Apple says “iPhone 9We have not released a model called “.
Apple’s familiar YouTube channel, Apple Explained, explains why Apple decided to skip the iPhone 9 and the history of Apple’s product name strategy.
*Category：technology Technology｜*Source：Apple Explained ,wikipedia
Why didn’t Apple name the new iPhone “iPhone 9”?
Apple has released the “iPhone X” following the “iPhone 8”. However, the name “iPhone X” leaves some doubts.
That’s why Apple ignored the naming convention and skipped the “iPhone 9”, and why the notation is “X” even though the reading is “ten”.
The reason for changing the naming convention is that Apple prioritizes attractive marketing over analytical reasoning.
For example, Apple has given the product name “Apple TV,” even though it’s clearly not a TV. Apple said it was named “Apple TV” because it sounded cooler.
And this Apple naming trend has also influenced the names of iPods and Apple Pencils. People don’t call music players “pods” or styluses “Pencils”. This means that if you look only at the name, it can be misinterpreted.
Roughly speaking, the name “iPhone X” is for the same reason. First of all, “Apple Explained” cites that Apple had a precedent of “Mac OS X” as to why it was “X”.
First of all, the launch of the iPhone in 2017 had a meaning not found in other models. It was the 10th anniversary of the iPhone’s release.
The first iPhone was launched in 2007, so Apple felt it needed to commemorate this opportunity in 2017. And the “iPhone X” symbolized a whole new era in the history of devices.
This is because the design of the “iPhone X” has changed the most in the history of the iPhone, and the main unit price has also changed significantly from $ 650 (regarding 82,000 yen) of the “iPhone 7” released in 2016 to $ 1,000 (regarding 120,000 yen). Because I raised the price.
In other words, the release of “iPhone X” is not a regular update, but a big update.
And Apple wanted to make a big publicity regarding the launch of the iPhone X. That’s why Apple broke the tradition and avoided the number 9 and named it the iPhone X.
And why Apple used the Roman numeral “X”, knowing that it was likely to be misread as “X”, even though Apple had never used the Roman numeral on the iPhone. But there is also.
However, it may not have been important for Apple to call it “10” or “X”. That’s because Apple’s top priority was to tell you that the 2017 iPhone was a completely different product from Apple’s previous products, and that it made a major update.
On the other hand, naming it “iPhone 9” wouldn’t have been very effective in communicating Apple’s intentions.
Apple has moved from the iPhone 8 to the iPhone X and then to the 11th, but people still expected to use the name iPhone 9.
That’s why rumors of the iPhone 9 coming out regularly from the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2020.
When Apple worked on building a new low-priced iPhone, the name wasn’t yet known. This model was a new model of the “iPhone SE”, but most people called this low-priced model the “iPhone 9”.
That’s why many were surprised when Apple announced the new low-priced iPhone as the “iPhone SE.”
But from a marketing perspective, it’s a good decision for Apple to call the new $ 400 iPhone an SE. If the “iPhone 9” had been released at this time, it would have caused a great deal of confusion in the iPhone series.
Because the name “iPhone 9” gives the impression that this model was released between the “8” and “10”.
In other words, even though it’s a new model, users may think it’s a few years old.
In addition, Apple uses numbers for more premium iPhone models. However, SE is not a premium model but a cheap model aimed at appealing to a completely different market from “8”, “10” and “11”.
Also, Apple isn’t the only number skipped in the history of the iPhone. Back in 2007, the first iPhone was released, followed by the “iPhone 3G,” “3GS,” and “4.”
In other words, there is no “iPhone 2” or “iPhone 3”. The name 3G means a device that operates on a high-speed 3G network provided by a carrier. Therefore, it is not “iPhone 3”.
It wasn’t until “4” that Apple adopted consecutive number names for the iPhone.
The fact that the 3rd generation model was called the 3GS is really a coincidence. However, this is one of the events that symbolizes Apple’s interesting naming convention, which will continue to be debated for years to come in the history of the iPhone.
