With the new iPhone 11, Apple proves it has no business being a paragon of great design
Illustration: Tom Guilmard
Tothe surprise of no one, the centerpiece of the latest Apple Special Event — as the company’s annual product launch announcements are branded — was the new iPhone. Sure, CEO Tim Cook and various minions touted news of Apple TV, an update to the company’s watch, a game subscription service linked to its app store, and so on. But the hyping of the new iPhone 11 (priced at $699) and iPhone 11 Pro (available in two sizes, priced $999 or $1,099) took up pretty close to half the hour-and-forty-five-minute affair.
Also as expected, the new batch of phones looks terrific. I’m referring specifically to looks: As ever, the latest iPhones are beautiful, sleek, slim, simple, clean, elegant — hot. The iPhone 11, finished in anodized aluminum, comes in six colors, including lavender, teal, and bright red. The Pro versions, made of “surgical-grade stainless steel,” per the official pitch, comes in “midnight green” and “space gray,” as well as a gold color that is “new” in some unspecified way.
In the promotional videos they all look positively lust-worthy. Throw in the impressive new specs — which I’ll get to — and suffice it to say that the public will surely fling their money at this new object when preordering begins on Friday at 5 a.m. Pacific. Apple says the phones will be available, at least to those who act fast, on September 20.
At which point these iPhone devotees, if they’re smart, will buy a case for their new treasure immediately after leaving the store.
That’s because, as you know, the iPhone, in addition to being a masterpiece of tech-industrial design, is shockingly easy to break. So it’s vital to smother that sleek and elegant design right away, with some sheath of rubbery plastic that hopefully looks okay, but really needs to perform its protective function.
In fairness to Apple, the same thing is true of pretty much any smartphone. That’s why there’s a whole secondary market largely dedicated to coping with the breakability of perhaps the most celebrated designed objects of our time. Research firm IBISWorld estimates that the cellphone repair business revenue totaled around $4 billion in 2018, noting: “The rising popularity of expensive but fragile smartphones has given the industry a significant boost since 2013.” It’s resulted in a bewildering variety of case options, brands like OtterBox, Spigen, and Anker built on the backs of this frail product category.
We all take this for granted, like strapping on a life jacket before stepping foot into a canoe. But that degree of fragility seems like, you know, kind of a major design flaw. It’s as if someone introduced a super-sexy new sports car — but didn’t include bumpers, leaving that to the consumer to deal with that as an aftermarket add-on. Actually, it’s worse than that, since even in that hypothetical you probably wouldn’t need bumpers that cover the entire car — thus obliterating the very stylistic markers that convinced you to buy it in the first place.
What’s most notable about the promo videos is they unfold in a world where nobody uses an iPhone case. Who are these daredevils?
The pitch for the iPhone 11 at least nods at this issue. It is said to have the strongest screen glass ever — which is just what the company said about the iPhone X. At one point during the event, Apple veteran Phil Schiller even remarked in passing, “Some people like to protect them with cases,” as if this were some eccentric decision by owners of expensive luxury devices.
Videos were shown for both the Pro and the regular (amateur?) iPhone 11, alluding to the issue of durability — at one point the device dropped in a lab setting, knocked over by a cat, exposed to water. But apart from a quickly flashed claim that the phone is “water-resistant for up to 2 minutes and 30 seconds,” Apple makes no specific promises of physical resilience. The same was true of the event presentations: fleeting mention of the object’s physical properties, followed by lengthy and highly specific discussions of the new A13 Bionic chip or dope new camera features.
But what’s most notable about the promo videos is that they unfold in a world where nobody uses an iPhone case. Who are these daredevils? I don’t want to make a comparison between a naked iPhone and unprotected sex… but Twitter will.
Maybe you’ll want to impress everybody at the gym, or whatever, with your hot new iPhone 11. But I’d say it’s not worth the risk. Suppress your conspicuous consumption urges, try to remember how awesome your device looked in that promo video, and protect it with a hearty case. I know you really love that new lavender finish. But you’ll have to camouflage it if you want your precious phone to survive.
When a side effect of your product design inspires an intervention from New York’s beleaguered subway system, you’ve got a problem.
While this isn’t only an Apple issue, the company does seem to enjoy some lingering version of Steve Jobs’ famous “reality distortion field,” maintaining a reputation for exemplary design despite flaws and shortcomings that might doom a rival.
Consider its wireless AirPods. The headphones cost about $160, and they’ve proven to be a genuine hit. The downside is that they fall out and are easy to lose. Which is, again, a pretty serious design problem. And it happens a lot. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports that the objects tumble onto New York subway tracks (inspiring risky rescues) so often that the city’s transit authority “is weighing a public service announcement urging commuters to refrain from taking AirPods on or off while entering or exiting trains.” When a side effect of your product design inspires an intervention from New York’s beleaguered subway system, you’ve got a problem.
Most recently, Apple announced a much-discussed credit card. The Apple Card is primarily a digital product meant to function on the iPhone, offering various privacy and security features. But there is also a physical version: a titanium, laser-etched, minimalist object that definitely looks cooler than all your plastic. The only issue with this elegant thing? Well, according to Apple, it shouldn’t touch leather, denim, or another credit card. It should also be kept away from change, keys, or magnetic latches. In other words, it too, is preciously fragile. Maybe it needs a special case.
While the Apple Card was subject to some criticism and mockery, it seems likely we’ll all accept the physical vulnerability of the latest iPhone with the usual straight face, applauding a trendsetting aesthetic that’s really designed for promotional videos, not reality.
For years, Apple’s longtime design visionary Jony Ive handled infomercial-narration duties for the most important unveilings at the company’s events. But he recently announced his departure from the company to start his own firm, and I was disappointed that he didn’t make one final appearance. If he really wanted to go out with a spectacular bang, the usual luscious promo video would have been followed by the designer striding out before the Apple fandom and nonchalantly tossing a brand new iPhone across the stage, letting it crash to the ground without a care. Then strolling over to the object and stomping on it with heavy boots. Then cut to a video of the phone getting the full-on American Tourister luggage gorilla treatment.
And then, demonstrating that the screen is intact, the phone still works, and this expensive object that we expect to carry with us and interact with all day and everywhere can actually stand up to that core use case. How hot would that be?