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Comment by andrepd | Hacker News Reader

I really can't understand why anyone would consider it a good trade-off. For a bit extra slimness, sacrifice first a good battery and now the headphone jack? I don't get it. Do a few millimetres in thickness make the slightest bit of difference to anyone? On the other hand probably the single most prevalent complaint people have about modern smartphones is the short battery life. They could easily extend the battery by a good 30% or more by making it as thick as the camera bump. Bam, better battery, no ugly camera hump, space to spare for the 3.5mm jack. But no, let's sacrifice all that for a few fractions of a millimetre -.- I swear I don't get it.

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I think it's a great trade off. I use exclusively Bluetooth audio with my phone- the gym, the car, the motorcycle, walking around... If I want great sounding audio I have a stereo and a set of nice cans and speakers at home and in my office.

I'll never use the lighting dongle and I don't use corded buds/headphones now so I will literally not feel a difference in that respect. I only listen to audiobooks, podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify on the phone, so I'm not exactly getting the greatest audio I could be anyway.

However, having increased dust and water protection are something I'm very happy to get if it improves the longevity of the device. I don't really care too much about it getting that much thinner either, but I'm happy with making the phone more physically robust if they can.

> I have a stereo and a set of nice cans and speakers at home and in my office

Moreover, if you want to play a song from your phone through your stereo and want the best sound possible, you'd use a digital connection versus an analog one.

Competently executed, analog connections are indistinguishable from digital ones.

You don't need to remove the headphonr jack to get water resistance. Look at Android phones like the Galaxy S5 (3 years old, water resistance with headphone jack, SD card slot and removable battery.

And what about the battery life? Don't you care about that either? Or do you even recognize it's a critical issue for many people? It just sounds like you're desperately defending an Apple product at all costs.

I don't have any issues with the battery life of my 6S+, and I'm not sure there are any other phones with a substantially better battery life on the market. I know there are a number of Android models that claim 24+ hour battery life, and so does the 6S+. I do know that a number of Android models ship w/ a 3,700 mAh battery while the 6S+ ships with only 2,950 mAh, but the real world usage claims have them in the same ballpark.

My last Android (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) had AWFUL battery life (3,700 mAh battery, btw) and I had a couple of spare batteries with me at all times. My iPhone 6S+ gets me from 0500 to bedtime nearly every night without a charge throughout the day. According to the release notes I should expect another hour of battery life with the iPhone 7, so it's not like they took things away and decreased the battery life.

For me, and that's all that matters in MY buying decisions, better durability and extended battery life at the cost of a port that I have never used on this phone are an unequivocal upgrade.

> My last Android (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) had AWFUL battery life (3,700 mAh battery, btw)

There was never a Galaxy Nexus with 3700mAh battery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Nexus

You're right, I just grabbed one of my old extended batteries it was only 2,100 mAh. Either way I couldn't get 6 hours out of it and it was awful, just not quite as awful as I gave it credit for.

The galaxy Nexus shipper with battery defects. Mine died when it drew too much power charging and fried the USB plug.

A shame actually, for me it was the perfect phone. The curved screen, just the right size, the textured back and (I think) headphone on the top.

> However, having increased dust and water protection are something I'm very happy to get if it improves the longevity of the device.

Really? How long do you keep your phones for? 2 years, tops? I've never damaged a phone I've owned, let alone rendered one unusable because of either dust or water.

This will have no appreciable effect on the life of the product for me.

"In all my experience, I have never been in any accident... or any sort worth speaking about. I have seen but one vessel in distress in all my years at sea. I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort." -- E. J. Smith, 1907, Captain, RMS Titanic

Yeah, whatever. I'm sure I'll remember that when I run my phone into a giant iceberg.

I'm less worried about icebergs and more worried about 3 kids under four, dropping it in a puddle (I live in the Pacific Northwest), and just dropping it in general.

I’m planning on upgrading to the 7 from the 5S, so about three years.

I almost feel that they are at the end of the smartphone innovation. Its going to go similar to PC where people don't need to upgrade every year. Thats why Apple started the whole Subscription model to feel secure. But they need to innovate fast if they want to keep their customer base. I seriously don't need faster iPhone at this point. I am pretty happy with my 6. Slim factor is also not that important anymore.

I can't imagine iPhone line continue this way for next 5-10 years. They need to get into something new fast. VR, AR etc.

>But they need to innovate fast if they want to keep their customer base

My boss said something today concerning Apple that is relevant to this. After hearing Warren Buffet bought a bunch of APPL.

"Apple isn't a technology company anymore, they're consumer goods, so that's an understandable choice."

Warren Buffett didn't make the decision to make those AAPL share purchases, 2 of his lieutenants did. They have autonomy in managing $9B (or maybe it was a combined $18B? ) portion of Berkshire Hathaway's investment.

I keep hearing people say they're going to make cars next. This sounds completely absurd to me, but I said the same thing about them making watches, and look how that turned out.

The millimeter matters when people are buying the phone, the battery life and other complaints only matter once the person has already paid for the phone, so Apple doesn't care.

People say they want lots of battery life, but slimmer devices consistently outsell thicker ones.

This. When you're in a store, a thin phone feels nice in your hand. It feels new and sleek. You can't judge battery life in the store -- you need to research that separately.

You're ignoring the fact that Apple depends on a certain level of customer satisfaction to keep profits up.

The rest of the phone is "good enough" so that people don't take the risk to jump to a different OS environment on the next iteration.

Plus, Apple always promises the new iPhone will fix everything you didn't like about the previous one and people eat that up.

The problem with that hypothesis is that a non-trivial number of iPhone customers (that I anecdotely know) tend to upgrade every few years, not every iteration. If a device is "good enough" to last 2+ years, I'd say Apple is doing a decent enough job at keeping their users happy.

I wonder if there is any scope for increased battery life by disabling animations / GPU or switching to a messaging system different to Obj-C (ie, string lookups)?

Doubt it would be worth it, it's the cell/wireless/GPS that kills it. Turn on airplane mode and it lasts and lasts.

And those people eventually buy cases with built in batteries.

What a coincidence.

> They could easily extend the battery by a good 30% or more by making it as thick as the camera bump.

The camera bump on the 6S is ~1mm high. 30% more battery capacity in that amount of space seems optimistic.

That makes it even crazier to me. Wouldn't it be better to not have a bump? The bump on my 6S always makes me nervous when laying it down. I would feel much better about it if it were completely flat rather than the camera of all things sticking out and being the major point of contact with the surface it's on.

I'd argue that an extra 1mm to thickness wouldn't affect feel of the phone either - especially since a good portion just slap cases on them anyways.

It'd be significantly heavier. And significantly thicker if you use a case too.

Im actually fine with that. The leather apple case doesn't add too much weight as it is but I feel the phone is way too light and slippery without it.

I've been using the same leather Apple case for 2 years (6/6S) and it looks like crap at this point, but it's protected my phone from numerous 3-6' drops onto hard surfaces. Without the case, I'm certain the corners would be dented and the screen likely cracked. Definitely a fan of the Apple case!

I agree — I think it's a bit of a trick to compel people to feel the need for a case, thereby selling more cases than if it were flush.

Seems like a pretty accurate estimation, to me. The phone itself is 7.3mm thick, which means the case would be at least 1+mm on each side. Let's be generous and say the battery's 3mm thick now. Adding another 1mm would be a 33% capacity improvement.

Keep in mind that weight is another major factor in considering battery size.

Even if the new iPhone were double the weight, that's still only 376 grams. I don't understand why phones need to be lighter. I myself prefer to use something that feels solid and significant.

Same! I actually prefer a phone that feels solid rather than thin.

This. And the 6s is too thin anyway, I need to have a case to hold it comfortably.

I don't get the slimness either. I had no issue with my old N900 being twice as thick as my current android (and I loved physical keyboard on it too).

I guess if they make battery last 30% longer, then you won't be forced to change a phone in 2-3 years when battery starts deteriorating and it is bad for business.

Of course thinness makes a difference. As a result of how thin they are, a sturdy case is a mandatory accessory. Whether it makes a positive difference is another matter altogether.

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