Instapaper creator Marco Arment is certainly one of the most read and widely influential Mac and iOS developers around. Earlier this year, he made some waves when he declared that Apple’s software quality had taken a “nosedive,” although he later backed off some of his criticisms of the company as too harsh. Arment this week wrote up a comprehensive overview that compared the strengths and weaknesses of Apple’s two newest iPhone models with the older iPhone 5s and he found that the iPhone 6 in particular is very much wanting.
DON’T MISS: Why a longtime iPhone user ‘completely regrets’ switching to Android
“I’d still rather use an iPhone 6 than a non-iPhone, and the larger screen and better camera have spoiled me enough that I don’t want to go back to the 5S, but I don’t think anyone will look back fondly on the iPhone 6 in a few years,” he writes. “Ultimately, beyond any particular feature concerns or battery capacities, I hope the next iPhone doesn’t have as many physical design and usability flaws as the 6 series.”
What design flaws is Arment talking about? Among other things, he says that the iPhone 6 models have “slippery sides, which exacerbate their unsuitability for one-handed use” and that the iPhone 6’s battery just isn’t very good. In fact, Arment goes so far as to say that “an iPhone 6 thick enough to have 50% more battery capacity would be a better overall iPhone than the 6 or 6 Plus.”
Obviously, the iPhone 6 is a smash hit smartphone and users don’t seem too overly concerned with the issues that Arment cites. Nonetheless, we’ll be interested to see if Apple addresses some of these criticisms, in particular the criticism of the iPhone 6’s battery power, in future releases such as the iPhone 6s this fall.
Read Arment’s full take on Apple’s last three iPhones by clicking here.
