But today I don’t want to talk about the heresy of offering a 60Hz display on an $899 phone or the painfully slow wired charging that even the USB-C port mandated by the EU couldn’t fix. Or the fact that the non-Pro iPhones got the same cameras as last year’s models, and the outrageous proposition that people should be okay getting Apple Intelligence features IN BETA later this year.
No, today I want to focus on another subject that, in my opinion, contributes to the boring nature of today’s tech industry. Names.
Let’s start naming smartphones!
The LG G Flex flexing its muscles
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think Apple (and all other companies, for that matter) should drop the boring number scheme for its smartphone models and start naming them. With real names, you know!
Remember the LG G Flex? Or the Motorola Droid? Or the Nexus phone line, or even the RAZR. Of course you do! There’s a reason all those phones ring a bell and enjoy a cult following to this day. And I think the naming convention has something to do with it.
Phones used to have cool names, and companies dumbed everything down to make it easier for people to keep count. The iPhone 16? Galaxy S24? So boring.
Names give character and accentuate certain features
The Motorola Razr was (and still is) one of the coolest phones on the market
There’s another reason why naming smartphone models might be again relevant. In a world where we’re slowly but surely moving toward software-based innovations and away from purely hardware upgrades, the differences between, let’s say, the iPhone 15 Plus and the iPhone 16 Plus are so tiny that people are genuinely enraged and can’t justify the existence of the new model.
If we go back to using real names, we could focus easily on new and exclusive features and deflect some of the intergenerational lack-of-innovation anger (what a term). The LG Flex was able to… well, bend. The Motorola Razr was razor-thin, and so on and so forth.
The iPhone 16 Plus could’ve been named iPhone Cameraman (okay, I won’t be able to get a job as a PR specialist at Apple). But you get the idea.
Names help people form an attachment
N-gage the ion thrusters! Or something…
Another psychological phenomenon is the attachment we form toward inanimate objects. And it’s much stronger when we use names rather than numbers. Many people have given names to their personal belongings—phones, guitars, cars—you name it (pun not intended).We like to give personality to objects because that’s how we make connections and get attached to other people. It’s a valid question whether or not we should be attached to things, but that’s a different discussion.
I still have my Xperia Ray and associate it with a ray of light in my life. It’s a cool name as well. What happened to cool names, really? It’s true that companies still try to name some of the different lineups, such as the Fold and Flip, but it’s the same number game afterward.
And Apple has always been guilty of this more than other manufacturers, especially with the iPhone, as the company skipped the cool name period completely. There were no iPhone Sparkle, or the iPhone MusicBox, or anything like this.
The closest thing I can think of is the iPad Air/MacBook Air moniker. Oh, and the company names its Mac software distributions, which is very cool. Cheetah, Puma, Mountain Lion, Sierra, Mavericks, and Ventura all sound fresh and personal.
The foldable iPhone is eligible for the change
Behold the iPhone Vanity! Too far?
I really hope that Apple will come up with something cool for the foldable iPhone model (which has been “just around the corner” for years now). It will be the perfect opportunity to hop back on the naming wagon and drop the stupid numbers.
Let’s face it, phones are boring, and different generations look more and more alike; why don’t we at least get some cool names?
What do you think about this? Am I losing my mind with such an outrageous proposition? Is it actually better to stick to numbers? And what are your favorite smartphone names? Leave a comment below!