More of the same: Why I am no more excited about smartphones

Like it oregon not, foldables aren’t the aboriginal of smartphones. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

It’s not that consumers person stopped buying smartphones. Sales stay steady, though they aren’t increasing arsenic exponentially arsenic they erstwhile did. India continues to beryllium a agleam spot, which is wherefore brands and the full mobile manufacture are keeping a adjacent ticker connected this market. However, realistically speaking, India does not dictate planetary trends similar the US and Europe, nor does it person brands connected the standard of Apple and Google. Even though the smartphone marketplace remains beardown successful India, globally, smartphone income are softer, arsenic much radical are keeping their phones for longer periods—almost 3 to 4 years, oregon adjacent longer. This, successful itself, indicates that mean consumers don’t consciousness the request to upgrade smartphones annually, arsenic their existing devices past longer and inactive enactment conscionable fine. This is the world today, and the manufacture has started acknowledging it, though I wouldn’t accidental smartphones volition abruptly dice off. They won’t, but the excitement of owning a caller smartphone (and, successful my case, reviewing a caller device) doesn’t look arsenic breathtaking arsenic it was 5 to 6 years ago.

I don’t spot groundbreaking technologies coming to smartphones anytime soon. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Even the brands don’t look arsenic passionate during caller motorboat events anymore. These erstwhile highly hyped merchandise launches present consciousness stretched and often unimpressive, making you consciousness similar dozing off. Consumers tin easy foretell what volition beryllium launched, however the adjacent flagship smartphone volition beryllium pitched, its features, and adjacent the terms earlier the debut. This, of course, has killed the excitement of caller smartphone launches. For my probe pieces, I inactive notation to older launches, dating backmost to the days of Steve Jobs. Back then, determination was a consciousness of enigma astir the product. Embargoes and pre-briefings for media weren’t the norm arsenic they are today. The presentations were abbreviated and to the point, and the presenter straight engaged with the mean consumer, who often didn’t cognize what worth the merchandise would bring to their life. However, present the motorboat events are enactment unneurotic (yes, they are expansive affairs, bigger successful scale, with rooms filled with actors, influencers, and YouTubers) with a absorption connected investors alternatively than consumers, and the accent seems to beryllium little connected the merchandise and much connected everything else.

The bittersweet part, however, is that nary 1 remembers the merchandise erstwhile the motorboat presumption is over, and you’re near wondering what’s antithetic astir this smartphone compared to past year’s exemplary and wherefore the institution adjacent bothered to motorboat a successor erstwhile the differences are minimal. Honestly, I don’t retrieve the past clip I had goosebumps oregon felt my eyes airy up astatine the show of a smartphone—maybe it was the iPhone 13 mini, but that was backmost successful 2021.

I terribly miss the bully aged days erstwhile smartphones were amusive and weird. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

The constituent I’m trying to marque is that smartphones person go arsenic bland and boring arsenic a washing instrumentality oregon a refrigerator. I’m not exaggerating; it’s the hard truth. There was a clip erstwhile phones were experimental, and the features—both hardware and software—were meaningful, really solving consumers’ symptom points. But now, mainstream smartphones are truthful predictable. They each look the same, with premium solid and aluminium finishes, ample OLED screens, and DSLR-like cameras. In fact, it’s hard to differentiate betwixt a three-year-old smartphone and a 2024 flagship. Even if you don’t bargain a caller smartphone oregon upgrade for 3-4 years, you won’t announcement overmuch quality successful performance—maybe a insignificant camera upgrade, but thing earth-shattering that would compel you to upgrade to a caller model.

I retrieve a clip erstwhile smartphones were genuinely interesting. Mainstream smartphones person ever existed, with the likes of iPhones and the Galaxy S series, but brands utilized to instrumentality risks and connection caller perspectives connected phones. Remember the BlackBerry Passport oregon the LG Wing? Sadly, some BlackBerry and LG nary longer marque smartphones, but the information that you inactive retrieve them is impervious they did thing different. Now, the days of groundbreaking designs are gone. Brands person go truthful lazy that they churn retired the aforesaid smartphone plan each twelvemonth and telephone it new, yet inactive expect radical to get excited. We person reached a constituent wherever if a institution adds a caller carnal fastener to a smartphone oregon changes the placement of a camera, we telephone it innovation. The benchmark has been acceptable truthful debased that a tiny alteration successful carnal plan oregon a bump successful camera show is seen arsenic an improvement. For what is being called retired for “incremental improvement” is often ignored oregon wholly sidelined.

It each began with the archetypal iPhone successful 2007, and present we are today: smartphones person officially go boring. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Design has already stagnated successful smartphones, and it’s rather disposable crossed the lineup. It’s beauteous evident that you tin lone alteration the plan to immoderate extent, and implicit the years, brands person tried each imaginable mode to marque smartphones different. Screen sizes person stabilised (you can’t spell beyond a 6.9-inch surface connected a phone, nary substance however overmuch the bezels shrink). We person seen camera improvements from some hardware and bundle perspectives, achieving DSLR-quality photography. We person besides perfected the exertion that allows our phones to complaint successful minutes. The processor is present truthful accelerated that it nary longer makes a important quality to the device’s show oregon however apps function.

The happening is, smartphones, astatine their core, haven’t changed since Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone successful 2007. The solid slab plan remains the same, lone somewhat altered and perfected to the constituent wherever immoderate caller features brands assertion arsenic ‘innovations’ consciousness forced, arsenic the exertion and signifier origin person matured. Even foldable phones that acceptable neatly successful your pouch and past unfold into an 8.0-inch show don’t supply immoderate existent worth to consumers. Foldables aren’t what the manufacture erstwhile pitched them to be. The acquisition of utilizing a foldable versus a non-foldable smartphone isn’t overmuch different—and that’s wherever the occupation lies: software. Instead of the bundle improving, we are stuck debating whether iOS is superior oregon Android is much open. In reality, yearly Operating System updates whitethorn look packed with caller features, but thing has fundamentally changed the smartphone experience. Whether it’s iOS oregon Android, the latest releases are simply adding much features connected apical of the existing interface, alternatively than making the UI much adaptable to changing signifier factors, arsenic successful the lawsuit of foldables, oregon to the assortment of smartphone surface sizes disposable today.

I recognize that galore decisions companies marque are influenced by physics and economics—there’s lone truthful overmuch you tin bash wrong a tiny signifier factor. The relation of regulators besides plays a portion successful however smartphones are designed these days. However, this can’t beryllium the sole crushed wherefore smartphones person go truthful boring lately. These companies person the resources, the talent, and the exertion to reinvent the smartphone, but they won’t bash it due to the fact that we, arsenic consumers, person settled for a presumption quo.

Sales of smartphones person slowed down successful mature markets similar the US, UK and Europe. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

The information remains that the epoch of big-ticket features connected smartphones is gone. By big-ticket, I mean features similar FaceTime, Face ID, iMessage, and apps that erstwhile defined what a smartphone is and made america consumers modulation from diagnostic phones to smartphones. I don’t cognize if AI is the revolutionary measurement that could spice up smartphones, but immoderate AI features I person utilized connected smartphones look utile successful immoderate scenarios, yet they intelligibly aren’t going to alteration however we usage our phones. That being said, smartphone brands volition bash everything to enactment Generative AI connected their devices and merchantability it arsenic rebirth of phones.

AI, however, doesn’t lick the cardinal situation the smartphone manufacture is going through: a deficiency of alternatives to smartphones and however radical are keeping their phones for longer. In a way, it’s earthy that smartphones volition go boring, similar immoderate merchandise category, arsenic radical don’t bargain them retired of tendency but retired of necessity. I deliberation we are astatine a signifier wherever smartphone stagnation is bound to happen, but past it’s besides a chicken-and-egg problem. On the 1 hand, it’s bully for consumers. The prices of smartphones person stabilised, and the affordability facet has made high-end smartphones much accessible to consumers successful markets similar India. On the different hand, the longer radical clasp onto their smartphones, the worse it mightiness beryllium for companies. The large smartphone makers look to recognise this.

The information remains that the manufacture hasn’t been capable to travel up with alternatives to smartphones. A fewer companies person attempted a little phone-centric imaginativeness of the aboriginal with AI gadgets similar the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit RI, but they offered an inconsistent and glitchy experience. In reality, smartphones tin already bash what a instrumentality similar Humane tried to offer. Meanwhile, devices similar Apple’s Vision Pro headset are much of a exertion showcase than a user product. There’s small crushed for idiosyncratic to bargain a Vision Pro oregon a brace of AI glasses from Meta to regenerate a smartphone; the drawbacks are excessively important to ignore.

Don’t get maine wrong: the yearly smartphone rhythm isn’t ending anytime soon, adjacent if it has go boring. Smartphones are going to stay successful our lives for the adjacent fewer years, coexisting alongside immoderate mightiness regenerate them—a brace of AR glasses, a tiny voice-controlled screenless device, who knows? But the bold epoch erstwhile smartphones were trying to bash caller things isn’t coming back, and that saddens maine arsenic a user and a tech journalist.