Apple reportedly plans a return to chasing thinness in its hardware designs
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oh joy. I loved having anemic battery life and a bendable phone when they did this last time. The current fatness of phones is ok. Stop body shaming tech Apple. I want more battery life, not the same but thinner.
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At this rate, the cases will need structure to keep them from snapping in half.
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This is going to be a minority view, but I'd welcome a thinner phone. Tack on the thickness and bulk of a case, my existing 13 Pro is a dense, chonky thing and my jeans all show a faint outline on the pocket where it rides. If they can maintain existing battery life and make the thing a little easier to carry, I'm for it.
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I'll wait and see what it's like instead of preemptively whining about the return to thinness.
The return to thickness was welcome for the MacBook Pros and iPhones with bigger batteries and less throttling, but in fairness the M4 iPad Pro appears to have whittled down again without sacrificing much, it actually has better thermal performance and rigidity than the outgoing model. And about the same battery life, though you could of course point out that could have been better had it kept the old size.
So...Maybe the tech will just be ready for these new models. I'm curious that the 16 line will just introduce graphene sheets for better cooling and then the 17 will be thinner again, but this might just be one model which is the replacement for the 16 Plus, which is already set to be the only 16 model which gets a reduced battery size, maybe the 15 Plus was just too good on battery and ate into the Pro too much for Apple's liking.
Also the MacBook Pro throttling was in large part due to the old Intel chips not getting the shrinks they were scheduled to, so maybe they could pare down a bit with Apple Silicon in its 5th/6th generation, plus OLED stacks are just thinner when they switch to that, so they might just be ready to be thinner without sacrificing much.
The downvote nambly pamblies have gotten atrocious on ars in the last few years by the way. Disagree with me verbally all you want, this comment wasn't offensive to anyone and tried to be thoughtful and you have no reason to try to bury it.
The return to thickness was welcome for the MacBook Pros and iPhones with bigger batteries and less throttling, but in fairness the M4 iPad Pro appears to have whittled down again without sacrificing much, it actually has better thermal performance and rigidity than the outgoing model. And about the same battery life, though you could of course point out that could have been better had it kept the old size.
So...Maybe the tech will just be ready for these new models. I'm curious that the 16 line will just introduce graphene sheets for better cooling and then the 17 will be thinner again, but this might just be one model which is the replacement for the 16 Plus, which is already set to be the only 16 model which gets a reduced battery size, maybe the 15 Plus was just too good on battery and ate into the Pro too much for Apple's liking.
Also the MacBook Pro throttling was in large part due to the old Intel chips not getting the shrinks they were scheduled to, so maybe they could pare down a bit with Apple Silicon in its 5th/6th generation, plus OLED stacks are just thinner when they switch to that, so they might just be ready to be thinner without sacrificing much.
The downvote nambly pamblies have gotten atrocious on ars in the last few years by the way. Disagree with me verbally all you want, this comment wasn't offensive to anyone and tried to be thoughtful and you have no reason to try to bury it.
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I mean, I think this chase is kind of pointless with our larger devices, but I do often think my apple watch could shave a few tenths of a millimeter... I'm just convinced that will turn into multiple charges a day as a result.
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Is this actually a problem for anyone? Even back in the original bendgate days? I've had several phablet-size phones and bending them was not a real problem.
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Does this mean that Apple or their battery manufacturer has figured out a way to squeeze more performance from a smaller package? I hope they don't compromise on battery life. Should we read more into the TDK battery news?
Edit: Added TDK line.
Edit: Added TDK line.
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Literally no one is asking for thinner devices. The one rumor I see floating around that looks like a benefit is the idea of a thinner Apple Watch... as long as it doesn't compromise on battery life...
That said, I still don't get how people can be happy with 18 hours of battery life... I've got a Garmin watch that lasts about 10 days on a charge. If I charge it when I'm in the shower, it basically never needs a longer dedicated charge.
That said, I still don't get how people can be happy with 18 hours of battery life... I've got a Garmin watch that lasts about 10 days on a charge. If I charge it when I'm in the shower, it basically never needs a longer dedicated charge.
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I would think it has to come at the expense of other things -- there are no free lunches. But I think thinner does have value. The iPhone has gotten kinda chunky. I recently picked up an older, thinner iPhone and I liked the feel of it.
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Maybe that isn't a typo and Apple will be releasing skin-clad phones, like a truly hardcore Project Red.
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I agree. I have a iPhone 15 Pro Max and it's plenty thin and plenty "stylish", if that's your thing. It doesn't need to be any thinner especially since a lot of people just throw these super chonky cases on them anyways.
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In order for this to make a significant difference in your ability to carry the phone comfortable, then they need to focus on making the phones themselves more rugged so that you don't need a case. Eliminating the need for a case likely would likely allow an over all thinner phone.
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In practice it doesn't really matter. If I just charge it while I'm in the shower, I can push out to a couple of days, and if I need to charge it overnight a couple times a week, that's ok.
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Consumers: we want better battery life and durable devices.
Manufacturers: we made your phone even thinner, at the expense of battery life and durability!
Consumers: ...
And you can't even vote with your wallet, because every phone manufacturer is doing the same thing...
Manufacturers: we made your phone even thinner, at the expense of battery life and durability!
Consumers: ...
And you can't even vote with your wallet, because every phone manufacturer is doing the same thing...
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Yeah, I was kinda pondering an Apple watch. I noped out when it was less then 3 or 4 days of battery life. You can't even go camping with that for a few days without lugging a bunch of batteries and charges with you. If I put my phone in airplane mode it'll easily go 3 - 4 days out camping unless I'm constantly gaming on it or something vs. as just an emergency device.
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That really indicates we just need more durable phones that don't need big chunky cases to survive for five years.
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I've been buying iPhones sine the 3G and thinness has never even been in the top 10 of features I'd be hoping to see in my phone.
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It's still plenty thin. I have a rhino bump case on mine. I never think "this is so thick I wish it was 8mm thinner". If you're adding "portfolio" cases, etc.. to it then 4 or 8mm isn't going to make any difference at all.
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I can easily do a 2-nighter backpacking trip without recharging my Ultra. I have a battery bank with a solar panel that lives on top of my pack to recharge hearing aids anyway, and a lantern that can power out, and a charging cable isn't much of a bother.
Car camping, I'm bringing my big boy battery bank to run lights and stuff anyway, so it's really not an issue.
I feel like this is one of those things that seems like it'll be an issue until you actually live with it.
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No! Stop! Bad Apple, bad!
If you can make the internals smaller, then great, just put bigger batteries, the thickness of current devices is perfectly fine, everybody care more about 20% more battery than a 2mm difference on their expensive device that will live all of its life in a case that makes it twice as big anyway.
If you can make the internals smaller, then great, just put bigger batteries, the thickness of current devices is perfectly fine, everybody care more about 20% more battery than a 2mm difference on their expensive device that will live all of its life in a case that makes it twice as big anyway.
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A millimeter is a millimeter. I don't go around wishing I had a thinner phone either, but 4mm is absolutely a consequential difference. 8mm even more so. And all of us don't have "portfolio" cases either.
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Yes, please.
A few days ago I was rummaging through my tech detritus drawer looking for something or another and I happened across my old iPhone 8. I was stunned at its svelte and clean lines versus the behemoth that the iPhone 14 Pro has grown into. I'd forgotten how nice the smaller phones really were. And I would definitely welcome a return to smaller iPhones that actually fit easily in the front pockets of all my jeans.
Of course, Apple would probably do their usual thing and assume that people buying the smaller devices are doing so only because we're too cheap or poor to buy the larger models and gut them of features like the only way to get discrete graphics cards back in the day was to buy the larger MacBooks. It's weird. Because every so often Apple DOES remember that the portability of small size and light weight can be a feature in and of itself and does release a smaller device without compromising features or performance. And then they turn right around and the next small device is, again, stripped of both. sigh
A few days ago I was rummaging through my tech detritus drawer looking for something or another and I happened across my old iPhone 8. I was stunned at its svelte and clean lines versus the behemoth that the iPhone 14 Pro has grown into. I'd forgotten how nice the smaller phones really were. And I would definitely welcome a return to smaller iPhones that actually fit easily in the front pockets of all my jeans.
Of course, Apple would probably do their usual thing and assume that people buying the smaller devices are doing so only because we're too cheap or poor to buy the larger models and gut them of features like the only way to get discrete graphics cards back in the day was to buy the larger MacBooks. It's weird. Because every so often Apple DOES remember that the portability of small size and light weight can be a feature in and of itself and does release a smaller device without compromising features or performance. And then they turn right around and the next small device is, again, stripped of both. sigh
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They already know how to do that. I haven't used a case in 10 years. When I got my (2020) SE, I got the Red phone, so why would I want to cover that up?
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I would welcome a lighter phone. But I dislike very thin phones as they are less comfortable to hold. One of my favorite phones to hold was an old Blackberry with a curved back. You need a bit of depth to do that, though.
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There have been rumors of an iPhone Ultra for a couple of years now. I'll believe it when I see it, but my Watch Ultra has been markedly more durable than a regular Watch.
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I wasn’t looking for a thinner iPad. I replaced an older model with an M4 Pro 11” for an idiosyncratic combination of practical and silly reasons. But I have to say: it is a simple pleasure to use. Whether I’m hold it at length to read text books, taking notes or completing sundry assignments that must be “hand-written”, my arms don’t get noticeably tired the way they did with the previous model. Granted I now have the magic keyboard, so I’m often detaching that and holding the tablet case-free, unlike before. So it’s not apples-to-apples.
All of that being said, going forward I’d prioritize battery life over (even) thinner designs. Basically I dream of tablets lasting as long as today’s e-readers, such that we wind up with something more resembling the PADDs from TNG-era star trek. Or put another way, devices where we only have to think about charging as often as most of us think about filling up a gas tank.
All of that being said, going forward I’d prioritize battery life over (even) thinner designs. Basically I dream of tablets lasting as long as today’s e-readers, such that we wind up with something more resembling the PADDs from TNG-era star trek. Or put another way, devices where we only have to think about charging as often as most of us think about filling up a gas tank.
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I’d pay a premium for even just a 36h battery life on the Apple watch, let alone ten days.
It’s less that I’m happy with 18h and more that it’s tolerated and I live with it but it’s be so nice to just have a little extra juice.
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I have an iPhone 6 sitting on my desk that was only ever used as a test device. It's in near mint condition because it's only ever been used while I'm sitting at my desk. It has a noticeable bend because of the camera bump.
It is nice from a usability perspective because it doesn't rock back and forth like most phones with a camera bump.
It is nice from a usability perspective because it doesn't rock back and forth like most phones with a camera bump.
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Thinness can go overboard, I don't like holding something that feels like it's going to fly away on a gentle breeze. Not to mention the things going into a case anyways so making devices thin as possible is sorta eh.
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