Apple’s Meaningful Improvements and the Industry Trend

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the tech industry at large being in a bit of a lull. What I pointed out is simply the time-proven observation of what happens with innovation in mature markets. In the early days of new technology, as we saw with PCs and smartphones, for example, we see year over year leaps in innovation. Advances that felt like jumps forward instead of little steps. Once a category matures, the advances feel less like leaps and more like iterative steps.

But in the case of both categories, a careful analysis would show a much more refined approach to innovation and one that focused more on the things that feel meaningful, solving pain points, more than enabling something entirely new. I like this perspective because it helps us understand the cycle from invention to iteration and how consumer behavior, their needs, their pains, evolve, and eventually get solved. It’s interesting, as a part of this perspective to realize that the yearly cycle of leaps forward ending up creating new behaviors that end up leading to pain points that eventually get solved in the latter part of the maturity cycle through meaningful iteration. I also see no reason to believe this observation changes with whatever innovation cycle we see next.

What’s Meaningful?
I don’t mean to make it sound like the last few years of iPhone iteration were not meaningful. But I think you could look at the last few years of devices and argue this year’s advancements were particularly meaningful. Having used the iPhone 11 Pro and Apple Watch Series 5 for a few days, I’ll talk about how I see these improvements as being particularly meaningful.

First, it’s important to note, as this will be relevant in future iPhone content I write, that I downsized from the Max sized iPhone to the 5.8″ screen-sized non-Max iPhone 11 Pro. I’ve used the Max sized iPhone since it first came out like the iPhone 6 Max and until now never looked back. I wrote at the time the 6 and 6 Max came out that I did not anticipate liking the Max more than the smaller sized iPhone 6, but I did, and I stuck with it. Until now.

Part of this was simply my maturing behavior. My logic for the Max size was how mobile I am and how much work I do on the go. I didn’t want to take my Mac with me everywhere, so the Max size let me do quite a bit of work while on the go. Now, thanks to the improvements in iPad, I bring my iPad Pro with me on the road and to meetings, and because of that, I am comfortable moving to a smaller sized iPhone. Again, the key point here was both meaningful iteration in iPad and my changing behavior with workflows that enabled me to alter my device preference. I make this point, to show that behavior is not static and what is a core computing device and what is a companion computing device can change over time as meaningful iteration happens in the market both at the hardware, software, and even cloud computing levels.

Going back to what the meaningful improvements with the iPhone 11 family, I look at things that a regular consumer will appreciate, value, and understand as a pain point. It comes down to the battery, screen (both on Watch and iPhone), and Camera.

Battery. While the iPhone XR already had exceptional battery life, the iPhone 11 should do even better in real-world testing. The biggest battery gains look to come in the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max. Apple touts the Pro Max as the longest battery life ever in a smartphone with 5 hours more than Xs Max and iPhone Pro with 4 hours more than Xs. I never ran out of battery with the XS Max, and I think I’m at the top in terms of mobile usage of anyone out there. My only concern with downsizing was the battery life, but with the battery life gains Apple has in the 11 Pro this year, I’m able to go a day on the 11 Pro, and I know I would not have made it a day with iPhone XS.

Again, battery life is a real pain point for the mainstream consumer. Most consumers constantly rank battery life as one of their biggest issues with their smartphone and gains in battery life solve real pain points and will be seen as extremely meaningful.

Screens: I’ll start with the iPhone screen being promoted as the toughest glass in a smartphone. This is quite the claim since. When I looked at Apple’s battery life claim for iPhone 11 Pro Max, the wording was specific and said, “longest battery life in an iPhone.” It did not say the longest battery life in a smartphone. With the screen, Apple is saying it is the strongest glass in the category, not just of all iPhones. I think Apple can make this claim for a few reasons. First, nearly every smartphone manufacturer is using Corning’s glass solution on their smartphone. Corning’s Gorilla glass is the gold standard for strength, so OEMs not using this don’t have much claim from what I’ve seen. Apple has its own custom screen collaboration with Corning, so both would know if this is the strongest glass solution to date on a smartphone. I will be very curious to see some third party testing on these screens, but Apple seems confident even using this feature as a main selling point in a recent commercial entitled “it’s tough out there.”

Living with a cracked screen is a thing, and more people live with cracked screens than you think. I’m fairly involved at my daughters High School and go to many athletic events both home and away. I honestly can’t keep track of how many kids I see using cracked iPhones. It’s amazingly common. Both my girls cracked their iPhone XS screens, and we had to have them replaced. If this promise holds for Apple, and they have a new standard in screen durability, it is no doubt meaningful to many.

Lastly, the always-on-display of Apple Watch Series 5 is a great example of meaningful improvement. I’ve been using a Series 5, and you don’t realize how meaningful an always-on-display in a smartwatch is until you try it. I guess, overall, I didn’t realize how many times I was in a situation where I wanted to look at my Apple Watch and could not turn my wrist over. It seems like a small improvement, but it is is quite large in actuality.

Camera: Yes the iPhone is not the first smartphone with a ultra-wide-angle lens. Nor is it the first smartphone with an enhanced mode for better photos at night. But for Apple customers, these are firsts, and they will be very well received by customers who get the new lineup. I’m personally finding the ultra-wide lens much more useful in day to day photos than 2X zoom and Night Mode, easily my favorite feature of Google’s Pixel phones, is incredible.

What I’ve found, personally, about both the camera system the Pro, including Night Mode, is the peace of mind that in any situation I’m going to get the photo I want. I have a multitude of options as well at any time for both the still and video modes for creativity. The 11 Pro camera system covers an incredibly wide range of photography use cases, and that is why I think it is labeled the Pro line. iPhone 11 has everything but the telephoto, which I think is incredible and why the 11 will easily be the best seller this year.

If I had to pick the two most meaningful improvements, it would be the battery and the camera solutions. Those are the things I think consumers will notice the most and appreciate in their everyday use. But it goes back to solving problems in meaningful ways and recognizing most humans will appreciate that more than a giant leap forward that causes new behavior. There will be a day when we will get there again, but its farther off than you think.

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Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin is a Principal Analyst and the head of primary research at Creative Strategies, Inc - An industry analysis, market intelligence and research firm located in Silicon Valley. His primary focus is consumer technology and market trend research and he is responsible for studying over 30 countries. Full Bio

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