Hacker News Reader

Comment by grandalf | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if reverting to the iPhone 5 design indicates that the design of the 6 is viewed as a flop by Apple.

I've dropped my 6+ so many times that I love the design (it's indestructible) but perhaps Apple's market research is showing that some people love the look of their 5 and are avoiding upgrading for that reason.

View on HN

I'm guessing it was just more efficient or cost effective to continue using their existing manufacturing infrastructure for the 5s body and only upgrade the internals, rather than adapt the 6/6s body design to the 4 inch size.

I have not upgraded specifically because of the design of the 6, so there must be others that feel the same way.

I'm really happy about the SE and will be upgrading now.

Not indestructible at all--I run a repair shop, and 6/6+ are the most common phones we repair. The bigger the screen, the easier it is to break, in general.

You may have gotten lucky, or you may have a good case on it (a good case and a glass screen protector do go a long way.) But we've had people bring in phones even in very high-end Lifeproof cases with broken screens, bent frames, etc. It happens a lot.

Apple launched this phone because of the huge number of iPhone 5/5S users who didn't want to upgrade because they felt that the 6/6S was "too big." There was a fairly large/high-demand secondary market for 5S phones for this reason. Apple's hoping to pick up some of that market with the new SE.

The reason the 6 breaks so easily is because it can really easily fall directly on the glass. There is a little thin hard rim around the glass on every other iphone, whereas the 6 glass wraps around the side.

Hmm, no case on mine. I chose it b/c I thought it seemed lighter relative to the area that shock would be disbursed over in impact.

sounds like you've been lucky. my wife dropped her 6 onto concrete and the front shattered into a million pieces.

I love the size of the 5 and love the rounded edge of the 6 because it doesn't eat the insides of my jean pockets.

If they made a 4" phone with the design of the 6, perfect.

So a 3GS? :) I sure hope so, that was my favorite size/shape.

basically :)

i'll take the thinner 6, and the slightly increased screen of the 5, but yes.

They've never built a 6-style model with a 4" screen. Seems more like a case of just taking the old chassis and upgrading a few components. Not that I'm complaining, but in a perfect world, it should match the design language of the current generation.

No, it means that everybody underestimated the demand for a small but powerful device and Apple realized they still needed to cater to that market.

The 6 series is in no way a flop and large displays will continue.

> I wonder if reverting to the iPhone 5 design indicates that the design of the 6 is viewed as a flop by Apple.

Or that the 5SE isn't seen as an important enough product to be worth a complete design overhaul.

This is the iPhone 4 design, not?

No, the 4 was glass all around. This is the 5/5s with metal back.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com