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I feel like a lot of that was just a reaction to the reality that overwhelmingly, people put their $800 smartphone in a protective case, and that that protectiv

I feel like a lot of that was just a reaction to the reality that overwhelmingly, people put their $800 smartphone in a protective case, and that that protective case typically adds 1-3mm of thickness on the back of it. It was the hardware designers saying "welp, we could really use that extra few mm of depth for the camera lens, and keeping the rest of the body thinner is a better deal than beefing up the whole thing for those handful of users who don't use a case. Maybe there's a non-case case out there for you that just sticks on the back and is thick enough to make the whole thing flush without adding any bulk around the sides? Or even just a strip of foamy tape or something that can run across the top of the device adjacent to the camera pop-out so that the device is able to sit flat on a table.

ProfessorLayton 5y ago
While I agree with you on the design choices made, the camera bump has gotten to absurd levels. It's now roughly 50% the thickness of the phone body [1]. This means that unless one gets a case that's unnecessarily thick, it'll still rock on a table with even with a case on. There's also a limit to case thickness without affecting other features like wireless charging and magsafe. I'm not sure this is good design anymore. Perhaps if the bump was centered so the phone doesn't sit lopsided on a table, or maybe even a tapered design. [1] https://imgur.com/a/UVt4FyH https://imgur.com/a/UVt4FyH
- mikepurvis 5y ago
  Okay, yeah, that is pretty thick. I'm still rocking an iPhone 7 and for me, the bump is well under 1mm and doesn't protrude at all from a fairly normal-thickness case. My partner has an iPhone 13, though, and my impression was that it wasn't all that different for her, but clearly that's not the case— I should examine it more closely. I see from looking at some phone cases online, many of them do have a raised "frame" around the camera area, so I can see how that would contribute to issues with it rocking when set down on a flat surface. EDIT: Okay, I realised she uses a popsocket on the back of hers, so this has never come up because it either sits on the table face down, or is face-up but propped up on the socket.

ProfessorLayton 5y ago

While I agree with you on the design choices made, the camera bump has gotten to absurd levels. It's now roughly 50% the thickness of the phone body [1]. This means that unless one gets a case that's unnecessarily thick, it'll still rock on a table with even with a case on. There's also a limit to case thickness without affecting other features like wireless charging and magsafe. I'm not sure this is good design anymore. Perhaps if the bump was centered so the phone doesn't sit lopsided on a table, or maybe even a tapered design. [1] https://imgur.com/a/UVt4FyH https://imgur.com/a/UVt4FyH

mikepurvis 5y ago
Okay, yeah, that is pretty thick. I'm still rocking an iPhone 7 and for me, the bump is well under 1mm and doesn't protrude at all from a fairly normal-thickness case. My partner has an iPhone 13, though, and my impression was that it wasn't all that different for her, but clearly that's not the case— I should examine it more closely. I see from looking at some phone cases online, many of them do have a raised "frame" around the camera area, so I can see how that would contribute to issues with it rocking when set down on a flat surface. EDIT: Okay, I realised she uses a popsocket on the back of hers, so this has never come up because it either sits on the table face down, or is face-up but propped up on the socket.