. It sells at £100 more than newer low level Anrdroid models. Of course it is a better machine.
Lowering the off contract price to $250 would see it run out the door. In fact I expect the 3GS to over take the sales of the 4 anyway, this year.
Funny thing that, I got my 4S last month and first thing I noticed is my 3GS feels better in the hand when making calls, prob due to the rounded back.
I'm as much of and Apple fan as the next guy but the product cycles for their phones are ridiculous. It seems like each phone now is just a marginal improvement over the previous generation for a not no marginal cost. I understand they're trying to make money but how about stretching it out a bit so each phone seems like it is something amazing instead of just a retread. It's starting to seem like they think Apple fans are stupid and are willing to shell out for the latest bell and whistle.
Yeah, coming out with ONE new phone per year (or 18 months, as was the case for the last update) is just absolutely ridiculous, right? Can you name me ONE company that updates on a slower cycle than that? It seems every company producing android phone has a new device every couple weeks. How much do you want them to 'stretch it out'? This industry moves insanely fast, and as far as I can tell Apple is the only company with predictable, stable release cycles that are definitely much slower than the norm. Maybe when you come back down to reality you'd realize how ridiculous your complaint sounds, how disconnected from reality you are, and how much of a troll you seem to be with the 'Apple fans must be stupid to xxx' garbage.
While I can sort of see how this makes sense, I don't know of any instances in Apple's past where it has been the case. Also, I offer this as rebuttal:
Everyone called it iPhone 2 and anticipated "iPhone 2"? until the day of announcement. Apple didn't, and they seamlessly translate into iPhone 3G. I dunno; that's a fair case, I think.
I don't think that is a fair case, because there was no history behind it. If Apple named the first iPhone the iPhone 1, or some such thing, then people would have had an expectation that the second would be called the 2, or perhaps the II. But Apple didn't do that. It was just the iPhone.
But now they have four generations of phone with that naming scheme. People know it, and are familiar with it. If you ask Joe Public what the next phone will be called, almost every one will say the iPhone 5. why go against that? Apple could have called the 4 the iPhone hi def, or something like that, but they didn't. They could have called it the Glass iPhone, but they didn't. There were a lot of ways they could have gone, but they chose to stick with 4, and added the S
Again.
And now that Sprint actually has LTE, I've personally upped the odds of "iPhone LTE" from 0% to 5% in my own book.
You guys do understand that LTE is a very rare bird outside of the US? What will people in countries where there is no LTE think if the phone is named that? Unlike other manufacturers, Apple keeps the same name all over the world.
"iPhone 6" follows the second most recent naming scheme that Apple has used on iPhones. As for "4x", I love reading about people's theories that Apple wants to "milk the '4 name'" as much as possible, but I personally doubt that, too. And LTE doesn't follow anything Apple has used before; you're right. Apple names iPhones after the overarching type of telephony, not a subset. We didn't see the "iPhone HSDPA", we saw the iPhone 3GS. And since Apple has explicitly stated they're "going to let the telecoms decide what '4G' means", "iPhone 4G" is also unlikely.
Which naming convention for the phone that 6 would fall into is that?
Does it really matter? The only place you even see the moniker 4S is on the box. The actual phone just has iPhone on the back and now doesn't even have the capacity showing.
I don't particularly care. But Apple advertises it as the 4S. it's in all of their web pages where the phone shows up, and, yes, it is on the boxes. Do you know of anyone who doesn't refer to Apple's phones by their numbers and letters? Anywhere?
Bigger screen, same resolution, less portable. Hmm...I'm not seeing the upside.
If I wanted to watch high-def movies, nothing below 50" and 5.1 surround sound impresses.
My stance here is that Apple could reduce thickness by spreading the components over a larger display footprint and by using newer tech to make vertical bezel thinner thus getting the device to be as comfortable for use with a single hand. Going 0.5" on the vertical adds 306% more display area but only adds 0.28" to the width which can hopefully be accounted for in the previously mentioned areas.
My Phil Schiller reaction image aside, let's go over my reasoning again.
"iPhone 5". What about the next iPhone would make ANYONE ON THE PLANET think it's going to be "5"?
Is it the 5th model? No, it's the 6th model.
Will it have an A5 chip? No, it will have an A6 chip.
Will it run iOS 5? No, it will run iOS 6.
Will it have 5G telephony? No, it will have 4G telephony.
So let's see, that's three points for "iPhone 6" and zero points for "iPhone 5".
Can't we just have one thread where we all make our pointless predictions about the name of the next phone and then come back in 6-9 months and eat crow or celebrate our genius?
Personally, my money is on "not iPhone 6"
I think it's possible and not altogether unlikely that the next iPhone will largely stick with the same form factor. I don't think Apple are in the habit of changing things for changes sake, and the design of the 4 and 4S still stands out head and shoulders above the market. There is no rule that says Apple changes the external design every two years.
Agreed. Just look at the iMac & Mac Pro. Their physical form factor hasn't changed much in the last few years.
Maybe it's my monitor or that the phones aren't shown in perfect relation to each other, but the green areas aren't the same size on those two phones. The green on the Samsung phone is about 1/8" narrower and 5/8" shorter than on the iPhone. That give a false representation of the screen size.
I can't agree with this. Right now, it's still popular, but you really think that by the end of this year, it will still be? How much cheaper than $0 on a contract can a phone get? So, ok, maybe it could remain in the line for developing countries if Apple can charge even less for it off contract there than they are now. But even there, people will shy from buying a phone that will be so old in design.
I am surprised that it is not out-selling the iPhone 4, actually, as mass market items tend to.
It's cost is not $0. It has a sticker price which is more expensive than the contract price. What happens with the release of the iPhone 5 is that the contract offers more features - better data - for a $0 iPhone 3GS, and less features for a $0 iPhone 4.
This is standard outside the US. Its the way cheaper ticket priced Android phones sell.
We need to get over developing countries vs non-developing countries. Probably the middle income groups in China and India are richer than the bottom 20+% in the US. If Apple wants to extend it's market it will keep the 3GS everywhere. See it as a model - with a design philosophy ( non-retina, curved) different from the higher models. They can update the insides going forward.
As for the design, I love it, Much better than the 4 series.
Keeping it this year made sense, as they could have all prices covered on contract. But next year, that won't be the case.
That contract malarky - once again - makes sense only in the US. In any case it is the carriers who determine that price, not Apple.
A problem is that many developers are still targeting the 3GS for their apps, and that includes games. With that out of the lineup, things will get better. Remember that the 3GS has only 256MB RAM.
Not a problem, no real issue. It works. There is an issue with OpenGL 2.0, but the solution is simple. Build your game for the mass market. If a game needs the latest hardware, people will buy the hardware for it if it is any good.
The real reason to not get rid is that it is selling. Possible 20M units a year, or more this year.
Bad idea. That dates the phone automatically. As Apple seems to want to keep a phone around for three generations, that would cause problems. Who would want to buy a phone whose name is two years old? Oh yeah! Give me that two year old model.
I agree. And I was the fool popping that idea. Fortunately they don't name their products like Samsung does; when someone mentions 'Galaxy' I don't know if they're referring to a phone or tablet.
Yes, yes, redesign, yes, yes, 5" screen. Yes, yes, LTE. Yes, yes, wider, thinner, and with an aluminum back; let's get this all out of the way.
Gotta space these threads out, guys. We have until October until it happens?
My target is $370 after the earnings call, but that's me.
Oh, great. Now I have to assume it'll go to $350?
I vote NO on the 5" screen. 4" maximum. I don't care if it's thinner. I'd rather have better battery life than lose half a millimeter in thickness. And whatever happened to that company Apple bought that did radio-transparent ceramics? Could that be used for the back of the phone?
When is the iPhone 5 supposed to be released? I hope after Qualcomm releases their new LTE 28nm chips. They should be more power efficient.