If the rumors that have been bandied around these past few months are true, then September is the time when Apple will present the latest additions to their storied line of iPhones for their loyal users. One kernel of speculation about these new units is the belief that they represent Apple’s perceived direction in designing their trademark smartphones, a prevailing “daddy-knows-best” attitude. This supposed face of the Apple iPhone division reared its ugly head the year before when they removed the iconic audio jack. Apparently these new phones supposedly coming this week have removed another iPhone hallmark: the Home button.
Apple has announced a special event right this Wednesday, September 12, to be held at Cupertino’s Steve Jobs Theater. This was pegged by Vox as the day when the new iPhones will first be officially revealed. It will also be the time that will confirm once and for all if Apple has decided that their upcoming smartphones will no longer need the handy Home button that has been with the line since its inception. The prevailing school of thought is that the absence of the home button on the iPhone X did not hurt much, so the rest will follow.
Critics of this design choice would rail against Apple and its paternalistic approach to customers regarding design changes to their devices. The company has already infamously claimed with pride that their decision to remove the 3.5 mm headphone jack and rely only on Lightning connectors was for the customers’ “own good”. Not that it managed to quell upset headphone loyalists. The impending loss of the Home button in the future seems set to unbalance Apple iPhone regulars too. “How to close apps on the iPhone X?” was one of the most-asked online questions for 2017, and might resurge sometime soon.
Regarding the new, potentially Home button-less iPhone that might come out tomorrow, the names circulation for them are: iPhone XS for the basic model, iPhone XC for a more affordable entry-level version, and a third with a supersized screen that might be called XS Max or Plus. The less charitable descriptions for them would be that these are merely iPhone 8s and 8 Pluses with the Home button gone to make room for bigger screens. That too is a point of contention for some users who like their iPhones smaller. But they suspect Apple might say that larger-screen iPhones are for their own good too. We will have to wait for word this coming Wednesday.
Image courtesy of Mac Rumors
0 comments:
Post a Comment