5 Ways Apple Can Improve the iPhone in 2019

Michael Grothaus 08/01/2019 – 2:34pm

The iPhone XS and XR are great phones, but they could be even better.

Apple’s latest iPhone, the iPhone XS, is a terrific phone–and still probably the most gorgeous looking mobile device on the market. Some of the highlights are the massive, stunning OLED display, the incredibly long battery life, and the dual lens camera system. Of course, the impeccable industrial design and the Face ID biometric authentication system don’t hurt either.

The company’s newest iPhone XR series isn’t any slouch either. Like the iPhone XS, the XR features a beautiful display (though not OLED), a blazing-fast A12 processor that can beat any other smartphone CPU on the market, and Face ID.

But that’s not to say the iPhone XS and iPhone XR couldn’t be even better. With that in mind, here are 5 humble suggestions on how Apple could improve the next models of both phones.

Lower The Prices

Honestly, this would be the biggest improvement Apple can make. Right now the starting prices of both the iPhone XS and XR are too high for most people. The XR starts at £749 goes to £899. The XS starts at £999 goes to £1,349. And the XS Max starts at £1,099 goes to £1,449.

Apple should cut all the prices by £150 across the board. It would make the best smartphones on the planet much more affordable for most consumers, meaning Apple would sell even more–and with them, more accessories and services–Apple’s new bread and butter.

Hide The Home Indicator

Apple famously got rid of the iPhone’s Home button when it introduced the iPhone X a few years ago– and it’s one of the best decisions the company has ever made. The absence of the home button allows the device to have super thin bezels.

But instead of merely replacing the home button with a virtual button (as Android devices do), Apple revamped the iOS interface to use gestures to return to the home screen and otherwise replicate the features of the physical home button.

To alert users that these new gestures are available and where to swipe, Apple created the home indicator–the bar that sits at the bottom of the screen on the iPhone XS and XR. It’s a terrific reminder of where to swipe, but once you get the hang of it you actually don’t need the visual reminder. Hopefully, Apple will give users the option to hide the home indicator in the future–like when it rolls out iOS 13 later this year.

Add USB-C

When Apple introduced the new iPad Pros late last year, the company decided to ditch the Lightning connector on them in favor of USB-C. The new port allows numerous devices to be attached to an iPad Pro, like an external monitor, a digital camera, and even video cameras.

Apple should also ditch the Lightning connector on its future iPhones in favor of USB-C. Matter of fact, the chances are they will do this is very high. Already, many of Apple’s devices are USB-C only, including the aforementioned iPad Pros and the company’s MacBooks.

Adding USB-C to the iPhone would give it many of the same peripheral capabilities as the iPad Pro.

Add Apple Pencil Support

The iPhone XS’s screen is amazing. Matter of fact, it’s the best screen Apple’s ever put on a device. That’s why it’s a shame Apple did not decide to add Apple Pencil support to the iPhone XS this year.

This is especially true of the larger iPhone XS Max. It’s a screen that’s big enough to support such a device, after all. The Apple Pencil would turn the iPhone XS into a productivity tool and creativity tool like it’s never been before. Let’s hope Apple Pencil support is coming this year.

A Triple-Lens Rear Camera

2019 will see other flagship phones adding triple-lens rear camera systems to their bodies–and we hope Apple does the same with the iPhone XR’s successor. A triple-lens rear camera would enable Apple to increase the optical zoom from 2x to 4x–which would be absolutely amazing.

Plus, if the iPhone XR series gets a triple-lens camera, then Apple would hopefully add the dual-lens camera found in the XS now to the XR’s successor.