Apple is considered the leader in the smartphone market. In five years, the company has generated more than $150 billion in revenue from the iPhone family of handsets and accessories, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. More than 100 million iPhones have been sold.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company clearly doesn't plan to relinquish its standing anytime soon. The iPhone 5 is touted by many as the most innovative iPhone since the original, offering the first re-design of the product since the "squaring" of the iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 marks Apple's first time moving beyond its 3.5-inch touchscreen comfort zone, with the introduction of a lengthened 4-inch screen.
The first member of the iPhone family to divert from 3.5-inch screen, the iPhone 5 boasts a 4-inch Retina display with a resolution of 1,136 x 640 and 326 pixels per square inch. The iPhone 5 also re-introduces the front-to-back manufacturing model that was last seen with the iPhone 3GS. (One wonders if Foxconn, the electronics manufacturer of choice for Apple, had any influence in the change, as front-to-back manufacturing makes for easier assembly.)
Since the introduction of the iPhone by Apple in January of 2007, the handset has been the very definition of "iterative improvement."
The first iPhone, with its multi-touch screen and application-based environment, was considered revolutionary to the smartphone segment. Since that time, there has been five generations of iPhone models, each one improving on the model preceding it. The iPhone 5 is marketed as the most dramatic improvement of any new model, but does it really differ that much from its predecessors?
Click on the photo below to take a look inside the iPhone 5.
The iPhone 5 dissected. Click through the slideshow to see how we got here.
I agree, Tom. Often, the change or exclusion comes at expense to the customer's usability of the phone. As an example, my phone has a replaceable battery. On long trips, I bring a 3-pack of batteries and swap one in (within seconds) as needed. A charger and 3-pack of batteries cost me about $15. For some reason, Apple decided that we don't need replaceble batteries. I guess they believe that most people will simply upgrade their iPhone, rather than go through the hassle of having the battery replaced at the Apple store.
What bothers me most about Apple's designs is the non-standardized connectors. I was briefly enthusiastic about the Apple iPhone 5, until I realised that the micro USB looking connector was not in fact a USB micro at all. Most everything today is using standard USB (typically micro). To me this is a gross waste of resources since you can't reuse old connectors without some converter or just discard the old. I feel like they won't "conform" to "industry standards" just to be contrary and different.
@Tim: I find it interesting that your IT department handed you a corporate issued cell phone at all. Increasingly, companies are finding that employees want a phone of their choice and in particular their own personal phone to use at work. Therefore, instead of an outdated corporate "brick," they're typically issued some sort of reimbursement plan that covers the phone and a portion of their data coverage monthly.
Thanks for your comment Nadine. I had the same reaction. I used to enjoy tearing apart just about anything when I was a kid just to understand how it worked. Nice to see that you can be a grown up and do the same thing for a living!
I went to my IS department to get a new company cell phone to replace a previously issued flip phone that had a malfunctioning screen. In replacement, he handed me circa 1980 brick phone and said that it was a recently turned in and worked fine. I learned at that point that it is important to be nice to the IS employess as they control how you communicate.
It is so funny to look at the iPhone 5 and compare it to cell phone of years ago. I remember my police friend's cell phone was in some kind of bag it was huge. I don't have an iPhone but hear they are nice. Maybe one day I will come into this century.
The size of the battery is pretty crazy. But these phones actually have pretty long battery lives, which becomes increasingly important when you are constantly engaging the device for email/texts/web surfing/apps etc.
I love tear-downs. It's like being a kid again...peeling it like a banana!
It would be great if something like this showed up in a commercial WHEN (hopefully not IF) consumer electronics become easy to recycle. Many consumers are interested in repairing or even upgrading components on their own.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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