#22 Mobile phone launches are not exciting anymore
It is that time of the year again. Apple is going to announce its new line of iPhones this week. And for the first time, it would probably be four different models. They would also continue selling the recently announced SE and one or both of the older XR and iPhone 11. This gives a consumer at least 6 different recent iPhone models to choose from (many more options in developing markets where Apple still sells iPhone 7 and later models). At a time when unit sales of iPhones are probably the lowest since 2013 even before the pandemic (while revenues are up due to increased prices of the phones.)
I recently got hold of an old phone of mine that I had stopped using. To be honest, I would not miss much if I were using that model. Sure, the camera would be worse, and the phone would possibly run slower.
Phones are getting new features, but they are gimmicky or not compelling to the masses at best. The past year saw companies like Samsung and Motorola come out with folding display phones. The former tried to integrate phone and tablet-esque experience in a single device, while Moto tried to play on the historical popularity of the clamshell Razr design.
Google finally introduced Soli radar tech in its Pixel line of phones after introducing it several years ago as a concept. The radar tech enables sophisticated gestures previously not possible solely with the front cameras that could be used to control apps without touching the phone.
Apple is trying desperately too. It recently introduced the LiDAR sensor in the iPad Pro (also possibly coming to some newer iPhones) that is being used to measure depth for better AR experience. LiDAR is a significant improvement over the Time of Flight (ToF) sensor unit using several Android-based smartphones to measure the distance of objects in view. Apple also has introduced Ultra-Wideband tracking (UWB) chips in most of its new hardware lineups for almost a year now, without really coming up with a way to use them yet.
In-display cameras have seen a lot of traction lately with phone manufacturers trying to get that full-screen display without any ugly notches. Mosty such phones today employ mechanical hacks to enable the use of a front camera while still maintaining a notch-less display. 2X-5X optical zoom has become the norm now in flagship phones of almost all manufacturers. Multiple cameras, some even with five of them are standard too.
Fast charging is another area where phones have been constantly improving. Xiaomi is supposed to release a phone supporting 100W fast charging by the end of this year. To put things in perspective, the charger can fully charge a 4000mAh battery in roughly 15 minutes or so.
The underlying hardware has been constantly improving though. The current generation iPhone with its A13 chip is more than 10X faster than the A4 back in 2010. Phones are significantly more power-efficient, have more memory to work with and have larger batteries owing to the move towards larger screen phones that could afford a lot of space for them.
None of the features above are compelling enough for someone to upgrade their phone unless it is dead. The iPhone 12 coming this week will probably be another such boring device. I hope not.