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I'm a huge iPhone fan, but even I have to admit that the core premise here is a bit far-fetched. The other phones are not trailing the iPhone, they're leading

I'm a huge iPhone fan, but even I have to admit that the core premise here is a bit far-fetched. The other phones are not trailing the iPhone, they're leading it. There's not a single feature (maybe force-touch?) that my Android friends have not crowed about having long before it finally arrived on the next iPhone iteration. Apple is doing here what Microsoft did when they were in their prime. Let the other guys experiment with a ton of random features, and then wait, and copy the best features from the last batch, but make them a little better.

daniel_levine 11y ago
Apple is first to a bunch of things: Apple Pay, Force Touch, Touch ID etc. They're also so much further ahead on dimensions like performance, battery life, build quality, camera, apps, etc. Those things are so important, I think they're similar to "being first"
- Oletros 11y ago
  > Apple Pay, Force Touch, Touch ID etc. Yes, those Apple things were first shown on an iPhone. It doesn't means that those technologies were first shown on the iPhone
- ytjohn 11y ago
  I've been using Google Wallet for a long time. When Apple Pay came out, more places started providing nfc readers, which made my Google Wallet (not called Android Pay) work in more places.
- mkane848 11y ago
  Apple Pay and TouchID? Come on now, at least retina displays and Force Touch are good examples, but Apple certainly wasn't the first to implement eWallets or fingerprints linked to your ID. And while I'll concede that things like their cameras are great, the only reason certain things like performance and battery life are what they are is because they control iOS AND all of the hardware running it. And app development on iOS has just as many pros and cons as developing for Android, I don't think it fair to label one as better in that regard.
  - pravka 11y ago
    Not even Force Touch is a good example; Android has had getPressure() API since v1.
    - mkane848 11y ago
      Huh, TIL. Thanks!
- WrkInProgress 11y ago
  I'd argue that they aren't "so much further" ahead of almost everyone of the dimensions you listed with the exception of: 1.) potentially performance (as I'm not familiar with the true technical benchmarks of something like the A9 chip vs the latst Snapdragon, Exynos, etc) 2.) Apps - only if you include true "tablet" apps as well, as Android has done a terrible job with their tablet apps (basically glorified phone apps for the most part).
- at-fates-hands 11y ago
  They also blatantly rip Microsoft off in a number of things - clearly showing they are lagging behind in the design area. Examples: - Split view and side view on the ipad - Siri enhancements that copied Cortana functionality - Detachable keyboard for the ipad - Pen for the ipad And those are just the ones of the top of my head, I'm sure there are others. Where they used to be first to market with their stuff, they're now waiting and copying competitors instead and its getting really obvious.
TheCoreh 11y ago
retina displays, personal assistants, fingerprint scanning, 5ghz wifi, sapphire camera lenses, a separate chip as a cryptographic enclosure, Apple's approach to waterproofing (individual caps at each internal connector, instead of a sealed case), app permission fine tuning - these are all things that came first on the iPhone (or were commercially successful for the first time on the iPhone) I do get your point however, Apple hasn't been leading the market with a multi year gap like they did when they originally introduced the iPhone.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- Oletros 11y ago
  > retina displays, personal assistants, fingerprint scanning, 5ghz wifi No (Toshiba), no, no (Motorola) and no (at least there was one smartphone, Galaxy S3, that had 5GHz wifi) Funny how then you put the disclaimer about "being commercially successful,)
- WrkInProgress 11y ago
  Except half your list is not accurate. High resolution displays were around long before the iPhone 4 moved from their standard resolution. "Retina" is a branded term for a high resolution display from Apple. And in the current phone space, the iPhone 6S Plus lags quite a bit behind in terms of PPI and actual native resolution. Similar arguments can be made for fingerprint scanning, personal assistant, 5 Ghz wifi and the waterproofing.
  - ceejayoz 11y ago
    "Around" isn't the same as "widely available and popular". Microsoft had tablets in the 1990s, but it took the iPad to really have them catch on. Same with high-resolution screens on cellphones.
    - WrkInProgress 11y ago
      Your tablet analogy doesn't hold true for the high resolution screens in phones. Android's most popular devices (Samsung and Motorola/Droid) prior to Apple's first "retina" display had higher resolution displays than the standard 320 x 480 that Apple had for the first few iPhones.

daniel_levine 11y ago

Apple is first to a bunch of things: Apple Pay, Force Touch, Touch ID etc. They're also so much further ahead on dimensions like performance, battery life, build quality, camera, apps, etc. Those things are so important, I think they're similar to "being first"

Oletros 11y ago
> Apple Pay, Force Touch, Touch ID etc. Yes, those Apple things were first shown on an iPhone. It doesn't means that those technologies were first shown on the iPhone
ytjohn 11y ago
I've been using Google Wallet for a long time. When Apple Pay came out, more places started providing nfc readers, which made my Google Wallet (not called Android Pay) work in more places.
mkane848 11y ago
Apple Pay and TouchID? Come on now, at least retina displays and Force Touch are good examples, but Apple certainly wasn't the first to implement eWallets or fingerprints linked to your ID. And while I'll concede that things like their cameras are great, the only reason certain things like performance and battery life are what they are is because they control iOS AND all of the hardware running it. And app development on iOS has just as many pros and cons as developing for Android, I don't think it fair to label one as better in that regard.
- pravka 11y ago
  Not even Force Touch is a good example; Android has had getPressure() API since v1.
  - mkane848 11y ago
    Huh, TIL. Thanks!
WrkInProgress 11y ago
I'd argue that they aren't "so much further" ahead of almost everyone of the dimensions you listed with the exception of: 1.) potentially performance (as I'm not familiar with the true technical benchmarks of something like the A9 chip vs the latst Snapdragon, Exynos, etc) 2.) Apps - only if you include true "tablet" apps as well, as Android has done a terrible job with their tablet apps (basically glorified phone apps for the most part).
at-fates-hands 11y ago
They also blatantly rip Microsoft off in a number of things - clearly showing they are lagging behind in the design area. Examples: - Split view and side view on the ipad - Siri enhancements that copied Cortana functionality - Detachable keyboard for the ipad - Pen for the ipad And those are just the ones of the top of my head, I'm sure there are others. Where they used to be first to market with their stuff, they're now waiting and copying competitors instead and its getting really obvious.

TheCoreh 11y ago

retina displays, personal assistants, fingerprint scanning, 5ghz wifi, sapphire camera lenses, a separate chip as a cryptographic enclosure, Apple's approach to waterproofing (individual caps at each internal connector, instead of a sealed case), app permission fine tuning - these are all things that came first on the iPhone (or were commercially successful for the first time on the iPhone) I do get your point however, Apple hasn't been leading the market with a multi year gap like they did when they originally introduced the iPhone.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Oletros 11y ago
> retina displays, personal assistants, fingerprint scanning, 5ghz wifi No (Toshiba), no, no (Motorola) and no (at least there was one smartphone, Galaxy S3, that had 5GHz wifi) Funny how then you put the disclaimer about "being commercially successful,)
WrkInProgress 11y ago
Except half your list is not accurate. High resolution displays were around long before the iPhone 4 moved from their standard resolution. "Retina" is a branded term for a high resolution display from Apple. And in the current phone space, the iPhone 6S Plus lags quite a bit behind in terms of PPI and actual native resolution. Similar arguments can be made for fingerprint scanning, personal assistant, 5 Ghz wifi and the waterproofing.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  "Around" isn't the same as "widely available and popular". Microsoft had tablets in the 1990s, but it took the iPad to really have them catch on. Same with high-resolution screens on cellphones.
  - WrkInProgress 11y ago
    Your tablet analogy doesn't hold true for the high resolution screens in phones. Android's most popular devices (Samsung and Motorola/Droid) prior to Apple's first "retina" display had higher resolution displays than the standard 320 x 480 that Apple had for the first few iPhones.