The iPhone “Icon Ceiling” has been broken: is this the beginning of the end?

I feel like yesterday's announcement has left a news vacuum that is trying to be filled.<p>The announcement was not so amazing that the cheers are deafening; nor was it so disappointing or controversial that the opposite occurred. So, instead we're giggling at Jimmy Kimmel videos and long iPhone photoshops.<p>Perhaps this is why Apple hasn't announced the iPad mini yet -- to make sure the iPhone 5 gets a bit of time in the limelight. If it was announced yesterday, few people would be talking about the new iPhone today.

As usual xkcd provides just as much insight, <a href="http://xkcd.com/605/" rel="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/605/</a><p>And for something a bit cruder, but even more phone related <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-day-smartphones-stop-getting-bigger" rel="nofollow">http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-day-smartphones-stop-g...</a>

Anyone can make a larger smartphone display. But if you go large for large’s sake, you end up with a phone that feels oversize, awkward, and hard to use. iPhone 7 features a 7-inch display designed the right way: it’s bigger, but it’s the same width as iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 6, 6G and 6GS.

The iphone 7 prototype looks like a good start but they can take it much, much farther. A quick calculation: my arm is roughly 34 inches long and an icon row is about 1/2 inch. Factoring in for hardware chrome they could squeeze in maybe 64 rows for a whopping 256 apps on the home screen! There is TONS of room to grow here.

If you read the whole thing, this seems like some very clever satire.

The only reason iPhone 7 mockup looks weird is because our laptops' screens are not tall enough.<p>I predict Macbooks Airs in 2014 will be 28 inches tall and will display the new iPhone 7 photos flawlessly.

When I started reading the article, I thought 21 icons meant they overflowed the first screen, and that the phone shipped with one icon on the second screen. That seemed very un-Apple-like and interesting. As soon as I realized that number includes the four in the dock, and that there are still three spaces left on the first homescreen, suddenly it seems like a non-event.

This is extrapolation like the ones with Glenn Beck at the blackboard.

Very well written, measured and well-paced satire. I think the picture at the end is unnecessary, but understandable.

Question: Per this article, what iPhone version will be able to reach to the moon?<p>Assuming: Increase in icons is quadratic over time. Each iPhone version requires an extra 8.6mm in height to hold the extra icons. The distance to the moon is ~240,000 miles. The length of the iPhone 1 is negligible.<p>Step One: Regress the data from the article to get the equation "y = 3.25x^2 - 27.65x + 76.95", where y = # of icons and x = iPhone version number.<p>Step Two: Convert equation to mm. 8.6mm increase for every 5 icon capacity (difference between iPhone 4 and 5) =&#62; multiply our equation by 8.6mm/5 icons =&#62; new equation is "y = 5.59x^2 - 47.558x + 132.354", where y = mm.<p>Step Three: Solve for x when y = 386,242,560,000mm (240,000 miles in mm).<p>*Answer: The iPhone 262,864 will be able to reach to the moon, opening up a key market for mobile users in the year 330,592 AD. It will debut with a little under 225 billion apps, too.

There's also the iPhone 10, the tallest iPhone yet!<p><a href="http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iPhone-10.jpeg" rel="nofollow">http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iPhone-10.jpe...</a><p>And iPhone 20:<p><a href="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iphone-20.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iphone-20.jpg</a><p>Thumb actions might be a little hard there.

I started reading this with my usual skepticism. (It isn't hard to believe that some of this could come from the likes of zdnet, or cnet.) I started to crack a smile at the exponential growth graph, then with the picture of iPhone 7, I absolutely lost it! too funny

IBM has a patent on this. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IBM_SImon_in_charging_station.png" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IBM_SImon_in_charging_stat...</a>

I would say, it's not only icons count, but the screen aspect ratio also. Now it is more to a stripe than to a square. Having an unpleasant feelings about this, and the future of Apple.

On that note, why can't we change the icon size already? I think I've clicked enough 1 hour ago | flag | 23 comments links by now to handle at least twice as many icons on screen...

The site isn't loading. Does anyone have a summary?

If Steve Jobs was still around, i'd predict that Apple would wait a few years after Google Goggles. They'd work to get it right, and the future smart phone wouldn't have a screen at all.<p>In post-jobs world though, its going to be a me-too game.

The iPhone 5 is ok.Tomorrow i order one and have fun the rest of the Year :)

Blog seems to be down: <a href="http://thequeue.org/cr?id=http://justinhileman.info/article/the-iphone-icon-ceiling/" rel="nofollow">http://thequeue.org/cr?id=http://justinhileman.info/article/...</a>

I have a feeling that pg should include an algorithm that penalizes submissions whose titles end in a question mark. (For the articles that aren't sarcastic, at least.)

Check out the "iPhone backup shootout" under Related Articles. Hilarious!

The manipulation present on that "projections" graph alone is nauseating.

The sky is falling! Quick, run like a chicken with your head cut off!

It was already broken with groupings.

I hereby invoke Betteridge's Law.

Broken link?

Is this a well written satire?

Are you f*cking kidding me? This is like tabloid trash.