Apple has built their reputation on consistently wowing customers with superior upgrades to their already coveted products. The iPhone 5 release has garnered much anticipation from Apple fans, as the fifth edition phone is said to boast a much improved interface. Apple has announced an event to be held today in San Francisco that will unveil the phone, and afterwards will offer customers their first shot at preordering the phone before its set September 21st release date.

So what does the iPhone 5 have, that iPhone 4s did not? In particular, the new iPhone 5 will have a much larger screen making videos and media more watchable. The screen size has a resolution of  1280 x 720 pixels and is made of the company’s luxurious Retina display technology which has wowed customers on the new Macbook Pro and iPads.

However, while the new iPhone has an upgraded A6 processing chip, up from A5 – it also has a smaller SIM card making it harder for users to swap their cards from their iPhone 4. While the shrinking of all these elements makes the technology appear ‘slimmer’ it also limits a user’s freedom.

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This seems to be a trend with Apple. Their new Macbook is an undeniable beauty, but they also minimized the internal components of the luxury laptop, even going so far as to surge them together, making it ultimately impossible for the user to upgrade their RAM and memory without going through Apple.

Basically, the company is offering us enhanced looks in exchange for their increased Monopoly and mono-control over their devices. Much like their dismissal of YouTube from their gadgets in hopes of increasing video sales on iTunes, the company often compromises user liberty for higher profit margarines.

I have said before that I am also sick of Apple’s incessant release and upgrading of new products, as they often withhold technology they have already developed to keep up with their steady profit model.

I have been an Android user and iPhone user, and while the iPhone boasts a longer battery life, it can’t compare to the absolute freedom to upload, program and store data that Android offers its users.

All in all, in many ways Apple has become more and more blatant about stealing the product ideas of competitors. The new size of the iPhone 5 is very similar to the Android HTC – their biggest smartphone competitor.

Also, their projected release of the iPad Mini is an answer to the Kindle Fire’s success as a smaller sized tablet. However, when Steve Jobs was around he scoffed at the Kindle Fire’s miniscule size saying, “The most striking observation from testing the Fire is that everything is much too small on the screen, leading to frequent tap errors and accidental activation. You haven’t seen the fat-finger problem in its full glory until you’ve watched users struggle to touch things on the Fire.”

It seems like Apple’s new commitment to following consumer trends, instead of setting them, is a major divergence from the interface-trailblazing company who won our loyalty in the first place.