The Student News Site of Sacramento City College

The Express

The Student News Site of Sacramento City College

The Express

The Student News Site of Sacramento City College

The Express

EDITORIAL: iGroan 5(times)

Illustration+by+Vivian+Liu
Illustration by Vivian Liu

Wind the clocks back a little less than a year ago to Oct. 14, 2011. Nationwide, the scene at AT&T or Verizon Wireless retailers was described as having hundreds of people waiting in line, with some waiting overnight. If you were passing by without knowing anything about modern technology, you would think that something free was being handed out.

It seemed silly that people would wait this desperately for the newest iPhone, but you still had faith in humanity because these people weren’t trampling each other like it was Black Friday. It should also be noted that this was for a cell phone that had a “S” tagged to the back of its predecessor’s name, with new digital smart mouth Siri, who you could talk to.

For everyone who didn’t have the “gotta have the newest electronics” mentality, it continued to become more ridiculous.

“It’s the most amazing iPhone yet,” was Apple’s slogan for the iPhone 4S.

Fast forward closer to the present. On Sept. 13, 2012, technology media website CNET.com reported that the Apple online store server went gone down a day after revealing the iPhone 5. CNET later reported the day after, on the first day of pre-order for the new phone, multiple websites of carriers of the latest model were sold out within an hour since the pre-order started at midnight. TechCrunch.com reported that last year’s iPhone 4S took 22 hours to sell out from its pre-order, showing the increase in demand for Apple’s stranglehold on the mobile industry.

But why are consumers going out of their way to get the newest iPhone?

A visual comparison between the two smart phones shows that the biggest difference is that the iPhone 5 is taller and thinner, and its external shell is metal compared to its previous incarnation’s glass casing.

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The iPhone 5 is thinner, lighter and faster. Its camera? Well, it hasn’t changed much, but it’s still better than the iPhone 4S.

You would think that new technology could produce a smarter phone that didn’t produce radiation or had a sensor that shuts off the phone when the user starts to text while driving, but Apple isn’t some deity that stops car accidents.

Are there any drawbacks to the new iPhone? The thinner design means there is a new docking plug, differing from the one used by Apple products since 2003, meaning that consumers will need to buy a $29 adapter just so they don’t have to buy a new car charger. Those who thought they were only paying for the $200 upgrade fee had another thing coming when all of their previous iPod/iPhone docks and cords become electronic waste.

And yet the numbers reported from Day 1 do not lie. The public is sold on the hottest new trends in electronics.

Apple continues to produce consumer friendly, innovative and eye-catching products, but is waiting in line at midnight and shelling out $200 worth it?

Check your phone contract to see if you’re eligible for an upgrade, and if so, treat yourself to an iPhone 5 when the lines die out and online shop servers go back online. If not, do Mother Earth’s resources a favor and don’t buy into the hype because you don’t need to.

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