"Where Is The iPhone Going?"

     Introduced January 9^th and released June 29^th 2007, the iPhone has captivated the technological aspirations of almost every man, woman, and child in some capacity. It has had a cultural impact that has reached various points of the world that otherwise would have little to no concern with the smartphone market.  A once open race for the taking, the smartphone market saw spurts of dominance in the form of the Motorola Razor and T-mobile Sidekick.  However, no phone has held as much dominance and illustriousness in the market as the iPhone.

     Apple’s last iteration of the iPhone-the iPhone 5S was-was not as warmly received as past iterations as it lack monumental features as upgrades.  Sure a faster processor and (somewhat) larger screen are decent upgrades, but this left many of the once clamoring iPhone fanatics with a lukewarm feeling of anticipation.  There were fewer-if any-stories of people huddled outside for days upon the iPhones release. (During the release week I was an employee for a marketing company doing promotion in a very popular electronics store and I can attest to there being very little fanfare about the device.) This begs the question: “Where is the iPhone going?”

     Devices like the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One, Motorola’s Moto X are all making a strong attempt to capture Apple’s market share by offering larger screens (all measure in at about five inches and above), a more adaptable OS (Android is not nearly as stringent an operating system as iOS), expandable storage (Apple refuses to include expandable storage); overall these companies are giving strong indicators of what Apple won’t produce: a powerful smartphone. Granted, the iPhone is an excellent phone, however since the introduction of the “S” line of iPhones, we’ve seen a bit of a decline in regards to what to expect from Apple.  Whereas the first four iterations of the iPhone built upon the previous version by quantum leaps, the 4S began the trend of installing minimal upgrades to the phone; not enough to warrant a purchase if you had the previous generation by most standards.  Although the 4S did not have a host of major upgrades it was well received.  The same cannot be said for the iPhone 5; it is clear that the one-trick pony of minimal upgrades does not bode well with Apple’s consumer base as evidenced by the severe decline in their once highly praised stock. 

     With 4.7 and 5.5-inch screens and a bevy of other much-needed upgrades, one can only hope that Apple’s rumored “iPhone 6” models will be just the spark that the company needs to revitalize the once dominant product and feared competitor.