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I wish the major phone manufacturers would abandon the yearly release cycle for new models - it makes everything so much more boring and predictable. Not that

I wish the major phone manufacturers would abandon the yearly release cycle for new models - it makes everything so much more boring and predictable. Not that it's ever gonna happen.

michelb 5y ago
I think multiple releases per year would be even less interesting as there would be much less to look forward to. I think phones have almost approached their final form, a slab of glass. The next 'innovation' could be a really good, thin folding model without a noticeable crease. I don't use my phone that much so I can't think of important, game-changing things I would like to see besides unrealistic battery-life expectations.
- diggan 5y ago
  I'd love it if manufacturers could go back to try to make mobile phones smaller again, at least for those with smaller hands (like me). It's almost impossible to find a feature phone that I can use with one hand and reach everywhere with my thumb. Latest phone is a iPhone 12 Mini, but CarPlay is so horrible (and important for me) that I'm looking for a good Android phone again (Android Auto is miles ahead of CarPlay), with the same size and good performance. But it's really hard to find good ones.
  - wffurr 5y ago
    Apparently the mini versions of the iPhone sold poorly enough that they won't produce a mini version of the iPhone 14, and instead will push the SE as their small sized phone. At this point, backing Kickstarter projects is likely the only way to get a small phone made.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - iSnow 5y ago
    Same here, and now that my Sony Xperia Compact is now on life support, I will have to switch to iPhone. There is no Android phone maker left that produces something between the ultra-small Atom and what used to be called phablets. And even Apple seems to have a hard time selling smaller phones.
- ant6n 5y ago
  > ... I can't think of important, game-changing things I would like to see besides unrealistic battery-life expectations. I'd like to see a satellite connection, ideally with gprs speeds (calling, chatting, podcasts, music, reading websites anywhere). It would also be nice to have transflective displays that work in direct sun without using too much power. Also I wonder whether power could be reduced so much that all-around solar panels can give u a small charge when being away from the grid.
- bin_bash 5y ago
  I was under the impression GP felt they should release on a slower cycle, not faster
Gigachad 5y ago
You aren’t meant to care about every single release. You just get one after x years and it becomes a big jump. Yearly releases mean that it’s never a bad time to buy. The one that comes out next year won’t obsolete the one from this year. If you had it on 3 year cycles, the first year would be a good year to buy, the second year would be ok, and the 3rd year would be a bad time to buy. And if another OEM released something that year, everyone who wanted to buy on year three would go with them since they have the best offering of that year.
- tonyedgecombe 5y ago
  >You aren’t meant to care about every single release. I suspect a lot of people do which is why they release on this schedule.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    Automobiles are also on an annual cycle. Do you think most people buy/lease a new car every year--especially given that something like 11 years is the average length of time people hold onto their cars these days? Even with trade-in incentives, the vast majority of people don't get a new phone every year.
    - jmcgough 5y ago
      Americans buy a new phone every 24 weeks though, so an annual release schedule makes sense even if they don't buy every year.
      - xnyan 5y ago
        I think you mean every 24 months.
      - ghaff 5y ago
        24 months in the US was historically driven by cellular carrier subsidies. I suspect it's increased since that is no longer as big a factor.
adeelk93 5y ago
I’m wondering, do you share this frustration with car manufacturers? Each new car is incrementally a small upgrade, but accumulated over a few years, makes for a worthy improvement. Those incremental upgrades I don’t buy don’t make anything worse for me.
- jmvoodoo 5y ago
  The difference, I think, is that your car can still run on today's gas. The update cycle for modern electronics is planned obsolescence and therefore forces you to participate in the incremental updates. If you don't, eventually all your favorite software will stop working, especially if it is cloud connected.
  - OldHand2018 5y ago
    It's probably worth discussing the reasoning behind a statement like this. I don't pay attention to low-end Android phones - maybe they really do this to you. But it seems really unlikely. Do you have examples? I know many people complain about battery degradation. But really, these phones are using about the most advanced batteries that are available in the relevant price range. They are degrading because you are using the device a lot. You really are. Are there any credible claims that batteries are degrading faster than "normal" given usage patterns?
  - adeelk93 5y ago
    Your car still runs on gas and your phone still runs on electricity. I think this statement is overly generous to car manufacturers, who rarely provide software updates. Is that not motivated by an analogous planned obsolescence?
  - acdha 5y ago
    This is a common claim but I rarely see it supported. My iPhone 6S from 2015 is fully supported by iOS 15[1]. I know plenty of people whose cars had day 1 drawbacks in the on-board software which were never fixed (or required paid upgrades in the $500+ range) — and that includes things like “the entertainment system will crash every time you connect your phone because you have more than a small number of songs / contacts” — and most people I know who own cars upgrade them more frequently than every 6 years. 1. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/supported-models-iphe3fa5df43/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/supported-models-iphe...

I wish the major phone manufacturers would abandon the yearly release cycle for new models - it makes everything so much more boring and predictable. Not that it's ever gonna happen.

michelb 5y ago

I think multiple releases per year would be even less interesting as there would be much less to look forward to. I think phones have almost approached their final form, a slab of glass. The next 'innovation' could be a really good, thin folding model without a noticeable crease. I don't use my phone that much so I can't think of important, game-changing things I would like to see besides unrealistic battery-life expectations.

diggan 5y ago
I'd love it if manufacturers could go back to try to make mobile phones smaller again, at least for those with smaller hands (like me). It's almost impossible to find a feature phone that I can use with one hand and reach everywhere with my thumb. Latest phone is a iPhone 12 Mini, but CarPlay is so horrible (and important for me) that I'm looking for a good Android phone again (Android Auto is miles ahead of CarPlay), with the same size and good performance. But it's really hard to find good ones.
- wffurr 5y ago
  Apparently the mini versions of the iPhone sold poorly enough that they won't produce a mini version of the iPhone 14, and instead will push the SE as their small sized phone. At this point, backing Kickstarter projects is likely the only way to get a small phone made.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- iSnow 5y ago
  Same here, and now that my Sony Xperia Compact is now on life support, I will have to switch to iPhone. There is no Android phone maker left that produces something between the ultra-small Atom and what used to be called phablets. And even Apple seems to have a hard time selling smaller phones.
ant6n 5y ago
> ... I can't think of important, game-changing things I would like to see besides unrealistic battery-life expectations. I'd like to see a satellite connection, ideally with gprs speeds (calling, chatting, podcasts, music, reading websites anywhere). It would also be nice to have transflective displays that work in direct sun without using too much power. Also I wonder whether power could be reduced so much that all-around solar panels can give u a small charge when being away from the grid.
bin_bash 5y ago
I was under the impression GP felt they should release on a slower cycle, not faster

Gigachad 5y ago

You aren’t meant to care about every single release. You just get one after x years and it becomes a big jump. Yearly releases mean that it’s never a bad time to buy. The one that comes out next year won’t obsolete the one from this year. If you had it on 3 year cycles, the first year would be a good year to buy, the second year would be ok, and the 3rd year would be a bad time to buy. And if another OEM released something that year, everyone who wanted to buy on year three would go with them since they have the best offering of that year.

tonyedgecombe 5y ago
>You aren’t meant to care about every single release. I suspect a lot of people do which is why they release on this schedule.
- ghaff 5y ago
  Automobiles are also on an annual cycle. Do you think most people buy/lease a new car every year--especially given that something like 11 years is the average length of time people hold onto their cars these days? Even with trade-in incentives, the vast majority of people don't get a new phone every year.
  - jmcgough 5y ago
    Americans buy a new phone every 24 weeks though, so an annual release schedule makes sense even if they don't buy every year.
    - xnyan 5y ago
      I think you mean every 24 months.
    - ghaff 5y ago
      24 months in the US was historically driven by cellular carrier subsidies. I suspect it's increased since that is no longer as big a factor.

adeelk93 5y ago

I’m wondering, do you share this frustration with car manufacturers? Each new car is incrementally a small upgrade, but accumulated over a few years, makes for a worthy improvement. Those incremental upgrades I don’t buy don’t make anything worse for me.

jmvoodoo 5y ago
The difference, I think, is that your car can still run on today's gas. The update cycle for modern electronics is planned obsolescence and therefore forces you to participate in the incremental updates. If you don't, eventually all your favorite software will stop working, especially if it is cloud connected.
- OldHand2018 5y ago
  It's probably worth discussing the reasoning behind a statement like this. I don't pay attention to low-end Android phones - maybe they really do this to you. But it seems really unlikely. Do you have examples? I know many people complain about battery degradation. But really, these phones are using about the most advanced batteries that are available in the relevant price range. They are degrading because you are using the device a lot. You really are. Are there any credible claims that batteries are degrading faster than "normal" given usage patterns?
- adeelk93 5y ago
  Your car still runs on gas and your phone still runs on electricity. I think this statement is overly generous to car manufacturers, who rarely provide software updates. Is that not motivated by an analogous planned obsolescence?
- acdha 5y ago
  This is a common claim but I rarely see it supported. My iPhone 6S from 2015 is fully supported by iOS 15[1]. I know plenty of people whose cars had day 1 drawbacks in the on-board software which were never fixed (or required paid upgrades in the $500+ range) — and that includes things like “the entertainment system will crash every time you connect your phone because you have more than a small number of songs / contacts” — and most people I know who own cars upgrade them more frequently than every 6 years. 1. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/supported-models-iphe3fa5df43/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/supported-models-iphe...