TiPb Predicts: iPhone HD in 2009?
Without fail, the moment Apple launches a great product or new revision, within moments talk quickly shifts back to “what’s next?!” Last month it was the iPod and iTunes. This month it’s the MacBook. But with Macworld slowly ramping up, and competitors slowly turning iClones into specced out SuperClones, the blogsphere spotlight will inevitably turn back to the iPhone, and just what device they’ll dent our universe with next.
TiPb’s prediction? The iPhone HD.
We’ll tell you why after the break!
The Next Big Thing. The Paradigm Shift. The Mobile Computing Platform. All of these monickers have been applied to the iPhone, it’s multi-touch interface and it’s mobile OS X implementation. Rightly so. While other companies have fragmented their mobile strategies among many different form factors, from different manufacturers, some even running different versions of the OS itself, Apple has remained remarkably consistent and ingeniously integrated.
The result? What worked on the original iPhone 2G and iPod Touch also works flawlessly on the second generation iPhone 3G and iPod Touch. Four devices spanning tens of millions of users, all with unprecedented unity and utility.
Apple accomplished this via 2008 revisions that were relatively minor in terms of the platform, yet simultaneously crucial in terms of the feature set. The iPhone really needed 3G and GPS to be competitive internationally, and to a lesser extent the iPod Touch really needed external volume and speakers to cross over into serious entertainment and gaming.
This gave consumers an utterly painless upgrade path, and removed from developers the burden of having to worry about whether any specific device might have a touchscreen or not, a keyboard or not, a trackball or not, etc. If you have an iPhone 2G as opposed to 3G, your internet experience is the same, just slower. If you don’t have GPS, your location services are the same, just less precise. This is one of the less discussed but most important advantages of the current iPhone roadmap.
But what’s next? What similar revision can Apple do in 2009 to further expand the iPhone platform without breaking compatibility at the same time?
Simple. HD. High Definition video.
The current iPhone and iPod Touch line features what was a very impressive 480×320 screen, and Apple has shown they can deliver that screen at a whopping 202dpi on the last generation iPod Nano.
back at Macworld 2008 (one year after introducing the original iPhone 2G), Apple announced HD movie rentals for the Apple TV and this September, they announced HD TV Shows. The world is moving inexorably towards HD and Apple and iTunes are pretty much keeping pace with it. Not only that, they’re laying the pipes. Gizmodo even revealed that the exiting iPhone can already handle HD signals “just fine”.
Competitively speaking, RIM is launching a slightly higher resolution screen on their Blackberry Storm, at 480×360, and at the small sizes of handset displays, every pixel matters.
Meanwhile, the HTC Touch HD is flaunting a massive 800×480p screen, and though it may not be hitting North American shores any time soon, HTC is clearly readying even more high density handsets, likely for both Windows Mobile and Google’s Android.
Of course, these devices are plagued with either outdated OS or fragmented hardware, which will be limiting factors going forward, but they serve to send Apple a powerful message as to where the technology is going, and what Apple can do to continue leading the way.
Announced with pre-requisite BOOM! by Steve Jobs on stage at Macworld 2009 — or WWDC in June — with an 800×480p display at 202dpi-like density would move the platform forward an could do so in the same, unified way as the iPhone 3G.
Resolution independence in the iPhone SDK — the same type talked about for years in Mac OS X — and simple things like using vector/PDF icons, buttons, and other GUI elements, rather than non-scalable bitmaps could keep development focused and users from worrying which device what App might work on. If you have an iPhone 3G (or 2G) your visual experience is the same, just lower resolution than the HD. (i.e. the same icon takes up the same physical space on your Home screen, just isn’t rendered with as many physical pixels on the screen).
The only problem? HD is BIG. It takes up space. Even with H.264 compression, the size quickly adds up and the storage space rapidly disappears. The solution to this is one many people expect to see anyway: 32GB. The iPod Touch already has this option by virtue of having twice the NAND chip slots as the iPhone (since the iPod Touch doesn’t need to save space for cellular or Blue Tooth radios). Double capacity NAND chips exist, however, and Apple will switch to them as soon as pricing and availability make it reasonable to do so. (Yes, that would also mean a 64GB iPod Touch — more capacity than the original Apple TV shipped with!)
Add to this a better spatial speaker system and some form of virtualized surround sound out, combined with 720p video out through the already existing component cables available from Apple, and you have a compelling, and amazingly portable, HD offering as well. Scratch that. Add 802.11n WiFi and streaming to and from iTunes and the Apple TV, and you have a KILLER HD offering. (One that wouldn’t even be bound by on-device storage any more.)
Along with the necessary 3.0 firmware update to enable all this HD goodness, 2009 could be another spectacular — if evolutionary — year for the iPhone.
It makes sense technological, and it’s becoming increasingly important competitively. That’s why TiPb is predicting an 802.11n streaming, 32GB iPhone HD, running firmware 3.0, of course, in 2009.
I know I want one. What about you?
October 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
HD iPhone uh… I WANT ONE hehe if thats whats next my 3G will def go to my bro and i’ll get my iPhone HD hehe
October 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
depends how soon it comes out. Two years will b good.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Reason why this wont happen: battery life. It already sucks on the 3G, i cant imagine what an HD iPhone would do…
October 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
if the iPhone currently came in 32 and 64 sizes, and the phone was slightly larger, I WOULDN’T MIND AT ALL.
I don’t understand these people that want slimmer devices with less memory. Give me a fat phone, with 64 SSD gigs! I’m sick of haulin’ my 80 gig filled up iPod and my iPhone around.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I can’t see all that much virtue in an internal HD display. Pixel density isn’t the limiting factor when watching video on the iPhone — small screen size is. You’d have to hold the iPhone ridiculously close to your face (and be able to focus that close) for that to become a problem.
I suppose that HD capability would be nice when using the iPhone to show video on an external display, but really, how often is that likely to happen?
I’m not against higher pixel density, but I wouldn’t be willing to pay for it with even one single milliwatt of additional power consumption.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I don’t think I would need it either, I have HD at home on my 46″ flat screen. I am happy with the iPhone G3 as is, except the battery life sucks.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
HD isn’t just for movies. 800×480 would make web browsing even dreamier…
October 10th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
If HD is the only new thing then I don’t think it will be worth it. I would rather watch HD on my big screen at home.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
the 802.11n would be nice for streaming….I love having apps that allow me to play my 90GB of music without burning up storage. Agreed that HD isn’t a strong selling point for me. I just hope they continue to focus on better apps for the phone. Mobi TV, slingbox or something!!! I want TV!!!
October 10th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Ditto. I WANT TV Too I’m hoping that either apple OK’s orb ( orb submited it to apple months ago and are still waiting for aproval ) or Orb just releases the app to the jailbreak community. Streaming TV and my movie database to my iPhone is what I want and I would prefer to do it via a free service like orb heck I wouldnt even mind paying for the orb app in the app store. I think that would finaly be an app of actual substance in the app store other than the itunes remote app other than that I cant think of one app that is actually usefull. Dont get me wrong I enjoy the games and stuff but there are probably only a handfull of apps that actually have any substance to them to make them usefull.
Also I agree with who ever said HD isnt worth the battery usage. I think they are going to have to make a bigger battery, 32GB with 802.11n, stereo bluetooth, better camera and copy paste in order to make me interested. I still have the 2G iphone I didnt see 3G and GPS worth spending $10 a month more in data charges. Apple is going to have to really WOW me next year because I have seen parts of WM 7 and that is really starting to peak my interest.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
32GB HD iPhone? HELL YEAH! This is what I’ve been holding out for (well, the 32GB part at least). I’ll gladly give up my Blackberry if this actually happens.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
There are problems with your theory. HD is great only if you have content that is in HD. The iPhone’s calling card is the web. You truly don’t need HD for the web. What parts of the web can go to HD will require more bandwidth, better compression, faster CPU’s and more battery power. All of that hardware improvement is not likely by next year. And if it were, what’s it going to cost a user for the luxury of HD if it were available?
There’s still plenty of territory that the iPhone has not covered yet. Apple has plenty of patents for interoperability of devices that they have not played yet. They also have not come out with the apps notification function that is their solution to multi-tasking. I don’t expect a revolution for 1-2 years and until then we’ll have memory and hardware (camera, video, battery) upgrades. The good stuff will all be software.
October 11th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Go iPhone Go
October 12th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Well considering that Apple have licences both PowerVR VXD and SGX. It is a given that the next iPhone will have HD capabilities. So the iPhone roadmap is fairly set in stone.
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/articles/103
http://www.imgtec.com/News/Release/index.asp?NewsID=392
http://www.imgtec.com/News/Release/index.asp?NewsID=376
October 13th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Now that is a great possibilty. Already with this current model of the iPhone, Apple have set a new benchmark in the mobile phone technology. So HD capability isn’t a fantasy at this stage.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
And soon we’ll all be carrying around laptops again… mine’s HD AND it has WiFi
lolz!!11one
Seriously people, your dreams are surpassing logic. I don’t want to walk around holding a damned HDTV, and it doesn’t really make sense either when most people won’t appreciate the video resolution anyway. It’s not comfortable, and the screen is so small anyway that the resolution’s downsides far outweigh its benefits. I know this will be a WiFi/Sync only sort of deal, but as soon as you iFools get this your going to want to start downloading this **** over the air. Don’t even worry about it.
Honestly people, tell me how many of you watch movies on a regular basis with your iPhone? That said, how many movies will your shiny 3G make it through without charging? Almost one?!?? WOW! The iPhone is ok at watching YouTube videos on WiFi, and sometimes not even then. Try watching them OTA and you’re in for a pretty atrocious experience.
Now it’s quite another thing to just make the UI higher-res… Maybe if you guys get a bigger screen you can type what you meant and stop sending me gibberish text messages? Still, I’m not holding my breath…
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
the chances i feel are low unless apple have a removable battery as the new european rule on mobiles states that the battery must be removable which is not on the 3g, in holland the iphone 3g will disapear from the shops along with the whole ipod collection unless the battery is removable it is then only available in toy shops , not the place jobs wants his iphone to be in ( which it has done by intertoys in holland ) i hope apple sort out the battery problem or they will be out of the euro market by 2009 which would be a shame .
October 25th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Great read,