Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing chief, has given some hints into the company's future plans for the iPhone, the design sensibilities for iDevices, battery life and more nuggets of information.
On The Talk Show podcast, which aired live on Tuesday, June 9, host Daring Fireball's John Gruber queried Schiller on several areas, including why Apple still believes in the 16 GB iPhone model. This is a day and age when apps are getting more and more complex and cameras are supporting high resolution pictures, which take up plenty of space.
Schiller said that with cloud-based storage becoming popular, consumers had an option in iCloud and need not resort to local storage as the cloud helps to ease the load and is a great budget option. Offering them a basic 16 GB iPhone storage model gave the company scope for improvement in alternate areas, according to Schiller, such as the device's camera — a possible hint that the next-gen iPhone could boast an improved primary snapper?!
Apple is also known for svelte devices and how they keep getting slimmer and slimmer. While the sleek form factor is great, the company has often been criticized for not shrinking the components instead of the chassis. If the component sizes were reduced, iDevices could pack in powerful bigger batteries (to counter battery drain issues by Apple Watch-type accessories and complex apps) and more hardware features.
"If you want a product that's thicker with a bigger battery it's also heavier, more costly, takes longer to charge. We model every thickness, every size, every weight and try to figure out what the tradeoffs are. I think we've made great choices there," said Schiller.
He was also queried on the single USB Type-C port on the new MacBook, which doubles up for both data transfer and charging. Schiller admitted that it was a risky move by the company. However, the diplomatic marketing maven emerged when he said if all the company did was "an incremental, slight change, where's the excitement?"
This was the Apple he envisioned — a company that takes risks, is bold and aggressive.
The entire interview should be available on Daring Fireball soon.
Photo: Jon Rawlinson | Flickr
