Why Apple Must Continue the Relentless March
According to Patently Apple, more and more evidence is coming out that Apple is looking at the next major step in the iPhone evolution. Foldable screens. I’ve written recently about how this might impact the iPad.
But I continue to be amazed at all the Apple writers in the echo chamber who continue to spout the party line that the iPhone doesn’t need to get any thinner. Yes it does. Otherwise you can’t have a foldable phone that is comfortable in your pocket.
But I continue to be amazed at all the Apple writers in the echo chamber who continue to spout the party line that the iPhone doesn’t need to get any thinner. Yes it does. Otherwise you can’t have a foldable phone that is comfortable in your pocket.
I suppose if you’re okay with never having a pocketable screen of more than six inches, then yes, the iPhone doesn’t ever need to get any thinner. But if you’re like me and hope that one day you can pull out your iPhone and unfold it like a Nintendo DS to unveil its glorious ten-inch screen, that’s going to require an extremely thin profile to work.
If you took today’s iPhone 7 Plus and folded it in half it, would be 1.46 cm. That’s thicker than the MacBook and almost as thick as the new MacBook Pro. And those dimensions assume that there’s no air gap in the middle preventing the screens from touching. Do people want to carry phones in their pocket as thick as a MacBook Pro?
Then there’s the weight issue. An iPhone 7 Plus weighs 188 grams. If you doubled that, it would be 376 grams. An iPad Mini 4 weighs 302 grams. If the iPhone doesn’t get any lighter than a foldable iPhone, would be 24% heavier than an iPad Mini. Would that be too heavy for an iPhone? Not for me, but perhaps it would be for others. Especially runners.
In theory, the battery shouldn’t be diminished. It’s just getting spread out like a flatter pancake. But if you’re not happy with today’s battery life, then this isn’t necessarily good news. However, I think that future advances in power management and charging will make the battery issue improve, as long as the battery size doesn’t shrink.
But foldable phones could mean more overall battery volume, which could yield a huge improvement in battery life. All the people complaining that Apple needs to make a thicker iPhone so that their battery lasts for two or three days may finally get their wish. Only it will come with the added bonus of an eight-inch-plus sized screen.
It’s surprising to see so much grousing about Apple making the iPhone thinner and lighter. It seems pretty obvious why Apple has been on that relentless march. They’re looking a few years down the road. If you think that foldable smartphones will one day be the big selling point, then only those companies with the technology and know-how to still produce an acceptably pocketable folded phone will be able to offer it. Big changes like this don’t happen all at once but have to be incorporated a little at a time.
If you took today’s iPhone 7 Plus and folded it in half it, would be 1.46 cm. That’s thicker than the MacBook and almost as thick as the new MacBook Pro. And those dimensions assume that there’s no air gap in the middle preventing the screens from touching. Do people want to carry phones in their pocket as thick as a MacBook Pro?
Then there’s the weight issue. An iPhone 7 Plus weighs 188 grams. If you doubled that, it would be 376 grams. An iPad Mini 4 weighs 302 grams. If the iPhone doesn’t get any lighter than a foldable iPhone, would be 24% heavier than an iPad Mini. Would that be too heavy for an iPhone? Not for me, but perhaps it would be for others. Especially runners.
In theory, the battery shouldn’t be diminished. It’s just getting spread out like a flatter pancake. But if you’re not happy with today’s battery life, then this isn’t necessarily good news. However, I think that future advances in power management and charging will make the battery issue improve, as long as the battery size doesn’t shrink.
But foldable phones could mean more overall battery volume, which could yield a huge improvement in battery life. All the people complaining that Apple needs to make a thicker iPhone so that their battery lasts for two or three days may finally get their wish. Only it will come with the added bonus of an eight-inch-plus sized screen.
It’s surprising to see so much grousing about Apple making the iPhone thinner and lighter. It seems pretty obvious why Apple has been on that relentless march. They’re looking a few years down the road. If you think that foldable smartphones will one day be the big selling point, then only those companies with the technology and know-how to still produce an acceptably pocketable folded phone will be able to offer it. Big changes like this don’t happen all at once but have to be incorporated a little at a time.
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