
Ask HN: Why did Apple skip 7s? - arkj
Ever since 3G there has always been an &#x27;S&#x27; revision. Any clue why Apple decided to jump straight to 8 ditching the rightful 7s.
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hackcrafter
Really, the iPhone 7 was just the 6SS. The 'S' revision was spec and camera
bumps, but no major case changes and the 7 made no case differences over the
6S.

But probably a 6SS or whatever wouldn't have sold as well, so they shipped a
7, and now the 8 actually does change the case significantly (glass back) and
so thats not a 'S' revision.

No product cycle will play out perfectly in a versioning scheme, and your only
surprised about the missing 'S' because they have had a naming scheme that has
been surprisingly consistent for this long!

Next year will be the iPhone A...

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codesci
The 7 dropped the headphone jack, changed from physical to "virtual" home
button and added water resistance so there were more structural changes than
just spec and camera bumps.

I'm more curious to why they skipped 9 (or maybe that is still coming...)

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valine
They also redesigned the antenna lines to conform to the curves of the phone.
The back of the 7 looks a lot nicer than the 6s in my opinion.

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pfarnsworth
Marketing. They really wanted to make the iPhone X for the 10th anniversary.
Everything else worked backwards from there.

~~~
ajeet_dhaliwal
And now they're likely working hard to figure out how to continue on next
year. Marketing doesn't usually like numbering things beyond 10, and XS is
extra small.

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btkramer9
I had assumed once they used X for ten that they would use roman numerals
moving forward

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kristoff_it
8 is basically 7s but since it got a glass exterior and wireless charging
capability, they probably decided it deserved a full "major version" bump.

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miguelrochefort
The real question is, why did they skip 9?

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m5badger
Because, 7 8 9 - according to Microsoft.
[http://www.itproportal.com/2015/05/07/microsoft-reveals-
the-...](http://www.itproportal.com/2015/05/07/microsoft-reveals-the-reason-
why-there-was-no-windows-9/)

