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Why You Should Forget the iPhone 6

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Apple is going to release a new iPhone 6! No, wait. There may be two of them! Or three! Who cares. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is a hot new competitor! And then there’s the Galaxy Note 4! They will really be hot sellers. Pffft. Oh, and Microsoft with new Windows Phone 8.1 devices! And Google’s next Nexus smartphone! Crickets. Amazon’s new 3D smartphone! And all of those other new smartphones from just about anybody else that can get FCC approval and be released in the next few months! Yawn. It’s so tough to decide which device to buy, because, I mean, you have to have the latest and greatest new hardware right? Nope. Now more than ever, chasing after the latest and greatest new smartphones is like joining a conga line of lemmings dancing around a carousel looking for a cliff to plunge off of.

iPhone-6

Don’t get me wrong here. The latest crop of smartphones will feature some nice new devices. Some of the new features might actually make them attractive upgrades from the latest models. But the reason you don’t have to waste any energy trying to figure out which one to buy, or waste any money buying one, is that the last round of new smartphones was also pretty darned good. More importantly, what the smartphone sellers are selling these days has nothing to do and everything to do with devices at the same time. It’s called the Cloud. And Apple might just leap ahead of the competition with iOS 8.

Smartphones are the sex. The Cloud is the kid which results, that you have to nurture for the rest of your life. And that’s just what the big mobile guys want you to do. Lure you in to their ecosystem with fancy new gadgets in hopes that you’ll be their Cloud customer for life. Once you’re hooked, its easy to spice up that tired marriage with shiny new gadgets every now and again. But that’s been the game we’ve been playing for some time now. The devices are the bait that leads you on a march to the alter.

Take the iPhone 5s. It was ground breaking new hardware with a 64bit chipset that Apple described as “forward looking” and comparable to a desktop. Only thing is no one really did anything with all of that processing power. The iPhone 6 will probably have another new chip, but I doubt it offers much of a difference from its predecessor. And it looks like it won’t need to in order to power iOS 8.

Apple is on the verge of taking advantage of something that the other companies cannot at this point. And that’s an ecosystem that includes great hardware and what looks like a software/services combination that might actually work. Apple is going to be making it easier for its devices, ranging from smartphones to MacBooks to Apple TV to connect and play with each other. Apple is calling that Continuity. It’s also making noise that it might have figured out the Cloud. At least its going to open up its Cloud a bit so that developers and users can actually take advantage of it.

If Apple succeeds, you might actually be able to spread your device purchases out over a few cycles of new releases. Once the first Apple device lures you in, it becomes an easy glide path to the next, and then the next.

We’re reaching a hardware innovation plateau (we’ve actually been there for some time) where new wiz bang features like 3D viewing, eye-tracking, and gestures can barely disguise how superfluous they are to the core experience most will come to rely on a smartphone for. Ask Samsung about this. They’ve been trying to compete by introducing all sorts of new features for the last several iterations of their smartphones that quickly get forgotten or turned off.

Besides a well rumored new screen size (or sizes) and using the Lightning port as the headphone jack, Apple probably won’t be selling hardware features this year as much as it will the new features we’ve seen with iOS 8.

And you won’t need an iPhone 6 to take advantage of iOS 8 if you have an iPhone 5s because of the untapped power of that “forward looking” smartphone. Apple won’t tell you that though. And certainly it will come up with a feature or two that will only be available on the iPhone 6.

And then there is the supposed new screen size or screen sizes. I may be giving Apple more credit than it deserves, but if the conventional wisdom of a larger screen iPhone does come true, it is looking like Apple let everybody else sell them for a few years while the market determined the sweet spot for display sizes.

This theory depends on two things. Apple has to get it right with iCloud. There’s history that spreads some doubt about that. And second? Apple has to hope that users don’t realize that last year’s iPhone 5s is good enough to power them through until the next cycle. For those on a budget (the iPhone 5s will probably sell cheaper if history is any guide) that’s a great thing. For those who already have an iPhone 5s, there really won’t be a rush unless they absolutely must have a larger screen.

19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. Jamie

    06/06/2014 at 2:49 pm

    Warner you have to be drunk to write this article

    • Dan

      06/06/2014 at 5:29 pm

      Ha ha… Maybe not drunk but clearly not in tune with me or those like me. New bigger iPhone, for a 50 year old with poor near vision and money in my pocket. Heck yeah! Save money by buying a 5s?! PFFFT! Who cares! I’ll take it!!!! Get rid of all the cool Apple connectivity that I already have in my home for a Samsung, well, just a phone?! NO WAY!!! I don’t want to work at it. I just want it to work! Apple does that and it’s great. Why change and WHY NOT get the bigger better phone with the better processor and latest technology. It can’t come fast enough!

      • Steve

        07/08/2014 at 10:21 am

        Very true dan I’m 52 and my eyes struggle with the 5s I’ve seen the note 3 screen size and I’m impressed. I’m jumping on board with the largest screen iphone that comes out and so are all my 50plus year old friends. I’m not buying reading glasses because I don’t need them for everyday use

  2. Cory (@xguntherc)

    06/06/2014 at 3:17 pm

    He sounds totally sober to me
    Good read.

  3. Cornelius

    06/06/2014 at 6:54 pm

    Very good read.

  4. Mally

    06/07/2014 at 3:44 am

    Agree with most of this. I skipped the 5S and stuck with the 5 pretty much for the same reasoning stated here, and I’m glad I did.

    I’ll wait to see the ‘6 before I make any decisions on that one.

  5. Shayne

    06/07/2014 at 3:40 pm

    What Dan said. Exactly. I have the money. I have the latest MBA, for its 13 hr battery life, the latest MBP for its retina screen. And I’ll have the latest iPhone. I figure it will be because of its 5.x” screen, if not that, I’m sure there will be another reason. Like Dan said, I’m 50, I have the money. You can’t take it with you when you kick out in 20 years. Why not?

  6. Vidushi

    06/09/2014 at 4:37 am

    Its impossible for me to forget about iPhone 6. I was planning to buy iPhone 5S but then I thought lets wait for iPhone 6. But after reading this I think I will buy iPhone 5S :)
    Lets save money :)

  7. SuicideNinja

    06/15/2014 at 2:34 pm

    ITunes is reason enough never to have an iPhone. That is some irritating and unnecessary software. And yes, I have one… For work.

  8. kb6kgx

    08/04/2014 at 9:45 am

    My iPhone 4 has been due for an upgrade for some time, now. I don’t like the “5”, it’s too thin (doesn’t “feel” right in my hand) and the fact that there is another row of icons is not a deal-maker for me. Yes, it’d be nice to have more storage capacity, but I don’t need to have my entire iTunes library in my phone. Have an iPod for that. Don’t need the faster whiz-bang chip as I don’t do the kinds of things that is good for. The 4S will be just fine for me, as it’s still available.

    Plus, if I got a “5”, I’d have to get a new case.

  9. Erling

    08/27/2014 at 11:36 am

    You may not have heard of something called Windows Phone or Lumia. They also have a very good cloud experince for mobile, tablet (Surface) and desktop.

    • lordbishop34

      09/05/2014 at 8:41 am

      I was thinking the same thing, he talks like he didn’t notice Microsoft has been doing this for awhile. OneDrive = Awesome so far.

  10. Jeremy

    08/31/2014 at 5:55 am

    I personally like Samsung. I once had I phone a switched when the note 3 was released. I love this phone and can’t wait for the note4 to drop. In my opinion is way more user friendly and if the specs I’ve been reading about are correct is going to kill the I phone 6 all around just like the note 3 did the phone 5. Now I know a lot of people stay loyal to their brand but when I made the switch from apple to Samsung I loved it and would never go back. So you should maybe take a look at the reviews on you tube before deciding what phone to buy. I’ll even tell you this. I also had a I pad and made the switch from it to the Samsung Galaxy 10.2 tab and it’s so much better. Just my opinion.

    • Elisa

      09/16/2014 at 2:27 pm

      Question tho I upgraded to a note 3 from iphone 5 n can’t recieve iphone users tx messages which driving me nuts how do I get those cuz I’m thinking about going back to iphone

  11. James

    09/01/2014 at 9:00 am

    If Apple does not offer on line orders. Go to hell I don’t have time to stand in line.

  12. maaen

    09/08/2014 at 5:42 pm

    I too bought an iPad but did not like using it…and I got rid of it quite happily.I now have a Galaxy Not 8 + a Note 10.1 2014 and also a Note 12.2….. I bought them because of their user friendliness and the ability to allow the additional micro SD memory….I will never go to cloud base system …I would much prefer to have access to hard discs and usb memory cards and micro SD cards… I prefer to have my world the way I want it as far as tech of this sort is concerned….old and new together….and me making my own decisions….. and it is so nice to have been able to quite easily open the Note 8 and the Note 10.1 2014 to replace the batteries in both the tablets…..and to top it all … The stylus does a grand job of enabling me to write and draw… and things are getting better……
    The only thing I want from Apple is the Ipod touch 6 with an almost 6 inch screen and a large memory …and I will be happy …I care for nothing more from Apple.

  13. maaen

    09/08/2014 at 5:49 pm

    I too bought an iPad but did not like using it…and I got rid of it quite happily.I now have a Galaxy Note 8 + a Note 10.1 2014 and also a Note 12.2….. I bought them because of their user friendliness and the ability to allow the additional micro SD memory….I will never go to cloud base system …I would much prefer to have access to hard discs and usb memory cards and micro SD cards… I prefer to have my world the way I want it as far as tech of this sort is concerned….old and new together….and me making my own decisions….. and it is so nice to have been able to quite easily open the Note 8 and the Note 10.1 2014 to replace the batteries in both the tablets…..and to top it all … The stylus does a grand job of enabling me to write and draw… and things are getting better……Oh yes …I almost forgot ….I have the Galaxy Note 3 and I just love it …and extra batteries with an external battery charger …..so I am neve without my phone fully available as and when I need it
    The only thing I want from Apple is the Ipod touch 6 with an almost 6 inch screen and a large memory …and I will be happy …I care for nothing more from Apple.

  14. Jan

    09/09/2014 at 2:13 am

    I have used an iPhone 4s for a little over two years and moved to an LG G3. Android is a very nice operating system and the bigger screen does wonders for my eyesight.
    My daughter stayed with Apple’s iPhone 5s. She didn’t have time to learn a new system. She likes the comfort of the iPhone.
    I understand what the writer is saying, Apple makes their phones with a very intuitive system which most have learned and refuse to change,

    I love the G3 in that it reminds me of that first experience with the iPhone. Plus this phone is swift, the battery lasts all day. And it makes the greatest photos i have seen with any device.
    A phone is a statis symbol like cars of days gone by. Ten years ago I had a BlackBerry . I stayed true to them for too long. An iPhone is an iPhone is an iPhone. Things have got to change for them or they will not be on top in ten years. History says it will repeat itself. I just hope that Apple doesn’t suffer from BlackBerry syndrome.

  15. Trevor Martin

    10/28/2014 at 11:27 am

    To me knowing the company and it makeup, Apple sucks

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