iPhone 5 Rumors Are Boring Because Apple Did Its Job Too Well

It’s really baffling how much money is being spent on people telling you that Apple wants to make the iPhone 5 thinner. Gee, really? Apple? That’s a complete reversal in design direction for them.

I have to admit, covering iPhone rumors is the crappiest part of writing for the Internet because I’ve yet to find a normal person who finds stuff like this remotely interesting:

Apple’s display suppliers are already mass-producing panels using in-cell technology, claimed sources for WSJ. An in-cell display doesn’t require a separate touch digitizer layer, which is roughly half a millimeter thick. Removing the layer should consequently reduce the overall thickness of the device.

There’s even more excitement about the dock connector having 19 pins instead of thirty and the iPhone having an NFC chip. I’m sure I’m mesmerizing you.

Look, here’s the ugly truth about iPhone rumors. At this point, they’re boring. They’re concerned with excessively mundane technical details five people outside Apple will ever care about. Nobody even bothers to claim anymore that Apple is creating a tiny little ninja or the iPhone will come with a hot sex mode, it’s that dull.

The reason they’re boring is that the iPhone is a “mature” product. It’s been five years since the first one hit the market, and completely changed the cellular market. Five years ago, Motorola and Nokia were on top and the iPhone was still science fiction. Now there are homeless guys near where I live who bought one at a yard sale.

The point is, there’s really nowhere to innovate anymore. It’s not like Apple is going to roll out a holographic interface tomorrow, or develop a phone that simply installs itself in your brain. In half a decade they’ve gone from disruptive force to the new normal.

Is that a problem? That depends on your perspective. It’s not a problem for Apple, but it raises the question of where smartphones, which are only going to become cheaper and more ubiquitous, go from here. Wherever it goes, we promise you: eventually it will be exciting again.

image courtesy Chris Dag on Flickr