It slightly does me, given that the Air was (apparently) a huge commercial flop. You’d think they’d revisit the soundly mocked design instead of recycling it, or at least change it? The renders may very well be overstating it, of course, but still it’s an odd feature to carry over.
It was a flop because no one really wants thinner phones, they are harder to use. The iPhone Air was also extremely overpriced and missing basic features a phone a quarter of the price has.
The camera bump sure isn’t going away for a folding phone. cameras have fundamental volume requirements to maintain quality, if they don’t think they can justify making the normal iPhone thick enough to enclose the camera then there’s no way in hell they’ll think the folding phones doubled width can include it, if anything you’d expect it to be more prominent on a folding model
there are two options, 1) using a smaller,shittier camera, or 2) making an extremely thick phone. neither option is very “apple”, especially for a flagship model.
considering the vast majority of people use phone cases and will never notice the bump anyway, i think this whole thing is blown way out of proportion.
The marketing about it being an incredibly thin phone was a misstep - it just looked absurd to have such a chunky lump stuck onto it, and it felt very much like they were attempting a have cake / eat cake situation by claiming it had incredible camera stats (which werent very good) to justify the bump on an otherwise amazingly thin phone, and then that giant electronics bump had an external lens on it too.
Had it just been an ugly phone, I doubt it would have met with anywhere near the same criticism, but all the adcopy about how thin it was overtop of photos where you could see it had a giant lump on it felt really dishonest, and if this article is accurate it may count among the biggest apple flops ever.
(The thickness may just need to be accepted at this point. The S25 Ultra is 8.2mm, which is thinner than the Air if you include the bump. It seems like the camera wasnt the issue then, but that they hamstrung their design team with their drive for a thin phone. What elegance might even an extra millimeter of chassis space produced?)
What elegance might even an extra millimeter of chassis space produced?
People really don’t seem to understand that in the electronics world, one single millimeter can make worlds of difference.
You absolutely can cram so much more stuff in “dumber” electronics, but phones are even more constricted in design, because they need to send and receive signals of different types, so feedback and signal noise are concerns.
Adding in even slightly more space allows for much better design, because you have more tolerances to reduce signal noise. It allows dozens of wires for camera sensors to route better. A 20% longer battery life. Heck, just being slightly more ergonomic and less droppable is a bonus to slightly thicker phones.
I didn’t even consider signal noise until I got into fpv drones and rc stuff, it can mame a ton of difference if you have a single wire 2mm out of place. (and crash your drone because the motor interfered with your antenna)
I mean, being stupid thin is something that a foldable phone has to be, so that it ends up being normal-ish thickness when folded. So it tracks that they’d design it like their ultra-thin phone.
Assuming he’s right (and boy, being sued by apple is a huge boost to his credibility), they’re keeping the stupid camera bump thing from the air???
It does not surprise me that the Air is literally the folding phone without the second screen.
It slightly does me, given that the Air was (apparently) a huge commercial flop. You’d think they’d revisit the soundly mocked design instead of recycling it, or at least change it? The renders may very well be overstating it, of course, but still it’s an odd feature to carry over.
It was a flop because no one really wants thinner phones, they are harder to use. The iPhone Air was also extremely overpriced and missing basic features a phone a quarter of the price has.
Yes, those are all great points that make up a good portion of why they should probably revisit the design.
The camera bump sure isn’t going away for a folding phone. cameras have fundamental volume requirements to maintain quality, if they don’t think they can justify making the normal iPhone thick enough to enclose the camera then there’s no way in hell they’ll think the folding phones doubled width can include it, if anything you’d expect it to be more prominent on a folding model
how do you propose removing it?
there are two options, 1) using a smaller,shittier camera, or 2) making an extremely thick phone. neither option is very “apple”, especially for a flagship model.
considering the vast majority of people use phone cases and will never notice the bump anyway, i think this whole thing is blown way out of proportion.
lol how is 11mm extremely thick
The marketing about it being an incredibly thin phone was a misstep - it just looked absurd to have such a chunky lump stuck onto it, and it felt very much like they were attempting a have cake / eat cake situation by claiming it had incredible camera stats (which werent very good) to justify the bump on an otherwise amazingly thin phone, and then that giant electronics bump had an external lens on it too.
Had it just been an ugly phone, I doubt it would have met with anywhere near the same criticism, but all the adcopy about how thin it was overtop of photos where you could see it had a giant lump on it felt really dishonest, and if this article is accurate it may count among the biggest apple flops ever.
(The thickness may just need to be accepted at this point. The S25 Ultra is 8.2mm, which is thinner than the Air if you include the bump. It seems like the camera wasnt the issue then, but that they hamstrung their design team with their drive for a thin phone. What elegance might even an extra millimeter of chassis space produced?)
People really don’t seem to understand that in the electronics world, one single millimeter can make worlds of difference.
You absolutely can cram so much more stuff in “dumber” electronics, but phones are even more constricted in design, because they need to send and receive signals of different types, so feedback and signal noise are concerns.
Adding in even slightly more space allows for much better design, because you have more tolerances to reduce signal noise. It allows dozens of wires for camera sensors to route better. A 20% longer battery life. Heck, just being slightly more ergonomic and less droppable is a bonus to slightly thicker phones.
I didn’t even consider signal noise until I got into fpv drones and rc stuff, it can mame a ton of difference if you have a single wire 2mm out of place. (and crash your drone because the motor interfered with your antenna)
Thiner≠better.
Wildly appropriate username here. Also, 100% correct.
_
I mean, being stupid thin is something that a foldable phone has to be, so that it ends up being normal-ish thickness when folded. So it tracks that they’d design it like their ultra-thin phone.
But it’s not stupid thin, it’s got a giant lump on it?
Thinness should be defined by it’s thickest point.
5.6 - 9 - 5.6
hip - waist - bust
If it’s good enough for girls it’s good enough for phones
I’ve never heard a girl use those measurements.
Women, however, use them frequently enough.
Sorry for being pedantic but it rubs me the wrong way when people refer to women as “girls”
While noble, that was a tongue in cheek diminutive and I was including myself in that category.
The stupid camera bump thing they totally didn’t steal from Google
Edit: Yes, I’m totally butthurt about that guys. Fuck Tim Apple!!11
This folding iPhone also looks like the Pixel Fold
are we really going to start counting who stole what in all smartphone design.
“These assholes included an antenna and SIM slot again!?! HTC did that last season. So unoriginal.”
Idk, explaining how the crap iPhone is 99 % IP theft doesn’t really lead anywhere.
I sort of assumed that these days design patents are mostly ignored by smartphone companies.
After a while it just makes sense to drop the legal stuff and stop wasting money on constant lawsuits.
Man anyone else remember the Nexus 6P?