Apple made some big announcements yesterday at WWDC 2023. This is Apple's yearly software event and as expected, the company announced the next iterations of its software. The company unveiled iOS 17 yesterday which will be released for eligible iPhones later this year in the fall.
There were many interesting new features that Apple introduced with iOS 17. Some we've seen on Android phones already, others new and interesting. There was one that stood out. The iOS 17 Standby feature effectively transforms the iPhone into a smart display of sorts when it's charging and placed on its side.
The interface has been designed to be seen from a distance. It's big, bright, and colorful. Standby shows important information such as the time, date, temperature, and any active alarms. It's more than just a glorified Always On Display, though.
In Standby, users can also access Apple Home controls, smart stacks for apps, music controls, and more. Siri can be used hands-free in this mode, so the iPhone effectively doubles as a smart speaker, since you can ask the assistant for information and it will surface visual results. The iOS 17 Standby feature is best on the iPhone 14 Pro since that device has an Always On Display, so Standby can be on all the time.
The basic idea doesn't seem to be all that different compared to the Always On Display feature that Samsung phones have had for many years now. Apple's iPhones didn't get this feature until the iPhone 14 Pro series was launched last year. While Standby is available on phones that don't have AoD, it provides the best possible experience on last year's flagship iPhones.
Samsung missed the boat on making Always On Display more useful
Samsung's phones have had Always On Display for generations and the feature is quite useful. You can enable widgets, choose different clock styles, have music information displayed, and even change the screen orientation to landscape, which is how Standby is displayed on iPhones. Samsung's AoD isn't as colorful or flashy as Standby since it's meant to be displayed all the time, even when the phone isn't charging, so that's a conscious decision to conserve power. Apple's changed its initial implementation of AoD on the iPhone 14 to one that's similar to Samsung's just because it's more power efficient.
However, Apple's implementation of Standby shows the company's tendency to deliver something that was so obvious and right in front of us that it's even more surprising how it could go unnoticed for all this time. Samsung had the perfect AoD implementation and all it needed to do to kick things up a notch was come up with something similar to Standby when the device is being charged. It seems even more absurd that this wasn't done because it would have been perfect for Samsung's foldable phones. You can have a Galaxy Z Fold 4 opened up in landscape mode and have an interface similar to Standby. It can even work for the Galaxy Z Flip 4.
As a Samsung fan, it obviously stings a bit to see Apple refine an idea that has its roots a feature that Samsung did a great job with but didn't really work on evolving further. It's Apple's ability to take ideas that seem so simplistic on the surface and transform them into features that help make its users lives easier that endear it so much to its loyal fan base.
The iOS 17 Standby feature is one that I'd certainly want on my Samsung phone. It's entirely possible that Samsung ends up doing a better job at implementing this idea and adds functionality that Apple hasn't thought of. However, it would be hard to shake off the notion that Samsung only followed in Apple's footsteps once the latter launched the Standby feature.
This is a perception that the company has worked very hard to shed off over the past few years. Its achievements in hardware design, particularly in the foldable segment, have cemented Samsung's prowess as a design powerhouse. Fans like me only hope that the in addition to nailing its moonshots, the company did a better job of plucking these low hanging fruits.
