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What is the Right Size for the iPhone?
Most tech pundits are unaware of how corporations make their decisions. Many of them have never worked at a corporation that develops consumer products. Having worked in such a capacity for a few decades, I know the importance of market research. After all, one needs to develop a device that people will purchase. If a corporation makes many devices and offers lots of options, they will not achieve economies of scale. The device manufacturers offering many different models are also not very profitable. Their devices are expensive and they cut corners, using inexpensive materials, in order to compensate for the lack of manufacturing efficiencies.
Market research reveals that a smartphone should have a screen that’s no bigger than four inches. That’s what most consumers desire:
The iPhone 5 and 5S have larger screens than their predecessor. Both models offer a four-inch screen. The devices aren’t wider than the iPhone 4S. Users are able to fit the 5-series phones in their pockets and operate them with one hand. A device has to be a certain size to operate as a phone. A large device can be tiring to hold up to one’s ear for extended periods.
iPhone Won’t Be Much Larger
When has Apple ever made anything big? They pride themselves in making the smallest devices possible. Saturday Night Live even poked fun at this tendency for miniaturization.
Future iPhones may have larger screen sizes, but this won’t come at the expense of ergonomics. An iPhone with a bigger screen will accomplish this at the expense of a smaller bezel. Rumors abound that Apple is moving into curved AMOLED displays. They are not the first to do this. Apple recently acquired a plant in Arizona to manufacture safire glass. If the future iPhone has a curved edge-to-edge screen, it would make for a larger screen size without sacrificing ergonomic design. I’m not saying that the iPhone will never have a larger screen. This may happen. It just won’t come at the expense of making the device unwieldy.
iPad Nano?
Another possibility, which I feel is more likely, would be a iPad phablet — the iPad Nano. This device would be smaller than the iPad Mini but larger than the iPhone. A larger iPhone would be hard to use as a phone. A smaller iPad wouldn’t be used as a phone, unless the user installs a VOIP app. The device would be ideal as a portable gaming platform and entertainment system.
An iPad Nano is possible, but not likely. While Apple is well-known for making different sizes of devices, be it Macs, iPods, or iPads, they have been cutting down on model variation. They killed off the standard MacBook. Now there’s just the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Too many models makes it difficult to achieve economies of scale. This is crucial for Apple. They need to make products that people can afford. They need to make a profit. Apple is not the company that will develop 20 models of smartphones. If you want these choices, look elsewhere.