Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology.
The foremost surprising thing in regards to the iPhone 4S is that folk were surprised by the iPhone 4S, for there’s ample precedent to the corporate both confining upgrades largely to a speed bump and to saying no to a bunch of potential new features. As to the previous, the iPhone 4S is straight out of the playbook of Apple’s successful upgrade of the Apple 3G to the 3GS, although the contest wasn’t as strong because it is today.
Similarly, when Apple first lowered the cost of the iPod touch below $200 in 2009 amidst widespread speculation that it should add a front-facing camera for FaceTime (which it did inside the next generation), the corporate noted that it didn’t think the product needed any further “stuff.” So, what, then, defines the iPhone 4S? The differentiators could be regarded as four “Ses.”
Speed. Probably the most significant specification change to the iPhone 4S from its predecessor is the bump to Apple’s A5 processor, which currently inhabits the slim encasing of the iPad 2. As such, we are able to get a feeling of the rate and battery life benefits by comparing the unique iPad to its sequel. While it has certainly led to a snappier experience and enabled developers to do new things by using an effective graphics engine of their apps, it hasn’t really made a fundamental difference yet. Perhaps the ideal reason to select the iPhone 4S’s faster processor is that it may help run future versions of iOS better, as was the case for the 3GS.
Shooting. The iPhone 4S bumps the resolution of its digital stills from 5 megapixels to eight megapixels (available in competitive cameras even on the launch of the iPhone 4) and its HD video capture resolution from 720p to 1080p. Apple primarily talked up the photos in the course of the introduction. The advance — particularly together with the speedy shot time and residential screen camera launching feature of iOS 5 — continues the brand new emphasis on imaging that Switched On discussed when the iPhone 4 launched. Indeed, there are actually a bunch of add-on lenses created for the iPhone 4 that needs to work well with the iPhone 4S’s identical body.
Siri. The showstopper of the iPhone 4S launch, it wasn’t any news that Apple had acquired Siri , however the software has obviously come a ways since Apple purchased it and is integrated into core functions of the handset in addition to Wolfram Alpha for buying answers directly from the net. While there has been no announcement of the long-rumored new mapping application from Apple this week, Siri nonetheless represents Apple further asserting its online independence from Google in circumventing its lists of links.
Sprint. In numerous ways, the introduction of the iPhone 4S was about expanding the iOS base. While there has been no prepaid iPhone announcement, Apple did introduce the iPhone on Sprint, one of many two biggest players in prepaid. At a Sprint event on Friday, the #3 carrier noted that the shortcoming of an iPhone was the #1 reason customers gave for leaving the carrier, so having the iPhone and iPhone 4S available to those customers for the primary time should bolster Apple’s market share. To boot, the free 3GS available at AT&T and the untouched iPod touch dropping back below $200 must also help drive the iOS developer base.
Five years after the debut of the unique iPhone, the iPhone 4S raises questions as to if the product has reached “middle age.” In spite of everything, the elemental industrial design of the MacBook Pro has not changed dramatically because the titanium PowerBook G4 of 2001, the Mac Pro’s look goes back to the PowerMac G5 enclosure of 2003, and the aluminum iMac’s since 2007. Apple hasn’t ever been an organization to find the foremost impressive specification available to handle competitors. Rather, with iOS 5 and iCloud, it’s going to bring the mixing of 2 other “Ses” — software and services — to a collection of devices that extends far beyond a phone that held few surprises.
Ross Rubin ( @rossrubin ) is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group . Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
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