iMore:
Tim Cook recently said that 60 percent of customers on an iPhone 5s or earlier have not yet upgraded to an iPhone 6 or later. When we polled our readership late last year, a majority of our readers told us they were happy with the current sizes — almost 58%.
Whether Apple does this in the spring or not, it certainly makes sense for the company to serve the end of the market that doesn’t need or want one of the ginormous iPhone 6 variations.
Apple would be smart to do this … if one remembers way back to when Apple was in chaos, before Gil Amelio or Steve Jobs took over – Apple had way to many options – yet they had 3 basic computer options – in several categories.
I think three basic iPhone models (current models) would be fine – seeing as how massive the iPhone market is. Smaller phones do have many advantages and often regular phone features and many apps will work just as well on the smaller screen (and it feels better in one’s hand).
In the beginning there was one iPhone (size) .. then the iPad came out and everyone said, “That’s just a big iPhone!” … Then Android people insisted that they wanted a phone sized tablet and a tablet sized phone.
The main thing I dislike about my iPhone 5 is the lack of a fingerprint reader.
Darn right there’s an advantage to a smaller iPhone. And that advantage is, I would want to own one.
It’s at news like the recent 5se rumors that I am glad I didn’t just resignedly shrug and get a 6S this Christmas. I’m still on my 5c, and I would have loved a 6c: same body, same materials, update the processor, add Apple Pay NFC and Touch ID, a camera from the 6 or 6S…I would have been thrilled.
The 6-series iPhones are the most un-Apple-y phones they’ve made, and I say that after being an owner of the regular 6 for more than 16 months, and an iPhone owner since I first bought the 2G imported from “across the pond”. Clearly they wanted to appeal to switchers that wanted a bigger phone, and left out all the compromises that made the previous iPhones great.
I bought the regular 6 simply because I wanted to give a bigger screen a try (how bad could it be), and upgrading to an already outdated 5S seemed wrong, economically.
Now I am rarely able to use my phone one-handed without juggling it around in my palm. All of the swiping actions that made the previous models easy to use are almost completely lost to me on the 6 – everything is a hand stretching exercise! If they bring back the 4 inch screen with a modern processor I’ll happily go back.
Agreed. We just got my smarter half a used 5C.
The iPhone 6/6s is a bit big in my hand, though feels fairly secure with Apple’s leather case – which has the right amount of grip. I think the interior padding should also keep the metal body clean…
Some people even use a phone, like a phone.
Does the 5c have the finger print reader?
They shouldn’t call it the 5se. They should call it the “Moltz Edition.”
Personally, I love the size of the 6. I have long fingers so it fits my hand well. I understand that a smaller phone is better for some people. Whenever I look at a 5, though, the screen seems tiny and cramped.
I am waiting.
Money is sitting in the bank.
Own iPhone 5. Like the size.
Want Apple Pay.
Wife, on the other hand, loves her gigantic iPhone 6+
No.
I think they grossly underestimated the number of people who didn’t want to follow the Android way-too-gigantic screen trend. If they had unveiled an iPhone 6 “Mini” alongside the 6 and 6 Plus, I definitely would have bought it. Coming from a 4S, though, it was time for me to upgrade and I didn’t want to buy a year-old phone, so I bought the 6 because it was the smallest one available. I’d be tempted to switch back to a 4″ phone if they unveil an iPhone 7 at 4″ that has feature parity with the other models.
well to be fair many webpages waste a ton of space … though the “HD” or retina display helps a ton with text, poor webpage rending is the norm.
A proper app (no ads) tends to use space very efficiently. I guess that’s why Android users love BIG screens (and so does google?).
does she also drive the “SUV”?
That’s my same complaint about my iPhone 5. I’ve considered upgrading to a 5s, but it doesn’t seem worth the trouble.
Eh, I have an iPhone 5s and gave my wife my iPhone 5. It doesn’t always recognize the fingerprint, it’s about 90% accurate though. My main complaint is that when using the fingerprint reader, I can’t set a time that my phone locks. It locks right away when using the fingerprint reader.
So that and using it for accessing bank accounts, it really isn’t as great as I thought it would be.
In other words, you are not missing that much.
No. We own a 2007 Audi A3 with 38K miles on it.
We also use Car2Go occasionally.
grossly underestimated? how do you figure, when the 6 and 6s have been the largest selling smartphones in history?
Thanks. 🙂 Definitely not worth the trouble, then. Good to know.
I wholeheartedly disagree. Touch ID works for me 99% of the time. I would never want to use an iPhone or iPad without one now. I put a SUPER secure pass key on then use my finger to unlock and log into apps.
Pay is the main feature I am missing from my 5S. And I’d love a better camera too but he 5S is still really solid.
Even though I’m on an iPhone 5, I have access to Pay via my Apple Watch.
While I’m sure the Apple Watch 2 will be even better in a I-can’t-believe-I-didn’t-wait way, I’m loving my watch now.
Good point. Pay is one big reason I want the Gen 1 Apple Watch. I think it’s even more practical on the Watch too.