Unfortunately, I managed to destroy it during the iPhone 13 generation. Since I use my phone extremely heavily, and am not particularly cost sensitive, I assumed that I would go with the Pro model. But the weight of the 13 Pro very much turned me off... yeah, it's on the scale of ounces, but I do enough backpacking to at least think that I care. And it just wasn't as comfortable in the hand. So I ended up with the base model -- a pretty big misstep on Apple's part, down-selling an eager customer to a lower price, lower margin part.
I just ordered the 15 Pro; this is the first time I'm using the trade in program, since my 13 is in perfect shape. (My 1 and 4 are sitting on a shelf somewhere, and my 6S was given away.) I didn't think there was anything that was going to drive me to upgrade, but the satellite-based roadside assistance is enough to get my dollar. I'll still keep the 406 MHz PLB in the glove compartment registered, but I'd much rather go through AAA than the coast guard if something comes up away from cell coverage.
It sounds like the emergency features enable two-way communication, which is great, but I wonder if the procedures around that lead to more false positives. If they get an emergency signal and no further response, I suppose the appropriate assumption is to assume the worst, and send out responders. The PLB is unidirectional, so the procedures involve using the (regularly updated) contact info to see what the heck is likely going on. That'll get them to my cell phone (wouldn't have worked for you) and, failing that, to my emergency contacts -- and my parents (in my case) can reasonably say "try calling so-and-so, he should be with them", etc. Still takes responder time, but at least not a physical response until all other avenues are exhausted.
Apple missed the chance to sell me a phone that costs 50-75% more because it was just too much of a brick. And I say that as someone who has had other Pro iPhones in the past, and is generally an Apple early adopter.
This has been my experience. I finally upgraded my Garmin Fenix 3 watch to a 7 (titanium). The 3 weighted 82g while the 7 is 73g. You would think the difference is negligible.
You would be wrong. It changes everything. I used to be extremely conscious of the presence of the 3 on my wrist. With the 7 I forget it, I don't even feel it anymore.
The "jump" in phone size from the iPhone 5 to the 6 was extremely jarring (and the 12 mini) to me, despite being "only a little bit larger" than the 5.
I think our hands are so used to fine motor movement that small changes can have substantial effects.
See also: the entire mechanical keyboard industry.
I also have an iPhone, but be fucked if I can keep hold of it, it's so light I can seem to actually get a grip on it for longer than about two minutes at a time.
I've had my eufges phone for over a year and still haven't broken the screen. I mate dropped his, same brand, different model, from a second story access platform from where it fell face down on concrete, the glass screen protector was cracked but the phone was fine.
I do not understand the obsession with lightness and thinness, but that's just me, and I suppose the other few thousand who've bought phones that aren't ultra light ultra thin ultra breakable.
Potentially there even is a secondary market of YouTube reviewers that discuss handling properties of lead vs tungsten cases.
... And then wrap a huge ass ugly cover on it and never feel it again. /s
After the 2nd screen repair the phone has never worked properly, and the face ID stuff stopped working. All in all repairers couldn't do anything about it. That's why I think it's worth putting a cover on it.
I also hide my ID in mine (between cover and phone) so that I do not have to wear a wallet...
And my kids occasionally handle my phone, I don't want to hold my breath every time I see them walking with my phone in hand.
So when moving the phone from pocket to quickly see a message or phone call, those savings reduce the weight of the phone during this motion by almost the weight of the phone itself.
Definitely noticeable.
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A few years ago I tried to work out the stationary weight limit of my roof rack on my 4wd, for example if I wanted to mount a rooftop tent with two adults (I'm overweight at the moment) and wanted to know if my size was an issue. Assuming a stationary weight of tent and other stuff and me and my partner I pushed my estimate to 400kg.
The roof rack is rated at 100kg carrying capacity.
What does 100kg equal to when going up and down sand dunes?
I found a forum post where someone worked out with calculus the "weight" that 100kg turns into 700kg - 800kg whilst off-roading aggressively, the roof rack experiences almost 80% of a ton due to the acceleration/deceleration pressing into and away from the car in a vertical diagonal motion.
With that I could rest easy knowing I'll never approach those numbers whilst the vehicle is stationary.
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I figure that quick motion moving the phone from pocket to in front of your face involves similar forces. Intuitively this checks out. Hold your phone in front of your face. Now move quickly side to side. Your phone is easily exerting 1kg of force as you wave it around.
That 20 grams saving will make a huge difference.
The "but" in the title confuses me. Both are good things and make the phone feel lighter, so shouldn't it be "and"?
There are exceptions - using lighter materials - notably Al, Mg alloys vs steel.
According to these specs, the alloys thermal conductivity is 6.7 W/m-K: https://asm.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=m...
Whereas 6063-T6 aluminium has a thermal conductivity of 200 W/m-K: https://asm.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=M...
Even if the alloy in the iPhone is a bit more of an exotic blend, won't it still impact the cooling ability of the phone quite significantly?
Anyhow, just the frame is this material, inside its Al.
And Ti-6Al-4V is not an exotic blend, it’s a standard alloy.
It is a short and quickly written article with back of the napkin maths but its good enough (and what most engineers are doing at work anyway). And it reminds us that the spec sheet is not everything. It’s nice to have a lighter phone, but is it really what matters ?
It shows once again how Apple design teams are focused on user experience. I know they aren’t perfect and Apple gets a lot of criticism on HN (mostly deserved), but at least they are great on pushing the extra mile on this kind of things.
It reminds me of how much people were surprised about EV acceleration capability because they compared vehicles on HP, overlooking sometimes torque and often jerk curves.
N=1, the missus wanted a new phone last year and opted to wait for the iPhone 14 Pro. We had to wait to get it as it was out of stock in the larger Los Angeles Metro.
Now, iPhone 15 Pro, 4 days before launch, I can still buy it today and get it delivered on 9/22.
