This time around, at the launch event of the iPhone, we were surprised to see Apple coming out with a new strategy – bringing out an iPhone to beat an iPhone. As the market has gone, Apple has seen its smartphones launched, and very quickly facing stiff competition with other manufacturers in terms of hardware and features – no more. If you want the slightly larger screen, you can opt for the iPhone 6 for the improved experience, and if a larger device is required to compare, say, with phablets, you can go for the iPhone 6 Plus. Gone are the days when Apple said 4 inches is the best and max size a smartphone should go up to.
With the iPhone 6, Apple has improved not the camera, but the underlying hardware and the user experience. The hardware improvement has a key role to play, but the NFC, the 8MP camera, are too old to be of much marketable value anymore. The minor upgrade after minor upgrade strategy will not do, and even the most passionate of Apple loyalists are coming to realize this.
The design also got tweaked, though we can say that most of the tweaks were down the wrong road. Going for the curves on the sides to make a slippery feel of a very elegant smartphone made us miss and value the classy sharp edged sides. The classy glass at the back is taken out for very cheap plastic strips that can be singled out from a mile. The camera is protruding from the back, and giving the phone an uncomfortable look and feel.
There are those who say this is the largest jump in terms of feature set, but looking at the absence of a better snapper, 4K videos, stereo speakers, high-resolution images, water proofing, lossless zooms, and OIS being some of the areas where nothing has been done, Apple is, by itself, increasing the gap to its rivals. Still, Apple sticks to its own plans, rather than go for the competition. With every passing year, we fear more and more Apple buyers are being given more reasons to move to Android, even though Android is some way away from the experience the iOS 8 provides.
Still, there is hope, and there are some areas which we have to appreciate for the iPhone 6, namely the chipset, the ever efficient battery use, the curves at the front, while most importantly, the iOS 8. Let’s hope we uncover more nice things about the iPhone 6, to sway us.