Design exploration what a future iPhone 6 might look like.
Peter Zigich
iPhone 5 is still the best looking phone today. Competition is not standing still. Some nice "premium" phones are coming out from other companies. It makes me wonder what will Apple do to stay on top, and beat out the competition.
This is how I imagine next iPhone 6
3 key areas next iPhone has to address:
improve its already spectacular design of iPhone 5
compete with cheap smartphones
compete with large screen smartphones (phablets).
Home Button
It has been there since the first iPhone.
The physical Home Button is one of the best design features of the iPhone, but it takes up a lot of space at the front.
How about moving Home button to the side? We could end up with bigger screen or a smaller phone.
Two Home Buttons, one on each side.
With Home button on the side there's room to add another row of icons, while physical dimensions remain the same as iPhone 5.
Closeup of the side Home button
Feature two Home Buttons, one on each side, instead of one.
More possible functions combining left & right Home buttons with single, double, triple click. (Example: double click left Home button then single click right Home button; or press left & right at the same time, etc).
iPhone 6 same dimensions as iPhone5 H x W x D - 124mm x 59mm x 7.6mm
I estimate it would cost the same as iPhone 5 $650 without a contract ($200 with two year contract).
Side view
Is one iPhone enough?
Apple has 4 iPods (Touch, Nano, Classic & Shuffle), and 2 iPads (iPad & iPad mini).
Why Not 3 different iPhones?
Size comparison from left to right iPhone 5, iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6, & iPhone 6 XL
iPhone 6 Mini
Cheaper, smaller iPhone to compete with cheap Android phones, aimed at developing and prepaid markets.
Same premium materials as "flagship" iPhone, but with a smaller screen. Screen is the same size as iPhone 4.
I estimate it would cost $350 - $450 without a contract ($0 - $100 with two year contract). More expensive than some hope for, but the same happened with iPad mini.
iPhone 6 Mini - screen is same size as iPhone 4 H x W x D - 96.5mm x 59mm x 7.6mm
iPhone XL - Large screen iPhone
There is a significant demand for a larger screen iPhone. Bigger Screen would allow for 1 extra row & 1 extra column of icons.
Same premium materials as "flagship" iPhone, but a larger screen. Perfect for one handed use unlike ridiculously oversized Samsung Galaxy Note.
I estimate it would cost $750 - $900 without a contract ($300 - $400 with two year contract).
iPhone 6 XL - larger screen, perfect for one handed use H x W x D - 137mm x 70mm x 7.6mm
Size comparison, from left to right iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL
Multiple screen size options for different segments of the market. More choices for customers.
iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL
What about iOS?
There are some things about iOS that drive me crazy. Finding Apps on the phone is getting more complicated.
The average iPhone user has 100 - 150 Apps on their device.
Users are just overwhelmed with the amount of Apps installed and they end up hidden away and forgotten.
It's necessary to rethink core UI — from a user experience perspective. iOS has not fundamentally changed since it was introduced in 2007, and its starting to show its age.
There must be an easier way to find Apps on the iPhone
I came up with a cool concept of how to find, organize, search and choose App in easy and intuitive way. In a few easy clicks users can, narrow the search for the right app on ther phone (even if you have 1000 applications installed). I call this process "Distill" - purify, extract essential elements.
This is still work in progress. I will post more info on it in the near future.
Size comparison with current MacPro W x D x H - 230mm x 280mm x 220mm
Aluminum enclosure with removable side panel
3/4 View Perspective
Front View
Slide up/down front door to access USB3 & Thunderbolt ports
Back View
USB3, Thunderbolt, Ethernet, Optical In & Out, Mic, Speaker, Power ports + 3 PCI slots
Folding Snap & Lock Handle
Additional disk storage - external Thunderbolt enclosures
Removable side panel & Slide out Tray 4 HDD, 6 RAM slots, 3 PCI slots
Version 1a
Custom Apple designed ARM CPU A10
2 CPUs on a Daughterboard Card. Each Processor has 4 cores for a total 8 cores per Card. 4 Cards for a maximum of 8 CPUs (32 Cores).
CPU Daughterboard Card
2 Processors on Card 4 Cores each. Total of 8 Cores per Card
Heat Sink Cross Section
Up to 4 Cards - total of 8 CPUs (32 Cores)
MacPro ARM CPU Workstation with Tray Out Total of 8 CPUs (32 Cores) + 6 Memory Slots
Version 1b
How about Intel Inside?
Maybe Intel can come up with super efficient Haswell Xeon CPU
2 Xenon CPUs can fit in the Heat Sink
It's impossible to ignore Intel. They are working on energy efficient CPUs. Is it possible to put Haswell or Broadwell Xeons in such a small enclosure? Liquid cooling, maybe. Intel will do their best to keep Apple happy.
Version 2
Custom Apple designed ARM CPU A10
Combined CPU & RAM Module.
CPU Daughterboard Card comes with 2 CPUs and integrated 16GB RAM. 6 Cards for a maximum of 12 CPUs (48 Cores) and 96GB RAM
Second Version of CPU Daughterboard Card 2 CPUs on Card (4 Cores each) with 16GB embedded RAM. Total of 8 Cores per Card
MacPro Workstation with 6 Daughterboard Card Slots Total of 12 CPUs (48 Cores) + 96 GB RAM
Alternative aluminium enclosure
Darker aluminum enclosure
Anodized Aluminium Color (same as iPhone 5)
MacPro Cube
If Apple creates custom GPU (shorter, less heat), enclosure
dimensions could shrink even more.
MacPro Cube with a footprint of a Mac Mini. 200mm x 200mm x 200mm Cube.
This will be ideal "Made in USA" Apple Computer.
Apple Mac Pro Cube with custom (smaller) GPU, 200mm Cube
Competition
I'm sure there are dozen other companies interested in creating their own ARM based PCs.
Just to name few:
Microsoft - Windows 8
Amazon - Linux
NVIDIA - Linux
AMD - Linux / Windows 8
Google - Chrome OS (Linux) if they are serious about Chrome OS
Samsung - Linux / Windows 8 / desktop Tizen OS???
Oracle / Sun - Solaris
Intel - Linux / Windows, certainly not using ARM CPUs
+ all the other PC makers: Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, etc.
This is my vision of the next MacPro. Tell me what you think.
Next project: iPhone 6 & cheap iPhone. You can follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/PeterZ3
It is radical departure from current workstations. It could be a MacPro for the next 10 years.
Key Design features:
1. Modular Design
Like a Lego Blocks. Computer built from different interlocking sections, highly customizable. Sections seamlessly connect, and share power & data (Thunderbolt). Different sections: CPU, Optical, Power Supply, PCI, HDD etc.
One user needs are very different from others, so should be a MacPro.
2. Pro & Consumer CPU Options
Pro: Server class dual CPUs (Xenon E5), 8 DIMM ECC memory slots.
Consumer: Consumer CPU i3, i5, i7, 4 DIMM slots.
3. Entering new markets
Various configurations:
Small home/ iTunes Server - Competes with NAS makers (QNAP, Synology)
Can we please get GeForce GTX 680 for Mac. 90% performance for 25% price of Quadro K5000
September 07, 2012 04:00 ET Mac Pro Users Gain Unprecedented Performance With NVIDIA Quadro K5000
Cinema 4K display support (4096x2160 resolution),(1) which enables content creators to process and view high resolution cinema content
A new display engine that can drive up to four displays simultaneously(2)
4 GB graphics memory that provides faster interactivity when using design and content creation applications
Based on NVIDIA Kepler architecture, which enables the Quadro K5000 GPU for Mac to run key content creation applications up to 2x faster at lower power than the Fermi-based Quadro 4000 for Mac(3)
Support for up to two Quadro K5000 GPUs for Mac in a single Mac Pro
Most Powerful Professional GPU Ever for the Mac Dramatically Accelerates Design and Content Creation Workflows AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - Sep 7, 2012) - IBC 2012 -- Mac professionals will benefit from dramatically improved graphics performance and productivity with today's announcement of the NVIDIA® Quadro® K5000 for Mac Pro systems. Based on NVIDIA Kepler™ architecture -- the world's fastest, most efficient GPU design -- the Quadro K5000 for Mac is the most powerful professional-class GPU ever for the Macintosh, delivering unprecedented visualization and computation capabilities for designers and digital content creators. Key features of the NVIDIA Quadro K5000 GPU for Mac include:
Please note:I wrote this as a reply to a post below but it's been retweeted and pointed to, so I wanted to give it its own thread. I had to smile reading the people on the original thread below speculating about the possibility of officially licensed Mac OS on an HP Workstation. For years, Tim Wilson and I have talked about the idea of HP providing workstations that run the Mac OS. (Not every PC manufacturer, just HP.) Why HP? It is why we actively focused on getting them involved at the COW. We believe that when the smoke clears, the most rabid Mac professionals on the planet -- the ones running über-powerful systems that need slots, cards, etc. -- will find themselves dancing with Apple and HP. Either as dual platform shops, or if it goes as we suspect, Apple will license a sole PC vendor to work with. We think that will be HP. Over the years as Tim Wilson and I have hammered on where the growing "i-focusing" at Apple would take things, Tim said to me one day that "There is now just one true workstation left: HP's Z series, that's it." more
As Mac Pro stagnates, PC workstations muscle ahead A creative pro reviews two PC beasts: the HP Z820 and Dell Precision T5600. by Dave Girard - Aug 8 2012, 9:00pm EDT
Out of gas, for now. Aurich Lawson / Thinkstock Like many Mac-based creative professionals, I followed this year's WWDC keynote anxiously, awaiting the "one more thing" that never came: an E5 Xeon refresh of the Mac Pro line. Its absence was brutally disappointing; thankfully, Tim Cook broke his vow of secrecy to reassure us that a new Mac Pro will arrive in 2013. But for filmmakers compressing hours of 4K footage or school labs in need of new Maya machines, that’s a long time to wait—perhaps too long. Since I was also in the market for a machine to help out with my V-Ray renders, I decided that the time had come to evaluate my alternatives. The current Westmere-based Mac Pro line is definitely out of sync with what’s available elsewhere, and it is no longer competitive from a price-to-power standpoint. more
September 07, 2012 04:00 ET
