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Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

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Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#11

Post by soperj »

Lord-Jobo wrote: post #8
coffeebeqn wrote: post #3

I wonder how many of these were really doing anything novel ? Or are they basically buying a half finished android kit and slapping a logo on it

A few were, definitely. LG stands out as the biggest innovator to leave the market. Less competition in the android market is a problem, in my view. Most people's interests are covered between Pixel and Samsung, true. But what happens when google gets greedy and decides to lock the Pixel bootloader? Where the hell will people who want a privacy oriented phone go? stuck with pinephone or fairphone? Even Samsung has be…

> stuck with pinephone or fairphone?

What's wrong with these options?

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#12

Post by cbozeman »

jjoonathan wrote: post #9
Zigurd wrote: post #5

table stakes are much higher now. You'll find similar numbers and a similar winnowing out in PCs, from a time anyone could bang together a PC from standard parts. Michael Dell sold them out of his car trunk. That hasn't entirely disappeared but now it's a narrow space between gaming rig builders and big OEMs. Phones will be even less forgiving of niche business models. If you can't design a titanium case, or try (and…

Are corundum screens standard now? I thought it went the other way and the market largely gave up on corundum and just uses glass now.

Sapphire crystals are still used for the lens covers, which makes sense, because if there's any component of your phone you want to provide with extreme protection, it's the camera lens.

A screen can work fine with a crack or a dozen, but a cracked camera lens? Game over.

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#13

Post by codeulike »

Are these like real brands, or fake cookie cutter brands on Amazon?

Amazon: "We're talking top brands here, like FLORGOO, REMPLOW, BARBENTRON, ZOLIMIO"

Customer: "Those really dont sound like real companies, Amazon"

Amazon: "But they kindof do though, you can see how those might be company names"

Customer: "I guess?"

(from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQpxAvjD_30 )

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#14

Post by joewferrara »

It’s a consequence of the maturity of the smart phone market/product. Apple’s “boring” new IPhone announcement last week (or was it two weeks ago?) is another consequence of the maturity of smart phones. There’s less and less new groundbreaking stuff to do. At the beginning before all the groundbreaking stuff was done and winners and losers decided there’s much more competition.

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#15

Post by poopbutt7 »

clearleaf wrote: post #4

A lot of them are probably the same companies. Brands seen online such as xkgjd and hjafskdj are not meant to last.

lol at being stuck in xkgjd's walled garden. At least with hjafskdj I can sideload apps, but I guess some people just prefer a phone as a status symbol.

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#16

Post by f6v »

Lord-Jobo wrote: post #8
coffeebeqn wrote: post #3

I wonder how many of these were really doing anything novel ? Or are they basically buying a half finished android kit and slapping a logo on it

A few were, definitely. LG stands out as the biggest innovator to leave the market. Less competition in the android market is a problem, in my view. Most people's interests are covered between Pixel and Samsung, true. But what happens when google gets greedy and decides to lock the Pixel bootloader? Where the hell will people who want a privacy oriented phone go? stuck with pinephone or fairphone? Even Samsung has be…

I think half of the world can still use Huawei or Xiaomi

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#17

Post by vel0city »

coffeebeqn wrote: post #3

I wonder how many of these were really doing anything novel ? Or are they basically buying a half finished android kit and slapping a logo on it

Given the context in the article I imagine its probably that.

> the decline in the number of active brands is coming largely from local brands

> small brands have been largely dependent on white-label devices

I'm not suggesting there haven't been some notable big historical innovators who have either completely left the market or are only shells of their former selves. LG, Nokia, HTC, were all big players who used to be innovation leaders in the space who either aren't in the market anymore or in Nokia's case just makes solid midrange phones instead of any big innovations.

But yeah, it seems like a large chunk of this drop is just local brands that stuck their own stickers on a white label phone, maybe did a little bit of localization work, stuck it in their own box and sold it as their own device. Maybe some people lost a little bit of local flavor, but I doubt much innovation was lost with most of these brands.

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#18

Post by dtx1 »

cbozeman wrote: post #12
jjoonathan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are corundum screens standard now? I thought it went the other way and the market largely gave up on corundum and just uses glass now.

Sapphire crystals are still used for the lens covers, which makes sense, because if there's any component of your phone you want to provide with extreme protection, it's the camera lens. A screen can work fine with a crack or a dozen, but a cracked camera lens? Game over.

I wonder why there are still no widely available sapphire crystal screens.

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#19

Post by dtx1 »

cbozeman wrote: post #12
jjoonathan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are corundum screens standard now? I thought it went the other way and the market largely gave up on corundum and just uses glass now.

Sapphire crystals are still used for the lens covers, which makes sense, because if there's any component of your phone you want to provide with extreme protection, it's the camera lens. A screen can work fine with a crack or a dozen, but a cracked camera lens? Game over.

I wonder why there are still no widely available sapphire crystal screens.

Re: Nearly 500 brands exited smartphone market during 2017-2023

#20

Post by chankstein38 »

codeulike wrote: post #13

Are these like real brands, or fake cookie cutter brands on Amazon? Amazon: "We're talking top brands here, like FLORGOO, REMPLOW, BARBENTRON, ZOLIMIO" Customer: "Those really dont sound like real companies, Amazon" Amazon: "But they kindof do though, you can see how those might be company names" Customer: "I guess?" (from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQpxAvjD_30 )

My favorite one ever is still MOBDICK
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