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dustin.haley

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2013
20
37
Now that Apple has released iOS 12, iPhone XS, etc, I wanted to share my theory on Apple's design choices, those choices I know many have questions about. After a little pondering, I think I have figured out Apple's logic, and it makes me all the more excited for next year's iOS 13.

The iPhone X was originally suppose to be released in 2018 ( https://mashable.com/2017/10/31/how-apple-built-the-iphone-x/#bEVBGz5toSq7 ), but instead they released it in 2017 ahead of scheduled. This would have limited the ability for the software team to complete a full redesign ahead of the iPhone X launch. Instead, they made minor changes to iOS design language to tide them over for a major redesign.

It was widely rumored that Apple was going to do a redesign/introduce dark mode in iOS 12. This was, as we know, later pushed to iOS 13 (to much fan fare with the focus on speed and stability!).

Now, they could have added dark mode or redesigned Volume HUD this year. People would of loved this, but after careful consideration, I am happy they delayed the redesign. It would have been a major waste of resources to simply push dark mode on iOS 12 (It isn't as simple as just inverting colors). The general iOS 11 changes for the X easily carried over to iOS 12 (and the XS), and thus there wasn't the impetus for a major redesign since the iPhone X was already released.

I believe iOS 13 will be designed with the iPhone X and XS as a major focus, rather than iOS 12, 11, and before, which were designed for pre-notch devices. This *I hope* will solve many problems, include control center, the always present visual indicator, massive amounts of wasted space at the top and bottom of the iPhone X interfaces. I know it's 8 months away, but I believe it is going to be a significant improvement to the visual inconsistencies and design of iOS.

I haven't seen anyone else really make this connection, so I hope it helps relieve some peoples frustrations on the lack of progress with iOS design!
 

Freakonomics101

macrumors 68030
Nov 6, 2014
2,740
1,799
In my opinion, iOS 12 *IS* a redesign... just not a redesign you can see with the human eye. Performance wise, this is iOS 6, round two. I am loving iOS 12 so far. The beats of 12.0 were better than any version of iOS 11 released. Some care about major visual changes and exciting features. Others care about performance, stability and reliability.

Obviously you already know my preference. :p
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Key in all of that is basically that a lot of it is based on rumors of one kind or another.
 

dustin.haley

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2013
20
37
In my opinion, iOS 12 *IS* a redesign... just not a redesign you can see with the human eye. Performance wise, this is iOS 6, round two. I am loving iOS 12 so far. The beats of 12.0 were better than any version of iOS 11 released. Some care about major visual changes and exciting features. Others care about performance, stability and reliability.

Obviously you already know my preference. :p

I always welcome performance updates, on new devices, performance wasn't really *that* bad. I would love a fresh new design for a fresh device next year (still on the 8).
[doublepost=1537927439][/doublepost]
Key in all of that is basically that a lot of it is based on rumors of one kind or another.

The Mashable article has direct quotes from Apple about the X release date originally planned for 2018. As for the software, yes, rumors, much of which came from Gurman and Gruber, with a long track record of accurate reporting.
 

palmerc2

macrumors 68000
Feb 29, 2008
1,624
684
Los Angeles
I upgraded my Mac to Mojave yesterday and I’m loving the new dark mode. Really looking forward to an implementation in iOS.
 
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