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Comment by powersnail | Hacker News Reader

I sincerely hope that apple will consider making a phone with a worse camera that is flatter. As someone who rarely takes photos, and never photos of importance, the bump is just a dead weight to me. My dream phone has a body like iPhone 12 mini (which I currently use) without the protruding camera. As long as it runs all the common communication apps reliably, I'm happy. I'll pay $100 more than the standard body version even. But it doesn't seem like apple (or any notable phone brand) thinks this is worth doing.

It's the peril of being a niche customer. I can and have voted with my wallet, but it doesn't nudge the needle anyway.

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> As someone who rarely takes photos, and never photos of importance

Even people who do take photos often would probably gladly sacrifice some image quality to loose that massive thing on the back of the phone. The thinness of the phone almost make it look worse as long as that camera sticks out like that; like a huge watch with a thin strap or something...

> My dream phone has a body like iPhone 12 mini (which I currently use) without the protruding camera.

Sounds similar to the iPhone 4, still my favorite of all the form factors in terms of "hand feel". It was the right thickness for me, just a bit heavy for it's size. If they refreshed it to reduce weight and extended the screen to the borders I think it would be amazing

Agree, the 4 was great (except the home button which broke).

Have you tried the iPhone SE 1st gen ? Lighter, better processor and screen but almost same design. It’s only 9.5yo and still works perfectly, you can find plenty second hand for 100€.

I still have my SE 1st gen that I pull out from time to time because I use it as the 2FA for my other Apple account, and I am always struck by by how much better it feels to use than even the 12 mini. It is such an ergonomic size for single hand use, and it surprisingly still runs very smoothly.

Using an SE 3rd generation and don't want any other iPhone. Had it for 1.5 years and it still makes me happy - as on the first day.

I was comparing models and probably the “next similar” would be an 16e but I really don’t want the “apple intelligence” - I’ve got my own thanks.

It’s a pity that the SE is going the way of the dodo and dinos - much better phone than a mini-tablet. I still miss my iPhone 3 and the rounded corners and solid aluminium back. Good times.

My phone is an iPhone SE 2nd gen. It's much more ergonomic and I can use it with only one hand, typing text included. Previously I had an iPhone 6S, same screen size (4.7″).

Other iPhone models are giant walkie-talkies for me. They need one hand to hold them and another to type text or slide the screen.

Same here, small but powerful enough for my daily usage. First iPhone I used to earn back what I paid it for.

PS: It was a dirt cheap price as the selling guy needs money for iPhone 16

No, I haven’t. I guess the feel isn’t my most important feature. I usually buy the latest high end model but keep it for a while. Using a 12 pro still and it’s already starting to feel sluggish so I might upgrade to this 17 version, it’s different enough to spark my interest but I think I’ll need to hold the Air before deciding if I like it. It looks comically out of proportion in the marketing pictures. I also don’t use cases and I feel like this is begging for one.

If you take Apple's presentation at face value, most of the iPhone Air hardware is within the plateau, with the rest of the body being almost entirely battery. So it's not immediately obvious that even if they did do away with the bump, that there'd be a useable phone left over once considering the necessary reduction in battery size.

You might want to check the 16e. It has 16 insides (without magsafe and uwb chip), with screen from 14 and not very protruding (although still) but good camera. Its also cheaper than base model iphone.

16e with a skinny case, and you have a completely flat phone

it looks like the bump doesn’t have just the camera but also some other stuff like the processor ?

I agree with this so much. I recently upgraded to the 13 Mini and had to go back to the 12 Mini because I hated the big camera thing on the back. I actually like the 12 Mini camera more than the 13 Mini also. It felt like the 13 Mini couldn’t take close up photos worth a damn.

Pixel 9a is the closest to a no bump phone out of the major brands.

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