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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

#251

Post by vel0city »

askonomm wrote: post #192
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…

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

For a while the "a" versions of Pixels didn't have wireless charging. The 6a does not have wireless charging, but the newer 7a does.

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

#252

Post by jghn »

taylodl wrote: post #140
jghn wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have an Apple Watch and as someone in the using it on the go category it's not sufficient. It either doesn't serve my purposes and/or is worse for most of what I use my phone for.

I'll catch up on emails, msgs, social media, HN, etc while walking to my next thing. I *could* do *some* of that on my watch but it's objectively worse experience wise.

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

#253

Post by freeone3000 »

gpm wrote: post #194
generalizations wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically the LTE iWatches are a <5" phone, too.

Can you use them completely independently from an Apple phone? I thought not... Context: I'm not particularly interested in switching to Apple's phone ecosystem, but their watches seem to be superior to Android's and I am slightly interested in getting one of them.

You can but it’s not the most ideal experience. Calling, maps, and health stuff works fine; texting is alright; other apps are going to be hit or miss, mostly miss. You also need to get the more expensive LTE version, and to have a provider that will sell you an esim for just the watch without an attached plan for a phone.

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

#254

Post by jghn »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #141
jghn wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

IIRC, the mini versions skimped on the camera. That’s the only reason I didn’t buy one. I preferred the small size but wanted the best camera offered.

Speaking of, I don't understand why camera quality is the selling point that so many people glom onto.

I get why it's useful to some. But I have to imagine we've crossed the point where "better camera" stopped being noticeable to the masses?

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

#255

Post by Glyptodon »

p_j_w wrote: post #211
Glyptodon wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They also have vastly lower maintenance and repair costs. Real analyses of this stuff has been done and EVs win every time.

I totally believe this if the vehicles have similar initial costs, and I can imagine that if the EV has higher re-sale value used, it might help too.

But I have a hard time seeing how you can make up the price difference between a relatively reliable compact hybrid and its EV version - take a Kia Niro (just because offhand I know it comes in EV and Hybrid): Hybrid is like $27k, EV is like $40k (though hybrid used to be more like $24k). If you own for 10 years what's going to eat that $13k difference? Just better resale in 10 years? Oil change once a year, a few medium repairs, and cost of gas vs electricity don't get you there.

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

#256

Post by lkramer »

My Motorola G7 from 2018ish had not received a security update since 2021, and was feeling a bit sluggish. I considered upgrading, but I'm not keen on throwing away ~£2-300 when there is nothing technically wrong with the device, so I finally made the effort to wipe the stock android and install Lineage OS last week, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

The only key thing which I almost messed up was to properly backup my OTO app (Aegis) and make sure I am able to recover it and doing a full backup to my Linux laptop.

Unless my phone breaks, I doubt I will get a new model in the next few years, there is nothing I need from a newer model.

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

#257

Post by fragmede »

QuarterReptile wrote: post #229
DiggyJohnson wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

People hate the short battery life, and all the high-powered parts of a premium phone (to the extent that they do take more power) are thus even worse suited to the small battery. Incidentally, I'm starting to want something with less battery; mine lasts over two days, so it seems like I should get something smaller. Problem is, from what I understand, iPhones still do slow charging in 2023. Re:iPhone SE, the newest…

> iPhones still do slow charging in 2023.

I'm not sure where you got this impression, they've supported fast charging since the iPhone 8 in 2017, which could do 50% of the battery in 30 mins, with the appropriate charger. Now which fast charging spec is a different question.

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

#258

Post by kube-system »

beretguy wrote: post #66
bobmaxup wrote: post #26

Probably because they are still paying off their other phones https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CCLACBW027SBOG

There were rumors of having smartphones be on subscription. https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-subscription-service

Haven't some carriers already done things like this?

i.e.: https://www.sprint.com/en/support/sprint-flex-lease.html

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

#259

Post by deelowe »

eppp wrote: post #233
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.

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.

Because the resources to make batteries are expensive to mine and refine...

But come on, is it really that hard to believe? Look up the internals of an ICE and automatic transmission and compare those to an electric motor and single stage gear box.

We could debate over whether a battery pack is a single part or many, but still, those are completely potted and welded assemblies. Failures outside of normal wear are rare.

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

#260

Post by NeuNeurosis »

ajross wrote: post #103
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…

> I can't even customise the home screen as much ( Literally cannot remove a link to Chrome and other google apps ). Uh... I'm not following here. You definitely can. What are you trying to do, exactly? It's true you can't uninstall the apps, because they're in the ROM. But you can absolutely use whatever you want on your home page.

I have a pixe6 and the OEM launcher has a date at the top you can't remove or change and a google chrome search bar at the bottom that you cant remove. You have to install a 3rd party launcher to remove them. https://www.stuff.tv/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/Goog...
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