Apple has always overcharged, IMO, for items like ram on Macs. Perhaps only offering some popular features on their most expensive iPhone may be another effort to increase revenue per sale. Or am I being too cynical?
If true, I don’t find this to be a problem at all:
- “Popular” features may actually mean better and/or additional features—which no doubt cost more.
- Apple is a business. Cook and company have a fiduciary responsibility to increase shareholder value. One way to do this, like virtually every other for profit organization, is to maximize revenue per sale. The goal is to the hit the equilibrium between maximizing profit and maximizing sales. Apple’s products are not commodity products, they are designed to appeal to, for lack of a better definition, the luxury market. Yet, they have product tiers to enhance both market share and sales. So long as they operate ethically and legally, I have no problem with them seeking to maximize profit by reserving the “best” most desirable features for the higher priced models. It is up to the consumer to decide if he or she believes the price is worth the value they get out of the product.
In short, I’m ok with Apple offering some popular features on only their most expensive iPhone (or any other product for that matter) as a means to increase revenue per sale. I do not expect not want them to do otherwise. 
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I know about business. For many years I was 0.000125 of the workforce of a major corporation 
In my case, it’s not about the cost. I’m disappointed that Apple has chosen to put the best camera in a phone so large that I wouldn’t use it if they gave me one. Like @ismh I preferred it when I could buy the size phone I wanted and get all the current features.
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I agree and I would as well. I’m guessing that the larger sensor, digital Zoom differences et al require a larger phone, and perhaps the larger battery. But again I’m only guessing. Your first paragraph made me laugh.
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I must say, I feel exactly the same way. I was all prepared to upgrade this year, having an iPhone X at the moment and I thought “right, it’s 3 years, I’m ready to upgrade”, but then yes - felt very let down.
I do want the best camera, but I don’t want the Max size phone! It just isn’t ‘pocketable’ in a jean pocket - which I know because before my X, I had the 6S Plus, and that was just too big. I am truly torn … do I say sod it and get the Max anyway, or wait another year and hope the technology comes to the regular size Pro?
In fact, if they had announced an iPhone Pro Mini with the good camera - I would have jumped at that in a heartbeat!
I dunno - the whole thing left me feeling deflated - not to mention the crazy promotion of Verizon 5G - which really is only relevant to the US and being in a different country means nothing at all, it was like Apple forgot the rest of the world existed!
Yep, so, here I am … don’t know what to do…
I think that if you can wait then you should wait. The 12 looks like a wonderful phone but it also smacks of an immature product: It’s Apple’s first 5G device and comes with some pretty odd limitations along those lines, and the camera parity issue in the Pro phones may be resolved next time too.
One other reason to consider waiting is that maybe, just maybe, the 13 (12s?) will have FaceID and the TouchID sensor in the new iPad Air, something that would be exceptionally welcome in this world of masks that we seem to be in.
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Precisely why I’ve decided to wait.
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@WayneG I need to add more clarification. I mean technical innovation in hardware. Display technology topping out, Sensor Resolution topping out, Communication speed topping out. The hardware is miles ahead with both in real terms and hidden capability that is yet to be utilized or throttled down.
It is a total different story on the software/connectivity/collaboration/integration and as you state things will be getting so much interesting.
There will be so much innovation in AI. I think it will be disrupter in the travel business
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Not disappointed in the slightest, my 3 year old iPhone X is well due a replacement and the 3 years of increments will make a real difference.
With maturity comes a slowing of improvements. It’s just the way it is.
That’s why people are upgrading less often.
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I put a new battery in my iPhone 6s Plus earlier this year. I see no compelling reason to upgrade my phone at this time.
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Maybe it’s just me…
5G support is largely useless right now unless you live in certain geographic areas and have the right wireless carrier. It will become a more important feature over the next year or two as the network matures.
MagSafe is cool but I don’t even use wireless charging. It has been ridiculously slow so I prefer charging overnight with my cable and fast charger. Now that MagSafe can charge at 15w it may be worth another look, but honestly, a charging cable works just fine for me.
Extended waterproof? See above! Pretty simple…don’t go swimming with your phone!
Lidar? Kinda like 5G - not much content yet to make it very useful. Both virtual and augmented reality are mostly for gamers or a few niche applications…this may be more interesting as these technologies try to become useful in real life!
Ceramic Shield? I suppose some people may need this to keep from breaking their display, but I have had every phone since the 4s and have never scratched, broken or cracked any of them. I have always used a case and a screen protector and have never had a single issue. However I also treat my phone with the respect and care an expensive electronic device deserves. I don’t expect to drop it on cement repeatedly, run it through the washing machine or whatever other abusive things people do and then be angry at Apple because my phone doesn’t work!
The speed and camera improvements are always nice, but honestly, my 11 Pro Max is very fast and takes fantastic images. The camera will be able to capture a little better in low light, but I don’t do enough low light photography to make this feature be worth the upgrade cost right now.
The bottom line…FOR ME, I don’t see enough improvement in this phone over my current phone (considering the Pro Max in both the 11 and 12 models) to warrant me dropping another $1,100 or $1,200 - plus accessories.
With regard to being at “peak tech”, I could not disagree more vehemently. The future IS tech…in all fields!
Specifically in the wireless field, “what more could I want”??? Well, as long as I get a wish list, how about cellular technology being replaced by satellite technology? Then we can all use our phones anywhere on earth without worrying about “how many bars we have”! So YES…more widespread coverage is at the top of my list. We have great coverage now…in a city or along a well traveled roadway. But if I get off the highway and go about three blocks into some rural towns, there is no signal at all! That needs to change!
Also, sat phones need to get much smaller and more aesthetically pleasing and rate plans need to make the technology available to the masses…just as cellular has over the past twenty-five years.
So if you want me to be impressed, work on some actually useful new and innovative technology that can move the world forward. The annual Apple upgrades are nice…and they frequently have some very compelling new features. But these annual, incremental updates are seeming increasingly like a way for them to empty my bank account rather than bring me new features that are going to change the way I live my life!
I love Apple…and I love their products! I just don’t feel like this particular upgrade brought me enough “bang” for my bucks!
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Well I do live and work in San Francisco, LA and Silicon Valley so 5G is an viable option.
Everyone has their own upgrade point. I am still on a iPhone 7, I was going to upgrade last year because of the camera but decided to hold off as I new 5G would be this year. So it is a big upgrade for me especially since how much I use the camera for work.
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Oh, heck yeah! From an iPhone 7 this upgrade is HUGE! No question! i would be on the website ordering mine the second they made sales available if I was on an iPhone 7!
Probably for anything older than an Xs Max, this is a really nice upgrade! In my opinion, the value in the upgrade starts to become questionable at about the Xs Max - and by the time you get to the 11 Pro Max…well, as I said, it just didn’t seem to make good sense for me.
When the phones were a little cheaper I used to look forward to getting my new iPhone every year! But since they have broken that $1,000 price point, I have started taking a more careful look at the value in making the purchase.
One feature I really would like to see is a USB-C port on my next iPhone. Having a 2019 16” MacBook Pro and a 12.9” iPad Pro, I have switched most of my sync/charging cables over to USB-C - so it would be nice to see my phone on that same standard.
Also, I don’t know if Apple would ever consider this, but with the screen size continuing to slowly increase on the Pro Max phones, Apple Pencil support would also be a pretty nice extra. It’s much easier for me to add a quick note by jotting it down with. my Apple Pencil than trying to write on the screen with my finger. That just always feels awkward to me.
But I feel pretty sure that by next year, with continuing speed and camera improvements, more mature 5G and hopefully, USB-C finally…I will be upgrading to a iPhone 13 Pro Max (or whatever they name it)!
I used to live in the SF Bay Area (Santa Clara County), but I have moved to the Sacramento area now. We happen to be one of the test cities for the implementation of millimeter wave spectrum 5G. I’m also a Verizon Wireless customer. I have the required location and network to try 5G if I wanted to, but I’m getting a little older and I just don’t have the patience to screw around trying to troubleshoot new technology that isn’t yet working quite right!
I’ve done my time when I was younger being a beta tester and jumping on new technology the second it hit the market! Yep, I was on of the nut jobs in line at midnight to get my copy of Windows 95 the day it went on sale! LOL!
Good times! But that’s a younger mans game! Now, I just want to sit down with my technology and have it work as it is supposed to! That’s the main reason I switched to Apple from the Windows/PC world! My Apple stuff always just works!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your new phone! I’m a bit jealous wishing I could get one too, but I really think this is one year I am going to have to be a bit more disciplined and keep my money in the bank!
Yes I agree on the USB C and I though that would happen on this model. I always been buying reinforced cabling for everything as the ones supplied from Apple just do not last long
“5G” is indeed fake bullshit. Call it 10G and really leave the competition in the dust.
5G wide band is a legitimate speed and latency improvement, especially where it’s been deployed in areas with patchy LTE implementations. In the US the large majority of the population is covered. It’s unfortunate that Apple confused everyone by only talking about super fast urban speeds.
Lidar is used in photography on the 12.
I’m not saying that means anyone should buy a phone because of that.
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I’ve been kinda thinking the same thing. For now, Verizon is holding the line on pricing, but it’s difficult to increase prices for a product that, in many ways, is in a glorified
“beta test”.
Once coverage is good and customers start buying 5G devices, I feel almost,certain we will see tiered pricing with 5G being more expensive…especially after the rollout of millimeter wave spectrum.
I don’t know about all carriers but Verizon had higher pricing for 4G LTE when it first rolled out compared to older 3G, so I will not be surprised to see 5G “UW (ultra-wide)” (Verizon’s marketing name) having similar higher tiered pricing compared to 4G when it rolls out nationwide.
You’re probably correct. And I suspect most people will be running through their data caps in minutes. But I’m sure Verizon will be willing to sell them more. 