So they've officially killed off the last iPad with a home button.
Elderly folks let out a collective groan since swapping a simple UI for an additional .5" of screen space seems like a poor tradeoff.
Elderly folks let out a collective groan since swapping a simple UI for an additional .5" of screen space seems like a poor tradeoff.
I never had a device with the solid-state home buttons (like the iPhone 7 and 8), but I assume these were not an option due to cost.
The biggest problem is that swipe up depends on orientation of the app and that's not always clear, particularly if playing video. The app might be orientation locked in landscape even though you're viewing it in landscape.
And of course there's Face ID, which I personally hate. I know others like it but the false negative rate is horrendous. Plus they increase "security" by having a really lot limit on failed attempts before you have to enter your passcode anyway. And since attempts can be passive, you can hit the limit pretty often. Touch ID is just better in almost every way.
Plus Face ID is an accessibility nightmare as anyone who is vision impaired can tell you. The distance the device needs to be for Face ID to work is not the distance yo use the device at.
Every Apple device should have the option of Touch ID on the power button just like the iPad Air does. It's also why I own the iPad Air specifically.
What on Earth are you referring to?
edit: actually just tried and you can also pull it to the side, but it doesn't feel quite as natural
This is why most carmakers are moving towards touchscreens now as well.
If you want to keep prices roughly comparable to previous SKUs in the midst of trade and supply chain kerfuffles, there has to be cost cutting somewhere.
Apple has been building the same home button for a decade. It's a simple, familiar interface. iPads cost hundreds of dollars. Engineering the cost of a button out of it at this point is pure greed.
These are not pennies at scale. These are 9-10 figure costs at scale.
Just using the iPhone 15 Max as an example [0], your BoM is around $550-650 (including labor), but sells for $1,200.
50% margins are not great, especially because the the BoM grew from $400-500 for the iPhone 14 Max (Edit: "The parts costs for the Max series ranged between $400 and $450 during the 2018 to 2021 period", not iPhone 14), which also sold for $1,200.
A 50% decrease in margins on the flagship phone is a massive decrease in margins, and it's most likely similar across all Apple SKUs.
Every single component if you're in the hardware space costs money and overhead to manage, and supply chain issues can push back releases.
This is why companies are moving towards digital displays. It's the same principle why EVs can be more reliable than ICE vehicles due to less parts
As an (I presume) Engineer drill the following mantra into your head: MARGINS, MARGINS, MARGINS.
This is what gives you your paycheck in the environment we are in today.
[0] - https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/iPhone-15-teardo...
if 3nm chip manufacturing receives so much interest -- why not a fraction of that investment in engineering more durable, lasting, and cheap physical components too.
years later Apple might be the company doing "radical innovation", being "uncompromising when it comes to UX" and add a physical button and charge a premium for it
These are not pennies at scale. These are 9-10 figure costs at scale.
Just using the iPhone 15 Max as an example [0], your BoM is around $550-650 (including labor), but sells for $1,200.
50% margins are not great, especially because the the BoM grew from $400-500 for the iPhone 14 Max (Edit: "The parts costs for the Max series ranged between $400 and $450 during the 2018 to 2021 period", not iPhone 14), which also sold for $1,200.
A 50% decrease in margins on the flagship phone is a massive decrease in margins, and it's most likely similar across all Apple SKUs.
Every single component if you're in the hardware space costs money and overhead to manage, and supply chain issues can push back releases.
This is why companies are moving towards digital displays. It's the same principle why EVs can be more reliable than ICE vehicles due to less parts
As an (I presume) Engineer drill the following mantra into your head: MARGINS, MARGINS, MARGINS.
This is what gives you your paycheck in the environment we are in today.
> if 3nm chip manufacturing receives so much interest -- why not a fraction of that investment in engineering more durable, lasting, and cheap physical components too.
3nm chip manufacturing is expensive and costs money. That money needs to come from somewhere. Turns out, a portion of that budget came from the budget for buttons.
[0] - https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/iPhone-15-teardo...
Your claim is contradicted by the article you linked.
> The parts costs for the Max series ranged between $400 and $450 during the 2018 to 2021 period
> The estimated production cost of the model, calculated by adding up the cots of all parts used, stood at $558
Good catch though, I confused the iPhone 14 release date with 2021.
Editing.
Other poster is correct, it's a big deal, and it's why screens have replaced buttons in cars. It's so much cheaper to make a screen. Which is funny because as an EE, I judge a new vehicle first by how many buttons they still have.
Supply Chain is hard enough in a globalized world, and it's only gotten even harder now that a multi-year pandemic shutdown, trade wars, and tariffs are coming to play.
Because you can't use them without taking your eyes off the road.
Depends on the country and margins.
For example, Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese car manufacturers increasingly use touchscreens to minimize the amount of SKUs to manage and because touchscreen display manufacturing is commoditized in developing Asia.
The EU is pushing for regulation and limitations around touchscreen displays last month, but it was also around the same time the EU also announced anti-competitive action against Chinese automakers.
The US is a mixed bag around touchscreens. Some Chinese makes like a Volvo XC30 or a Polestar will be almost entirely touchscreen driven, and Tesla is also touchscreen driven for cost reasons, but other companies like your GMs or your Stellarises still have buttons, but are increasingly trying to move away.
Pretty much blows away the "Volvo is safer" marketing message.
The 10th-generation iPad (first released in 2022) is now the cheapest model you can buy new from Apple.