Counterpoint Research's analysis shows that at its peak in 2017, there were more than 700 smartphone brands contributing to the 1.5 billion units sold annually. In 2023,...
  • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
    39·
    2 years ago

    Smartphones have reached a maturity level where upgrades aren’t really exciting. Sure there are the usual hardware power upgrades (and even those don’t really open up new applications), but in terms of features they’re not coming out with anything really novel. Last thing I could think of is bringing back folding which I do find appealing, but not for the cost or the reliability issues.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      820·
      2 years ago

      Well, yes, that’s how it works. What’s the problem? We should have 500 factories cranking out pollution and waste vs. the cream of the crop rising up?

      • sebinspace@lemmy.worldEnglish
        19·
        2 years ago

        I’m mocking the fact that the articles are often written in such a way that I should feel sorry for the companies that die, like how we killed the Diamond industry and the fashion industry and gasp the napkin industry

  • csm10495@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    23·
    2 years ago

    I want a phone with a built in projector… and a bigger battery… and something else I haven’t thought of yet.

    I miss new features and innovation.

    Since we have neither, give me modularization to let me have ^

    • potoo22@programming.devEnglish
      9·
      2 years ago

      Phone makers: hmm this isn’t selling. Guess we’ll only make phones that look like and do the exact same things as every other phone.

    • RedBauble@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6·
      2 years ago

      That was the Motorola Moto Z series for ya, had pins on the back for modules to be attached. Some modules were a battery pack, jbl speaker, a projector, and even a little printer to have the phone work like a polaroid

      • negativeyoda@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        Also the LGG5 to a lesser extent. I had a chin module that acted as an extra battery and fine control for the camera.

      • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        I was just wiping my Force 2 the other day to install an unlocked OS and was impressed how much battery life that clip on pack gives it.

        Without it the Force 2 was the slimmest phone on the market and with the pack on it just feels normal. Yet I can get like three days out of it, and I bought it in 2017.

  • doublejay1999@lemmy.worldEnglish
    171·
    2 years ago

    apple & china robbed us of so much, if you’re a gadget guy.

    i had sony phones, laptops, palm pilots, panasonic bit and bobs.

    i get that technology has advanced infinitely in the last 20 years, but we are on a very narrow path at the moment.

  • applejacks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2915·
    2 years ago

    We are heading towards a future of Apple, Samsung, and Google, with even the latter two struggling to stay afloat.

    And to be fair, Google deserves a lot of the blame for this happening.

    • Sean@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      411·
      2 years ago

      How is Samsung struggling to stay afloat? Samsung has had the largest global market share for years.

      • HaKeNdoR@lemmy.worldEnglish
        151·
        2 years ago

        Yes. But I think most importantly, Samsung can spin out budget phones and actually sell it. No one’s buying cheap Apple product. Currently mostly it is a status symbol… as most-if-not-all high end phones. Don’t get me wrong, great devices but we all know what kind of personalities mostly go for Apple stuff.

        • darth_helmet@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          32·
          2 years ago

          I pretty much go for the se models when they have them, and buy every 4-5 generations. Most people want a device that works, and most smart people want a device that’s going to get more than a couple years of software support. So Apple.

          • HaKeNdoR@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 years ago

            Google should have just spread Android features to 2, 3 years instead of as soon as possible, to match feature set of iOS. Then most Android would be getting easy 10 years of support. But then again most Android phone manufacturers selling a device, Apple is selling services and side products. Giving the die size of A16 SOC and quality hardware, Apple probably giving you their phones at cost and keeping them up to date so you can buy their other products.

            • darth_helmet@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              2 years ago

              Apple is making a profit on every piece of hardware, make no mistake. But that’s only possible because of their scale and focus, which is hard for competitors to compensate for. They literally bought all the 3nm chips for the next year.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
      151·
      2 years ago

      I’d doubt Samsung will be struggling to stay afloat. They’re so diversified they could pick one of their departments to throw money at and just run at a loss in perpetuity, if they felt like it. Apple makes phones, computers, and phone and computers accessories.

      Samsung makes phones and computers. And appliances. And chips. And container ships.

    • 💡dim@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      2 years ago

      Huawei and Honor can both survive purely on domestic sales before you even worry about ROW.

      No idea why you think there are only three brands, or why you think the US is the only market that matters (it’s fairly obvious you are US based)

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6·
      2 years ago

      Absolutely nothing good came from them ending the Nexus program. I LOVED all the variety in Nexus. The Pixel phones are just shitty iPhone clones with barely better features.

      • GopherOwl@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        I wouldn’t even say better features. This will be my last Pixel. I’m tired of Google just not maintaining their products at all.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    2 years ago

    I liked some of them. I still wonder how many were Amazon’s random relabeled crap like AIUEO.

      • BitingChaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 years ago

        Moto?

        Motorola lost my business when they sold me a phone and then provided a grand total of ONE OS upgrade its entire life (Moto G LTE, shipped with an outdated 4.4 build, and then got a single update to 5.1 before being abandoned forever).

        There is no potential for brand loyalty when the brand themselves tell their own customers to fuck off.