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Design Changes and 5G
To me, the iPhone is in a very odd place. As a devout Apple fan for my entire life, I always hope for a lot from the company. Apple often believes in the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach and it becomes frustrating as a customer deep within the Apple ecosystem. You know it is sad when I get overly excited just for a design change for the iPhone 12. Even the new MagSafe technology that can be used for charging and attaching accessories seemed appealing to me. The thing is, I saw no incentive to upgrade from my iPhone 11.
The marginal upgrades to the iPhone each year makes it seem that Apple is losing its magic. When people get used to Apple’s ecosystem or to its software, they will most likely never switch from it. Due to this reason, it allows Apple to play it safe. In response to this, other companies will push out innovative technologies in order to take away any market share from Apple. This can be seen through Samsung, who has begun leaning heavily into foldable technology for smartphones.
In the iPhone 12’s press release from October, it touts this announcement as “A new era for iPhone with 5G”. Among the new changes for the iPhone, the implementation of 5G did not thrill me. 5G technology offers groundbreaking upload and download speeds; however, its coverage is currently “city-oriented” (Segan). This means that many users will not be able to take advantage of this feature until years down the line when 5G coverage is executed at a greater scale. Once again, the iPhone’s new industrial design continued to look like the most exciting change to me.
The Disappointing iPhone 12 Mini
During Apple’s October event, I thought they were genius with the announcement of the iPhone 12 Mini. With the A14 Bionic chip being packed into its compact design, I thought that it would be the slam dunk option for a lot of people. The size of smartphones continues to get bigger and bigger each year and I assumed that customers were getting tired of it. Fast forward three months and the iPhone Mini is Apple’s most disappointing smartphone. This is not due to sluggish smartphone sales, it is because there is weak demand for a smaller iPhone.
In a recent CIRP report, they stated that the iPhone Mini only made up 6% of iPhone sales (Miller). As someone who prefers smaller phones, it made me realize that the average consumer prioritizes screen size over portability. To add even more to the fire, the iPhone Mini did not even make it into the top 10 United States smartphone activations this past Christmas. On a day that is historically “the single greatest day for new smartphone activations”, the iPhone Mini was even beaten by older phones like the iPhone XR and the iPhone 8 (Charlton).
Will Apple Change?
Every time that I look at any version of the iPhone 12, I want to have it. I personally think that adding a fresh new design to the smartphone pulls me in every single time. That is why I was so swayed by the updated industrial look and the iPhone Mini. Now, this makes me realize that I should expect more from Apple. With Apple being the largest company in the world by market cap, shouldn’t they be paving the way for smartphone technology instead of following in the footsteps of others? Although, I think that we have reached a point in time where new smartphone features will only have a minimal impact on customers. This made me come to realize that Apple’s iPhone is not the only one in an odd place, it is the entire smartphone industry.
Sources:
Chance Miller: https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/05/iphone-12-mini-sales-disappointed/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Hartley Charlton: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/12/29/9-of-top-10-smartphones-on-christmas-day-iphones/
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