Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Tsepz

macrumors 601
Jan 24, 2013
4,830
4,643
Johannesburg, South Africa
Picked up the 8 Plus after using the 15 series for a while, and it hit me: the older phones are so much easier to hold and carry because they’re thinner.

Current phones are too thick.
So you are the person…we have finally found the menace who had Apple needlessly making devices thinner and batteries smaller.

Stay exactly where you are…we need to have a quick chat with you…
IMG_6067.jpeg
 

subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
5,600
5,950
The thinner the better, but also the more battery life the better. Just one of those trade offs that not everyone will agree on.

Although I would say it’s better to lean thinner because a user can always extend battery life with an accessory, but can never subtract thickness.
 

Jared G.K.

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2023
123
160
I agree with the OP.
I have a feeling that Apple has given up on even trying to making phones thinner, since the 8 series. I also dislike these humongous camera bumps of the newer generations. The older ones were so much slimmer, more elegant, better to hold and nicer to look at (while looks is a personal preferences thing, I know).
But I understand that the vast majority of users seem to always want bigger batteries and cameras with bright lenses and large sensors, which means physical limitations of how small they can get.
But like I said, it feels as if they are not even trying - in particular, newer technologies should make it possible to make batteries slimmer, while preserving the capacity of - let's say - last years models. But no, it always has to be a few more points in mAhs, to please the marketing department.
 

janeauburn

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 22, 2015
1,298
2,205
The issue really is how do you carry your phone? Purse? Okay. But if you carry your phone in pant pockets, no way the current generation of phones is comfortable. Even the "small" base iPhone is thicker than ever. Too thick. Put a case on it: even thicker.

If phones were the size of--and a replacement for--wallets, that would be one thing. But they're not, despite the Apple Pay thinking that the only thing that goes in wallets is a card or two. Nonsense. In Europe it's even worse: Europeans typically travel with a wallet full of coins, cards, bills, etc. That's one pocket, taken up fully by a wallet stuffed to the brim. No room in that pocket for anything else.

So what we have in our pockets these days is wallet, keys, airpods, and phone, maybe coins (if in America), and more, and that's just too much. The size and thickness of these phones make it way, way too much.

What Apple needs to do is start selling iPhone clothes.

People who like the Apple Watch often boast of their ability to leave the damn phone behind for a bit. That should tell you all you need. The iPhones have become a burden, and that's because they're too big, too heavy, too thick.
 
Last edited:

Jared G.K.

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2023
123
160
I think older phones feel easier to hold and carry because they had rounded edges. 🤔

(Apple's own phone comparison page shows that the difference in thickness between an iPhone 8 Plus and an iPhone 15 Plus is only 0.01 inch or 0.3 millimeters. 🤓)
8+ and 15+ are not equivalent just because both are pluses imho.
This would be 8+ and 15 Pro (both the top of the line product at their times) - and 0.8mm difference, as stated in previous post.
 

bigpoppamac31

macrumors 68020
Aug 16, 2007
2,452
432
Canada
I just recently got an iPhone 13 (I like the dark green colour) and I can go two days on a full charge. I couldn't do that with my SE 2020.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tsepz

bigpoppamac31

macrumors 68020
Aug 16, 2007
2,452
432
Canada
I think older phones feel easier to hold and carry because they had rounded edges. 🤔

(Apple's own phone comparison page shows that the difference in thickness between an iPhone 8 Plus and an iPhone 15 Plus is only 0.01 inch or 0.3 millimeters. 🤓)

For me the rounded edges made it more difficult to hold. The flat edges are much nicer for me.
 

webkit

macrumors 68030
Jan 14, 2021
2,916
2,526
United States
well, the 8+ is 0.3 and the 15 Pro (which would be the correct equivalent) is 0.33. In millimeters this is a 0.8 difference which is significant for a phone.

If anything, I would say the 15 Plus would be more equivalent to the 8 Plus. There really was no equivalent to today's Pro models. The closest in 2017 may have been the X which launched just two months after the 8 models.

The depth of the 8 Plus is 0.30 inches (I mistakenly put 0.31 inches in my previous post) and the depth of the iPhone 15 Plus is 0.31 inches. Even the 15 Pro and Pro Max are only 0.32" depth. Again, differences are negligible even for phones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pianostar9
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.