If you ever needed proof that Apple is all about the big-buck bottom line, just look at yesterday’s announcement of the iPhone 4S. Despite the furious, naysaying punditry and the embarrassment that mainstream media must be experiencing right now, the iPhone 4S is an excellent phone, it brings Apple almost into line with Samsung’s smartphones, and it will sell incredibly well despite being loftily priced in that exclusive region that only Apple seems to comfortably occupy.
In the last 10 years, though, since the return of Steve Jobs, the creation of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, when have you ever heard of Apple producing something like the iPhone 4S? When has Steve Jobs marched onto the stage and unveiled something that doesn’tchange everything? The iPhone 4S is nice, but it isn’t as thin, fast, or light as the Galaxy S II. When the iPhone 3 arrived in 2008, nothing even came close in terms of form factor and functionality, and even with nascent Android phones on the scene, the 2009 3GS — the comparable cousin of the 4S — was still at the top of its game.
The last 24 months have been utterly cra y, however. Android finally got on its feet, Samsung, Motorola, and HTC eventually produced phones that could pick a fight against Apple… and then the iPhone 4 was released. Now, just so you understand the scale of the iPhone 4 (and the money it has made for Apple)… the iPhone 3G and 3GS were selling around 5 million units per quarter between 2008 and the iPhone 4′s release in June 2010. Apple is currently shifting around 20 million units of the iPhone 4 per quarter, and all told more than 70 million iPhone 4s are currently being death-gripped by happy owners all over the world.
The iPhone 4 is the most successful smartphone of all time, and the number one smartphone in the world. It is thanks to the iPhone 4 that Apple has just 4% of the smartphone market in terms users, but it is the proud owner of more than 50% the market’s net profits — and to put this into perspective, this rocket ride into the stratosphere has occurred while Samsung enjoyed just as successful sales of the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II. In other words, iPhone 4 — despite being 16 months old — is still the hottest fondleslab around.
Playing it safe
Which is why the iPhone 4S is such a safe bet: people want an iPhone irrespective of whether it’s thinner or lighter than the competition. The fact that the iPhone 4S is faster and more powerful than its predecessor is meaningless: 16 months have passed since the iPhone 4, and Moore’s law almost demands that the 4S be twice as powerful as the iPhone 4. The A5 processor found in the iPad 2 might’ve been more expensive to manufacture back in March, but by now it will be as cheap as the A4 back in 2010. The iPhone 4S might have more RAM and a 64GB option — but again, Moore’s law. If anything, we should be shocked that the iPhone 4S isn’t faster (or lighter!) than last year’s model.
All of which leads us to a rather tricky question: on the back of ever-increasing competition, could Apple actually produce a phone that is better than Samsung? Just look at it from Apple’s perspective, imagine you’re Tim Cook: do you whip an iPhone 5 out of your pocket, which would in all likelihood have the same specifications as the Galaxy S II or theupcoming Nexus Prime, or do you refine the best-selling phone in the world and introduceSiri the AI personal assistant?
The iPhone 4S is basically an admission that Apple cannot compete on specifications, but it’s also a big, smug smile and victorious fist pump in the direction of other smartphone manufacturers: “Prospective Jobsians don’t care that the Galaxy has more jiggerhert or megapixels.” For those of you who simply wanted a new design, an edge-to-edge screen, a tapered body, don’t forget that the chassis used by the iPhone 3G and 3GS wasn’t replaced by the iPhone 4 for two years, and it’s only been just over a year since the iPhone 4 was released. Despite being a little chubby, the iPhone 4 is still one of the most beautiful phones in the world, too.
Back to its roots
In all honesty, Apple has created and populari ed the smartphone industry, it has reaped billions of dollars in return and more customers than it would have ever thought possible, and now Tim Cook & Co. are trying to work out where to go next. Specs-wise, Apple has been beaten. Software-wise, except for Siri, Apple is under heavy attack from Android and Windows 8. Only design and user experience remain, Apple’s preeminent domains, and the iPhone 4 — and now the iPhone 4S — is king of both.
Apple, in its infinite wisdom and returning to its roots, has reali ed that it doesn’t want to — and cannot — compete at the generic, OEM, Wintel-Androidesque level. The margins areawful when the only difference between devices is the si e of the screen and the speed of the processor. Apple isn’t one to get down into the trenches and slug it out with the plebs, and it would be incredibly detrimental to the brand, cult, and cachet if it did.
To successfully launch the iPhone 5, to release the next in a long line of infallible kings, it would have to be truly exceptional, like the iPhone 4. At this point in time, though, Apple simply doesn’t have the edge that it requires, and so the safe-bet iPhone 4S was released. Next year, when Apple has worked out where it wants to lead the smartphone sheep, we will see the iPhone 5, and in all likelihood — if Monsignor Cook has paid close attention over the last decade — it will change everything.
iPhone 4S: Apple’s safe bet until the iPhone 5 is ready
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