Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, unveiled the iPhone 6 last week in front of an audience of hundreds and live streaming to millions.
As Cook took the stage, the crowd erupted in applause.
“I’m going to talk about the product that has changed all of our lives – that of course is iPhone,” Cook said.
The crowd roared again with a newfound frenzy of excitement.
Watching the unveiling event I would have thought some impending crisis had been solved. Alas, cancer hadn’t been cured or climate change reversed. It was just Apple releasing a new line of products.
Apple promises the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the best phones ever made. It claims they have more pixels, a larger display, a new operating system, sustained performance, are thinner, faster, have a better battery life, a better camera – just downright better.
Today the iPhone 6 rolls out. People are flocking to Apple stores, dishing out hundreds of dollars to get their hands on the new device that will change lives. Some may have only had the iPhone 5s for barely a year. To me their last phone is still new. It’s definitely not antiquated; it should function just as fine if not better than the day it was released.
I, however, still own and operate a dinosaur – an eight-gigabyte iPhone 4. The device is ancient and nearly decrepit. It’s still on the 3G network so it takes a whole minute to load my Facebook or Twitter feed. It takes just OK photos and even more OK-ier video. It freezes frequently and apps crash constantly. But it works. It satisfies my smartphone need.
My calls go through without difficulties and my text messages receive and send with ease. Sometimes my emails are slow to download but they load eventually. My iPhone works and I was content until I watched the iPhone 6 trailer.
I thought to myself, the iPhone 6 might be able to change my life. I could be more productive. I could answer emails and texts faster. I could take photos and high definition video without worrying about receiving “the memory has reached capacity” message. I could do more.
A few years ago iPhone 4 was in the same place that the iPhone 6 is currently in. It was celebrated, idolized, goggled and coveted. Apple made nearly the same life-altering claims and they backed those claims up with a viable product. Each iPhone does get better, but does it really change our lives?
There’s no doubt smartphones in general have irreversibly changed our lives for the better and worse. They are here to stay and will continue to change how we operate our day-to-day tasks and how we interact with each other.
It’s important as a society that we keep on advancing and redefining what is scientifically possible. However, our quest for knowledge and progress should not be confused with blatant commercial consumerism.
Will the iPhone 6 change my life?
Not really, but I want one.
Alex Maxwell is a senior at Oklahoma Christian University and Editor-in-Chief of the Talon
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