Are you disappointed that after sixteen months, Apple followed the iPhone 4 not with a radically redesigned iPhone 5, but a mere iPhone 4S?
You shouldn’t be. There’s a reason the iPhone 4S is just a slightly better iPhone 4, and it’s because Apple’s looking out for you.
That’s also the reason you should expect an iPhone 5S, iPhone 6S and iPhone 7S every two years, like clockwork.
Look, I think we all felt a tiny bit let down when Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S on October 4th. Forget the rumor cycle, which strongly implied that a proper iPhone 5 was coming… we’d waited almost a year and a half for a new iPhone, only to get the same model bumped up with an A5 processor and Siri voice control. The iPhone 4S felt anticlimactic after all of those months of rumors and anticipation.
But Apple knows what they are doing. In fact, despite our love of shiny new devices, it knows that you don’t really want a totally new and shiny iPhone every year. You want a radically redesigned iPhone every two years, right around the time your existing contract comes up for renewal.
Want to know one of the big reasons the iPhone and Apple always tops consumer satisfaction surveys? It’s because Apple’s not constantly making users feel like their devices are being made obsolete before their time. It’s because Apple makes sure no one ever feels left out.
Look at the numbers. Android smartphone owners are pissed at how quickly device makers are obsoleting their devices. People spend a lot of money on what they think is the newest and best phone, only to find that their smartphone is old hat a mere six months later.
That’s not a problem Apple or its customers have. By sticking with a yearly upgrade cycle and spreading out major updates every two years, you can be confident that no matter when you sign up for your iPhone, by the time your contract is up, your new iPhone will be of the very next generation.
Because Apple respects the two year upgrade cycle, if you picked up an iPhone at launch, you’ve been able to experience each major generation of iPhone for yourself: the iPhone, the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4S. If you started with the iPhone 3G, all you’ve missed are the 0.5 speed updates. No one gets left out.
So expect a radical new iPhone 5 around this time next year. It only makes sense. But after that, expect an iPhone 5S, and two years after that, an iPhone 6S. Apple’s established a pattern, and they want to make sure that every time they design a new iPhone, no one feels left out for long.
