The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are great smartphones, but there's always room for improvement and human nature desires more every time - which means Apple needs to shake a few things up.
1. No notch (or, at least, a smaller one)
Love it or hate it, the notch has taken the smartphone world by storm, with a sharp influx in the design aesthetic after the arrival of the iPhone X - however it seems many of the competition have already surpassed Apple's implementation.
The Apple notch is distinctive thanks to its size, but that's also its Achilles heel. It takes up a large amount of space along the top of the screen while we seen Android makers bring us dew-drop screens which are only as big a single front facing camera.
What's preventing the notch from simply being ditched is all the tech Apple has crammed into it, and to remove it completely could mean a loss of some features - such as Face ID.
Apple can probably relocate the microphone, proximity sensor and speaker, which in turn may see a reduction in size of the notch - which would be a step in the right direction.
But, no notch would be the killer look - with a clean, elegant design that will surely turn heads.
2. A new design
The current design of the XS and XS Max is fantastic - solid, premium and sleek, it's one of the most desirable looks on the market, so is it cheeky of us to ask for something new? We don't think so.
Apple's used the same design for the past two generations, and to avoid the new iPhone 11 being branded another incremental update, a fresh new look would help.
If Apple does ditch the notch as we've so very kindly asked for above, that would be the first step towards a new design, but we'd like to see it go further,
It's already removed the headphone jack and home button, so our focus is now on the alert slider, volume buttons and power key.
We've seen HTC and Google implement squeezable sides on their phones, and if Apple can hone this technology to make it even more user friending it could be the end of any physical button or switch on the handset.
3. Better battery life
We say this ever year, but the fact remains that iPhones still aren't the strongest performers when it comes to battery life.
The iPhone XS provided an improvement in battery over the iPhone X, but as we noted in our review, it's still "a long way from the best on the market."
It's time Apple really got to grips with battery life, giving the new iPhone 11 a power pack that will see it comfortably through one day and into the next without a panic about finding a charger overnight.
Battery technology isn't going to give us the multiple days of battery life we saw from feature phones back in the early 2000s, but an iPhone that could stretch to two days from a single charge would really get people talking.
4. eSIM only
The latest round of iPhones (the XS and co.) offer dual SIM capabilities, but they can only hold one physical SIM. That's because the other one is an eSIM, which is built into the handset and can be assigned to a network upon activation.
Having to slide a SIM card into a new phone feels rather old fashioned in 2019, so we'd like to see the physical card ditched in favor of a dual eSIM setup in the new iPhone 11.
We'd also want an easy to use setting that allows us to easily jump onto a network of our choosing at a tariff of our choice and, more importantly, be able to easily switch to a different network when our current deal expires.
Plus, it would also mean the removal of the SIM tray, allowing for a sleeker design and potentially freeing up some precious additional space inside the handset for new features (or more battery!).
This is only partly on Apple however, as carriers around the world would have to fully support eSIM technology and at the moment only a handful do so.
However, with the introduction of 5G in 2019 and the presence of eSIM already inside one generation of iPhone, this ask isn't totally out of the question.
1. No notch (or, at least, a smaller one)
Love it or hate it, the notch has taken the smartphone world by storm, with a sharp influx in the design aesthetic after the arrival of the iPhone X - however it seems many of the competition have already surpassed Apple's implementation.
The Apple notch is distinctive thanks to its size, but that's also its Achilles heel. It takes up a large amount of space along the top of the screen while we seen Android makers bring us dew-drop screens which are only as big a single front facing camera.
What's preventing the notch from simply being ditched is all the tech Apple has crammed into it, and to remove it completely could mean a loss of some features - such as Face ID.
Apple can probably relocate the microphone, proximity sensor and speaker, which in turn may see a reduction in size of the notch - which would be a step in the right direction.
The current design of the XS and XS Max is fantastic - solid, premium and sleek, it's one of the most desirable looks on the market, so is it cheeky of us to ask for something new? We don't think so.
Apple's used the same design for the past two generations, and to avoid the new iPhone 11 being branded another incremental update, a fresh new look would help.
If Apple does ditch the notch as we've so very kindly asked for above, that would be the first step towards a new design, but we'd like to see it go further,
It's already removed the headphone jack and home button, so our focus is now on the alert slider, volume buttons and power key.
We've seen HTC and Google implement squeezable sides on their phones, and if Apple can hone this technology to make it even more user friending it could be the end of any physical button or switch on the handset.
3. Better battery life
We say this ever year, but the fact remains that iPhones still aren't the strongest performers when it comes to battery life.
The iPhone XS provided an improvement in battery over the iPhone X, but as we noted in our review, it's still "a long way from the best on the market."
It's time Apple really got to grips with battery life, giving the new iPhone 11 a power pack that will see it comfortably through one day and into the next without a panic about finding a charger overnight.
Battery technology isn't going to give us the multiple days of battery life we saw from feature phones back in the early 2000s, but an iPhone that could stretch to two days from a single charge would really get people talking.
4. eSIM only
The latest round of iPhones (the XS and co.) offer dual SIM capabilities, but they can only hold one physical SIM. That's because the other one is an eSIM, which is built into the handset and can be assigned to a network upon activation.
Having to slide a SIM card into a new phone feels rather old fashioned in 2019, so we'd like to see the physical card ditched in favor of a dual eSIM setup in the new iPhone 11.
We'd also want an easy to use setting that allows us to easily jump onto a network of our choosing at a tariff of our choice and, more importantly, be able to easily switch to a different network when our current deal expires.
Plus, it would also mean the removal of the SIM tray, allowing for a sleeker design and potentially freeing up some precious additional space inside the handset for new features (or more battery!).
This is only partly on Apple however, as carriers around the world would have to fully support eSIM technology and at the moment only a handful do so.
However, with the introduction of 5G in 2019 and the presence of eSIM already inside one generation of iPhone, this ask isn't totally out of the question.
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