Opinion| Why I am no longer excited about smartphones

Like it or not, foldables aren’t the future of smartphones. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

It’s not that consumers have stopped buying smartphones. Sales remain steady, though they aren’t growing as exponentially as they once did. India continues to be a bright spot, which is why brands and the entire mobile industry are keeping a close watch on this market. However, realistically speaking, India does not dictate global trends like the US and Europe, nor does it have brands on the scale of Apple and Google. Even though the smartphone market remains strong in India, globally, smartphone sales are softer, as more people are keeping their phones for longer periods—almost 3 to 4 years, or even longer. This, in itself, indicates that average consumers don’t feel the need to upgrade smartphones annually, as their existing devices last longer and still work just fine. This is the reality today, and the industry has started acknowledging it, although I wouldn’t say smartphones will suddenly die off. They won’t, but the excitement of owning a new smartphone (and, in my case, reviewing a new device) doesn’t seem as exciting as it was 5 to 6 years ago.

I don’t see groundbreaking technologies coming to smartphones anytime soon. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Even the brands don’t seem as passionate during new launch events anymore. These once highly hyped product launches now feel stretched and often unimpressive, making you feel like dozing off. Consumers can easily predict what will be launched, how the next flagship smartphone will be pitched, its features, and even the price before the debut. This, of course, has killed the excitement of new smartphone launches. For my research pieces, I still refer to older launches, dating back to the days of Steve Jobs. Back then, there was a sense of mystery around the product. Embargoes and pre-briefings for media weren’t the norm as they are today. The presentations were short and to the point, and the presenter directly engaged with the average consumer, who often didn’t know what value the product would bring to their life. However, now the launch events are put together (yes, they are grand affairs, bigger in scale, with rooms filled with actors, influencers, and YouTubers) with a focus on investors rather than consumers, and the emphasis seems to be less on the product and more on everything else.

The sad part, however, is that no one remembers the product once the launch presentation is over, and you’re left wondering what’s different about this smartphone compared to last year’s model and why the company even bothered to launch a successor when the differences are minimal. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I had goosebumps or felt my eyes light up at the sight of a smartphone—maybe it was the iPhone 13 mini, but that was back in 2021.

I terribly miss the good old days when smartphones were fun and weird. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

The point I’m trying to make is that smartphones have become as bland and boring as a washing machine or a refrigerator. I’m not exaggerating; it’s the hard truth. There was a time when phones were experimental, and the features—both hardware and software—were meaningful, actually solving consumers’ pain points. But now, mainstream smartphones are so predictable. They all look the same, with premium glass and aluminium finishes, large OLED screens, and DSLR-like cameras. In fact, it’s hard to differentiate between a three-year-old smartphone and a 2024 flagship. Even if you don’t buy a new smartphone or upgrade for 3-4 years, you won’t notice much difference in performance—maybe a minor camera upgrade, but nothing earth-shattering that would compel you to upgrade to a new model.

I remember a time when smartphones were genuinely interesting. Mainstream smartphones have always existed, with the likes of iPhones and the Galaxy S series, but brands used to take risks and offer fresh perspectives on phones. Remember the BlackBerry Passport or the LG Wing? Sadly, both BlackBerry and LG no longer make smartphones, but the fact that you still remember them is proof they did something different. Now, the days of groundbreaking designs are gone. Brands have become so lazy that they churn out the same smartphone design every year and call it new, yet still expect people to get excited. We have reached a point where if a company adds a new physical button to a smartphone or changes the placement of a camera, we call it innovation. The benchmark has been set so low that a small change in physical design or a bump in camera performance is seen as an improvement. For what is being called out for “incremental improvement” is often ignored or completely sidelined.

It all began with the original iPhone in 2007, and here we are today: smartphones have officially become boring. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Design has already stagnated in smartphones, and it’s quite visible across the lineup. It’s pretty obvious that you can only change the design to some extent, and over the years, brands have tried every possible way to make smartphones different. Screen sizes have stabilised (you can’t go beyond a 6.9-inch screen on a phone, no matter how much the bezels shrink). We have seen camera improvements from both hardware and software perspectives, achieving DSLR-quality photography. We have also perfected the technology that allows our phones to charge in minutes. The processor is now so fast that it no longer makes a substantial difference to the device’s performance or how apps function.

The thing is, smartphones, at their core, haven’t changed since Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007. The glass slab design remains the same, only slightly altered and perfected to the point where any new features brands claim as ‘innovations’ feel forced, as the technology and form factor have matured. Even foldable phones that fit neatly in your pocket and then unfold into an 8.0-inch display don’t provide any real value to consumers. Foldables aren’t what the industry once pitched them to be. The experience of using a foldable versus a non-foldable smartphone isn’t much different—and that’s where the problem lies: software. Instead of the software improving, we are stuck debating whether iOS is superior or Android is more open. In reality, annual Operating System updates may seem packed with new features, but nothing has fundamentally changed the smartphone experience. Whether it’s iOS or Android, the latest releases are simply adding more features on top of the existing interface, rather than making the UI more adaptable to changing form factors, as in the case of foldables, or to the variety of smartphone screen sizes available today.

I understand that many decisions companies make are influenced by physics and economics—there’s only so much you can do within a small form factor. The role of regulators also plays a part in how smartphones are designed these days. However, this can’t be the sole reason why smartphones have become so boring lately. These companies have the resources, the talent, and the technology to reinvent the smartphone, but they won’t do it because we, as consumers, have settled for a status quo.

Sales of smartphones have slowed down in mature markets like the US, UK and Europe. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

The fact remains that the era of big-ticket features on smartphones is gone. By big-ticket, I mean features like FaceTime, Face ID, iMessage, and apps that once defined what a smartphone is and made us consumers transition from feature phones to smartphones. I don’t know if AI is the revolutionary step that could spice up smartphones, but whatever AI features I have used on smartphones seem useful in some scenarios, yet they clearly aren’t going to change how we use our phones. That being said, smartphone brands will do everything to put Generative AI on their devices and sell it as rebirth of phones.

AI, however, doesn’t solve the fundamental crisis the smartphone industry is going through: a lack of alternatives to smartphones and how people are keeping their phones for longer. In a way, it’s natural that smartphones will become boring, like any product category, as people don’t buy them out of desire but out of necessity. I think we are at a stage where smartphone stagnation is bound to happen, but then it’s also a chicken-and-egg problem. On the one hand, it’s good for consumers. The prices of smartphones have stabilised, and the affordability aspect has made high-end smartphones more accessible to consumers in markets like India. On the other hand, the longer people hold onto their smartphones, the worse it might be for companies. The major smartphone makers seem to recognise this.

The fact remains that the industry hasn’t been able to come up with alternatives to smartphones. A few companies have attempted a less phone-centric vision of the future with AI gadgets like the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit RI, but they offered an inconsistent and glitchy experience. In reality, smartphones can already do what a device like Humane tried to offer. Meanwhile, devices like Apple’s Vision Pro headset are more of a technology showcase than a consumer product. There’s little reason for someone to buy a Vision Pro or a pair of AI glasses from Meta to replace a smartphone; the drawbacks are too significant to ignore.

Don’t get me wrong: the annual smartphone cycle isn’t ending anytime soon, even if it has become boring. Smartphones are going to remain in our lives for the next few years, coexisting alongside whatever might replace them—a pair of AR glasses, a tiny voice-controlled screenless device, who knows? But the bold era when smartphones were trying to do new things isn’t coming back, and that saddens me as a consumer and a tech journalist.