A thinner phone would probably mean a thinner battery so battery chemistry improvements will be needed.
Silicon Carbon is an option. The second and third generations are already on some phones today. Next year will see them cheaper and higher densities.
I think a major leap in battery tech and storage would drive a so called super cycle. Imagine a phone that can handle heavy use and last for a couple days or more before charging. The constant news about camera improvements is not important to most of the general public. The cameras are already great as it is, considering the tiny sensor and lens.
WTH is going on? This is 2024. The iPhone 16 is coming out in about two months. Yet not just AI but every site is filled with articles about the iPhone 17, due out over a year from now. It’s like the whole press corps has forgotten that a really good phone is coming out in September. Forgotten that some of us are in the market for a new phone THIS YEAR and would like to get some info on what they will look like. And that’s not even mentioning that rumours about something coming out a year from now are written on tissue paper in a rainstorm. Historically rumours a year out are wildly inaccurate.
I understand the sentiment but also recognize that one of the reasons sites like AI exist is to report on everything they can get about Apple in general, including past, present, and future. AppleInsider isn’t creating rumors themselves, they are making us aware of what they’ve heard about and adding their own opinion as to the probability of the rumor being accurate.
The people like Ming-Chi Kuo are the ones incubating the rumors based on their “sources” or self speculation. Their jobs depend on constantly chumming the water to keep attracting followers who help advance their personal reputation and financial position.
There are markets for both a) a super slim iPhone air that fits in any purse/pocket and can be charged quickly anywhere. b) an ultra iPhone that really lasts a whole weekend in the woods/on the mountains. Even with all tracking/satellite etc turned on. What’s the point of throwing in that extra battery in the backpack?
A thinner phone would probably mean a thinner battery so battery chemistry improvements will be needed.
Silicon Carbon is an option. The second and third generations are already on some phones today. Next year will see them cheaper and higher densities.
I think a major leap in battery tech and storage would drive a so called super cycle. Imagine a phone that can handle heavy use and last for a couple days or more before charging. The constant news about camera improvements is not important to most of the general public. The cameras are already great as it is, considering the tiny sensor and lens.
While longer runtimes and more robust devices are basically the last "big" smartphone features (1), it won't drive a super cycle. Nothing will. The only super cycle was from about 2009 to 2016. It happened over 5 to 7 years when slate touchscreen phones replaced dumb or feature phones in everyone's pockets.
Everyone in the world owns a touchscreen slate phone now. The device has penetrated every single possible market that it can, and has about 1b to 1.5b in annual unit sales. There's only 8b people. So about 15% of the world's population is getting a new device per year, which is very indicative of a very mature market and devices are only being replaced on an as needed basis. I went to one of the most remote places in the world while on vacation in June. Small little farming villages. You can find cell phone shops there. Not dumb phones. iPhones, Samsung, etc. Market is saturated and buying trends are now replacement cycle, more or less.
(1) For people who want longer runtimes, there are multiple solutions. External batteries solve this problem just fine. There are integrated style external batteries such as MagSafe batteries or battery cases. You can buy a portable, solar PV charger for quite cheap. More than the typical 12 hr runtime in a smartphone won't be driving more sales. The after-market external battery sales numbers would be a huge indicator of how popular 24 or 36 hour runtimes would be. It's been over 10 years of this. It's one of those features that is overserving the market. Some other phone maker would have done it by now if it was important to the large majority of customers. It's an easy problem to solve.
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a) a super slim iPhone air that fits in any purse/pocket and can be charged quickly anywhere.
b) an ultra iPhone that really lasts a whole weekend in the woods/on the mountains. Even with all tracking/satellite etc turned on. What’s the point of throwing in that extra battery in the backpack?
Everyone in the world owns a touchscreen slate phone now. The device has penetrated every single possible market that it can, and has about 1b to 1.5b in annual unit sales. There's only 8b people. So about 15% of the world's population is getting a new device per year, which is very indicative of a very mature market and devices are only being replaced on an as needed basis. I went to one of the most remote places in the world while on vacation in June. Small little farming villages. You can find cell phone shops there. Not dumb phones. iPhones, Samsung, etc. Market is saturated and buying trends are now replacement cycle, more or less.
(1) For people who want longer runtimes, there are multiple solutions. External batteries solve this problem just fine. There are integrated style external batteries such as MagSafe batteries or battery cases. You can buy a portable, solar PV charger for quite cheap. More than the typical 12 hr runtime in a smartphone won't be driving more sales. The after-market external battery sales numbers would be a huge indicator of how popular 24 or 36 hour runtimes would be. It's been over 10 years of this. It's one of those features that is overserving the market. Some other phone maker would have done it by now if it was important to the large majority of customers. It's an easy problem to solve.