from Hacker News

iPhone 15 Pro facts and estimates

by xu_ituairo on 9/18/23, 5:39 AM with 87 comments

  • by addaon on 9/18/23, 5:55 AM

    When I got the iPhone X, it was the first time that I thought the design was "good enough" for my purposes. (I had previously had an iPhone 1, 4, and 6S.) I could imagine further improvements, but I didn't really feel a desire for them.

    Unfortunately, I managed to destroy it during the iPhone 13 generation. Since I use my phone extremely heavily, and am not particularly cost sensitive, I assumed that I would go with the Pro model. But the weight of the 13 Pro very much turned me off... yeah, it's on the scale of ounces, but I do enough backpacking to at least think that I care. And it just wasn't as comfortable in the hand. So I ended up with the base model -- a pretty big misstep on Apple's part, down-selling an eager customer to a lower price, lower margin part.

    I just ordered the 15 Pro; this is the first time I'm using the trade in program, since my 13 is in perfect shape. (My 1 and 4 are sitting on a shelf somewhere, and my 6S was given away.) I didn't think there was anything that was going to drive me to upgrade, but the satellite-based roadside assistance is enough to get my dollar. I'll still keep the 406 MHz PLB in the glove compartment registered, but I'd much rather go through AAA than the coast guard if something comes up away from cell coverage.

  • by bambax on 9/18/23, 6:36 AM

    > One answer is that people are just more sensitive than we give them credit for being. A 9–10% drop in weight may seem like a small amount to our brains but a large amount to our hands.

    This has been my experience. I finally upgraded my Garmin Fenix 3 watch to a 7 (titanium). The 3 weighted 82g while the 7 is 73g. You would think the difference is negligible.

    You would be wrong. It changes everything. I used to be extremely conscious of the presence of the 3 on my wrist. With the 7 I forget it, I don't even feel it anymore.

  • by jrflowers on 9/18/23, 6:09 AM

    This is a shame. I am going to have to migrate to an Android-based handset for the first time in 15 years because of this change.

  • by keyle on 9/18/23, 6:00 AM

    I look forward to seeing the difference from the X!

    ... And then wrap a huge ass ugly cover on it and never feel it again. /s

  • by throwaway_ab on 9/18/23, 8:56 AM

    Saving 20 grams of stationary mass is equal to saving possibly 200 grams in quick movement, such as taking the phone out of a pocket quickly. This is going to be quite noticeable. Add in to this the authors calculations of rotational inertia savings of 15% the effect might be even more pronounced.

    So when moving the phone from pocket to quickly see a message or phone call, those savings reduce the weight of the phone during this motion by almost the weight of the phone itself.

    Definitely noticeable.

    -----

    A few years ago I tried to work out the stationary weight limit of my roof rack on my 4wd, for example if I wanted to mount a rooftop tent with two adults (I'm overweight at the moment) and wanted to know if my size was an issue. Assuming a stationary weight of tent and other stuff and me and my partner I pushed my estimate to 400kg.

    The roof rack is rated at 100kg carrying capacity.

    What does 100kg equal to when going up and down sand dunes?

    I found a forum post where someone worked out with calculus the "weight" that 100kg turns into 700kg - 800kg whilst off-roading aggressively, the roof rack experiences almost 80% of a ton due to the acceleration/deceleration pressing into and away from the car in a vertical diagonal motion.

    With that I could rest easy knowing I'll never approach those numbers whilst the vehicle is stationary.

    ------

    I figure that quick motion moving the phone from pocket to in front of your face involves similar forces. Intuitively this checks out. Hold your phone in front of your face. Now move quickly side to side. Your phone is easily exerting 1kg of force as you wave it around.

    That 20 grams saving will make a huge difference.

  • by wging on 9/18/23, 6:00 AM

    The article claims much less certainty than implied by the post title. (“iPhone 15 Pro 10% lighter but 15% lower rotational inertia because of edge mass” is what it currently is.)

  • by weinzierl on 9/18/23, 6:11 AM

    "iPhone 15 Pro 10% lighter but 15% lower rotational inertia because of edge mass"

    The "but" in the title confuses me. Both are good things and make the phone feel lighter, so shouldn't it be "and"?

  • by mkroman on 9/18/23, 8:38 AM

    One thing I haven't seen discussed is the thermal properties of this expected Ti-6Al-4V alloy.

    According to these specs, the alloys thermal conductivity is 6.7 W/m-K: https://asm.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=m...

    Whereas 6063-T6 aluminium has a thermal conductivity of 200 W/m-K: https://asm.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=M...

    Even if the alloy in the iPhone is a bit more of an exotic blend, won't it still impact the cooling ability of the phone quite significantly?

  • by 0wis on 9/18/23, 8:27 AM

    On the contrary to many other comments, I think this article is quite interesting. As a mechanical engineer, I know moment of inertia is very important for many designs, albeit often for more functional reasons than the user’s feelings.

    It is a short and quickly written article with back of the napkin maths but its good enough (and what most engineers are doing at work anyway). And it reminds us that the spec sheet is not everything. It’s nice to have a lighter phone, but is it really what matters ?

    It shows once again how Apple design teams are focused on user experience. I know they aren’t perfect and Apple gets a lot of criticism on HN (mostly deserved), but at least they are great on pushing the extra mile on this kind of things.

    It reminds me of how much people were surprised about EV acceleration capability because they compared vehicles on HP, overlooking sometimes torque and often jerk curves.

  • by WirelessGigabit on 9/18/23, 7:00 PM

    I'd love to see first week sales numbers of the iPhone 14 Pro vs the iPhone 15 Pro.

    N=1, the missus wanted a new phone last year and opted to wait for the iPhone 14 Pro. We had to wait to get it as it was out of stock in the larger Los Angeles Metro.

    Now, iPhone 15 Pro, 4 days before launch, I can still buy it today and get it delivered on 9/22.

  • by tromp on 9/18/23, 6:21 AM

    Minor nitpick: the title would read better if it said "because of reduced edge mass".

  • by selcuka on 9/19/23, 12:38 AM

    As far as I remember humans can tell a 0.5g difference between two objects. Obviously this is when holding each object in one hand, but I am still not that surprised that we can tell that a phone is 19g lighter than the other.

  • by drcongo on 9/18/23, 8:16 AM

    The most salient part of the entire article for me is this line: "[...] it’s also used in medical implants, so you know that skin contact won’t be a problem." - if I hold my iPhone 12 Pro for too long I get blisters on my palm.

  • by lofaszvanitt on 9/19/23, 1:37 AM

    Titanium is good, very good. If you ever had titanium based glasses, you never want to go back. I lost count how many times I sat on my glasses and just bent everything back in place.