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US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

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Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#11

Post by tyingq »

hospitalJail wrote: post #4

This is why I continue to be bullish on Apple. Apple is the only company that has been able to turn a smartphone into 'Nike Jordans'. They had people waiting outside at midnight, they have people buying the phone for the logo, they have people buying the phone for the location of the cameras. In the short term, I only see Apple as the company that does well during this next bumpy economy. Everyone else is selling pho…

I see all that, but there is a sizable market that just can't afford an iPhone that's worth looking at. Though maybe if used iPhones are usable for longer time periods, that eats a little into Android's dominance of the low end?

Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#12

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

hospitalJail wrote: post #4

This is why I continue to be bullish on Apple. Apple is the only company that has been able to turn a smartphone into 'Nike Jordans'. They had people waiting outside at midnight, they have people buying the phone for the logo, they have people buying the phone for the location of the cameras. In the short term, I only see Apple as the company that does well during this next bumpy economy. Everyone else is selling pho…

Apple's Mac business is doing poorly and the iPhone business is not doing particularly well. It's one of the biggest losers in this upgrade cycle delay, with Nest/Pixel being the only manufacturer growing.

Being bullish on excess capitalism during a slow down doesn't seem like a no-brainer play to me.

But to each their own.

Realistically, I'm just not sure how much growth Apple has left unless India becomes a gigantic market and pulls of a China miracle of its own.

It's already by a large margin the largest private company in the world...

Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#14

Post by VancouverMan »

I know a number of people, myself included, who have been waiting for the return of decent mid-range phones before getting a new one.

Right now, there are very few options for people who want a reasonably sized phone, offering reasonably good performance, at a reasonably low cost, with reasonably good durability, with reasonably long software support, from a reasonably trustworthy manufacturer.

Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#15

Post by foobarian »

hospitalJail wrote: post #4

This is why I continue to be bullish on Apple. Apple is the only company that has been able to turn a smartphone into 'Nike Jordans'. They had people waiting outside at midnight, they have people buying the phone for the logo, they have people buying the phone for the location of the cameras. In the short term, I only see Apple as the company that does well during this next bumpy economy. Everyone else is selling pho…

You have it backwards IMO, the only reason Apple is able to achieve this effect is because their phones are heads and shoulders above the rest in hardware quality and integration. Build it (well) and they will come

Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#16

Post by dotnet00 »

Upgrades these days have become so incremental that it doesn't make sense to upgrade as often.

I got my current phone (S23 Ultra) for the stylus and due to a preorder sale, but otherwise it's just as usable as the previous one and even the camera improvements aren't that meaningful nowadays, with the existing quality mostly being squandered by compression in messaging apps (especially in WhatsApp). I don't see myself wanting a new phone unless this one's screen gets damaged enough.

The only interesting development in phones to me is folding devices, but I think they're still a bit immature.

Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#18

Post by reportingsjr »

beretguy wrote: post #8

I bought refurbished iPhone SE 2nd gen from eBay for ~$130 in July 2023. Looks brand new. I use Chargie to extend battery life and a magnetic charging port adapter to eliminate charging port wear. When battery will wear out I’ll replace it with the one from iFixit. Let’s see for how long I can make this device last. https://chargie.org/

That chargie device is interesting!

The latest versions of Android and iOS have finally built in battery management that does basically the same thing (they will not rapid charge over night, and will sometimes limit charge below 100%).

I'm curious to see long term how much these changes will help.

Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#19

Post by llm_nerd »

kiba wrote: post #6
hospitalJail wrote: post #4

This is why I continue to be bullish on Apple. Apple is the only company that has been able to turn a smartphone into 'Nike Jordans'. They had people waiting outside at midnight, they have people buying the phone for the logo, they have people buying the phone for the location of the cameras. In the short term, I only see Apple as the company that does well during this next bumpy economy. Everyone else is selling pho…

Seems to me that you're praising Apple for the worst excess of capitalism, turning phones into status symbols, encouraging consumerism and vendor lock-in. Granted, I got a Pixel 8 this year, but mostly because my old phone was falling apart at the seam. I planned to design my own skin if only to incentivize me to not take off armoring from my phone.

They aren't praising Apple. It's the incredibly lame, intellectually vapid "only silly people buy Apple devices, and for silly reasons!" noise that has been the tired retort of weird anti-Apple sorts of the past decade and a half. That people are still plying this rhetoric in 2023 is simply pathetic.

Particularly weird given that a) Apple devices stay in service much longer than competitors, b) Apple sales swooned as well. It turns out that people are pretty satisfied with their devices.

Re: US Smartphone Shipments Decline 19% in Q3 2023 as More Americans Delay Upgrade

#20

Post by mensetmanusman »

I am a power user who notices every upgrade, but totally understand that majority are not working from their phone for the entire day.

It’s a very interesting question, hardware wise, on what it would take to make a new device interesting…

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