By all reports, we should expect another iPhone reveal coming up, with pre-orders probably starting early in the fall. If you believe the hype, we’re looking at another bump up in speed, another bump up in camera resolution, and possibly a little thicker and heavier product to compensate for the power-hungry electronics needing ever more electricity. The biggest visual change is expected to be the “notch” going away. Looking at the image above, expect a pinhole and a dash-shaped hole instead. This is perhaps better than the notch, but not as good as the long-prophesized invisible camera. Some folks believe there will be a Touch ID sensor on the power button like this year’s iPad Air as well.
Whoop de fricken doo.
Pundits are already keen to temper your expectations. For those who already have an iPhone 13, don’t expect much of a difference. That’s what you’ll read in the major blogs. Don’t worry, my expectations are tempered. I’m not expecting to be blown away, but then again Apple doesn’t really need to blow anyone away at this point. They have a willing stream of customers who will upgrade every few years no matter what. I’m not saying that their product isn’t great, only that “the latest iPhone” hasn’t meant “something different” for some time now.
Yes, there were a few transformative ones. The iPhone 3G combined fast internet with multi-carrier availability. For my money, the iPhone 5 and iPhone X were the two best looking phones of the bunch. But for the most part, every iPhone has just been a little bit better, or a little bit bigger, and certainly a little bit more expensive.
Remember that you could once get an iPhone for well under $400 and today, the top product is about $1,600. Of course the more expensive one is better. Of course there are still deals where you can get a free one. but certainly we’re no longer seeing the quantum leaps in capabilities married with quantum drops in price we saw in years past.
What would it take to blow my mind?
I think if you really want to blow my mind, you need something truly transformative. I’m still not sold on foldables; even today they’re delicate and thick. I think you’d need something like the transparent phones we’ve seen on shows like Westworld and Black Mirror. I don’t know how you’d do that, but that would blow my mind. Or give me a phone the size of a deck of cards that somehow gives me a display that’s 10 inches diagonal. Real next level stuff.
Or, how about this. How about a phone that actually weighs as much as an iPhone XR (one of the lightest of the recent models) but gives you a week on a charge. Maybe it has some sort of solar panel or kinetic energy. Maybe Apple stops focusing on providing more computing power than a gaming console and starts focusing on power savings. Something. While you’re at it give me a phone that can take a drop from ten feet and still work. Extra credit if it doesn’t get dented or dinged appreciably.
Our phones today do amazing things. But my phone in 2002 could survive being thrown off a train and it held a charge for about 10 days depending on usage. Of course it couldn’t do much of what today’s phones do. But that’s not the point. Come on Apple, give us what we really want. It’s not like you’re even giving us a charger in the box anymore anyway.
