rogifan_new

auxio said:

rogifan_new said:

With the X I think Apple was testing how much of a price increase the market would bear (and the higher ASP would allow them to show revenue growth even when sales were flat to down). I think they got their answer. I’d be surprised if there are any price cuts this year and I’ll bet the XS gets removed from the lineup. But I don’t think we’ll see any price increases or storage configurations that push up the price. And I’ll bet we see Apple aggressively pushing trade-ins again.

People only look at the cost of materials and don't really see the cost of engineering (software, hardware, and manufacturing) which goes into complete redesigns like the X.  So it's not just "seeing how much of a price increase the market will bear", it's recouping the huge investment made in designing a brand new phone.  All of the people who whine about lack of brand new phone designs need to understand that new designs cost money.  Over time (up front investments are recouped, manufacturing processes are scaled and optimized), those brand new designs make their way down into the cheaper models and that's where the price cuts come.  We're already seeing that with the XR.

mubaili said:

Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 

kidrock2199 said:

Wow! Jony isn’t even out the door yet and the design team is already running around like headless chickens. I love Apple, have for a long time, but that looks HIDEOUS! If this was the first we’ve seen of this, there’d be hope that this person was just stirring the fanboy pot, but it’s not. This same design with that picture window size camera has been floating around for some time now. And they will probably go for $1200-$1800 depending on options. 

avon b7 said:

tmay said:

gatorguy said:

el_capitan_morgan said:

1STnTENDERBITS said:

SoundJudgment said:

They are pushed to the side of the phone to make room for the battery in the center and right-side.

They could still center the camera module with Apple's L-shaped battery because the part of the battery that covers the center of the phone is in the bottom portion of the casing. More than that, Apple is famous for their ability to design the internals of their devices.  I have no doubt Apple could place that camera module wherever they want on that phone and make it work. 

Personally, I think Apple would keep the module in the upper left corner because of tradition.  It's always been in the upper left corner.  I hope these renders and mockups are wrong, because that off center squircle is disconcerting and just plain ugly.

I presume the wireless charging coil currently in the dead center could be an issue with centering the new cameras.

The Huawei Mate 20 includes wireless charging coils and the bump is still centered. 

The explanation I've seen posted elsewhere for being off-center is both the iPhone and Pixel phones this year are mid-design cycle phones that would require some hefty re-engineering to change the position of the cameras from where they are now. With new shells/displays slated for next year it wouldn't make sense to redesign now.

Next year I'd wager both will be changing at least the position of the square bump if not the need for one to begin with. 

Apple and Google moving the camera bump to the middle accomplishes what exactly? Plenty of phones over the last decade have had camera bumps in the center, yet Apple has never had that.

Why would you see the need to change it?

The question is 'why not?'.

If the result is ugly, change it. That's a very good reason.

Now, if, as Gatorguy has suggested, placing it in the centre was too much of an engineering re-design for a look that is about to suffer a major reworking (possibly on the 2020 upgrade), then keeping it in the upper left would make a little more sense even if the result is ugly.

It also fits well with Apple's sloth like progess when it comes to adding stand out premium features.

Tri-camera will be a full 18 months behind the competition. As will be a Night Mode feature and higher zoom factors and camera versatility. For charging, many, many years behind. And rumours point to quad cameras coming to the fore.

As for the square bump taking inspiration from Huawei, why not? We will never know. There are only so many designs anyway so it would have appeared eventually, just like a circular bump will surely appear too. This is like AirPods. There is nothing original in the design. Snipping off the wires from standard earbuds didn't break new ground and using the long stems has been a well trodden path for the majority of hands free earpieces for many years.

Square, lineal or circular bumps, aren't news. Looks are and these look awful.

Having said all that, if things had appeared on an iPhone first and competitors followed, many here would be howling at the 'blatant rip offs' and if the top left sqaure placement had been used by anyone before Apple there would have been howls over how ugly it was, too.

As things stand, the Pixel 4 actually doesn't look so 'off' because there is no logo near it to draw you to it. 

The logo is understated and well out of the way.

It's all moot though until the phones go official. Just pray there are no furry dice hanging off them!