Other New design, neutered hardware?

[Abazigal]

Do you guys think so? It seems that whenever there’s a redesign, too much effort is put on the design part. The rest of the phone like structural integrity, battery life, etc are “fixed” on the subsequent releases.
What do you guys think?

I realised I omitted addressing this point in my earlier reply as well.

I get what you are trying to say, but I don't think it's as malicious as you are making it sound.

Seeing the iPhone trend, Apple's design process seems to be as such:

One year, Apple releases an iPhone with a major design refresh that changes the external design significantly while generally focusing on evolving the internal components.

The year after, the S variant is released with the same design as the previous year, but with sweeping changes to the internals. This cycle of upgrades allows Apple to focus on updating one half of the iPhone at a time while essentially giving their teams a more comfortable two years to develop their next generation technologies.

At the same time, having essentially run their production facilities for a full year, this is more than enough time for any manufacturing kinks to surface, and for Apple to iron them out and refine the entire process in time for the "S" upgrade. Which is why the "S" form factor generally seems more polished and mature.

And then the following year, Apple switches to a new form factor, which in turn entails new manufacturing processes, and the whole cycle repeats.

So it's not that Apple is deliberately being slipshod about quality control in the case of the former, nor is there any conspiracy here. Apple isn't prioritising form over function. The team simply had so much time to work with, and what you get is the best they have to show for it.

 

[EldonChew]

Are people here too new to remember that Apple switched to 7000 series aluminium in 2015? Super hard to bend

Yeah, just look at this!

 

[ian87w]

Yeah maybe, but I’ll always take the new design over the boring S model that has “updated internal” or whatever

That’s the dilemma imo, either you get a fresh design but with some possible flaws, or wait for another year for a perfected design but then risk having an old designed phone by the following year.

Eg. The iPhone 6/6 Plus. It was the best selling iPhone ever, but we know it has many flaws and age poorly. Meanwhile, the 6S, almost went under the radar but end up being one of the real best iPhone to date.

It’s just an interesting observation.

 

[ian87w]

Are people here too new to remember that Apple switched to 7000 series aluminium in 2015? Super hard to bend

Definitely, the 6S and newer phones showed that. But that’s on the old design.

Meanwhile the new iPad Pros don’t seem to be doing too well in terms of structural integrity. Obviously the smaller iPhone will be more rigid, and the stainless steel Pros won’t have an issue. Will wait for jerryrigeverything to test them out...

 

[1rottenapple]

That’s the dilemma imo, either you get a fresh design but with some possible flaws, or wait for another year for a perfected design but then risk having an old designed phone by the following year.

Eg. The iPhone 6/6 Plus. It was the best selling iPhone ever, but we know it has many flaws and age poorly. Meanwhile, the 6S, almost went under the radar but end up being one of the real best iPhone to date.

It’s just an interesting observation.

Ok point taken how many macrumors will hang on to their phone for 5 years. Yes there’s some macrumors readers who will hang on to their phones for 5 yrs but a majority of us will upgrade. Heck 2 yrs is the longest I’ve held on and I think that will be my new upgrade cycle. So whether this 12 pro is flawed doesn’t matter to me. Next!

 

[kevink2]

Where is the evidence the hardware is neutered? I don’t rule out the possibility of the standard 12s being structurally weaker due to the thinness + aluminium, but until there is actual evidence from hand on impressions no one can claim anything has been “neutered”.

Really, the only thing I've seen is power issues with this first 5G. Next years modem X60 is improved. The 5G support (for the US model) looks better than I expected. The 5 had limited LTE support.

 

[teknikal90]

Definitely, the 6S and newer phones showed that. But that’s on the old design.

Meanwhile the new iPad Pros don’t seem to be doing too well in terms of structural integrity. Obviously the smaller iPhone will be more rigid, and the stainless steel Pros won’t have an issue. Will wait for jerryrigeverything to test them out...

the iPad never got the 7000 series aluminium upgrade. Neither did the mac

 

[Dovahkiing]

I think this is bogus speculation. for one thing, the new boxy iPads are *much* bigger than even the 12 Pro Max. They bend not just because they’re thin, but because they’re thin for their size. Being so big let’s people generate a lot more torque/leverage on the center weak point when - and this deserves emphasis - they ***intentionally*** fold the iPad in half. In practice, for the way you use an iPad (not exactly going in your pocket) it doesn’t seem to be a big deal.

Now, the phone is much smaller. So naturally it’s going to have less of this issue to deal with. Secondly, it’s hard (though not impossible) to imagine Apple didn’t consider this when designing the phone. They are aware that, unlike ipads, people actually put these things in their pockets.

 

[ght56]

First generation products almost always have some shortcomings. Apple gets more attention than some other makers, but it happens with everyone. Apple's 'S' versions are always more refined experiences that correct the problems that arise from their premiere release.

It's only reasonable to expect poor battery life on 5G at this point in time, but it's not reasonable to blame Apple for that (right now 5G just nukes battery and that's how it is). Some of that should improve as networks improve. I am assuming Apple will allow us to disable 5G on the 12 though, which would eliminate the issue.

 

[Taco1933]

Maybe, but I also think most of those issues were overblown. The tech blogs love to find THE flaw, but if you asked the average joe about the 32bit 5 or bending 6, they wouldn’t know what you were talking about. I remember the antenna issue on the 4 was a big enough deal where it made the actual news. It was probably the worst example. But I think the issue only existed if you didn’t use a case. Since most people do, it limited those impacted.

Two weeks from now there will be a -gate of some sort. I just don’t expect it to matter.