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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

#231

Post by guestbest »

ravenstine wrote: post #7

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…

The processor is faster when compared to a 2017 phone and the camera is much better when comparing images side by side. I wouldn’t have noticed but I put a Motorola Android 2017 next to a iPhone SE 2020 and it became very noticeable.

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

#232

Post by warner25 »

spacemadness wrote: post #184
mydriasis wrote: post #163

Not only will I not be upgrading to another smartphone, I'm two months in on my dumb phone. It's been an incredible and liberating experience. Not only am I not glued to the smartphone anymore, my phone bill is now $15 / month, haha. If you're thinking about ditching your smartphone, now is a great time. There are lots of options out there.

I’m not glued to my phone as I ditched most social media years ago. It’s still great to have as a travel camera (even night photos look good now), use google maps, have a browser on a decent screen when needed, and for podcasts when I take a daily walk. It’s social media itself that kept me glued to my screen. It’s also liberating to take pictures in a relaxed way for yourself and not worry about getting the perfect…

This is where I've landed too. No need to give up the capabilities of a smart phone; some of them are legitimately very useful at times (maps, driving directions, being able to look up business hours or a phone number while on-the-go, authentication stuff). I just stopped using it to browse the web for entertainment. Having a very limited data plan, like 500 MB, helps with that and saves money. In his book Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport advises adding friction like uninstalling apps, not remaining logged in to websites, etc.

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

#233

Post by eppp »

huytersd wrote: post #177
eppp wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It is a ton more when the parent states how much cheaper and easier they are to manufacture. 100x fewer parts and yet they cost more? How does that make sense.

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

#234

Post by AlInGaP_Diode »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #209
xnorswap wrote: post #23

I just "upgraded" my phone and for the first time my new phone is worse than my old one. I only upgraded because I noticed my old phone (Huawei P20 pro) was no longer getting android updates and I was concerned for the security of it. My new phone (pixel 8) feels worse in almost every regard. I can't even customise the home screen as much ( Literally cannot remove a link to Chrome and other google apps ). Given it's…

Just take the Chrome icon, hold it with your finger a sec, and drag it to the top of the screen where there's a box that says "remove" or something like that. That works for me on my Pixel

I think they meant the search bar at the bottom

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

#235

Post by cagey »

ravenstine wrote: post #7

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…

Reading this thread reminded me to check my Pixel 5 (primary phone, purchased new just over 3 years ago) for updates. And to my surprise, there was a Android Security Update available which, now that it has been downloaded and installed, is dated Nov 5, 2023! Maybe that'll be the last one this phone gets, but maybe not.

Anyway, I'm perfectly happy with my Pixel 5 (aside from slightly declining battery performance, it's "as good as new"); I even bought a "excellent" refurb'd Pixel 5 9 months ago to use on a second/backup line (I was also thinking to use one or both for anticipated trade-in's on Pixel 8's, but with nominal updates all in the rearview mirror, Google's trade-in value has declined to negligible, so I plan to just keep using the 5's; the cost of the 8 vs it's value add was not compelling). 8GB RAM and 128GB of local storage is plenty for my needs, and I certainly don't want a bigger phone!

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

#236

Post by seti0Cha »

scarface_74 wrote: post #167
seti0Cha wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cosmetic changes like different colors and materials make it possible to distinguish who has the latest model and who has last year's as well as between the base and the pro models. It may seem pretty subtle, but status signaling is often subtle at the high end.

Most people use cases… Apple’s average replacement cycle hasn’t been every year for a decade if ever. And if most people are upgrading yearly, why would Apple bother releasing security updates back to the iPhone 5s (2013) in the last year

I'm not trying to argue that most people upgrade yearly. I don't have any knowledge or opinion about that. I'm also not saying people only buy iphones for status. I have one myself, for pragmatic reasons. I'm just pointing out that a majority of people owning a particular brand doesn't mean people can't signal status with that brand. They can still do it by owning particular models. You see this all the time with cars. The a new high-end Lexus conveys status even though you see a lot of old beat up Lexuses being driven around by poorer people. The subtle design changes of iphones from year to year, I would argue, are meant to provide that same effect.

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

#237

Post by freedomben »

berbec wrote: post #200
askonomm wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure almost every mainstream phone nowadays has wireless charging. The iPhones do, Pixel phones do, etc.

I thought so too, and believed it so much I didn't check the detailed specs of my OnePlus 10T.....

OnePlus is a big disappointment to me. I'd be a customer for life if they'd kept doing what made them so good:

1. Never settle: big specs, lots of features. SD cards and headphone jack on a flagship? yes please!

2. Factory images available so I can easily re-flash to stock

3. Great pricing

4. Not required proprietary charger to get max speed

They could really turn it around, but they would need to return to their roots. Until then I'll just stick with the Pixel A series. It never excites me about phones, but it checks most of my boxes.

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

#238

Post by dumpsterlid »

coldpie wrote: post #178
i_am_jl wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

[dead]

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

#239

Post by QuarterReptile »

Glyptodon wrote: post #197
huytersd wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I can't see how. New to new, a cheap ICE economy car can still run low $20s and your total fuel costs over 3 years will probably be under $2k. And even a cheaper EV like a Chevy Bolt won't make up the difference. It seems like the gap only gets worse when comparing higher up the price curve hybrids to their EV cousins.

Tempering my sibling comment, I could believe they probably have lower maintenance needs on more expensive stuff, but that's precisely who you're not selling with lower cost of ownership. I'm with you: my 10 year old car cost me 17k, and in the past 10 years I have spent no more than 7k on fuel. I've done annual oil changes, replaced a set of tires, and replaced a pump for windshield washer fluid one time.

My electric co. has a tool for estimating your monthly fuel savings: $15 monthly for me. That's probably the cost of food my toddler smashes up and throws on the floor in the same period.

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

#240

Post by freedomben »

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.

Oh yeah, moved on to what? What has replaced those things and rendered them obsolete?

On-board storage sure didn't, that's small and not portable, and we already had that. Bluetooth headphones didn't, those require special hardware, have to be charged (battery), have higher latency, reduced sound quality (lower fidelity), packet loss, and spyware built in, and DRM capable. Not even close to a replacement for analog headphone jack.

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