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Comment by ruph123 | Hacker News Reader

There is one design directions that I am really salty about which Ive (reluctantly) innovated: protruding phone cameras lenses.

I read somewhere that he was not happy about that but had to go with it. But since the iPhone 6, the bumps have grown bigger and bigger and are almost like status symbols now. The worst are protruding lenses on iPads which cannot lay flat on the table.

That and magic mouse charging port if course but luckily this did not catch on with other vendors.

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Given the camera is one of the more important functions of a smartphone for me, I'll pretty much take anything within reason that improves camera performance. (I'm less convinced of bumps for iPads although presumably some percentage of users value the rear camera on an iPad as well. Certainly the latest Pro ones are played up by Apple for video.)

I kinda interpreted that as tacit admission that you were supposed to put a case on your phone. It does seem to fit pretty naturally with cases now, which have an open portion over the camera lens.

Except that even adding a case isn't sufficient any more. The camera bump on the iPhone 14 Pro is so tall that it still extends beyond the standard Apple cases.

Totally agree about the camera lenses. That's actually the first time I've read someone saying it here.

OTOH, I went into an Apple store recently and the industrial design has absolutely tanked since Ive left. I know nerds are happy about the extra ports etc., but the phones and macbooks are thicker and heavier and that is a step backwards for me. As for the iMac designs... yuck. I presume these are all designed without Ive, so stark is the contrast. The worst display I've seen in an Apple store, ever.

I only have a couple of sore devices (phone, appletv, Apple Watch) but I think things are better now without Ives… I saw a MacBook Pro 14” at the store for the first time 2 weeks ago. I now want one. I haven’t wanted an apple computer since the first retina. My wife instantly fell in love with the iMac and wants one. She said it’s so pretty.

To each their own.

I _love_ the tradeoffs between size, weight, battery life and performance in my Macbook 14" laptop.

Hate the “well everyone uses cases” argument to the lens creep. I’ve never used a phone case, never smashed a screen, also I don’t see the point in the fetishization of materials if it’s just gonna be covered in a case anyway, may as well be plastic from that logic.

I reluctantly bought an official Apple case to use with my iPhone 13 mini, due to the giant camera lenses. Guess what? The case itself isn't flat! The lenses are so large that the case itself has guard bumps around the camera opening. This is the world we live in now.

They stick out because they know that many users will add a case.

Otherwise the case would shade the lenses.

Is that a problem you or someone you know experienced prior to the use of lenses that stick out?

Yes. I've had chunky cases which cast a definite shadow over the (flat) camera.

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