Hi comunity. I would like to contribute some opinions about what is next for iPad and iPhone.
The fundamental thing i see is that the iPhone is steadily getting larger, heavier and thicker and over the years steadily gaining battery life.
While the iPad was getting thinner and lighter while keeping the 10Hr battery life claim.
When we look at the iPhones since 2014 and reason for the change in form factor
iPhone 6 - 6,9 mm thinnest iPhone ever
iPhone 6S - 7,1 mm - addition of 3D touch
iPhone 8 - 7,3 mm - addition of glass back and wireless charging (metal back iPhone case was around 1mm thick)
iPhone 10 - 7,7 mm - dual stacked motherboard (the actual plastic substrate OLED is thinner than past gen. LCD (2,4mm))
iPhone XR - 8,3 mm - iPhone X design but with a much thicker LCD display
iPhone 11 Pro - 8,1 mm - the first time there is no obvious reason for a thickness increase other than battery life. The display is thinner (-0,4 mm due to lack of 3D touch) and a much thicker battery.
iPhone 12 Pro - 7,4 mm - first time the iPhone got significantly thinner in a long while, however my personal opinion is that this is due to much thinner front and back glass - 0,4 mm down from 0,8 which saves 0,8mm in total, also the display assembly was thinner.
iPhone 13 Pro - 7,65 mm - simmilar to 11 Pro. Thinner display due to integrated touch layer and a larger thicker battery.
iPhone 14 Pro - 7,85 mm - I do not see a reason for the thickness increase
iPhone 15 Pro - 8,24 mm - Looks like they cannot go backward.
overall we went from thinning, to thicker if there is major new feature, to thicker every generation, because why not.
Now the iPad is "stuck" with the same dimensions - being limited by battery thickness, aluminium thickness and having a bulky LCD which takes around 2,5 mm of the total 5,86 mm thickness which is huge. There is a prospect that in the future we might get titanium/ titanium with glass back iPad and an OLED display. That would save a huge amout of space - about 2mm and 100-150 g by itself.
So we have two possibilities. a 4-5 mm thin iPad with 11" screen but iPad mini weight OR an iPad of similar measures but lets say 15-20 Hr battery life. And from past design choices the second option seems more likely as a battery upgrade is lacking on iPad for 13 years while mac books and iPhones improved immensely in the same time.
The problem with the iPhone is that the growth in thickness is going to stop sooner rather than later. Is it going to hurt possible upgrades ? Everything needs space.
And last bit, i would like to see a iPhone 6 rebuilt for thinness with modern tech. Thinner glass, OLED and titanium might make for a ~5mm thick device and under 100g weight. So bad we cannot visit Apple prototype lab in person.
So what do you think ? Are you into a possibilitry of ultra thin compact and light iPhones iPads and Macbooks even if it would mean a price simillar to pro models ? (Typed on a one and only sub 1kg Mac Book)
The fundamental thing i see is that the iPhone is steadily getting larger, heavier and thicker and over the years steadily gaining battery life.
While the iPad was getting thinner and lighter while keeping the 10Hr battery life claim.
When we look at the iPhones since 2014 and reason for the change in form factor
iPhone 6 - 6,9 mm thinnest iPhone ever
iPhone 6S - 7,1 mm - addition of 3D touch
iPhone 8 - 7,3 mm - addition of glass back and wireless charging (metal back iPhone case was around 1mm thick)
iPhone 10 - 7,7 mm - dual stacked motherboard (the actual plastic substrate OLED is thinner than past gen. LCD (2,4mm))
iPhone XR - 8,3 mm - iPhone X design but with a much thicker LCD display
iPhone 11 Pro - 8,1 mm - the first time there is no obvious reason for a thickness increase other than battery life. The display is thinner (-0,4 mm due to lack of 3D touch) and a much thicker battery.
iPhone 12 Pro - 7,4 mm - first time the iPhone got significantly thinner in a long while, however my personal opinion is that this is due to much thinner front and back glass - 0,4 mm down from 0,8 which saves 0,8mm in total, also the display assembly was thinner.
iPhone 13 Pro - 7,65 mm - simmilar to 11 Pro. Thinner display due to integrated touch layer and a larger thicker battery.
iPhone 14 Pro - 7,85 mm - I do not see a reason for the thickness increase
iPhone 15 Pro - 8,24 mm - Looks like they cannot go backward.
overall we went from thinning, to thicker if there is major new feature, to thicker every generation, because why not.
Now the iPad is "stuck" with the same dimensions - being limited by battery thickness, aluminium thickness and having a bulky LCD which takes around 2,5 mm of the total 5,86 mm thickness which is huge. There is a prospect that in the future we might get titanium/ titanium with glass back iPad and an OLED display. That would save a huge amout of space - about 2mm and 100-150 g by itself.
So we have two possibilities. a 4-5 mm thin iPad with 11" screen but iPad mini weight OR an iPad of similar measures but lets say 15-20 Hr battery life. And from past design choices the second option seems more likely as a battery upgrade is lacking on iPad for 13 years while mac books and iPhones improved immensely in the same time.
The problem with the iPhone is that the growth in thickness is going to stop sooner rather than later. Is it going to hurt possible upgrades ? Everything needs space.
And last bit, i would like to see a iPhone 6 rebuilt for thinness with modern tech. Thinner glass, OLED and titanium might make for a ~5mm thick device and under 100g weight. So bad we cannot visit Apple prototype lab in person.
So what do you think ? Are you into a possibilitry of ultra thin compact and light iPhones iPads and Macbooks even if it would mean a price simillar to pro models ? (Typed on a one and only sub 1kg Mac Book)