Remember when Apple held their big “Let’s Talk iPhone” event back on October 4th, and they didn’t announce the iPhone 5? Instead, we were handed the iPhone 4S, a phone with many internal improvements – but one that looked like the same damn phone many of us have had for the past year or so. Do you remember some of the internet backlash?
Skip forward to the week after Apple and the top three carriers began accepting pre-orders. It seemed like people had gotten over their initial iPhone 5 letdown and decided that the iPhone 4S was a device that they did actually want.
Pre-order supply sold out pretty fast, and by the time it was all said and done, most carriers had either completely sold out of their stock or they were projecting 2-4 week shipping delays. Apple came out and said that the iPhone 4S crushed the one-day pre-order record with over 1 million. The previous owner of the record was the iPhone 4 with about 600K.
And according to analysts – the iPhone 4S is going to break all kinds of first weekend sales records. Most estimates range somewhere between 2 and 3 million for the whole weekend, while some estimates have been even more ambitious, putting the possible total closer to 4 million.
So it’s clear that the iPhone 4S is going to be far from a bust. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its detractors.
Retrevo has released a “gadgetology report” that looks at some of the biggest problems that folks have with the brand new iPhone. And it looks like the top three disappointments are its lack of 4G, the lack of a new design, and the lack of a larger screen – in that order.
Only 53% of iPhone 4 owners surveyed said that the were not disappointed with any aspect of the iPhone 4S. Non iPhone owners seemed to be a little more satisfied with the device:
This same survey looked at who was planning on buying the iPhone 4S. 44% of iPhone 3-series users said they are and 42% of iPhone 4 users will make the switch. Only 12% of Android users plan to make the switch and around 1/4 of the Blackberry owners surveyed said they would jump to Apple. Half of all smartphone owners said no, they would not be buying the device.
Is it disappointment in the iPhone 4S? Are some people simply waiting for the iPhone 5 – whenever that comes around? Does the iPhone 4S pale in comparison to other offerings from other manufacturers?
Although some people clearly show a lack of enthusiasm for the phone, the numbers say that it will be a super-successful launch.
What are your disappointments, if any, with the new device? Let us know in the comments.
