The iPhone 5: Where Did the Magic Go?

I remember the first time I ever held an iPhone. I had a college friend who was an avid buyer and seller of gadgets and he had happened to finally get himself an iPhone. It was awesome! I can’t even remember the specific generation, but I do remember vomiting rainbows after experiencing a touchscreen phone that was that smooth and a mobile OS that was that simple and intuitive. It just worked, as Apple fans like to say.

Then shortly after graduating, the iPhone 4 came out and it was magic all over again. I marveled over the incredibly premium industrial design and that Retina screen. Damn, it was a pleasure to look at and hold when I finally got one for my girlfriend. Despite it’s relatively small size, it felt rock solid and it really gave off that premium feel. And did I mention that screen? I held it up so close to my eye and strained as hard as I could to see if I could detect the individual pixels. I ended up giving myself eye strain in the process but few pieces of tech have given me that much pleasure out of the user experience. And I’m not even an iPhone fan!

Since then, I’ve had a lot of respect for Apple and their iPhones. While they didn’t necessarily put the latest and greatest tech into their phones, they did have that magical way of anticipating exactly what the market wanted. Even after the iPhone 4S, which was more of an incremental upgrade to the iPhone 4 than it was a generational leap, I still looked for the iPhone that was next in line, simply because I had already seen something similar in the transition from the iPhone 3G to the 3GS – an incremental upgrade.

Then the iPhone 5 finally arrived and as I eagerly searched the net for anything I could find about it, I slowly came to the realization that I wasn’t going to find the magic I was looking for. They made it taller and thinner for sure, and all while upgrading every piece of tech that they crammed into such a small space. It’s every bit deserving of the flagship status that it bears and will likely feel much more premium to hold than the plasticky builds of its competitors if that iPhone 5 promo video is to be believed. But that’s all there is to it. A hardware upgrade. Heck, even the surprise was gone considering many of the iPhone 5 rumors and leaked shots turned out to be true.

So there, I’m actually kind of disappointed in the iPhone 5, or the taller iPhone 4S. Some of you might argue “why fix something that isn’t broken?” Because as an eager tech junkie, I was looking forward to that magic. Because up until the iPhone 4, Apple had always been able to deliver the unicorn among smartphones. I’m sure I’ll get over it and start looking for that magic in the iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S or whatever. For now, I just feel kind of let down.