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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

#131

Not surprising. Phone upgrades in the last 5 years have been barely worth it. I'll be to first to criticize and mock The Google, but I've been plenty happy with my refurbished Pixel 5 that I not only plan on running it into the ground but getting another one if it finally croaks or loses too much battery capacity. Yes, I could just get the latest Pixel when that happens, but why switch from a phone that I know intima…

And yet I still bought the 15 pro. Slightly faster and lighter with slightly better camera!

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

#132
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is what EVs are for. Replace the battery every few years and replace your car whenever a new incompatible plug standard comes out.

Silly point when you consider that manufacturers love the fact that an ICE vehicle has to go into the garage for new parts every few months

Hyperbolic bull*it. Modern ICE cars regularly run for tens of thousands of miles with nothing more than an oil change.

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

#133
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is what EVs are for. Replace the battery every few years and replace your car whenever a new incompatible plug standard comes out.

Silly point when you consider that manufacturers love the fact that an ICE vehicle has to go into the garage for new parts every few months

This point seems overrated. Service on a modern ICE car is pretty minimal, and I don't see it as something manufacturers really care about. Maybe dealerships, perhaps.

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

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an iPhone 13 mini, the last <5" flagship phone you can buy. I'm not particularly tied to the iPhone ecosystem, but when this dies, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Same here, I am genuinely shocked they discontinued the mini series. Will there be another version of the SE maybe?

As another person in the same boat, the problem is that people don't buy them. Like it or not, we're in the minority.

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

#135

Not surprising. Phone upgrades in the last 5 years have been barely worth it. I'll be to first to criticize and mock The Google, but I've been plenty happy with my refurbished Pixel 5 that I not only plan on running it into the ground but getting another one if it finally croaks or loses too much battery capacity. Yes, I could just get the latest Pixel when that happens, but why switch from a phone that I know intima…

One issue is that your Pixel 5 won't get any more security updates (past October 2023). My wife's Pixel 4A is in the same boat - perfectly fine except no more security updates. Doesn't matter much right now, but will gradually start to matter over time.

And why does that problem roll downhill to me? If Google can't convince me to upgrade they should be supporting devices longer.

Obviously I know they won't, because they want me to stay on the upgrade treadmill to generate profits. And realistically, even if it's only a small chance, any security issues could potentially cause unauthorized access to my banks accounts or whatever, so the short term pain of upgrading is probably worth it.

But on principal, this should not be allowed. We desperately need laws in place that any product that is not perishable needs security support for at least 10 years. We're digging ourselves a hole of e-waste for no reason other than shareholders demand it.

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

#136
If Apple with get their act together on an AI agent that lives on the IPhone and gives you privacy but can really do stuff - but that capacity would only work on new hardware - everyone would upgrade and Apple would be work 4 Trillion

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

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, though I kind of don't care. Many people of course do care. My risk tolerance is higher than most. I suspect companies like The Google hold security over people's heads in order to effectively inject code and encourage buying new phones. If I haven't installed new software in a very long time, and most of what I use is FOSS, and I rarely ever update my apps, and there's no reason to believe there's any v…

> That's true, though I kind of don't care. Many people of course do care. My risk tolerance is higher than most. It shouldn't be - common smartphone malware attacks now steal banking info, personal info, and even look for sexting pics that are used as blackmail. > I suspect companies like The Google hold security over people's heads in order to effectively inject code and encourage buying new phones The former is no…

> common smartphone malware attacks now steal banking info, personal info, and even look for sexting pics that are used as blackmail.

> All it takes is a service you use that embeds a webview (tons of them), to get SCA'd or injection attacked, and you've got a huge problem.

Can you provide some evidence of these attacks actually being used in the wild?

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

#138
I was using a Oneplus 3T that was a handmedown, about a year ago I upgraded to a iPhone XSMax which was another handmedown. I intend on using it at least another another 2-3 years until my next handmedown will be a iPhone Max Pro 13. One thing I have noticed, if you buy a top of the line phone, it will typically last 5 plus years with no problems and incredibly little difference from the newer models. I have no idea how they can innovate the physical phone anymore, everything they do now is mostly cosmetic and the software side gets more attention, the camera does improve but not enough to warrant an upgrade every year. Perhaps this is it for the phone market?

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

#139

It's hard to feel positive about upgrading my phone when every new phone seems to remove things I want while adding stuff I don't care about. My S10e is a reasonable size in my pocket. It has a headphone jack. It has an SD card slot. Any new Samsung phone I buy will be missing these things, and I'll be forced to pay hundreds of dollars extra to increase the on-board storage that will still be far less than the 512GB…

I also loved my S10e. Unfortunately the mainboard on it died few few months ago.

I bought Sony Xperia 1 V to replace it. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroSD card slot. The build quality is excellent but I'm a bit worried what the software support will look like in a few years.

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

#140
post #116
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deeply miss the iphone 5 form factor, their current "mini" and SE are noteiceably bigger than that size. I'm guessing smaller phones don't get people lost in content as well as the larger ones, and that's why they're not being made anymore.

A number of years ago an observation I had was that people mostly binned into 2 clusters. One was people who tended to use their phone on the go & thus using it one handed, for instance while walking around. The other was people who tended to use their phone while sitting down and/or handing it off to their kids who were sitting down, so mostly 2 handed use. These two bins also corresponded with preference for smalle…

I think you're right. Apple's solution to that problem is the Apple Watch. Buy a large phone that you use two-handed while sitting down, use your watch on the go.

I just got an Apple Watch earlier this year. I have a nearly four-year old iPhone SE2 that I love for it's smaller form factor. When I replace my phone I'm definitely going to get a larger phone, because after getting my watch I only use the phone while I'm sitting down and I'd prefer to have a larger screen.

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