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The Smartphone Sales Slowdown is Real (axios.com)
Earnings reports from Samsung and Qualcomm on Wednesday suggest a serious industrywide slowdown in smartphone sales. Samsung's report is especially telling, since it also makes displays and other components for Apple. From a report: The smartphone business is an incredibly crowded space, so a slowdown could lead to even steeper price competition. That's a potential short-term boon for consumers, but could put the hurt on a whole host of technology companies. Samsung's take: Its written outlook was terse and brief, but damning. Of its own phones, it said "[p]rofitability in the mobile business is expected to decline quarter-over-quarter due to stagnant sales of flagship models amid weak demand and an increase in marketing expenses to address the situation." Similarly, it cautioned of weak demand in its display and chip businesses, which supply components for both Samsung and its phone rivals, including Apple. Qualcomm's take: The phone chip giant also predicted a slowdown, cutting its forecast for 3G and 4G smartphones.
When my old phone (Samsung S4 note) does everything I need it to do, is quick enough and I managed to buy a replacement battery recently.
I do not need a new phone, along with its misfeatures, learning curve, and expense.
Yeah, there's not a lot of difference between a $150 phone and a $700 phone once the GPU is removed from the equation.
And now the cell phone promoters have learned that the replenishment rate of a product drops once it becomes "good enough", just like PCs.
Absolutely. Here's another example:
My old Fitbit One is going to need a new battery soon but it's literally glued shut and can't be opened without breaking it. (Luckily my company bought it for me.) The new low-end replacement Fitbit has a replaceable battery so clearly somebody is listening. If the battery weren't replaceable I wouldn't even think about buying another Fitbit.