Defying Conventions: Seven Tech Trends That the Godphone Diverged From –

The iPhone is the phone that generally sets trends in the tech world. It may not have been the first to use features like portrait mode on the camera or a fingerprint scanner or come with a glass back, but the manner in which the Cupertino company executed and marketed these features made them almost hygiene in the phone world. In fact, almost every new iPhone feature is greeted with the “we have already seen this on so and so phone” line. While that might be often true, Apple’s magic lies in its ability to turn something that appeared interesting and innovative into something essential and enchanting. What’s more, the fruity brand does not simply hop on to every tech trend bandwagon but instead tends to cherry-pick the inventions it chooses to innovate in. If that sounds hard to believe, here are seven tech trends that the iPhone has doggedly refused to follow (and is unlikely to, even in the forthcoming iPhones), even though it has often been mocked by rivals for its seeming obstinacy in this regard:

Expandable storage? Nah, what you see is what you get

When the first iPhone was launched, many tech observers were shocked to see that it came with no provision of expandable memory. This was the era when memory card slots were almost a given across all smartphones, from budget to flagships – some phones even came with two memory card slots. Apple, however, dug its heels in and kept the memory card slot out of the iPhone spec equation. Many have speculated about the reasons for this with some feeling that the brand did not want to have another slot and moving part in the device and others claiming that Apple kept the slot out to ensure users could not transfer songs and videos from one device to another, a very common practice in those days. 

Flashed right past Adobe Flash!  

When the iPhone was released in 2007, Adobe’s Flash platform was in widespread use to deliver animations and videos not only on phones but also on computers. Apple, however, refused to provide support for Adobe Flash on the iPhone, as it felt (with some justification) that the platform was a resource guzzler and could slow down the user experience. Although app developers came out with apps that let Flash run on the iPhone and other devices, Apple stuck to its guns right through. 

Sticking to a flat track, while others threw a curve at the display 

Samsung took the tech world by storm when it introduced the Galaxy Note Edge in 2014 with a display that curved over the sides. It gave the phone’s display an almost waterfall-like effect and was very different from anything that had been seen so far. Almost all brands hopped onto the curved display bandwagon, with each bringing its own innovations and functionalities to the form factor. Today, every major tech brand has devices with curved displays. WIth one exception. Yes, Apple has steadfastly steered clear of curved displays. No official reason has been cited, but it is said that many in the brand believe that a display that curves over the sides hinders the viewing experience by distorting some of the content near the edges, and also because curved displays can trigger accidental touches. There is also a school of thought that claims that Apple has figured out that curved displays tend to break more easily than flat ones and would be more difficult to repair and replace. 

Out, out, in-display fingerprint reader!

2018 was the year in which in-display fingerprint sensors made their debut. And like curved displays, they too rapidly became a rage, being seen as the cool way of unlocking a phone, with brands even coming out with their own animations to accompany the unlocking process. Again, Apple steered clear of the concept, sticking to its ‘fingerprint scanner in home button’ concept on the iPhone and then moving on to the (in)famous notch which allowed one to unlock an iPhone securely by just looking at it. No one really knows why Apple has not opted for this concept. Among the reasons offered are the fact that in-display fingerprint scanners tend to be slow (well, they are) and that they run the risk of being damaged every time the display is damaged too!

Who needs punch holes and waterdrop notches, when you can have a proper notch or a Dynamic Island?

Then notch was a classic iPhone trend. Many laughed at it and criticised it when it was launched on the iPhone X in 2017. Within a year, most brands were imitating it. However, while Apple stuck to the basic design of the notch – bang in the centre of the top and a bit like a rectangle – other brands went crazy experimenting with notch shapes, sizes and locations. You had punch hole notches and waterdrop notches of different sizes and their locations varied from left, right and centre on the top of phones. The iPhone, on the other hand, never really moved the position of the notch, although it made minor changes to its size.  Even when it did change its shape, making it a little capsule like for the Dynamic Island in the iPhone 14 Pro series, it kept its location firmly in the centre of the top, and still kept it considerably larger than the tiny notches on many Android flagships. Observers say that Apple has not gone for tiny punch hole notches because its notch actually contains an array of sensors that facilitate Face ID, and not just a selfie camera, which is the only thing in most Android flagships’ notches. The iPhone simply needs more space in its notch because it does a whole lot more than just snap selfies and videos. 

No megapixel wars, this is #ShotOniPhone 

The iPhone has been many things, but one thing it has never been is the phone with a super high megapixel count. As the phone camera world went megapixel crazy from 2015 onwards, Apple steadfastly kept the megapixel counts on its iPhones to a maximum of 12, going up to 48 megapixels only with the iPhone 14 Pro series launched last year (at a time when competitors were touting 108 and 64-megapixel cameras) and even then limiting users to shooting at 12 megapixels, unless they used RAW mode. Observers say that Apple’s refusal to get into the big megapixel zone could have as much to do with the brand’s dedication to image quality rather than camera numbers, as with concerns about the amount of storage those ultra high-res images would gobble up! 

Quad HD resolution? Pass 

iPhones with quad HD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) resolutions have been around for about a decade now. But although it made “pixel density” a part of phone terminology, Apple has preferred to keep its iPhones at HD or full HD resolution, although the Pro Max variants have got very close to quad HD territory (the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a resolution of 2,796 x 1,290 pixels). The rumoured reasons for this pixel pinching range from keeping things simpler for app developers (who do not need to work on making apps and games compatible with another resolution) and conserving battery life.

Will this list expand or contract when the new iPhones are announced? Stay tuned to find out. Apple is not averse to arriving late to a phone feature party. But it can also choose to stay away from it altogether!