Hacker News Reader

Comment by elktea | Hacker News Reader

"The 2014 iPhone 6 was “the poster child” of this transformation, according to a person involved in the product’s development. While the device had complex internal components and a larger screen, it dropped the diamond-polished edges and the precisely cut glass parts of the back of the iPhone 5 and 5s, which had been difficult to produce."

well, that explains why the iPhone went from such a unique design to generic plastic android. Glad the 5-esque design is back for the 12 series at least.

View on HN

> well, that explains why the iPhone went from such a unique design to generic plastic android.

I agree that some of the flagship iPhones since the iPhone 6 have had less unique designs, but what are you describing as "generic plastic android?" None of the flagship iPhones after the iPhone 3GS have had any significant exterior plastic. Are you talking about the iPhone 5C? I'm pretty sure that's the only one that ever had a plastic enclosure.

I think they mean it's just a brick with smooth edges. Nothing fancy. Nothing truly iPhone. The iPhone X only differentiated itself from others with a beautiful new notch and the iPhone 11 with a wonderful electric-shaver-like camera setup. Take those away and you can barely tell it's an Apple device.

The iPhone 4 through 5s felt like luxury devices.

> The iPhone 4 through 5s felt like luxury devices.

The glass back panel on my 4s was totally* impractical. I was afraid to set the phone down on any rough surface, afraid the glass would crack, smudges were now something to avoid on two surfaces instead of just one.

And I liked it and I miss it.

* Well, okay: one practical advantage of the glass back is how secure it felt in my hand. Fingertips don't slip on glass like they do on a matte metal surface.

IMO, the 4 and 4S are still the nicest designs in the iPhone lineup.

It was pretty obvious at the time - after the iPhone 6 with the round edges and ugly antenna colors, the comically giant 6 plus, then a few months later the first Apple Watch (which few people wanted because it was advertised as a notification device) - many people thought that Apple were on a downward trajectory because they've run out of Steve Jobs ideas.

Both product lines seem much healthier now - last year's redesign of the iPhones was solid and the watch looks much more attractive with all of the health features.

It wasn't just the design, Pre iPhone 6 was the era when Steve Jobs insisted on JIT supply chain management. And no manufacture could cope with the iPhone volume. Even when Apple have fully prepared for iPhone 6 launch, which was the first iPhone to have a phablet size display as it was called at the time. Production still couldn't keep up due to demand from China. iPhone 6 still remains the best selling iPhone in unit volume if you combine two quarter after launch.

And that is part of the reason why you see lots more leaks from Supply Chain in post iPhone 4 era.

Pretty sure it’s the supply crunch that made the older phones more “interesting”. New easily obtainable stuff is boring and common, no fomo.

Agreed, I think the 4S was my favorite version — felt substantial without being excessively heavy and easy to use with one hand. The 7 and 2020 SE I’ve had since then were all just purchases because they were the smallest option when my last phone died out. I’ve never really liked either of them.

When I heard “iPhone mini” rumours last year I was like “Finally! I can get a much more powerful 4S!”

Unfortunately that’s not what happened.

I'm using one now. This "mini" is huge.

the iPhone 12 mini is slightly smaller by volume than the iPhone 4.

iPhone 4: 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm or 62.781 cm^3

iPhone SE: 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm or 67.994 cm^3

iPhone 12 mini: 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4 mm or 62.473 cm^3

[1] https://support.apple.com/kb/SP587?locale=en_US

[2] https://support.apple.com/kb/SP820?locale=en_US

[3] https://www.apple.com/iphone-12/specs/

The iPhone 12 mini is larger in height and width, which is what matters most for one-handed use.

Exactly. As well, the screen is a much larger percentage of the body which is also important for one-handed use.

The new SE is bigger than the 12 mini, I just switched from a 2016 SE to a 12 mini and have been happy.

Funny, I’ve exchanged the 12 mini for the 2020 SE because the overall screen size fits my thumb better and it was cheaper. They should have made the overall size of the mini the same size as the SE’s screen.

It is wild just how quickly I got used to the SE's "antiquated" 16:9 screen and button based navigation when I switched to one from my previous edge-to-edge S10e. Turns out, an all-screen display wasn't as much of an upgrade as it's made out to be.

I don't buy Apple products and I don't use a smartphone. But in 2014 I borrowed an iPhone 5 from a friend and I found it truly well designed. Thickness and weight were very satisfying for 1-handed operation. I haven't found the successors to be anywhere close.

The 12 mini is comparable in size and weight.

Only roughly comparable: if you line them up back to front you can see the whole notch of the mini behind the 5.

That doesn’t seem too bad. The notch is not meant to hold interactive elements.

I can use a 5 one-handed.

The mini I cannot.

And its probably going to go away and future minis sidelined, as its sales are poor.

I feel like the story would have been different if they made it the size of the 4... Right now the “mini” would have still been considered a large phone in the 3GS days.

That would make things even worse. A lot of people only use smartphones for computing and they want large screens. Making the screen even smaller would have doomed the mini even harder.

Also, the smaller you make it, the smaller the battery is. The mini already has battery life complaints. This product would likely be doomed if it was any smaller and didn't compromise on other things.

Doubt it just yet. People aren’t moving yet, people lost jobs. So if the market properly recovers, it will stick around.

The iPhone 5 was nice but I have to admit the screen seems tiny to me today. I do use phones one-handed a lot but I find I can still do that with an iPhone 12 Pro with my (admittedly large) right hand. Have never been really interested in the Plus models because IMO they don't really work one-handed.

I agree that the design of the 6 regressed from the 4/5, but the build quality is much higher than that of the average android.

I'm still using a 6 as my daily phone, which means my phone is closer in generation to the original iPhone that it is to the latest one. I wish the (equally expensive) android phones I use at work had anywhere near that longevity.

Does it make sense to compare an iPhone to "the average Android"? iPhones are a premium product; they're not available in the wide range of prices and qualities that Androids are. People who buy iPhones are the type of people who, if they bought an Android, would most likely buy a top-of-the-line Android at a high price. Those are the Androids we should be comparing iPhones to.

It's not just about physical longevity; whether the software (iOS) still "works" is also important. With older versions of iOS, you have two options:

1. Upgrade to the latest version, which makes the iPhone slower (arguably intentionally).

2. Don't upgrade, but many apps require an updated iOS version to install, so you won't be able to install/update your apps anymore.

Since there's no third party app store, older iphones are just doomed to die slowly. I have a 4s and downgraded as soon as I could to iOS 5. The os is faster but I can install very few apps.

The good thing for them is that Microsoft Windows' quality decreased so much that I decided to buy a Macbook for the first time in my life.

Decreased... recently? I feel like Windows 10 has been a pretty predictable experience. If you didn't hate it in 2016, then I'm wondering what happened in the five years of marginal and incremental changes since then that would cause such a change of heart

I feel like the quality hasnt decreased, but the amount of UI bugs I get on Microsoft's own Surface Pro is infuriating and makes me miss the days of having an always great experience with my mid 2012 MacBook Pro. Im definitely thinking about going back to a MBP next year

Compared to Windows 7 times, when I loved the Mac hardware, but bought Windows / Linux laptops all the time because of the software ecosystem.

I love the 12 Pro. The updated 5-esque design really withstands the test of time.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com