Apple is finally willing to make gadgets thicker so they work better

Apple has started to make its products thicker in an effort to give people what they want: functionality over form. This is a good thing. There are two recent examples: this year’s iPhones and the new 16-inch MacBook Pro.

This is a theory, but it seems this may be that there are some design changes being made after the departure of Apple’s former chief design officer Jony Ive. Ive was known for creating gorgeous products but, sometimes as we’ve seen with the older MacBook keyboard, perhaps at the cost of functionality. Form over function, as they say. (Here’s a good example: according to Bloomberg, the abundance of glass at Apple’s new HQ, designed by Ive, was causing people to reportedly walk into windows.)

I’m not knocking Ive or his ability to create great products. Just look at the iPhones over the past several years along with the iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods. You name it, he had a hand in it. But sometimes there were just parts of those products that seemed to be flawed because the products were too thin.

If you look back at the iPhone 8, for example, the phone measured just 7.3mm thick, an example of Apple’s seeming obsession with creating devices that were as thin as possible but, often, at the cost of battery life. But then, this year, Apple put a huge focus on battery life because it knows that’s one of top things people want from their phones. (Along with great cameras.) As a result of the larger battery, this year’s iPhone 11 is slightly fatter at 8.3mm thick. It’s barely noticeable, but shows that Apple knows people are willing to sacrifice on thinness for a phone that lasts all day.

Then there’s the 16-inch MacBook Pro that was announced on Wednesday. It’s less than 1mm thicker than the 15-inch MacBook Pro that it replaces, and it weighs 4.3 lbs instead of 4.0 lbs like the prior model. It’s 2% larger than the 15-inch MacBook Pro, too. All of this helps Apple include what people want in a similar but slightly bigger form factor: a keyboard with keys that you can actually tap into and that works, instead of one that’s practically flat with very little key travel. The flat so-called “butterfly” keyboard was prone to exposure to dust and debris, which could lead to keys not registering or repeating themselves and, ultimately, lots of typos.

Apple also focused on battery life in its new laptop. It lasts 1 hour longer than last year’s model and charges fully in just 2.5 hours. That’s partly because Apple was able to increase the battery size, something that likely contributed to the larger and heavier form factor.

Ive probably had a hand in some of these products, since Apple typically develops them over a long period of time and his departure was only announced last June. But, without Ive, who was said to be more withdrawn toward the end of his time at Apple, perhaps the company’s design teams had a bit more freedom to make gadgets a bit thicker than before, instead of focusing on thinness and external beauty.

Lots of people seemed worried that Apple might lose its way in design after Jony Ive’s departure. How could it possibly create iconic devices if, seemingly, all of the major releases in Apple’s last decade of dominance have been designed under him?

But if Apple is moving ahead without Ive’s constant input (his new design firm will still advise the company), then it may have a bit more freedom put function over design, and giving people keyboards that work and batteries that last longer.