The Apple iPhone 5S Could Be A Major Refresh After All

With the iPhone 5 now having been in general release for half a year, speculation is now running rife for the iPhone 5S. Not that such behavior is surprising. The tech media is still hooked on any news that comes out of Apple, even if lately it hasn’t been as earth-shatteringly amazing as it has been in the past. But even given this, is there a chance that the Apple iPhone 5S will be a major refresh?

Not likely, at least in terms of the hardware. Apple has established a fairly predictable pattern in terms of their iPhone releases and if they stay true to form, we’ll be up for an “S” model next. It will be an improved version of the iPhone 5, which to be perfectly honest, is already great to begin with. Aside from speed bumps and tweaking, don’t expect too much here.

The major refresh in the Apple iPhone 5S will come in the software. I’m holding out for a Jony Ive designed major overhaul of iOS. The aging iPhone operating system is getting very long in the tooth. It works very well, but it needs something fresh. The hardware design has moved forward blisteringly well, but it seems the software running it hasn’t taken full advantage of what it can do in the six years since the original iPhone was introduced in 2007.

For me, some of the productivity tasks that can be easily done on the PC should be made simpler to do on iOS. Copy and paste, and true multi-tasking stand out as the features that need to get in there, and a visual overhaul may be required to do it. Another way of looking at it would be to say, content consumption has been stellar on iOS. Content creation on the other hand, despite what Apple’s marketing department says, is not really as good as what it could be. I know I don’t currently look at my iPhone (or iPad) as primary content creation devices. A new user interface and better intuitive tools in iOS may just do the trick and make iOS devices the content creation devices that Apple claims they are.

So for those who are hanging out for a big overhaul for the Apple iPhone 5S, you may not get a big hardware change, but the software change will more than make up for it. Bring it on Jony Ive.