Tim Cook: For iPhones, The Experience Is Key, Not Just a Larger Screen
At this morning's Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about a number of topics including vaguely addressing rumors of a possible future iPhone with a larger screen.
Cook focused his comments on the user experience, saying that was more important than specifications. Answering a question about larger screen sizes, Cook had this to say (transcript
from Macworld):
I don't want to say what we will do or won't do [regarding a larger screen for the iPhone], and so don't interpret anything I say along those lines. Let me go back and compare it to the PC industry for a minute. The PC industry over the years, the way that companies competed were two things: specs and price. And so people would want to say, "I've got the largest drive," or, "I've got the fastest processor," or in the camera business people began to say, "I've got the most megapixels."
The truth is, customers want a great experience, and they want quality. They want that "Aha!" moment each time that they use the product. And that's rarely a function of any of those things. These are things that technology companies invent because they can't have a great experience, and so they talk about the spec of something.
Cook went on to talk about smartphone displays, saying that "some people are focused on size." He explained that some things are more important than simply size, citing the poor color saturation and brightness on OLED displays.
And so I only bring these points up to say there are many attributes of a display, and what Apple does is sweat every detail. We care about all of them, and we want the best display. And I think we've got it. I feel great about it.
I'm not going to comment about what we're going to do in the future, because that releases our magic, and I'm not going to do that. But, you know, the customer experience is always broader than that which can be defined by a simple number.
Going back to language that he has used before, Cook said that Apple will "never … make a crappy product." He said that for new products, Apple must design "something great, something bold, something ambitious."
One thing he didn't mention was Apple's frequent assertion that the iPhone's screen is the perfect size for "your thumb" -- the ability to hold and use the phone in one hand -- a fact that was mentioned in one of the first television ads for the iPhone 5.
Popular Stories
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip.
Gurman...
Update: the Naver account appears to be referencing a speculative post on X by Vadim Yuryev, dated October 6. The original article follows.
Apple will announce new products through a series of press releases beginning as soon as next week, according to a dubious claim posted on the Korean blog Naver.
The Naver blog account yeux1122, which aggregates rather than originates Apple...
Apple's software engineers are internally testing iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will likely be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released within the next few weeks.
Last month, Apple released iOS...
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still nearly a year away, a handful of new features and changes have already been rumored for the devices.
Below, we have recapped some of the early iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far.
Smaller Dynamic Island
The standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18 Pro, and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with a slightly smaller Dynamic Island, but the devices will...
Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus remains the "leading contender" to become the company's next CEO, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Ternus is 50 years old, so he is still young enough to have a long run at the helm of Apple, after current CEO Tim Cook retires. He is already a key decision-maker at Apple, according to Gurman, and he appears to have a charismatic...
After releasing AirPods Pro 3 last month, Apple is already working on the next AirPods Pro, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
It is unclear if the new AirPods Pro would be branded as AirPods Pro 4, or if they would be considered an updated version of AirPods Pro 3. Gurman did not take a position, opting to describe them as a "new version" of the "high-end in-ear buds."
AirPods Pro 2...
Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has taken some inspiration from Apple's Liquid Glass design language for its latest operating system update, OriginOS 6. Unveiled this week, OriginOS 6 has the same rounded buttons and translucent glass look as iOS 26.
In a demo video, a Vivo smartphone features an interface that could be easily mistaken for iOS 26. There's a Liquid Glass clock, Control Center,...
While it is unclear if Apple will host an October event this year, or stick to press releases, rumors suggest it will announce several new products this month.
The graphic for Apple's "Unleashed" event in October 2021
Below, we have recapped everything to know about a potential Apple event this October.
When
The table below outlines when Apple teased its October launches over the past...
Apple is planning to release a base MacBook Pro with a standard M5 chip before higher-end models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, according to AppleInsider's sources with "knowledge of macOS Tahoe development and hardware testing."
The report said a MacBook Pro with an M5 chip is "nearing release," and Apple has apparently been testing this model with an unreleased macOS 26.0.2 version....
