It’s time to get excited! This could be the week that Apple announces the date that they’re going to announce the iPhone 12!
Yes, an announcement for the announcement.
…
Okay, look, I know it may be strange, but I’ve been really unhappy with the iPhone hardware design now for… six years? Six years. I’ve had a new iPhone nearly every year since the iPhone 6, and I’ve… kind of hated them all. In fact, I only got the iPhone 6s because I accidentally dropped the iPhone 6 where it belonged: the toilet. My review of the iPhone 6s was tinged with anger and boredom already.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade in iOS for Android. Also, the iPhone camera takes great quality shots every time. Night mode on the iPhone 11? Riveting.
Does this shot look cool? Yes. Did I intentionally take it at an angle that hid it’s absurdly smoothed out sides to create that illusion? Also yes.
But the same tired old slippery iPhone 6 design, smoothed out and stretched out into the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max? I just want to smash the thing. There’s a small part of me that wants to just swallow the cost, take the iPhone outside to a brick wall, and hurl it as hard as I can.
I even have 2 brick walls picked out.
I hate the iPhone. Sure, it’s colorful, and I like that, but the design itself? I loathe it. The slippery edges? The double camera bump? Disgusting. At least the iPhone 11 series finally introduced a feature that has been lacking in the iPhone forever: battery life.
The iPhone 6 was the last iPhone Steve Jobs had any hand in making and Apple has been too paralyzed by fear to try anything daring ever since. That’s why they stagnated. Jony Ive forgot his roots and made everything safe. Apple got too afraid to be daring and just repeated last year’s playbook. And we got a thin slippery piece of soap with a Twitter feed.
But the iPhone 12?
That’s something different.
At least, a little different.
I mean, it’s just the iPhone 4 stretched out, but that’s better than the iPhone 6 stretched out.
Stretched Out iPhone 4, Coming Soon!
What’s special about a stretched out iPhone 4? The iPhone 4 was a dramatic departure from the design of the iPhones that came before it. Sharp angular edges. Jobs compared it to technological art, like a Leica camera. I remember when I first saw it in the Gizmodo leaks. I almost couldn’t believe it was really an iPhone. It was so different, there was a part of me that was even afraid it could be the iPhone. But it was. It was also my first iPhone. I loved it.
I sold it to buy the iPhone 5.
The iPhone 4 really was a leap forward in design. It’s time to go back.
I’ve done that for every iPhone I’ve owned. No sense in hoarding, right? But I do wish I held on to that iPhone 4. It was something really special. I figured the next iPhone would be more special. But it wasn’t. The one after that wasn’t either. None of them were. Apple broke our contract. They didn’t continue to deliver anything better. Every year was the “best iPhone yet,” but that was only because they were faster and had better cameras. That was it. None of them were works of art again, they were just pretty toasters. Appliances. Not a hint of soul in them since the iPhone 4. I need my handheld internet machine and you’re it, new iPhone.
So is Apple really doing what I want them to do? I want risk taking. Is going back to the last device you made that looked incredible and didn’t shoot out of your hand like a wet bar of soap really risky? Is it really creative?
No.
Look at that camera bump. The shape hasn’t changed much, but at least the camera bump got… oh, it got bigger? A lot bigger??
But it’ll be good. Perfect’s the enemy of good. Right now, I could use some good. I think we call could. If you want creativity, go to LG. The Wing is the most creative smartphone I’ve seen in years. Go outside of Apple. Get a Razr. Yeah, a Razr. That’s where creativity is now, far away from “play it safe and follow the rules” Apple. But that’s not what Apple’s ever been. They’ve always delivered consistency. But we used to know them for being consistent with something else as well: perfection. They used to perfect a flawed category, take something risky and innovative and make it beautiful and intuitive.
These days we just keep getting the same slippery iPhone, year after year.
Until now. Because the next iPhone is supposed to be a throwback to the iPhone 4 and 5 of yore. Finally, it’ll at least be good.
So… That Release Date?
I wouldn’t get too excited about rumors of new Apple products appearing this week. More likely I think: an announcement of the upcoming (of course virtual) September iPhone/Apple Watch event.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) September 6, 2020
Right. Release date. We don’t yet know when the iPhone 12 will release. It’s expected to be in mid to late October, as Apple had to push it back for the same reason so much of 2020 has been terrible: COVID-19.
However, we will likely start seeing invites go out for Apple’s event this week. Apple may keep to their similar release schedule, at least for the reveal. If that’s the case, this week would be when Apple tells us the reveal date. Since they give at least one week of advanced notice, we’d be looking at a mid-to-late September iPhone 12 reveal and an October release.
So, look down at your slippery, giant, boring old iPhone. With any luck, you’ll know when you’re replacing it within the next 2 weeks.
Sources:
- Chance Miller, 9to5Mac
- Malcolm Owen, AppleInsider