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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

#171

Post by i_am_jl »

coldpie wrote: post #146
marcosdumay wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I didn't even notice why I keep postponing upgrading my out-of-line phone that can't even get new software from the play store anymore. But yeah, it's because I dread of looking around trying to decide what I'll give up to get a headphone jack.

You can put a USBC-to-3.5mm (or lightning) adapter on your headphones and just leave it there. Not as good as having a proper headphone jack, but it's good enough. Yes, they make combo listen & charge adapters, too.

I don't think it's good enough, and I don't think the others complaining about the same issue are somehow unaware of charge+listen USB-C or Lightning dongles either.

My gripe is that I don't want to pay for a new thing that causes me a problem that I don't currently have. I don't want to carry and keep track of a dongle. I don't want to put wear and tear on the USB-C port for the 8-12 hours a day I've got headphones plugged into the phone in my pocket.

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

#172

Post by eppp »

deelowe wrote: post #110
cabirum wrote: 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.

Total cost of ownership for evs is vastly lower than ices. The number of mechanical parts is two orders of magnitude less for an ev.

And yet they cost a ton more. It is madness and incredibly frustrating.

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

#173

Post by atomicfiredoll »

vasdae wrote: post #160
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #73

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…

Still with SD cards and headphone jacks? The world has moved on, my man.

This is a technical audience. This article is about people not upgrading phones. There are many technical and professional people that have chosen not to upgrade phones because of the lack of these features.

Clearly, that group isn't the main reason for the decline (it's not even mentioned as a trend in the article,) but it really shouldn't be surprising that there are people on this site who still take these things into consideration when upgrading.

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

#174

Post by karmakaze »

For me phones are a utility, computers are where I spend most of my attention. What I do value about my phone is the audio quality. I haven't found anything as good as the Quad DAC on the LG G8. (LG has gone out of the phone business)

I'm considering picking up any remaining stock with the only concern being security updates. Even if I use it as a iPod, it's not that bad a deal since it has a memory card slot.

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

#175

Post by huytersd »

vasdae wrote: post #161
simmerup wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 is the kind of thing that people here in HN believe? No wonder you're looking forward to electrics then.

Almost everyone has an ICE vehicle. There no reason to “believe” anything.

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

#176

Post by throw555chip »

VancouverMan wrote: post #14

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.

Yup, originally had Nexus One, found out it couldn't be upgraded after a couple of years because of the decision to make the installation space so small. Upgraded to Nexus 4. Battery expanded like a blowfish after a year. Bought a Nexus 5. The Gorilla glass wasn't as durable as my clumsiness confirmed. In between the 4 and 5, bought a Nexus 7 (I think, it was a pad device), it's display stopped working almost 1 year to the day.

Back to the Nexus 5, after dropping the 5 accidentally and destroying it, upgraded to a mid-range LG phone. Wow. It was great. Still works like 5 or 6 years later though 2 years after buying it, LG announced they would exit the smart phone business. That was a blow.

The LG will works but is slow now so the only option left was a Samsung phone, mid-upper range. About a year later so far so good but I had to disable a thousand crap apps they install and revert a thousand more crap default settings. Worse than buying a new Windows PC which is why I use Ubuntu Linux on my PC.

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

#177

Post by huytersd »

eppp wrote: post #172
deelowe wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Total cost of ownership for evs is vastly lower than ices. The number of mechanical parts is two orders of magnitude less for an ev.

And yet they cost a ton more. It is madness and incredibly frustrating.

They cost about 20% more, for now. That’s not a ton considering you can break even on gas alone in 2-3 years, depending on how you drive.

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

#178

Post by coldpie »

i_am_jl wrote: post #171
coldpie wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can put a USBC-to-3.5mm (or lightning) adapter on your headphones and just leave it there. Not as good as having a proper headphone jack, but it's good enough. Yes, they make combo listen & charge adapters, too.

I don't think it's good enough, and I don't think the others complaining about the same issue are somehow unaware of charge+listen USB-C or Lightning dongles either. My gripe is that I don't want to pay for a new thing that causes me a problem that I don't currently have. I don't want to carry and keep track of a dongle. I don't want to put wear and tear on the USB-C port for the 8-12 hours a day I've got headphones…

Yeah, 100% agree it sucks. But what I'm responding to is, "I dread of looking around trying to decide what I'll give up to get a headphone jack." I'm saying it's not worth making an enormous sacrifice to retain the jack.

I've been using adapters for at least 5 years at this point, I've never had a port break. The dongles do break after 4~6 months, which sucks, but they're only like $8-10. Buy a handful and swap in a new one as they break. It is a downgrade, and you're right to complain, but again it's not worth making a big sacrifice over.

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

#179

Post by huytersd »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #133
simmerup wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Recommended maintenance is every six months. That’s considerable and really only applicable to new cars.

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

#180

Post by ge96 »

I smashed the screen on my phone, $30 in parts or $400 new phone? I went with former since I'm broke. One day I'd be interested in a folding phone, the ones that fold out into a large square vs. razor but I'm not dropping $1K on it. I like buying my phones outright/one time price.

In a similar vein I won't buy like a MBP that's $3K granted they do last a long time eg. I still have a 2015 MBP going strong.

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