Completely agree with what you wrote!
This also reminds me of how the previous generation of Retina MacBook Pro's didn't have "MacBook Pro" written on the bezel but how Apple then brought it back for the newer models. Or the fact that the iPhone first had rounded edges (iPhone 2G - 3GS), then flat (iPhone 4 - iPhone SE), then rounded again (iPhone 6 - iPhone 11) and will now probably have flat edges again. Or the back and forth of using glass as a design element for iPhone. Or how the new Mac Pro has a handle reminiscent of the G4 Cube and an outer shell very much like the design introduced with the G5 Mac Pro. Or how the 16" MBP incorporates a mix of the old and new Retina MBP design characteristics...
Good design is worth revisiting and whether a new, streamlined design is better isn't always a simple question to answer.
As per my sig file, change for the sake of change for anything other than maybe a golf course or underwear on a hot day really bothers me when function is noticeably negatively impacted for some and with no option to adjust back.
For the iMac, heading to a no-bezel design seems harmless to me unless it somehow makes access to ports worse. Tho I’ll be interested to see what is desired once the design goes to nothing more than a piece of glass on a stick.
However, I take great issue with going bezelless for an iPhone or iPad. For those crazies like me who put cases on our fragile $750+ purchase, the smaller the bezels have gotten, the more difficult it’s been to consistently swipe from offscreen to enable certain functions. At least I still have my beloved home button on my iPhone 8 for consistent and quick action. For my iPad w/o a case I love being able to hold it securely with finger overlap into the bezels without unintentional taps being enacted.
Worst of all is Jony’s joke of a UI starting with iOS7 that minimized as much function as possible within the onscreen interface just to present something different. Much, much less obvious indications of what’s a functionable vs. info, much less differentiation between content vs. controls, much less differentiation between info on the screen with the virtual eradication of defined borders to an absolute minimum, much less differentiation between the low-contrast light grey text on a stark white background (impossible to read in the sun), random nonsensical substitutions for certain icons just to keep up a certain new aesthetic (iOS’s gamecenter bubbles, Instagram’s tye-dye washing machine instead of a camera, everyone else’s icons morphing to flat design minimum presentation usually involving a basic color and a circle such that similar icons look way too alike sometimes), much content/tools moved offscreen buried under hamburger, ellipse, and/or gear icons just for sake of a clean presentation and supposedly because users no longer need such affordances.
Except the phone icon is a handset nobody‘s used for 20 years.
Except the camera makes a shutter sound that nobody born after 2000 has probably ever heard from a true shutter camera.
Except the mail icon is a handwritten letter that is becoming less and less used.
Except the Save icon used almost universally in apps is a floppy disk that few have used since 2002.
Why do they remain? How did Jony let this slip. Because certain things just “work.” Because it’s what got us here from the past and helps with universally-instantaneous “it just works” function. Sure there’s always room for nips & tucks and fresh coats of paint and trim for some fashionable updates between fun, meaningful function-related innovations, but sometimes too much change without regard for potential negative functional impacts turns into too much change for the sake of change.
But oh well, back to bezels. Once the iMac goes to a bezelless design, sure that’ll be cool. Curious to see how the iMac and iMac Pro are differentiated. Curious to see how Apple’s design will differentiate from a Dell monitor.
