No iPhone 5?

Ever since its 2007 launch, the iPhone has been one of the hottest pieces of technology on the market. Its continuous updates have been the subject of fascination among cell phone users and technology pundits everywhere, and their most recent announcement of the iPhone 4S was long awaited within those circles. But that doesn't mean that everyone was satisfied with Apple's big announcement.

Because my iPhone 3G is desperately in need of a replacement, I was eager to find out what the features of this new iPhone would be. But when I first logged online following the reveal of the 4S, I was met with this article on Yahoo.com. With a headline that begins "No iPhone 5?," the article leads off with this:

"Apple, Inc. announced its new iPhone today -- a powerful updated model called the iPhone 4S, but a disappointment to investors and the tech world because it wasn't a completely-new iPhone 5 people had come to expect"

As the article continues, it does provide me with the information I was seeking: I found out about the new features this iPhone had to offer, when it would be available, and how much it would cost. But following that opening paragraph, the entire story was colored by the disappointment about the lack of an iPhone 5.

As I continued to do my research, it became clear that everyone was upset that the tag following this new iPhone was "4S" rather than "5". An article on CBSNews.com was titled "No iPhone 5: Apple Totally Blows its Moment," while another from USA Today notes that the "reaction to its debut was mixed, in part because it wasn't the iPhone 5 that was widely anticipated". Nearly every article that I read about the iPhone 4S made clear the public disappointment about the lack of an iPhone 5.

My experience with these iPhone articles made me think a lot about the different types of objectivity. In some ways, these articles could be considered objective because of the way they primarily concern themselves with factual accuracy: they provide readers with all of the necessary information about the release of the new iPhone and include quotes directly from the source—from Tim Cook and other Apple executives. But when looking at them with the “disinterestedness” meaning of objectivity in mind, it becomes easier to see the opinions and biases of the reporters slipping in. After all, any mention of the disappointment over the lack of an iPhone 5 in the headline or the first paragraph immediately primes the reader to approach the article in a certain way.

Now it’s certainly possible that these repeated mentions of disappointment are included to inform the reader just how upset iPhone users and technology fans really are, and that reporters are simply capitalizing on the most interesting part of this newest iPhone launch. I just take issue with the way this public disappointment was presented, and fear that its predominant inclusion in these articles helped spark further indignation among iPhone users new and old.

Works Cited
Graham, Jefferson. "Apple unveils iPhone 4S; but no iPhone 5". USA Today. 4 October 2011.

Effron, Lauren, Potter, Ned, and Weir, Bill. "No iPhone 5? New iPhone 4S Announced by Apple; Includes Voice Recognition, Faster Processor". ABC News Online. 4 October 2011.