iPhone X how much more can Apple improve on the iPhones at this point?

[hugodrax]

Maybe extended battery? But The XS Max just feels like a phone I wont need to upgrade for years to come, 4GB of ram, plenty of storage space for my needs, excellent camera and Face ID works great. I can see why Apple has increased the price, They need to amortize phone sales over 3-4 years or more at this point unlike the early days where each upgrade provided major improvements to the experience.

I can see my XS Max lasting me 4 years easy There is only so much you can push now on the phone, CPU speeds and mask shrinkage cant go much more from where its at. 7nm is tiny.

What enhancements do you see in the future that will make it worthwhile for people to upgrade from the current XS line?

 

[Shirasaki]

Support of 5G in the next generation? Apple-made modem chips? Can’t imagine more. We hit the plateau quite a while ago already.

 

[1050792]

Antenna, battery life, cooling and speakers at high volume.

 

[eyoungren]

What enhancements do you see in the future that will make it worthwhile for people to upgrade from the current XS line?

Making the fugly camera boil on the back flush with the casing.

And no, I don't use a case (never do) so the standard reply of "Most people are going to just throw it in a case so they won't see that" doesn't work for me.

 

[Falhófnir]

believe it that in two years' time they will have something out that will make you want to upgrade - I thought the 8 plus was all I would want until the mega camera upgrade came along with the Xs.

 

[Mr Kram]

they make it better every year, albeit, in incremental upgrades. but that's really the electronic industry in general. we are constantly pushing the boundaries already. I wouldn't expect any quantum leaps in the near future.

 

[Squeak825]

Making the fugly camera boil on the back flush with the casing.

And no, I don't use a case (never do) so the standard reply of "Most people are going to just throw it in a case so they won't see that" doesn't work for me.

Due to the way lenses work, you will most likely need to make the whole body thicker or make a worse camera. That is until they can get a sensor that is 2x as “good” as they have now.

I can’t believe others haven’t said the obvious: true full screen (no notch)

 

[OneMike]

Maybe extended battery? But The XS Max just feels like a phone I wont need to upgrade for years to come

Until next year when they introduce a new feature

 

[Dld23]

It replaces alot of things(computer,wallet,calendar,watch etc) only thing left is a man or a woman-add a removeable pocket vagina to the case and some wireless vr goggles. Hope this dont get me banned

 

[44267547]

As much as I appreciate upgrading to an iPhone every year, I have become quite numb to all the features, although I do really appreciate the camera, as it does take amazing quality photos. But I do await the day where the Apple Watch _could_ possibly replace the iPhone, if it ever supersedes that point.

 

[now i see it]

There indeed will come a time when the near best iPhone will be produced years down the line, but that time is far from now.
What the iPhone desperately needs is a OS as powerful as the Mac, and  will take its sweet time incrementally nudging it towards that goal- but never getting there. And along the way, you'll need to continually upgrade the iPhones to the latest and greatest to run the new OSes that won't run on older phones.

Look at the gigantic multi billion dollar spaceship headquarters they just built. Do you really think that  doesn't have a long term plan for milking its customers forever?

 

[dotzero123]

Want a phone that you can plug into a monitor and keyboard for computing. Also, would like to just have the watch and some waterproof / sweatproof / smaller earbuds if I need to make a call.

 

[dstew201]

Holographic keyboard???
Better audio (new DAC).
8k ultra hi def
True retina scan
Improved AI

 

[cnev3]

They need to improve iOS. Its become alot buggier in recent years. It could also be optimized more. Previous gen iPhones actually restart faster.

Aside from that, its just going to be expected improvements with cpu speed, screen resolution, camera quality, and battery life.

 

[sjperformance]

Max has awesome battery life. Better than my previous X. I can them improving battery technology. I like iOS but I believe it needs an overhaul. Make it different. Give us more options and what not. Right now I’m content. Everything just works on iOS. Improve data capability. Etc.

 

[davewolfs]

Get rid of notch. Support 5G and make it slightly thinner. Finally get rid of a little more bezel.

 

[tripleburst]

Hyper smooth image stabilization like the GoPro Hero 7. Get used to the notch, it’s going to last as long as the home button.

 

[pixel_junkie]

One the software side, the list is a mile long.

 

[CrazyForCashews]

Make them lighter.

Stronger.

Improve the batteries.

 

[tonybarnaby]

The only thing I care about is more durable glass construction (never broken a phone, but still) and WEEK long battery life like we got from flip phones. The main reason people upgrade phones is the battery life begins to diminish. The days of removable batteries are over, and a lot of customers won’t pay money for a new battery. They just get a brand new phone.

iPhone batteries are small to begin with, so a lot of people on the older 6/7/8 had to charge multiple times a day. Do that for 18 months and your battery is undoubtably even worse, and you’re charging 3x a day or tethered to a portable battery.

Better battery capacity would be the easy fix, but people would revolt due to the added thickness and weight that would be required. Most people can charge their phone at their desk, school, car and home, but having flip phone battery life would really change the game. Camera tech is already good enough for me. If I wanted better pics I could pick up the latest canon for under $1k and blow away any phone. Speed is already very quick. I would like a 7” phone like the Xiaomi Mi Max 3, and with 1 week battery life. I would pay $1500 for it tomorrow, and I would keep it for 5 years. That’s $300 per year for what would be my dream phone.

 

[Arni99]

Larger 1/1.7“ camera sensor like Huawei is using in its P20 Pro compared to the 1/2.55“ that’s used in the XR/XS/XS Max.

 

[kenvip88]

I thought so, with my X I can use until next year because Xs is so similiar to X and Max is just a zoomed X
One week after it was released I bought a Xs max and happy with that.
So no one can tell what will happen in next year

 

[Gudi]

How much more can Apple improve on the iPhones at this point?

My mother’s physics teacher believed everything was invented back when you had to build your own transistor radio from parts like this one on the left.

 

[yegon]

It’s been incremental for years, across the entire industry. Forums like this love to evangelise the latest phone as exponentially better than last years, which hasn’t been the case for years. I say that as a regular forumite who upgrades most years, I’m amongst this crowd!

Realistic improvements in next couple of years are 120hz screen and faster Face ID in multiple orientations. There will eventually be something epochal and game changing, who knows when.

And I agree with someone above about making them stronger. In 10 years I expect we’ll look back at how ridiculously fragile current phones are.

 

[Ladybug]

I'm not sure what they can add hardware wise but as much as I thought I'd like an all glass phone I find I don’t care for it that much.... So maybe a phone with some other material on the back. Also bring back the 4 and 4.7 inch phones..or something in between.

Software wise I can think of a few things I'd like..customization, set other apps as default, etc...