Jony Ive on iPhone X and Apple's future products: Design and ideas must wait for technolog...

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In a conversation at The New Yorker's TechFest conference in Manhattan on Friday, Apple chief designer Jony Ive gave a small glimpse into the development of the upcoming iPhone X, and the time that it takes for technology to catch up to ideas.




Building a product like the iPhone X takes time at patience, Ive stressed, revealing that Apple was internally toiling away on the design of the revamped handset for 5 years before it was unveiled in September.
"We've made, I think, numerous mistakes. But I am confident that the mistakes weren't all from laziness or some self satisfying belief that it inevitably can be successful." - Jony Ive
In the beginning, as Apple sought to build a handset with an edge-to-edge display, the company worked with large, cumbersome prototypes -- and that was all they could do, until technology itself became available to achieve the vision they had internally.

"There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.

Calling it an "extraordinary process," he gave some insight on the type of internal struggle that designers must go through to create a successful product that melds advanced technology with consumer-focused usability.

"There really are two very distinct behaviors that I have to sort of engage in and I sort of have," he said. "On one hand, it is to be so curious and inquisitive and you know what that looks like with the constant questions, being light on your feet and being prepared to be wrong.

"And then at the same time, if you're going to do something new, that means that the reason it hasn't been done before is -- there are 55 reasons why it hasn't been done before And so you have to be so focused so resolute."




Moving between those two, almost polar opposite behaviors is "exhausting," Ive said.

In his conversation with David Remnick of The New Yorker, Ive was asked what his "most interesting failure" was. The question seemed to catch Ive off-guard, who quipped that he's not sure if he finds failure itself to be interesting.

But he did admit that Apple is not perfect, and the design process can be a challenging exercise -- one where learning to say no, even to things you are excited or passionate about, usually produces the best results.

"We've made, I think, numerous mistakes," Ive said. "But I am confident that the mistakes weren't all from laziness or some self satisfying belief that it inevitably can be successful. I think we are a bunch of very anxious, worrying individuals who generally assume it's not going to work."
patchythepirate
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.
    Translation: eventually the notch will be gone.
    tmayAvieshekStrangeDaysmizhouaylk
  • Reply 2 of 36
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    sog35 said:

    "But he (Ive) did admit that Apple is not perfect....."

    DAMN. 

    this will make headlines
    A statement that a person or company is not perfect deserves shock and headlines? Only in your ridiculous, petty little world. I'd like you to find me a single time in history that any Apple leader or employee claimed the company or any of its products were perfect. One. 
    edited October 2017 wlymStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 36
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    Is this a ding on Cook’s Apple? If not I wonder what he means...
    Ive on Steve Jobs' absence: On Tuesdays, there's not a new idea. It's just Tuesday.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-jony-ive-talks-design-in-new-york-2017-10
    edited October 2017 Avieshek
  • Reply 4 of 36
    The iPhone has always been on the cutting edge of screen resolution output since 2011.  With its Retina quality displays and 326 ppi and 264 ppi.   Now after many years of ground breaking R&D, a Super Retina screen resolution with a never done before new, ground breaking innovation screen display technology called OLED in the brand new edge technology in the iPhone X!  Wow!
    aylk
  • Reply 5 of 36
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member

    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said. [...]

    "There really are two very distinct behaviors that I have to sort of engage in and I sort of have," he said. "On one hand, it is to be so curious and inquisitive and you know what that looks like with the constant questions, being light on your feet and being prepared to be wrong."
    This. Apple takes chances and is prepared to back it out if they end up wrong. A lot of people (tech press, haters, whiners, etc) don't get this and scream in panic when they see someone else taking chances.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 36
    I've always said this about Apple. They don't do things if the technology doesn't exist and in more cases than not THEY'VE had to be the ones to develop the new technology.

    Think about the A7, the first ever mobile 64bit processor. It allowed them to achieve amazing things but they developed it themselves because the progress of the current processors was flailing. They've developed so much technology in the camera as well figuring out how to get more light into tiny sensors.

    And unlike their competition they are constantly making sacrifices that seem bad but in the end make sense. For example the removal of the headphone jack. Sure, to some having to carry around an adaptor sucks but in truth it adds far greater potential sound. The 3.5mm jack can't carry power and yet the Lightning port can and so you can actually get potentially better audio from this arrangement than the physical port. A sacrifice that seemed bad but has great potential. That pretty much sums up Apple's approach to everything.

    Unfortunately if Apple has to wait for others to develop better technology (think OLED) then they have to make such big sacrifices that people think once they finally get there they were too slow to market (AppleTV, Apple Watch, iPhone 6 Plus...) but it was that they deemed the sacrifice of using crap technology was not the sacrifice they wanted to make and low and behold we the consumer are better off for those decisions.
    edited October 2017 Rayz2016watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 36
    RacerhomieXRacerhomieX Posts: 95unconfirmed, member
    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.
    Translation: eventually the notch will be gone.
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    Anilu_777fallenjtcornchip
  • Reply 8 of 36
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member
    Says who? The True Depth technology hardware is still not mature enough to mass produce. 
  • Reply 9 of 36
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    I reckon he is talking about micro LED displays.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 36
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.
    Translation: eventually the notch will be gone.
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    Oh, I don't think it's "here to stay." I think it's here for now. Once they find/create a better way to get closer to the goal of a pure screen experience, they'll continue to go in that direction.
    kingofsomewherehotStrangeDayswatto_cobrafastasleep
  • Reply 11 of 36
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.
    Translation: eventually the notch will be gone.
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    No. The notch is a necessary evil right now. You cannot tell me Apple designers/engineers/executives love this look:


    Kenster999waverboy
  • Reply 12 of 36
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    So... Is the home button here to stay as well, then? ... 'Cause I'm having trouble finding it on the iPhone X. ;)

    anantksundarammizhou
  • Reply 13 of 36
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    No. The notch is a necessary evil right now. You cannot tell me Apple designers/engineers/executives love this look:



    What racerhomie is saying is that Apple may have wanted something distinct in the look of their new phone. If there was no notch there would be little distinctive about it. As it is, the notch creates a recognisable silhouette in the same way the home button has for so long. People know it’s an iPhone because of it.

    This is more clear when you realise that not having any screen on the sides of the ‘notch’ would have made things a lot easier for Apple. They made it like that on purpose. It was not a ‘necessary evil’.

    You may not like the notch, but I think it’s excessive to dislike it. Who cares? It affects the user experience little more than zero. It’s not confusing or disorienting, just a little weird at worst. At best it’s a nice little usage of extra screen space on the sides.
    edited October 2017 radarthekat
  • Reply 14 of 36
    georgie01 said:
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    No. The notch is a necessary evil right now. You cannot tell me Apple designers/engineers/executives love this look:



    What racerhomie is saying is that Apple may have wanted something distinct in the look of their new phone. If there was no notch there would be little distinctive about it. As it is, the notch creates a recognisable silhouette in the same way the home button has for so long. People know it’s an iPhone because of it.

    This is more clear when you realise that not having any screen on the sides of the ‘notch’ would have made things a lot easier for Apple. They made it like that on purpose. It was not a ‘necessary evil’.

    You may not like the notch, but I think it’s excessive to dislike it. Who cares? It affects the user experience little more than zero. It’s not confusing or disorienting, just a little weird at worst. At best it’s a nice little usage of extra screen space on the sides.
    I agree. So what if someone objects to it! Money talks, bullsh*t walks. Move on.
    canukstormwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 36
    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.
    Translation: eventually the notch will be gone.
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    The notch is an ugly compromise. Even its "notch" shape signals that it won't stay forever. They've reduced the top bezel to make a notch of it. That means the new shape will continue to shrink, until it totally disappears.

    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said. I hope one of those ideas is to get rid of the notch completely.
    edited October 2017
  • Reply 16 of 36
    mtbnutmtbnut Posts: 199member
    "What we must realize is that the border radius on the corners of the iPhone 4 were 3.43mm and my team and I were trying to get it to be 3.33mm, because we wanted the numbers to be the same. But then one of my teammates said, 'Jony, that's metric. If people use standard, then it's 0.13 inches, and it ruins your symmetry.' That, to me, embodies the Apple philosophy right there: that we don't spend all of our time in metric, because there is another world, a standard world, if you will, that also needs to be explored." 

    Man, he is definitely an industrial design version of a Terrence Malick film. 
    edited October 2017 welshdogfastasleep
  • Reply 17 of 36
    ariearie Posts: 27member
    mtbnut said:
    "What we must realize is that the border radius on the corners of the iPhone 4 were 3.43mm and my team and I were trying to get it to be 3.33mm, because we wanted the numbers to be the same. But then one of my teammates said, 'Jony, that's metric. If people use standard, then it's 0.13 inches, and it ruins your symmetry.' That, to me, embodies the Apple philosophy right there: that we don't spend all of our time in metric, because there is another world, a standard world, if you will, that also needs to be explored." 

    Man, he is definitely an industrial design version of a Terrence Malick film. 
    Sometimes I have the impression that they want to fuck a bee with a canon :smiley: 
  • Reply 18 of 36
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    tzeshan said:
    Says who? The True Depth technology hardware is still not mature enough to mass produce. 
    What is that supposed to mean? Cutting edge tech is by definition not mature. That certainly doesn't mean it shouldn't be utilized, otherwise we wouldn't even have cell phones!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 36
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.
    Translation: eventually the notch will be gone.
    I don’t think the notch is a problem. It doesn’t obstructing anything. It’s a bolt design. It’s like BMW Hofmeister Kink. Android phones will copy it.
    edited October 2017 cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 36
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    "There are certain ideas that we have, and we're waiting for the technology to catch up," Ive said.
    Translation: eventually the notch will be gone.
    The Notch is here to stay, period. Just like the Home Button makes the iPhone unique, the Notch makes the iPhone distinct & beautiful.
    Oh, I don't think it's "here to stay." I think it's here for now. Once they find/create a better way to get closer to the goal of a pure screen experience, they'll continue to go in that direction.
    No it won’t go away. Tell me where will they put all these sensors?  No where else but at that location. Therefore, the notch will always be there. They may black out the screen areas on both sides of the notch to make it appear a continuous band, but that will mess up the symmetry of iPhone, the concept of their design...unless they will also make the bottom bezel thicker...nah that’s backward design. So, get used to it.
    edited October 2017 radarthekatcornchip
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