Why Apple has stopped making small phones—and why it should start again - Ars Technica | Canada News Media
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Why Apple has stopped making small phones—and why it should start again – Ars Technica

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5 years ago

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  • The new iPhone SE resembles the iPhone 8 in design, but it sports an A13 chip and aluminum edges.

    Apple
  • A picture of the SE featuring the camera and that classic home button for Touch ID.

    Apple
  • These are the available colors.

    Apple

The new iPhone SE is here, and it’s an attractive product: it combines a tried-and-true design, arguably the fastest mobile chip in the industry, and a $400 starting price point. It might be the most appealing phone in Apple’s lineup for a wide range of users.

That said, it’s quite a bit bigger than its predecessor. Consumers who were hoping for the return of the 4-inch display, or maybe even a slightly larger display but in the same grip size as the original SE, were likely disappointed by this week’s announcement. Apple is not alone in skipping smaller handset offerings; there aren’t many small Android phones left, either.

There are reasons for this trend that make sense both for the tech company and the consumer, but there are also reasons Apple shouldn’t turn its back on a minority of consumers who still want—or even need—smaller phones.

Why there aren’t many small phones anymore

There are numerous reasons not a lot of very small smartphones get made at this point. There is some overlap between why Apple has emphasized larger phones and why Android OEMs have, but there’s also some overlap. In any case, we’ll focus on Apple here since we’re discussing the iPhone SE.

Bigger phones mean bigger revenue

You’ve probably noticed smartphone prices going up; part of that reflects the fact that some consumers are willing to pay more than they were previously because of how central smartphones have become in so many aspects of our lives. But part of it is because companies like Apple need to please investors, and if they can’t do that by selling more phones, they can do it by selling a smaller number of phones at a higher price per unit.

As the market has become saturated, Apple and Android OEMs are seeing slower smartphone sales growth—and people are upgrading less frequently for various reasons, too. This makes the economics of selling low-cost smartphones more unfavorable than they have been in the past. To make up for selling fewer units overall, Apple and its competitors need to sell more expensive phones than before.

It makes sense for smaller phones to sell for cheaper because they contain fewer expensive materials and components. And a company couldn’t just sell the small phones with a huge margin; a competitor would be able to undercut that price with a comparable phone.

Apple’s emphasis on content and services calls for bigger screens

Investor pressure mounted on Apple in recent years to make up for the slowing growth of smartphone sales, and more expensive phones hasn’t been the company’s only apparent strategy. Another has been to pivot to sell additional products and services to existing customers, ranging from AirPods to the Apple Watch to subscription services like Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple Music.

Generally, that strategy requires smartphones to be treated as primary media consumption devices—not just for short TikTok videos, but for long binge sessions of Arcade games or TV+ shows. (Also, Apple receives a cut from subscriptions to other video services started through its payment system.) That means it makes sense to emphasize more powerful devices with larger, more immersive screens.

It’s not much fun to watch For All Mankind or play Sayonara Wild Hearts on a 4-inch screen. With 6.5 inches, though? That might be a different story for some, especially if that phone also sports an OLED display with HDR support like the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Enlarge / The iPhone 11 Pro Max (right) measures a whopping 6.22 inches tall. The iPhone 11 Pro (left) is no slouch at 5.67 inches, but that extra half-inch(ish) makes it look tiny in comparison.
Samuel Axon

Modern features don’t fit in small packages

Those business-related reasons are part of the picture, but neither is the most significant reason. There are technical and design reasons, too.

Over time, Apple and its competitors have added more features and components to smartphones, requiring more space inside the phones to put those things in. And it just so happens that most of the top priorities of smartphone buyers run counter to the ideal of a small phone: battery life and cameras.

In February of 2019, market research company SurveyMonkey asked smartphone buyers what their top priorities were. The leading concern was battery life, cited by 76 percent of iPhone users and 77 percent of Android users. Also near the top: better cameras, at 57 percent and 52 percent, respectively.

A similar survey of 575,000 US consumers by Global Web Index also put battery life as a concern for 77 percent of smartphone users. Camera picture quality landed at 62 percent, and screen resolution was also high at 52 percent.

Below: Photos of the iPhone SE from our review back in 2016.

Listing image by Andrew Cunningham

  • The iPhone SE atop an iPhone 5 and 5S.

    Andrew Cunningham
  • From left to right: iPhone 5, 5S, and SE.

    Andrew Cunningham
  • The iPhone SE has an “SE” on it, which is one of the ways you can tell it apart from the 5S.

    Andrew Cunningham
  • Modern iPhones in three sizes.

    Andrew Cunningham
  • Personally, I think the antenna cutouts on the 5/SE design are more elegant than on the 6.

    Andrew Cunningham
  • A thicker phone means no camera bump.

    Andrew Cunningham
  • Bottom to top: 5, 5S, SE.

    Andrew Cunningham
  • The ports, buttons, and speakers are all perfectly aligned, meaning that cases designed for an SE should work on a 5S and vice versa (that may not be true for the 5, which had a different camera flash and may need different cutouts.

    Andrew Cunningham

I’ve written before about how aging lithium ion battery technology is a burden to the modern smartphone. That’s still true now. A significant percentage of the bulk in modern smartphones is dedicated to batteries. The bigger the phone, the bigger the battery, and bigger batteries mean more battery life. This scale still tells the same story even if you account for the added battery drain of larger screens.

Today’s smartphone cameras are modern marvels, but there’s a reason Apple and Google have leaned so heavily on computational photography to improve the pictures taken with them: space limitations make it especially challenging to make these cameras batter, especially as popular new features call for additional lenses.

All that is to say that while some smartphone buyers might say they want a small smartphone, a big chunk of those who say that might change their tune when told that means worse battery life and poorer-quality photos.

Companies like Apple do market research and adapt their product lineups accordingly. This isn’t something former CEO Steve Jobs was known for, but Apple’s current lineup seems to suggest Tim Cook is not so averse to that approach to product development. And market research is probably telling smartphone makers that the great majority of consumers want big phones—either because they want big screens, or because other desires like longer battery life are easier to deliver in larger devices.

There is surely still a niche audience for small phones, though, and it’s not being served very well. Part of that may be because supply lines can only produce so many components in a given time frame, and it may make sense in many cases for Apple and its partners to focus those supply lines on products that have the widest possible appeal.

But nevertheless, a case can be made that Apple and Android OEMs are not adequately serving the market by leaving small phones like the original iPhone SE out of the mix.

Why Apple should keep making small phones anyway

There was a time when Apple’s product lineup reflected the philosophy that one product can meet the needs of all users, but that has changed under CEO Tim Cook. There’s a wide range of iPhones, Macs, and iPads available now. While this does undermine one of the original pitches behind the Apple ecosystem for some consumers—freedom from the burden of choice—it’s generally a good thing. It’s important for the future of Apple’s platforms that they address a diverse range of users, from low-income to high-income, from one region to another, and so on.

To that point offering small, iPhone 5-sized phones would fill in some critical gaps.

There have been numerous op-eds written over the past couple of years by women in the tech media space lamenting that it doesn’t feel like today’s smartphones are made with them in mind. And it’s a complaint I’ve heard time and again. It’s so common, in fact, that I can recall multiple times that a woman I have just met asked me what I did for a living, and as soon as I answered that I review gadgets, they responded with the question, “Why don’t they make phones that suit women’s hands anymore?”

Whether those individuals speak for all women or not, they’re large enough in number that it’s perplexing companies like Apple aren’t offering solutions.

And, of course, there are men with small hands, too. It shouldn’t be difficult to find a phone that fits how your body is built, but for many it is. Some people with small hands purchase phone grip attachments like the ones pictured below. These attachments serve a few functions, but one of them is to help people with small hands hold gigantic phones securely. It seems obvious to me that there’s something absurd going on when people have to purchase things like this to hold their phones.

  • An entire industry of phone grips has popped up as phones have gotten larger. These from PopSockets are among the most popular.

    PopSockets
  • The Spygen Style Ring is another popular choice.

    Spygen
  • Or there’s the LoveHandle.

    LoveHandle

Beyond that, there are accessibility concerns. Many users don’t have full use of both of their hands or other disabilities that would make small phones more practical for them. Apple has lately been an industry leader in offering powerful software accessibility features in iOS software for iPhones, so it’s surprising that the company isn’t doing as good a job addressing the diversity of human ability in hardware, too.

Phone size matters for software design, too. Apple’s phones became so large that users began demanding that app developers move UI elements previously placed at the top of the viewport to the bottom. And Apple introduced a feature called Reachability that lets users pull the top of the viewport down so you can reach it with their hands.

It seems to me that when you have to introduce a feature called “Reachability” so users can conveniently access your entire user interface, you have a serious design problem without a good solution.

Luckily, there is a pretty simple solution: offer consumers a smaller phone as one of many options. Failure to offer options to address the entire available market has been one of the key factors preventing Apple from achieving majority market share in some of its product categories. Bringing back the original size of the iPhone SE would be one of many ways the company could remedy that.

Sadly, with the recent unveiling of that 4.7-inch iPhone SE successor, it unfortunately doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon.

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Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

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1 week ago

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November 6, 2024

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The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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3 weeks ago

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October 24, 2024

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

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3 weeks ago

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October 24, 2024

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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