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Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

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Re: Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

#21

Post by torben-friis »

The latest phone reviews have been eyebrow raising.

The just announced pixel is the same phone as last year. I know it sounds like a usual complaint, but look at the actual specs, it literally is the same phone with differences so small that hey might have passed as regional variance.

As for the Samsung, the screen can darken when looked from the side for privacy. That’s pretty much it. Price increased though.

Coupled with the current iOS situation it seems like things are… rotting. Everything in decline.

Re: Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

#23

Post by giancarlostoro »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #8

Somehow, with 12GB of RAM, I can't get my iPhone 17 Pro to keep more than a few safari tabs open without having them refresh when I come back from an app or two, and it makes me want to throw my phone across the train (Where the internet often cuts out!). A lot of software has been squandering the massive hardware gains that have been made. I hope this changes when it becomes a lot harder to throw hardware at the pro…

I really dont understand that at all. Web Pages are mostly static, you would think the iPhone would cache websites reasonably well.

I remember on Android I dont recall the app name specifically, but it would let me download any website for offline browsing or something, would use it when I knew I might have no internet like a cruise.

Heck there used to be an iOS client for HN that was defunct after some time, but it would let you cache comments and articles for offline reading.

Re: Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

#24

Post by loeg »

oblio wrote: post #10

Maybe an upside? These past years it feels like meaningful hardware spec bumps are on the horizon, like in the 90s, 2010s. After all this churn subsides there is a chance entry level Windows laptops will start at 32GB RAM and maybe 8-12GB VRAM? Which could end up being about 5-10-15 years of progress packed into 2-3-4.

How do you figure? I'd think scarce and expensive RAM would push entry level models to smaller amounts of RAM.

Re: Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

#25

Post by mikepurvis »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #8

Somehow, with 12GB of RAM, I can't get my iPhone 17 Pro to keep more than a few safari tabs open without having them refresh when I come back from an app or two, and it makes me want to throw my phone across the train (Where the internet often cuts out!). A lot of software has been squandering the massive hardware gains that have been made. I hope this changes when it becomes a lot harder to throw hardware at the pro…

Wasn't the 2DS just a 3DS minus the lenticular screen, and especially minus the front-facing camera that did face tracking to improve the quality of the 3D?

My understanding was that market research showed a lot of users were turning off the 3D stuff anyway, so it seemed reasonable to offer a model at lower cost without the associated hardware.

Re: Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

#26

Post by Gigachad »

mosura wrote: post #19
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #8

Somehow, with 12GB of RAM, I can't get my iPhone 17 Pro to keep more than a few safari tabs open without having them refresh when I come back from an app or two, and it makes me want to throw my phone across the train (Where the internet often cuts out!). A lot of software has been squandering the massive hardware gains that have been made. I hope this changes when it becomes a lot harder to throw hardware at the pro…

Memory uses power, this is a major factor in why aggressively stopping things helps. There is a strong argument modern mobile goes too far for this.

I can't imagine the iphone is entirely powering down memory. Otherwise just unallocating memory won't change the power consumption.

Re: Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

#28

Post by jsheard »

OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #7

I recently upgraded from the Pixel 7 to the 10. Nothing but regret - the phone isn't worse, but it's not better either, and I had to reinstall everything. Why did I do this?

The cool thing about Pixels is that not only will you have to pay extra for RAM because of AI, but some of the RAM you paid for will also be permanently reserved for local AI features, regardless of whether you use them.

https://www.androidpolice.com/google-pixel-10-3-5-gb-ai-only...

Re: Smartphone market forecast to decline this year due to memory shortage

#30

Post by thewebguyd »

oblio wrote: post #10

Maybe an upside? These past years it feels like meaningful hardware spec bumps are on the horizon, like in the 90s, 2010s. After all this churn subsides there is a chance entry level Windows laptops will start at 32GB RAM and maybe 8-12GB VRAM? Which could end up being about 5-10-15 years of progress packed into 2-3-4.

I doubt. Microsoft would much rather sell you a thin client & a Windows 365 subscription, and Nvidia wants you to use GeForce now instead of buying a GPU.

The shortage is manufactured, I have my doubts it will "end" in a conventional sense. I'm more skeptical and feel like this is yet another consolidation of wealth and a means of taking away compute power from people, which prevents startup competition. This way the hyperscalers are the only ones that can offer any meaningful compute.

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