Number superstitions on worldwide products are tough. Consider Asian countries only…
Lucky and unlucky numbers
The Chinese system of numerology, which has echoes throughout Asia, gives significance to different numbers based upon the sounds of their names. Four is unlucky as it sounds like the word for death or suffering. It is avoided to the extent that buildings sometimes ‘skip’ the 4th floor, labelling it as the 5th, which can be confusing if you’re deciphering levels in a lift! Two is considered lucky due to its connection with doubling and symmetry, and 8 is thought to bring good fortune. Nine, lucky in some places, is unlucky in Japan, but 13 is traditionally fine.
Just FYI. The current naming system doesn’t tell you how many generations of iPhone there have been.
If you count each variant you have almost 30, of course. But I would not deem "all" as being "separate generations." If you don't count the G & S variants separately and if you count all the "X" models as a single generation, then you have about 10 generations if you exclude the SE or 11 including it. So the "12" in iPhone 12 really does give a reasonably good idea about generational progression, as opposed to a year-date. But it all depends on how we each define "generations."
At some point Apple will probably start doing the same thing as they are doing with MacOS, using location names or names of history significance as a more artsy way of naming the iPhone. That might be preferred over year-naming.
Apple doesn't number different generations in the majority of its key product lines--MacBooks, iMacs and iPads--so I'm not sure why they continue to do so for iPhone and the Watch. Different models, sure, as they do with these other product lines, but when it's time for a new iPhone or Watch, they could simply be "New" instead of iPhone 13 or Watch 7. These numbers are even a bit confusing because they are close to but don't exactly correlate with the OS numbers... Watch 7, for example, will be running WatchOS 8.
Apple can start naming the phones after places in California, just like the macOS. Instead of iPhone 13 it will be called iPhone Alcatraz.
Name them after the moons of Jupiter. There's plenty of those.. iPhone Ganymede.
What's wrong with 13? Anyways, this thinking is just stupidity at its best, imo. All numbers are good! But if its just people don't want the next iPhone then that's totally ok. I don't want the next one either whether its 13, 14 or whatever they come up with.
Given the fact that they release the iPhone in September every year, I doubt they want to be marketing the iPhone 2021 all through out 2022, just makes it feel dated. I could almost see them doing what car companies do and let you buy next year’s model a few months before the new year. But again, you’d end up with trouble differentiating them if you just named every one without an indicator. They could go with iPhone A15, or iPhone 15th generation.
What about iPhone Cheeta, then. iPhone Puma, then iPhone Jaguar?
It’s time to simplify the line up. They can do that with MacBook, iPad why not iPhone? Just iPhone Pro Max, Pro, Air with year variant like 2021 iPhone Pro Max, 2022 iPhone Pro…
The name “iPhone” is iconic and it has become a general name word which the people are using instead of “smartphone”, just like “Big” instead of “ballpen”, “Kodak” instead of “photo camera”, “Scotch” instead of “tape” or “iPad” instead of “tablet”.
So, I don’t think that the posts here suggesting a change of the iPhone’s name, is a good idea.
The average person lacks good sense about what they want. If Apple was run by the general public, we wouldn't have an Apple today. If the next iPhone was called "iPhone 2021" and the next "iPhone 2022" at some point people would be crying to get back to to the old numbering scheme so we could at list figure out what generation and how many iPhones there have been. All said, the current naming convention is logical and should stay. People are just fickle, growing wearing even of a great thing. Sometimes we just don't know what's good when we have it.
iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS... IPhones 4-7 followed with S models each year until iPhone 8... skip 9 go to X.. iPhone XS, iPhone 11, iPhone 12. Which old numbering scheme are you referring to?
The stuff abut Legacy Data might be interesting if it split the responses by age. Are younger people more interested in hiding things after their death that older ones? I'm over 65 and have no concerns about my family getting access to my stuff after I've gone because I'm confident there's nothing worth hiding.
71% of people wanting to control access to things after their death might point to a society with either severe inter-generational problems or a failure to understand what death means. I think it's probably the latter because in rich countries death is less present in most people's lives than it was in the past. In the 1950s the global mortality rate for children was 5 times as high as nowadays, 10 times as high 100 years ago (see Our World in Data).
I'm sure Apple will do their homework and come up with the best idea. I suspect they'll go with iPhone 12s, then skip to iPhone 14 next year. It's pretty absurd that people are so absurd that we have buildings 'without' a 13th floor, but on the other hand, humans would be pretty boring if we all just acted like robots. Like Vision said in the avengers ultron movie, humans are doomed, but there's beauty in our failures.
Nothing is wrong with thirteen. Used to work in a hospital with 13 floors. They numbered them Ground, 1-12. The 12th (really the 13th) was inpatient Psych. Go figure.
I would like to see a proper Wallet App in iPad OS instead of the limited thing in settings.
Some of us prefer the larger real estate of an iPad to squinting at an iPhone.
Apple doesn't number different generations in the majority of its key product lines--MacBooks, iMacs and iPads--so I'm not sure why they continue to do so for iPhone and the Watch. Different models, sure, as they do with these other product lines, but when it's time for a new iPhone or Watch, they could simply be "New" instead of iPhone 13 or Watch 7. These numbers are even a bit confusing because they are close to but don't exactly correlate with the OS numbers... Watch 7, for example, will be running WatchOS 8.
Apple can start naming the phones after places in California, just like the macOS. Instead of iPhone 13 it will be called iPhone Alcatraz.
I like that concept, especially the name. Walled garden names could work too.
This survey is obviously not representative. Surveys are easy to manipulate with the wording and questions they ask.
No mention of the improved privacy features? Educated iPhone users would likely have that be their top pick. Portrait mode FaceTime? SharePlay? Improved Maps?
And the real clincher: "Nearly 75% of Apple users don't want an iPhone 13?" Ha! The actual question was more along the lines of: "Do you like the name iPhone 13 or would you prefer a different name?" Whether they like the name or not, even if "only" 25% of Apple users buy an iPhone 13, I think Apple would be quite happy with a record setting 250 million iPhone 13's! There are currently more than 1 billion active iPhones.
AppleInsider and Mike Petersen, I understand your need for clickbait headlines to remain in business but I expect better from you.
Comments
Lucky and unlucky numbers
The Chinese system of numerology, which has echoes throughout Asia, gives significance to different numbers based upon the sounds of their names. Four is unlucky as it sounds like the word for death or suffering. It is avoided to the extent that buildings sometimes ‘skip’ the 4th floor, labelling it as the 5th, which can be confusing if you’re deciphering levels in a lift! Two is considered lucky due to its connection with doubling and symmetry, and 8 is thought to bring good fortune. Nine, lucky in some places, is unlucky in Japan, but 13 is traditionally fine.
At some point Apple will probably start doing the same thing as they are doing with MacOS, using location names or names of history significance as a more artsy way of naming the iPhone. That might be preferred over year-naming.
Superstitious nonsense is nonsense. 13 was considered (and still is among many) a lucky number for much of history.
The phobias around the number 13 are just plain silly.
71% of people wanting to control access to things after their death might point to a society with either severe inter-generational problems or a failure to understand what death means. I think it's probably the latter because in rich countries death is less present in most people's lives than it was in the past. In the 1950s the global mortality rate for children was 5 times as high as nowadays, 10 times as high 100 years ago (see Our World in Data).
Used to work in a hospital with 13 floors. They numbered them Ground, 1-12.
The 12th (really the 13th) was inpatient Psych.
Go figure.
I would like to see a proper Wallet App in iPad OS instead of the limited thing in settings.
Some of us prefer the larger real estate of an iPad to squinting at an iPhone.