iPhone 5 - Design as a killer feature

As Steve pointed out in his article this morning, the sentiment that the iPhone is underwhelming steaming from many of the tech press lacks serious understanding of the consumer market. It is true that the iPhone does not have things that other phones have. Things like the largest screen of any phone, or NFC (I point out why here), or a number of other features. In the whole discussion of what the iPhone doesn’t have people are forgetting that Apple’s philosophy of what you leave out is just as important as what you put in. Many of those things the tech media is complaining about for not being in the iPhone 5 were left out on purpose. And I think its clear that Apple knows what they are doing.

But one thing the iPhone 5 does have that is unmatched in the smart phone market today is industry leading industrial design. In my opinion only Nokia comes close to Apple with its passion for industrial design. I’ve been using the Galaxy Nexus since June and there are many things I like about it. I used a Galaxy S3 for a short time a few weeks ago and it is nice as well. But I continually find the build quality, and attention to hardware design detail sorely lacking across the board, with the exception of Nokia. Design is a feature, that should not be ignored or discounted.