Recent iPhone Models Haven’t Been Innovative…Hmmm

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,681
627
113
Visit site
Every so often I’ll come across an article, post or comment that states Apple hasn’t been innovative in recent years. Some people base their conclusion on design, whereas as others conclude that it hasn’t wowed them in quite some time.

With that being said, I just have a couple of questions to ask:

1. How many ways can Apple design an iPhone that will be acceptable by the masses and result in huge sales & profits?
2. If Apple built an iPhone to your liking and it did EVERYTHING you wanted it to do, how long would it be before you’re bored with it and want something new?

With the above questions in mind, can we honestly conclude Apple isn’t being innovative or is it more likely that some consumers are just craving something different, but don’t know exactly what it is yet?
 

FFR

Well-known member
Nov 7, 2012
3,304
399
83
Visit site
I believe it comes from a lack of education.

Most of the time they are conflating the word inventive with innovative .

Innovate
007a0d558e5cedf9b078bd68077d32bc.jpg


Invent
40e7737790ab2b585933eb1d33d216b8.jpg
 

FFR

Well-known member
Nov 7, 2012
3,304
399
83
Visit site
I’m definitely in agreement with you.

Well Thank you .


1. How many ways can Apple design an iPhone that will be acceptable by the masses and result in huge sales & profits?

Not much.

Apple already owns the premium ($400 and up) smartphone market globally, it’s practically a clean sweep.

5d13e1b1985f759c2b241cd22383b43e.jpg


Almost 60% of every smartphone sold globally over $400 is an iPhone.

4f2da120f984d52271560c08e7248eb8.png


It’s even worse for the ultra premium segment ($800 and up) where Apple captured close to 75% of the market compared to 54% a year ago. Leaving about 15% for Everyone else.

There really is no competition left in the premium market:

Lg quit.

Sony is selling around 400,000 smartphones a quarter, estimates peg it at 1-1.2 million for the year.

Huawei is done selling smartphones since they can’t acquire any 5g modems.

htc is pretty much dead after google acquired most of their talent a couple of years ago.

Bbk; One plus got absorbed by oppo last year and oppo just fired 20% of their employees after their iPhone clone crashed and burned. One plus 9 series isn’t selling.

Hmd or Nokia got bailed out by google last year due to horrible sales and are currently a disaster.

Samsung’s premium phones have been cratering since the s10, the s21 ultra flopped even harder the note series got cancelled. Their mid range phones aren’t doing well either thus Samsung is auditing it’s smartphone business. It’s Soo bad that Samsung display and Samsung semiconductor started giving priority to other companies over Samsung mobile.

Motorola is surviving selling budget phones in Latin America and the Far East, but just barely.

What’s left? Xioami .

YouTubers, bloggers, and fanboys don’t really have a background in finance and aren’t aware of what’s happening in the market. As the market consolidates further, I would expect a lot more hate targeted at apple and it’s users, doesn’t mean anything said has any accuracy or relevance to the market in general.
 

Wotchered

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2013
3,141
88
48
Visit site
Go on ‘D, you stick up for the apparently stuck iPhone machine !
Apart from that ;Apple needs to come up with something that is ,a) new.
b)interesting.
c)useful.
To catch the public’s imagination and make people want to buy new kit, because there has been a lot of emphasis on the longevity of iPhones recently, and that is not helpful to the bottom line.
 

SteelSteve

Active member
Aug 14, 2016
27
0
1
Visit site
No mutlitasking, no always on display, no finger print sensor. I was ready to upgrade but it seems all Apple really cares about is their camera’s. Guess I’ll be sticking with my trusty 11 for another year
 

gnirkatto

Well-known member
Nov 4, 2017
570
6
18
Visit site
I would already be satisfied with a few tiny little things, like always on display and a home screen that I can design to my liking without icons almost uncontrollably floating around.
That I would not even call 'innovation' - but as an iphone user, you apparently have to limit your hopes and expectations. And sometimes, even with such lowered expectations, you still get disappointed.
 

BreakingKayfabe

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2008
8,442
53
48
Visit site
The entire smartphone market has peaked. I don’t know how much more innovation can be put into these slabs of glass.

Smartphones and computing are to us what the industrial revolution was to the generations that were living at its peak.
 

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,681
627
113
Visit site
The entire smartphone market has peaked. I don’t know how much more innovation can be put into these slabs of glass.

Smartphones and computing are to us what the industrial revolution was to the generations that were living at its peak.

'Nuf said!
 

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,681
627
113
Visit site
Go on ‘D, you stick up for the apparently stuck iPhone machine
I'm not sticking up for Apple or the iPhone machine. I want to know if it's really a lack of innovation, as some people have suggested or are they ignoring the innovation because they're hoping to be wowed without even knowing what that something is?

Apart from that ;Apple needs to come up with something that is ,a) new.
b)interesting.
c)useful.
To catch the public’s imagination and make people want to buy new kit, because there has been a lot of emphasis on the longevity of iPhones recently, and that is not helpful to the bottom line.
And this comment basically answers my question.
 

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,681
627
113
Visit site
No mutlitasking, no always on display, no finger print sensor. I was ready to upgrade but it seems all Apple really cares about is their camera’s. Guess I’ll be sticking with my trusty 11 for another year

Is there an Android smartphone that has multi-tasking, an always-on display and a fingerprint sensor? If so, why won't you purchase one and use it as your primary device? If you're waiting for Apple to provide those things then an argument can be made that those items aren't really that important to you.
 

FFR

Well-known member
Nov 7, 2012
3,304
399
83
Visit site
Apart from that ;Apple needs to come up with something that is ,a) new.
b)interesting.
c)useful.

c)useful.
To catch the public’s imagination and make people want to buy new kit,

I disagree, according to sales, apple doesn’t “need” to do anything. Consumers are “buying new kit” as is.

because there has been a lot of emphasis on the longevity of iPhones recently, and that is not helpful to the bottom line.

Again I believe you are wrong. It’s very helpful to the bottom line, those users might not be buying new iPhones every year but they aren’t purchasing from the competition either, slowly starving them out. Lg mobile had to close shop this year, I wonder who is next.

It’s a genius strategy and one of the reasons I believe apple has such a long os update cycle.
 

Annie_M

Moderator
Mar 2, 2016
21,725
741
113
Visit site
Every so often I’ll come across an article, post or comment that states Apple hasn’t been innovative in recent years. Some people base their conclusion on design, whereas as others conclude that it hasn’t wowed them in quite some time.

With that being said, I just have a couple of questions to ask:

1. How many ways can Apple design an iPhone that will be acceptable by the masses and result in huge sales & profits?
2. If Apple built an iPhone to your liking and it did EVERYTHING you wanted it to do, how long would it be before you’re bored with it and want something new?

With the above questions in mind, can we honestly conclude Apple isn’t being innovative or is it more likely that some consumers are just craving something different, but don’t know exactly what it is yet?

I do think that Apple is innovative. I think that they probably have a lot of things on the drawing board that we’re not privy to yet. So all the stuff about Apple not being innovative is not something that I agree with.

I am certain that there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that isn’t readily apparent!
 

FFR

Well-known member
Nov 7, 2012
3,304
399
83
Visit site
Is there an Android smartphone that has multi-tasking, an always-on display and a fingerprint sensor? If so, why won't you purchase one and use it as your primary device? If you're waiting for Apple to provide those things then an argument can be made that those items aren't really that important to you.

Don’t really understand the fascination with using multiple apps on an iPhone screen at the same time, two 3.35 inch windows/apps .

Is it 1999 again ?
 

SteelSteve

Active member
Aug 14, 2016
27
0
1
Visit site
Is there an Android smartphone that has multi-tasking, an always-on display and a fingerprint sensor? If so, why won't you purchase one and use it as your primary device? If you're waiting for Apple to provide those things then an argument can be made that those items aren't really that important to you.

Most Android phones do all 3. For me myself an always on display would be nice and was rumored for the IPhone 13, and if COVID taught us anything it’s that masks mess up face rec, so including a finger print sensor would be nice. My point was simply unless your a photography buff there really hasn’t been much of any changes since the IPhone X
 

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,681
627
113
Visit site
Most Android phones do all 3. For me myself an always on display would be nice and was rumored for the IPhone 13, and if COVID taught us anything it’s that masks mess up face rec, so including a finger print sensor would be nice. My point was simply unless your a photography buff there really hasn’t been much of any changes since the IPhone X

Basically, you’re more disappointed that certain rumored features ended up being untrue more than Apple isn’t innovating, right? As for the photography comment, I’m pretty much in agreement. ;)
 

swarlos

Trusted Member
Jun 24, 2012
2,316
1
38
Visit site
Don’t really understand the fascination with using multiple apps on an iPhone screen at the same time, two 3.35 inch windows/apps .

Is it 1999 again ?

Exactly, I think it’s so pointless. I had a Pixel 5A for a couple weeks beginning of the month and I used split screen mode.

Conclusion. It sucked! LOL. Using two tiny windows was awful. I was trying to use a guide to change icons to match Android 12 Material You and the other window I was using the app to customize the icons, it was a terrible experience. Definitely a gimmick and I can see why  hasn’t implemented it on the iPhone.

Now it works wonders on the iPad and I use it all the time but on the iPhone it would just be too compact.
 

FFR

Well-known member
Nov 7, 2012
3,304
399
83
Visit site
Most Android phones do all 3. For me myself an always on display would be nice and was rumored for the IPhone 13, and if COVID taught us anything it’s that masks mess up face rec, so including a finger print sensor would be nice. My point was simply unless your a photography buff there really hasn’t been much of any changes since the IPhone X

You don’t need to buy a new phone with Touch ID, just use an Apple Watch. Aod is kind of pointless with an apple watch as well.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212208

f05f656fa6dd7d8351ebd1d8fea94912.jpg
 

Mr Segundus

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2018
600
2
18
Visit site
I mean, it hasn't been innovative. The last time the iPhone got any meaningful change was the iPhone X. Every year after that, it's been iterative upgrades. I'm still getting the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but it doesn't make me excited.

At least others are doing something different, such as foldable displays.
 

Trending Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
259,860
Messages
1,764,762
Members
441,207
Latest member
Erik4711