Smartphone sales down 22 percent in Q2, the worst performance in a decade::North American sales are bad for everyone, except, miraculously, Google.
Good
They should really stop over saturating the market by releasing new models every year with little to no meaningful upgrades.
Even mid-range phones nowadays are good enough to last long after they stop receiving updates, it therefore makes little financial sense (for the average consumer) to buy the newest model every year, not even touching on the environmental impact.
They could try innovating, I couldn’t give a shite about the cameras really. If I want to take proper photos I’ll get a DSLR. I’ll never want their smart processing of pics either.
Give me cool features again.
For me the camera was a selling point. I was tired of hauling around a dslr on my trips. I find that the smart processing is good enough 90% of the time and I don’t want to both haul the camera and handle the post processing anymore. I’d rather just have 90% quality photos of my family and spend more time with them. Hire a photographer for weddings, etc, but really the smart processing is pretty impressive for day to day and even trips.
I mean this right here: I miss those glorious days in the late 2000s when phones were fun. You could buy a phone that fit your lifestyle. If you text and email a lot, get a phone with a keyboard. Take a lot of photos? Get a camera phone. Like listening to music? Here’s a media phone. Like games? Here’s a gaming phone. Just want a thing that can make phone calls that will last a month on a charge because you don’t use it much? Here’s a regular old flip phone.
Nowadays you don’t even have a real choice in size. Want a small phone that’s easy to fit in a pocket because you usually have a laptop with you anyway? Get bent!
Yeah I won’t be buying a new phone until they return to a reasonable size. I have a tablet and laptop for real work.
Unfortunately for you, you’re in the minority. People have proven they’ll upgrade for better cameras.
See how I said “I”, that means it’s a personal view so the statistics for the masses don’t matter…but also this post is about declining sales.
You made zero substantive input to this conversation.
No need to be rude.
This is the reply of someone with nowhere else to go, there is no need to be rude just as there is no need to be relevant I guess.
You were snarky initially and it was unnecessary, you get back what you put out.
My intention wasn’t to be snarky. Sorry you took it that way. 🤷🏼♂️ Get outside and enjoy the day instead of bickering with me. I’m just some stranger on the interweb. Let it go. I’m not worth it. lol.
I had a lovely day, it was a stunning day on the Danube. Hope yours was just as nice.
Like what, though? What is a need you have that your smartphone does not currently serve?
I want my phone to be usable with a dock where I can put in a keyboard, mouse and screen to use as a PC like the steam deck.
Isn’t Samsung DEX exactly that?
Wow you are right, I never heard of that.
In 2017 I bought a Lenovo P2. It had a midrange processor, 64gb of storage (pretty decent for the time), amoled screen, audio jack, 5100 mAh battery, and a price tag of €350.
I only had to charge it every other day, video looked amazing and it was decently prized.
I was considering getting a mirrorless camera and a compact lens setup for traveling with my family. After a week of researching I stayed with my phone. It’s a huge pita (especially once you consider post processing) and the only situations where you will really need one is low light or evening pictures, and nature photography.
So no, hauling a dslr and 3kg of lens is not really a solution, especially with a kid in one arm. My phone is several years old (Oneplus 7 Pro) and the only thing I wish it had was modern camera and software to match.
My phone’s camera is complete shit and I still don’t bother with my DSLR for the reasons you describe.
You can get way more compact mirrorless, my Fuji X-E3 + 35mm f/2 is 550g and the difference in image quality is very clear.
So divert the flow to africa maybe? where they do not have smart phones yet? Oh – they do not have electricity networks there, so maybe sell them with solar chargers.
Phone plateaued 5 years ago for the average user.
I have a one plus 6. I’m on it for hours everyday. Reading. Browsing. Listening. No gaming. Lots of pictures.
My online data ran out long before my phone data - for pictures.
Phone runs fast. No more updates so nothing changes on me anymore.
I have zero reason to update. Would I like a better camera? Sure. But not for 1200$ I don’t.
Could my battery last longer? Yeah. Sure. But I can replace it if I want for 20-40$
My next phone will probably be a refurbished last Gen phone. Nothing more then 400 I imagine.
On the 7 Pro, stuck on the oneplus navigation gestures, pop up front facing cam. Fully working phone, still no other phone to replace it when it comes to having a screen without a bump. And I can get a free phone through work, but there isn’t one I want yet…
I switched from the 7 pro to 10 pro just to double my storage and have a better camera. For actual use as a phone, there wasn’t a need to upgrade whatsoever.
I upgraded from a 7 to a 14 pro and while it doesn’t hang up on the newer OS as much (a problem the 7 developed over its lifetime), it’s not really an appreciably better experience overall. The camera is nicer.
Plus you can probably run stock Android on the op6 if you wanted to run Android 13
Blame greedflation. Phones should be cheaper now, not thousands of dollars.
I told everyone that once contracts for cell phones were replaced with payment plans, companies would start gouging their customers with higher phone prices because the customers could now “afford” it.
Greedy ain’t the right word imo.
I don’t know why people still use the big carriers. Subsiding the phones and getting an upgrade every 2 years was the reason to use them. Now they just add the cost of the phone to your bill.
The brilliant thing is they’ve gone from “We’ll buy the phone, but there’s a $200 ETF” to “we won’t buy the phone, and there’s no ETF. But now if you cancel you owe us $1,000.”
If you think you’re not using “the big carriers” in the US I’ve got news for you: you are using the big carriers. They are all either owned or leasing bandwidth from the big carriers. It’s nothing more than an illusion of choice.
I’m using their towers, but paying 1/3rd the price. My point is why pay the premiumto use them directly if they took away the only advantage of doing so.
If they are cheaper or different in any meaningfully way, it’s still worth it. Not sure if would be considered an illusion of choice or not, unless you want to boycott them of course. Not American though so not sure how different they are.
But for example I am on a cheaper carrier owned for the most common carrier here in Spain which is quite expensive. And it’s cheap as fuck compared with the main one and unless you want their tv deal it has 99% of the same services for a fraction of the costs.
Phones is basically cheaper now. Features that only found on high end now on low end. SD 4 is insanely good (4g2 is an underclock 730). Very few reason to shell out 1000$+ for phones now
You can still buy a Moto G for like $200 that is better than an old high-end phone in every way and runs Android like a champ. Only flaw is short support lifespan.
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Exactly what I was coming to write. Who could have thought that rising notably the prices would have led to less sales?
I have a Samsung note 20. I got it some time in 2021, I think. I only replaced it because my previous Note 20 fell out of it’s mount on my motorcycle handlebar on the highway, and while I apparently have international calls, this doesn’t mean the phone can be run over by an International.
Before I got the original ill-fated Samsung in 2021, I was using a Moto X4 that I bought in 2017. That one still works, but the battery dies fast, so I use it as a screen for a camera drone.
If I were to go buy the latest Samsung Note, I seriously doubt it would be noticeably better than my Note 20. I normally wouldn’t bother to get a phone this nice, but I wanted to treat myself, just once.
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Same. I use it a lot at work and it helps to have somethibg I can scrawl diagrams on.
Maybe because the only “innovations” that can be made to the smartphone is new cameras and new form factors, and only one of those is being focused on
It’s almost as if, they haven’t fundamentally updated smartphones in almost a decade, and now they want $2000 for them.
Also, it’s almost as if we’ve been in a recession for a year. Regardless of whether or not the government wants to call it a recession, we’ve had numerous back to back quarters with negative GDP growth. That’s literally a recession.
Well there are foldables, which are growing as category, but I don’t know if it makes a net difference and anyway they’re too small to make a difference currently.
"There are some of you who want phones that are easier to fit in a pocket, but we’ll break the deal we made with Satan if we ever build 4 inch phones again, so here’s a 6 inch phone that bends in half. The screen is so soft your stubble will ruin it and the Earth’s atmosphere is too coarse for the severely complicated hinge to survive a month. That’ll be $9900.
Except whenever a manufacturer, including Apple, tries to market a phone that’s smaller than the average size, nobody buys them.
The only people who actually want smaller phones are some very loud people on the internet.
And with one graph that argument is out the window.
That’s what happens when you keep increasing the price without adding value.
You mean removing a headphone jack, SD storage options, and removable batteries aren’t added value? I know they claim it makes your phone more waterproof, but I don’t wanna use my phone in the pool, I just wanna listen to some headphones without charging them.
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I miss the jack, and I can still replace a battery if need be (have the equipment and know-how) but no SD card slots is a real kick in the nuts. I’m keeping my n20U.
No no no. Your phone might be waterproof, but we don’t condone the usage of the phone near bodies of water. Intentional submersion of the phone voids the guarantee (actual language on the guarantee of a IP67 waterproof phone).
I find hilarious* that they claim their phones is waterproof while shoving a water sensitive sticker that triggers with the small hint of humidity to deny warranty.
*infuriating
The new Google 9 comes with 4 wheels so you can drive it without carrying it. We had to remove a bunch of features to fit the wheels and rc antenna, stuff like the phone capability, installing non-Google content, and anything that could prevent ads, Firefox is no longer something you can use, but it’s worth it for zoomy phone functionality.
Also there’s a subscription fee now or you have to listen to ads before your call.
Oooo does it have a foldable screen that no one asked for?
I had a non-waterproof iPhone from 2009-2021 and never had an issue. I hate apple’s BS excuse to sell airpods.
And coming out with a new one every year despite it being the same as last year’s
The ea fifa sports of consumer electronics.
Despite it being WORSE than last year. I went from a iPhone 10 Plus to an iPhone 11 after dropping my phone in used motor oil and fucking up all the speakers/mics. I didn’t realize that I’d be getting a MASSIVE downgrade in image quality. Comparing the photos they take side by side, the iPhone 11 looks like a 4 MP camera from a decade ago. EDIT: OK guys, I get it, I was wrong. It was an iphone 8 Plus, not 10 Plus.
There was no iPhone 10 plus…
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It was an iPhone 8 Plus. The only thing I like about the iPhone 11 camera is low light performance vs. the 8 Plus. But nearly everything else about the 8 Plus cam seemed better. Image sharpness, noise, telephoto more desirable to me than fisheye, etc.
lol no worries I was just thinking you meant an XS Max which would be the equivalent to a 10 pro max. Going from that to a regular 11 would be a relative downgrade.
Idk I jumped over to Apple with the 12 and the camera on that was better than my pixel 4XL. I got a 15 pro max now and it blows the pants off my 12.
There was, until some feckless schlub dropped the prototype into used motor oil
hahah that’s about the sum of it. Never keep your phone in your shirt pocket when changing your oil. This is bugging me, maybe it was a 10 Pro? I haven’t thought about it since I retired it from use. It was an iPhone 8 Plus
Don’t keep your phone in your shirt pocket, period. Most shirt pockets won’t securely hold a US dime let alone today’s 4 pound, 8 inch long smart phones.
I hit my limit with hope much I’m willing to pay for a phone. Unless my contracting work needs the best phone I’ll be capping myself at a price by getting not the latest phone.
Waiting on replacement batteries to come back. Also 1k is a no way from me.
Would that really help? I remember that each brand had their own custom battery sizes, and it would only sell the remaining stock once the phone was no longer on the store shelf. I only know Nokia had some standard form factor for batteries.
Batteries were phone specific but it wasn’t a big problem to find them. I bought several for my Note 3 and it allowed me to use the phone for a long time.
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The problem with the Fairphone,beside the price point, is the fact that it is not state-of-the-art now and that will be annoying in the future. The mediocre Battery life and the decision not to include wireless charging is one of these points, the camera,etc. as well.
I really looked forward to the FP5 but decided against it for these reasons.
You might like the XCover series then, they still got those
Lmao stopped upgrading years ago…
When this 5 yo phone kicks the bucket, I’ll upgrade to a 4 yo model for cheap
Literally not missing out on anything and saving a fucking bag doing it
I just changed a 4yo phone that was getting extremely slow and laggy. I went for a mid level phone. From this very year. It has the same QoL and features of an iPhone14 if not its performance. It should last at least 5 years and costs ~$300.
I don’t own an iPhone for the hardware alone. It’s for iOS, which I prefer, the apps, and for the excellent ecosystem. Worth the extra $ to me.
What did you get?
Samsung Galaxy A54. 5 years of guaranteed updates, including 4 Android version updates. 120hz QHD screen. High quality cameras that record on 4K (yay! I can’t watch that anywhere because I don’t own any 4K screen). Sleek and familiar UI. 25W Fast charging. Seamlessly works with my earphones and Watch. Plays almost all mobile games I could possibly want. Basically it’s just “an phone”.
Things it doesn’t have:
- Wireless charging: doesn’t faze me at all.
- Glass back: which only exist because of wireless charging, not a fan of the aesthetic, so whatever.
- Aluminum body: this is the only thing I wished it had, but it would add a hundred or two more to the price for very little extra durability. As it is, the phone feels very sturdy and doesn’t bend in any way. I rarely drop phones, and keep them permanently in a case. So it’s not a deal-breaker.
- Ultra high performance: don’t need it, I wanted a phone not a graphics behemoth. This chip is plenty enough.
- Only 256 GB without SD expansion: I have to use two sim cards, which rules out using an SD due to the hybrid tray. I have been abusing the storage with application installs and media download though, and still haven’t hit 40% of used space. Unless I start using it as a hard drive I would not need more than this for a long while.
- S-pen support: I once tried this out with a Note phone of an acquaintance. Really cool feature. Definitely not a must have.
- HDR: There isn’t any content or screen in my context that can do this yet either.
I still haven’t met a task I wanted to do that the phone didn’t deliver appropriately. The smoothest and nicer phone I’ve ever owned.
Oh, and the transfer was super smooth too. I picked up the new phone at the end of a mostly hands free one hour process, and it was like I had just picked the soul of my old phone in a new body. Everything was exactly in the same place that I left it in and 100% functional without any extra setup required. I have seen Apple’s transfer and, compared the two, Apple was a pain in the ass and unreliable (several failed tries and the thing only half worked after almost a whole day).
If you’re upgrading your device every single time a new device comes along, you’re just chasing clout and status. They rarely, if ever, have significant performance upgrades or new features that make sense in upgrading when your current device is perfectly fine.
Phones also aren’t special anymore. Like the days where phones were flashy and people needed the best/newest phones are gone. Everyone knows everyone has a phone, nobody cares what phone it is. It reminds me of like 2004-2008 when laptops were a big deal and then everyone had one and it became a tool and people stopped caring what you had.
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In fact I think smart phones peaked 3 or 4 years ago and we’re going downhill now. The manufacturers remove features that people like in favor of objectively worse ones (lots of people loved having the fingerprint reader on the back, now it’s either gone entirely or under the screen for some stupid reason?, then of course headphone jacks are going extinct).
When is the last time a smart phone had a major improvement over it’s predecessor? And I mean like, “This one didn’t have a camera, this one does.” Especially since they’re converging on the same 5.7" black rectangle.
I like the finger print reader under the screen
To be fair the vast majority of people don’t do that and just buy a new phone after a few years when theirs is becoming too old, has issues or lacks useful features
I just buy refurbished or “New-Old-Stock” 2-year-old flagship phones off ebay for $100 or so bucks every other year.
Most people upgrade when their battery is shot.
Planned Obsolescence / E-Waste Entropy seems to have been the main reason I upgraded to a new phone for like the last three phones I’ve owned. Eventually the phone just devours all the processing power and makes it feel bad to use, or the battery stops charging or depletes in hours even while idle.
That’s why I miss the days when you could just take the old battery out and put a new one in.
Hopefully EU legislation should bring that back in the coming years, I believe they’re working on such law at the moment
already enacted, vote went through in July. However the “come to force” of the earliest part of the regulation is 2025 and the replaceable battery mandate come to force date is 2027. However I would assume stuff starts going with replaceable battery 2025-2026, since by 2027 it’s illegal to not have that for on sale item. So one would transition year or two early to have ones retail and supply chains empty of the old non-replaceable stuff to avoid having unsold stock or get hit with punishment for being caught selling non regulation items*. So you want the replaceable battery products designed and in production before 2027.
Also one key I would point out, that is often left out. It doesn’t only cover phones. It covers pretty much all battery powered electronics. SO lots of those other small electronic gadget with built in Li-ions will start sprouting battery covers or possibly moving back to their old power of choice, banks of AAs. Since those are inherently replaceable. Well plus non-recycleables aren’t covered by the regulation. However also the maker can argue their green credibility with “well customer can put rechargeable AAs in it. Then it’s a replaceable battery product.”
* Well in reality one’s retail partners would refuse to accept the stuff for sale, since upon it being on sale at their shelf it’s now their ass on the firing line by regulators.
This. The sealed phone is the #1 reason why people are getting new phones and contributing to the eco waste.
It should have never been allowed to happen. I promise you there is a way to make a phone with a removable back waterproof. They just don’t make it because they want you to replace the phone every two years.
They also haven’t rushed to make longer lasting batteries, say 4 years, for the same reason.
You don’t even need a hardware change to make batteries last long, capping charging at 80% and slowing the fast-charging will do that, both of which can be done in OS software. They just need a “battery protection mode” option for people who keep their phones plugged in a lot.
Good. They should never have been that high anyways
My Huawei Mate 10 pro (2017) was the last phone that felt like an upgrade. Everything since then has been better in some respects, worse in others. Just a replacement for a phone that is physically too broken to be used any longer.
I don’t think I’ll ever spend €1000 or more for a phone anymore, even though I could afford it. I’m just not willing to spend that much money on a phone that offers hardly anything new. Maybe if they finally make a fairphone with a decent camera, I would pay a premium for repairability so I can use it for more than 3 years before it inevitably falls apart…
