Apple announces a new lineup of iPhones in September each year. Although every new iPhone ships with upgrades over the previous generation, there are always additional features that users want. For example, Apple improved the primary camera on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, but it didn't equip the phones with a periscope lens to compete with the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Similarly, the iPhone still features comparatively slow wired charging and uses the outdated Lightning port instead of USB-C. While Apple is rumored to improve many of these features with the iPhone 15 lineup, here's a list of everything we want the company to change with the next iPhone.
10 Improvements To Siri
Although Siri has evolved over the years, there's plenty of room for improvement. Even in 2023, users complain about Siri not listening or not responding correctly. In some cases, the voice assistant is too slow responding to commands.
Although there have been rumors about new features coming to Siri with iOS 17, including a newer animation around the Dynamic Island and the removal of "Hey" from the activation phrase, there's more that needs to be changed to make Siri as useful as Google Assistant. Including an AI language processing model in Siri could be another way to improve the voice assistant.
9 Better Cross-Platform Connectivity
While iPhones play nice within the Apple ecosystem, the same can't be said of Windows and Android devices. Even a feature as simple as file sharing is complicated with other platforms, requiring users to download third-party apps instead of relying on an inbuilt feature like AirDrop. While AirDrop is exclusive to Apple devices, supporting other file transfer methods would go a long way toward improving cross-platform compatibility.
8 RCS Compatibility
Google has been trolling Apple for not including support for RCS (Rich Communication Services) messages for years. The new technology can send more data than traditional SMS while providing enhanced end-to-end protection. While Google's Messages app already supports RCS, Apple's iMessage still works on the SMS protocol.
Although both companies have released features to bridge this gap, Apple has refused to adopt the RCS protocol. By doing this, it would make cross-platform messaging with rich text features possible between iPhone and Android.
7 A Periscope Camera For Optical Zoom
Android brands like Samsung and Google include high-range periscope lenses on their flagships. These cameras are capable of zooming in to subjects without downgrading image quality. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a 10x periscope zoom lens, while the Pixel 7 Pro features a 5x optical zoom lens.
However, the iPhone 14 Pro models are stuck with up to 3x optical zoom. A high-quality periscope lens, combined with Apple's advanced imaging, would dramatically improve the camera experience on the next iPhone.
6 256GB Base Storage
Apple offers 128GB as the base storage model on iPhones, with the storage going up to 1TB on the iPhone 14 Pro. While users can upgrade the storage by paying more, 128GB might not be enough for many users, given the increasing size of apps and the high-quality images and videos captured by the cameras.
Many Android phones, including the Galaxy S23 series, also offer 128GB storage for the cheapest model, but it would be nice to see that upgraded to 256GB. Samsung frequently offers free storage upgrades on its Galaxy S23 series, but if Apple switches out the 128GB model for 256GB at the same price, it would make a lot of users happy and set a new industry standard too.
5 Touch ID
All the flagship iPhones come with Face ID, a secure face unlock authentication method that can even be used to make purchases and authorize transactions. However, Face ID can be buggy, and often unlocks the phone unintentionally. Many long-time iPhone users miss the Touch ID experience and would like to see it come back on future iPhones.
While a fingerprint sensor integrated into a home button wouldn't work with the modern full-screen iPhone design, Apple has other alternatives. It could include a fingerprint scanner in the power button, the way its has done with some iPads. Alternatively, it could include in-display fingerprint scanner, which quite common on Android flagships.
4 120Hz Displays Across The Lineup
High refresh rate smartphone displays have been around for a while, and almost all mid-range and flagship Android phones have them. Not only was Apple late introducing a 120Hz display to the iPhone (it was only introduced with the iPhone 13 series in 2021), but it still restricts the high refresh rate to the Pro models.
As a result, the standard iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are stuck with 60Hz screens, making scrolling and animations more sluggish than the Pro models. With the next iPhone, Apple should make 120Hz standard across the lineup, or at least provide a 90Hz screen on the non-Pro models, similar to what Google does with the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.
3 Dynamic Island For All iPhones
Apple introduced the wide notch with iPhone X, the first iPhone to feature an all-screen display and Face ID. The company continued with the same notch design over the following years, but shrank the size with the iPhone 13. In 2022, Apple decided to remove the notch in favor of the Dynamic Island, a pill-shaped notch design that occupies much less space and can display Live Activities.
Unfortunately, the Dynamic Island is restricted to the iPhone 14 Pro models, with the standard iPhone still using the wide notch design. With the upcoming iPhone, Apple should make the Dynamic Island standard across the lineup, bringing the functionality to all the iPhone 15 models.
2 Apple Pencil Support
For years, Samsung's top-end Galaxy Note and more recently, its Galaxy S series smartphones, have supported the S Pen stylus. Although it might seem like a gimmicky feature, the S Pen unlocks many abilities, including taking notes, using image markup tools with precision, and drawing, among others.
The iPhone, on the other hand, has always lacked this feature. It's not like the company doesn't sell a stylus – the Apple Pencil is a popular iPad accessory, but it doesn't work with the iPhone. Including support for a stylus, perhaps a newly designed Apple Pencil for iPhones, would be a great addition to the big-screen models.
1 Faster Charging With Reverse Wireless Charging
If there's one area where Apple has lagged behind its Android counterparts, it's fast charging. Brands like OnePlus offer 100W charging speeds (80W in the U.S.), while Samsung's Galaxy S23 line maxes out at 45W charging. The iPhone 14, in comparison, can charge at up to 20W speeds, with the Pro models able to charge at up to 30W with a compatible charger.
Although the Lightning port has its limitations, Apple is switching to USB-C with the upcoming iPhone 15 range, which could dramatically improve the charging speed, if Apple chooses to. Additionally, the iPhone still doesn't support reverse wireless charging unlike other Android flagships. Including this feature on the next iPhone would let users charge other accessories, including AirPods, wirelessly.