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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

#21

Post by Kirby64 »

soperj wrote: post #11
Lord-Jobo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Compared to a pixel, they're budget phone specs missing some fundamental quality of life stuff that other phones have offered, usually for years. The fairphone 5 seems a bit closer to flagship specs, but it still clearly misses the mark and also seems priced at flagship levels. Pinephone is just a junk budget phone, although at least it's priced much lower.

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

#22

Post by Kirby64 »

dtx1 wrote: post #19
cbozeman wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Two reasons: large, phone sized sheets of sapphire are difficult to manufacture and be optically clear. Also, sapphire is more brittle than glass... so despite scratching less easily, it's much much more likely to shatter if you drop a phone. Glass, as much as it has deficiency, is a compromise inbetween. And it's way cheaper, to boot.

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

#23

Post by notatoad »

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.

yeah, when brands purposely exist for a short enough time period that they're gone before anybody tries to make a warranty claim, there's going to be a lot of turnover

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

#24

Post by criddell »

soperj wrote: post #11
Lord-Jobo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The cameras are way behind.

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

#25

Post by pie420 »

dtx1 wrote: post #18
cbozeman wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

growing a sapphire crystal is difficult, and like silicon chips, the bigger the surface area, the chances of defects goes up exponentially. Additionaly, ading $200-300 to the BOM to make your product last longer is a bad idea, since each broken screen is usually a sale or a $500 repair bill. simple economics.

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

#26

Post by hnbad »

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.

I will have you know that the hjafskdj phone is Amazon's Choice in the category of phones for users searching for "hjafskdj phone" in the category "Gardening" on Amazon.

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

#27

Post by distract8901 »

chankstein38 wrote: post #20
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

I have some compression underwear by DEVOPS brand. It's very mildly amusing every time I see them in the laundry. Also the worst compression shorts I've ever seen but I guess you kind of have to expect that

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

#28

Post by bhouston »

cbozeman wrote: post #10
doubled112 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sums up my feelings with smartphones, and a lot of other areas that used to be exciting in tech. They’re “finished” products. I don’t expect massive innovation going forward, just slow, incremental changes.

Could not agree more. The candy bar format is probably as good as it can reasonably be expected to get given our current technology. One day, we may have the phones from The Expanse , but for right now, an iPhone 15 or a Galaxy S23 or a Pixel 7 are as good as they need to be.

That most recent innovation in the smart phone market that was not just incremental improvements was foldable phones. It hasn't yet really taken off so it isn't clear it will become widespread.

Other than that, most everything has been very incremental (faster, longer, light, high resolution, brighter, polish) since pretty much the mid 2000s.

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

#29

Post by distract8901 »

soperj wrote: post #11
Lord-Jobo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

They're way, way too cheap and low-spec to even consider as a daily driver.

I'd love to pay like $500 for a pinephone with hardware from 3-4 years ago.

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

#30

Post by vardump »

criddell wrote: post #24
soperj wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> stuck with pinephone or fairphone? What's wrong with these options?

The cameras are way behind.

I guess. But at least the cameras are not going to AI hallucinate non-existent details.
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