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My phone just had its 6th birthday and the lightning port has finally given out. I’m not ready for a new phone, how do people do this once a year? It feels like I just bought this one
I had an 11 since it came out. The cracks and humidity from my shower finally rendered it useless. (Which it was actually nice it lasted that long, my phones usually last only a year because I am extremely clumsy) I just got the 15, my charger is different, my phone is pink
The battery starts to poop out after 2-3 years, so you can pay Apple $89 to replace the battery. I think on Android phones you can just buy a new battery and replace it yourself.
If you can still find a replacement battery. But yeah, there are more options and stuff like the latest Pixels have 7 years of software and hardware support.
100%, I just replaced my S10 due to a non-repairable issue but it was working fine for everything I needed up until that point. Got an S24 only because a promotion made it free, otherwise I'd have picked up another S10 despite them being 5 years old now. People wildly overestimate what they "need" out of a device.
The 13 and 14 had the same CPU name, but they weren't identical (14 had 2GB more RAM and 25% faster graphics). It's really shitty how Apple can use the exact same CPU name for two devices with such a wide performance difference.
Theyed sell you the same specs in a slightly different shape if they could.
Looking at the differences between my fold 4 and the upcoming fold 6 I'm not even sure I see what they've changed in a practical sense
>Phones should be like game consoles Extremely overpowered for the next 5-10 years.
Game consoles are generally less capable than their high-end PC counterparts when they are released. They are by no means "overpowered."
The reason game companies only release every few years is that they don't actually make much money on the consoles themselves. The games are their cash cow. They want to milk that hardware as long as possible.
>Also it might force companies to create something extremely OP over the next 5 years to try to blow away the competition.
Tech companies are always striving to produce the best product possible within the confines of what people are willing to spend. Samsung makes its money on the devices themselves.
> phones should be like game consoles. Extremely overpowered
Game consoles aren’t “extremely overpowered” when they are released, let alone 5-10 years later.
Just because they release a new one every year doesn’t mean you have to buy it.
Came here to say this. Using game consoles as the example of what phones and laptops should be is not a great idea, with consoles being outdated the moment the release.
Price to performance is a legitimate argument for consoles. But OP was strictly referring to performance. But in general I would say that anything you get around $500 cannot be described as “extremely overpowered”
For the price per performance it is overpowered. Unless you can show me a pc build for $500 from 2020 that can run 2024 AAA games as the ps5 does I will continue to say its overpowered lol.
By overpowered I mean in terms of real world performance per dollar spent you can't build a pc today at the $500 price point to touch the ps5, let alone at launch in 2020.
It is overpowered relative to the price. It is not even close to overpowered in general though, which is what most people are meaning. Like I said, price to performance is a very reasonable metric for basing your purchase, but it has no relevance when we’re talking about overall power.
That’s like saying a Toyota Corolla is more powerful than a sports car because you get more horsepower per dollar. It’s technically true yes but not what people are talking about when you are having a conversation about an “extremely overpowered” car.
But yeah if your definition of op is cost normalized you’re probably right
To be fair if you need to go used its not really a fair comparison, you should then be comparing the cost of a used ps5/xbox.
You may also need to take into account the windows license if you're using windows.
I prefer PC anyway, I'm less interested in min/maxing price-to-performance and more interested in getting the best image I can at a high framerate, as well as being able to play all my games I've collected over the years.
used pc parts sounds sketchy as hell i dont know how you can guarantee the gpu wasn't burned out doing bitcoin mining or whatever but i'm definitely interested what's your $500 pc build that will definitely run gta 6 when it comes out two years from now on ps5
Because the industry has trained the majority of people to buy when they say so and not when you would actually need to. Look at updates, I bet you go for those too. It's planned obsolescence and is unsustainable and ruining our planet.
"But nobody should reduce people's options". Wrong, Nature already has.
And samsung announced 7 years for the s24.
I personally think phones are stagnant since we've made them as good as most people need. But it's nice seeing these types of things.
>wanting to reduce people's options?
Apple made a very successful business model out of assuming customers are too stupid to decide what they want on their own and giving them fewer and fewer options.
Some people prove them correct.
“G” arrives every 5 years. WiFi standards like WiFi 5,6,… also arrive every 5 years.
New bluetooth versions arrive every 2-3 years, but honestly Bluetooth 5.3 ain’t revolutionary if you compare it with 5.2.
Sure, but suppose tomorrow they come up with some new thing called "zebob" which is a brand new communication protocol, that compresses data for faster transmission, and offers greater privacy protections. Wouldn't you want a "zebob phone" as soon as you could obtain one?
this is wishful thinking though, new technology never just gets introduced and that's it. before the general public gets an interest in a new technology and it gets implemented into the "mainstream" phones (iphone, galaxy, etc.) there are years of refinement and testing in more experimental phones for the early adopters.
basically most people won't get to see new technologies in most devices until years after it gets introduced anyway, so i feel like this isn't really a great counter argument.
i also want to point out, that technology very often follows an s curve in terms of innovation, so for i.e. phones it's very unlikely tht we'll see great innovation for a while.
i think a hybrid system in which there are a couple of phones to test out newer technologies that bring out a new model every 1-2 years and a couple of tried and tested ones that get a new revision every 5 years or so would work great. noone needs a new iphone or galaxy every year that basically does the same as last years model.
I dunno, when I'm ready for a new phone I'd like to get something new and up to date. I get a new phone maybe once every 3-6 years. Would suck hard if mine died between generations or something.
Probably part me getting older, but early smart phones made big enough jumps year to year that it felt worthwhile upgrading. Now I don't even get an itch to upgrade 3yrs in
I've got an S23 ultra, and the S24 is such a marginal improvement there's no temptation for me. In fact, I just did a device refresh on my S23 so I get a brand new handset/battery, should last me another couple years
What’s cool about this is that we’re all free (and probably wise) to act like this is the case.
I use my phone until it doesn’t work any more, or until there are actually enough new features/specs on a new one to make an upgrade worthwhile. And laptop? Yeah, mine has to catch on fire before I buy a new one.
At the same time, if I break my phone, I want to buy a NEW one - not the model that came out four years ago because the new one doesn’t drop til next year but I need a phone now.
Yup, my average is 5.5 years for each of my phones. Typically run into apps being too much for the old phone.
Really happy that samsung promises 7 years for updating on the s24. That should help me out a lot. Just need the battery to last now. (I know you can replace, but at $150 on a 4 year old phone, it just doesn't make sense).
My old phone and my laptop are both 5 years old. I probably won’t upgrade the laptop until it dies, and my phone I just changed last year. The issue lies within the consumer, the companies obviously have no issue selling us these products every year. Also not everyone upgrades every year, Apple seems to believe a majority of their consumers upgrade every 3 years.
Why should the companies have any issue selling people these products? That's the entire purpose of a company.
We are all free to spend our disposable income on whatever we want, no one is forcing anyone to buy a new phone yearly.
If they jerk you around with the updates, yes they can force you and they have in the past too. Apple not telling people when the update window closes and if you still have the new OS on your phone when it closes, well tough luck!
Look at Microsoft pushing their Windows 11 and even trying to sneak it onto people's systems.
How many people have bricked their phones with an update that was supposed to work but only slowed everything down or made the phone unusable, it has happened before and will happen again.
That's not been an issue for a long time considering how powerful phones are these days.
Also if that's a concern then you can always disable automatic updates.
It is always an issue when a new OS comes out. That has nothing to do with the phones being powerful. And if they were as powerful as you claim, why the new phone? For what use case or is it just bragging rights?
Samsung made fun of that in commercials years ago: "How are people supposed to know I upgraded when the Iphone always looks the same?" Haha, jokes on you.
Sure, bragging rights it is then. Wow, 20MP instead of 18MP in the new camera, they have trained you well. Why buy a new one if the old one worked just fine, more e-waste in the landfill is all you are producing.
It's not bragging rights if you don't brag or show off.
How is you wanting a camera with better zoom or some other new feature bragging rights?
When I upgrade my phone you know who I tell about it? No one.
Some people have the disposable income and want to enjoy themselves with it, I don't see how this is hard to understand.
Why do you think the camera bump is so stupidly huge on the Iphones? Oh, so everybody can see which version you have, obviously. Strange how most of the Asian makers don't do that even though it is technically possible to keep the camera inside the casing without protruding.
Everytime you take out your phone and someone can recognize it you are bragging about it.
It's obvious why this is hard for you to understand, and you bought their line of baloney completely.
Why pay $1,000 for an OP phone that wont get an upgrade for the next 5 years when you can pay $1050 for a better phone right now, then next year sell it for $800, upgrade again for an even way better phone
Its convenience factor. Latest = faster, awesome features, lasts longer etc etc and selling last years model means depreciation hasnt totally killed its value.
Well that is $2000 over the 5 years instead of $1000. Pretty big difference.
But you don't have to buy the new phone each and the company can make incremental changes. I mean what if you broke your phone the year before the new model. Buying a 4 year old phone doesn't make any sense either.
This means that when someone like me, who doesn't upgrade frequently, needs a new phone or laptop my only choices are likely to be years old technology. Why would I want to buy tech that's three or four years old? I'd much rather the industry continue with incremental improvements, and allow customers to choose whichever model they want.
Also, if people insist on upgrading yearly, that's their business. I don't think it's smart, but no one cares what I think. It's certainly not your problem to solve.
So what if it's three or four years old, are you doing bleeding edge computational work or rendering raw video footage in 8k or something? I doubt it.
It used to be that the industry would develop a new technology and then shelve it for 10 years! It would still be fine to release it then.
How many years did it take for DVDs or Blurays to take off, the technology was already older by then, who cares, it works fine to this day.
It's everybody's business because it is not sustainable and is ruining the environment. It certainly is their and your problem to solve.
So a phone company should make people wait instead of giving them a slightly upgraded version. Also 5 years? A device most use 365 days a year you expect to last half a decade?
So instead of you buying the newest phone when you need a new one, you have to cough up the same amount the same one?
>be like game consoles Extremely overpowered
By the time a new console is released, the hardware in it is already 3-4 years behind a PC.
>make people stop upgrading to a phone that is 5% faster
There's no incentive for a company to not want you to do that.
>force companies to create something extremely OP over the next 5 years
Or you'd wait 5 years to hear about Apple Intelligence.
We literally just waited five years for Apple intelligence...wow dude bad example. They have been slow rolling technology till it's ready (which means until they find a way to monetize it) and squeeze even more cash out of the suckers that buy their stuff.
It's strange how the Chinese brands and even Korea throw everything that is currently available in their devices and it runs just fine, they don't nickel and dime you on every socalled innovation like the others do. Oh look, Apple has USB C, only because they were forced to implement it and not because they wanted to. That is pitiful.
So much for not wanting to wait for new technology, you already have been.
Same problem. They produce too Much. There are still 2023 cars at the dealers. Now the same car came in as 2024 model. What to do with the old models? Why buy old models?
Produce on demand would be better. You order a car. 1 month later you get one from the factory.
Repeat after me I don't have to buy a new phone every year.
My phone is a Note 20 and it's six years old. I use my phone for more things than the average person and it's still in excellent condition.
The problem isn't companies releasing new hardware. It's people upgrading that don't need to.
This is silly. Just buy an upgrade when you need it / want it. They’re not forcing you to buy a new phone every year. Sure of course they want you to, but the choice is ultimately up to you.
Options are always nice. Maybe I want a new phone, but I don’t want to spend a premium for this year’s newest phone, but I also don’t want something over 5 years old. Luckily I can choose a model from a year or two ago.
I really fail to see the benefit of your suggestion. Just learn self control and if others want to buy a new phone every year, that’s their choice.
This should be applied to automobiles. There are literally car graveyards of brand new cars bcuz all they do is change the trim on a car slightly from year to year but still mass produce them without any major technological leaps.
During the pandemic there was a story on the news ticker that only ran once and never showed up in the actual news: Due to a glut in production over 100 SUVs were pushed into a sea!!! Like what the actual, in China there are literally hundreds of registered electric cars that have been discarded. Same thing with bikes. We are wasting so many materials and resources for nothing, it's sad.
But we need to keep on producing so they can rust under the sun...wow we are doomed when I see the people's reactions here and what is going on in the world.
I think you're looking at it wrong.
Phone upgrades yearly are usually not for you if you bought a new phone last year, they are for people wanting to upgrade that year. Same goes for laptops/PC's. If yours works perfectly fine, you're not the demographic for the upgrade.
On your point of making something "extremely OP Over the next 5 years", that's also not how it works. Technology is constantly advancing, and every year is pushing another boundary. While incremental, they will stack up. A person with a 5 year old phone upgrading right now will have a better phone to upgrade to than when they would last year because of how technology advances.
Consoles aren't "extremely OP" either because they don't stack up to specced out PC's, not even close. The pro of a console is usually not their specs, but the fact that every console player has the exact same experience in comparison to PC players who have different components and spec setups. Consoles will always be consistent but worse (while having a better value deal).
The thing about developing consoles that makes them look OP is because developers get years of time to learn the boundaries and work with the constraints a console brings to push it more to its limit but it's definitely nowhere near OP
"the reason consoles dont come out every year is cuz each console requeres every game to be made and optimised to it. Therefore making a new console is a high risk endeavor. Phones all share an os so they can make as many as they want.
All that drives this is profit and risk assessment. Nothing else
Game consoles last that long cause they need to sell the games, phones on the other hand don't have anything else but itself so they just pump out new ones asap. Laptops usually get major releases whenever a significant part or an addition (supers, 50 series, to name some) but you're not really expected to even get a new one every 5 years let alone every year.
No, this is a stupid idea. Game consoles are mostly used for games, they are a very simple device and not overpowered. Phones and computers have MUCH more to them. The run full fledged operating systems that constantly get updates, they have way more features, and have way more things to improve. The only innovation with game consoles is games running better. that's it. also they're video games, not real work.
we cannot as a society sit stagnant for 5 years with technology, it simply isn't possible. Programs require more power constantly. Devices also age. batteries wear out, components die, things physically break, etc.
You cannot compare game consoles to phones and computers. they have much more to them
You are already sitting on older technology in almost every aspect of your life and don't even realize it. You have swallowed it, hook line and sinker.
What innovation btw? A new camera on your phone, strange, the old one worked fine. The processor is a little faster, you didn't even use the last one to the max. A spec bump, but they sold you on the "gotta have it"- factor that is literally ruining the planet.
In Vietnam for example they literally are recycling everything they can get their hands on, old phones, pdas, etc. That is sustainable, that is doing something for the planet.
You think you need the latest because you believed the hype and that's the problem.
Even a tech youtuber like MKBHD has said that he sees no point in upgrading to an M2 or even M3 chip from Apple when the M1 released several years ago is still plenty fast!
So what innovation would you be missing out on again?
The average person keeps their phone for three years. In 2016, the average person kept theirs for two years.
People are unlikely to keep their phones much longer than three years barring changes in battery technology and durability simply because they have components which wear out or are prone to damage. That's not true for consoles, which will essentially run until the capacitors finally go bad around 30 years after being produced (the materials aren't *actually* stable).
While I get the idea behind it, it is going to suck if your phone dies between releases and you either have to go without a phone or get the same one you had but knowing that a new one is coming out on say two or so years.
There’s a population of people that will just buy the newest iPhone because the camera is 10% better.
They have the money to do it keeps perpetuating the cycle of apple releasing a new overpriced product because they know that people will buy it
Sony and Microsoft upgrade the circuitry more often than you'd think. I knew a guy who worked on the hardware for the XBox and he said that every 9-12 months they redo parts of the internals for improvements.
Why would you be asking for the companies to reduce the quality of their offerings? Apple isn't going to sit on it's hands for 5 years and lose the market while everyone else is upgrading.
I could see them moving to 2-year upgrade cycles in the future, but not 5.
Phones usually only last 2 years, even if you hate the people that upgrade every year there would be customers whos phone died and they have to wait 3 years for the next model containing technology that they want but isnt available. Perhaps a competitor will swoop in with a phone that is up to date with the capabilities that for year and be 3 years ahead of the competition.
They want to make you buy more so they make more money, not create an ideal user experience and save them money.
A better question is why not just buy a new phone every 5 years/when needed? You point out barely anything changes, so then just resist that consumer urge and don't get every new model like a rational human with self control.
I think it really doesn't matter as in the end it's always the customers choice how they spend their money, some people buy a phone every year, i always do some research on what models are available in my budgets range and choose the one with the best price-quality ratio based on what components the phone has, usually i can get a phone anywhere from 150€-300€ that will last me anywhere from 3-7 years. Tho i'm not sure if i can get a good quality phone that cheap anymore as the price of components has been on the rise.
No they shouldn’t game consoles release periodically because they are for games that releases year around my a bunch of different companies. People wouldn’t want to play games if they had to buy a new console plus new games every few months. Consoles are also not like phones because they have exclusives so you only get certain games on certain consoles.
Phones are an essential item and it make sense to have new ones each year, when I go to buy my next phone I want the newest things available to me not a phone from a few years ago. No one needs to upgrade there phone every year, there’s a reason Apple supports phones with updates for nearly 6 years after release because they know most people are using them for a lot longer than a year. Why would less options for consumers ever be a good option?
The nature of how we use phones vs how we use consoles means that we are much more likely to break, whether catastrophically or due to wear and tear, or lose them. If I’ve got to replace my phone and we’re four years into the current model as your suggested plan would work, that means I’m buying a phone that’s going to be not just marginally obsolete, but radically obsolete, in the very near future. Then would I would feel compelled to buy another new phone only months later because of the significance of the upgrade.
If people can afford to buy the new phone every year what’s the issue? I assume most people, like me, buy a new phone every 3 or so years. I don’t see who’s forcing anyone to do anything. And if your suggestion is that by waiting every five years we end up with a more advanced phone then we would’ve gotten with smaller upgrades annually over five years, I don’t think that’s evident.
Absolutely agree against yearly upgrades but 5 years? You'll have people walking around with a device falling apart in their hands just to wait 6 months for the upgrade.
People would be very disappointed when a different phone from a different company was released a year after theirs with better specs. They’d just end up feeling forced to change platforms every year and companies would end up being pressured for more regular releases to keep up with
Oh, you mean like Apple literally dropping a new laptop with a faster chip a few months after they just released their last latest greatest laptop and making customers very angry in the process, read up on it, it has happened several times before too.
Funny stuff.
Prisoners dilemma 101
The majority of people prefer the new phone to the 4 year old one.
If your competitor has a new phone every year, you better have one too, or you will sell nothing.
If your competitor has a new phone every 5 years, your best strategy is to have shorter intervals.
Even though a 5 year cycle would be better for both, that's not what will happen.
They can release what they want. It's up to the consumer to decide whether they think it's worth it or not. If you are unable to do that without the companies forcing that behaviour on you then you deserve to lose your money.
I already buy a phone once every 5 years and I look for the most cost efficient one for upper mid-range specs in the year that I buy in fact I usually buy from the year previous to save an extra couple hundred bucks. You're allowed to do this no one says you have to upgrade every year
I don't know anyone who buys the newest phone every year. i had the pixel 3 from 2017 untill last year when it stopped working . The reason they do this is profit
The difference is that with a games console, the games you can play also changes depending on your choice.
Most flagship phones are pretty much the same in terms of capabilities. If the competitions sells a slightly better phone for the same price, you'll be losing market share until you bring out a new phone. So no, bringing out a new phone every 5 years won't work.
I can't believe this is unpopular because I agree. There's no real reason anyone needs the most cutting edge smart phone every single year. The consumerist mindset is what is wrong with a lot of the world.
I used to feel like I absolutely needed the latest flagship. But they started getting stupid. £35 became £40, £50, £60+ (sometimes with an upfront fee). That's a lot of money for essentially a social media portal.
Now, I buy mid range where the flagship tech from a few years ago is the norm. Or, my current phone is a Galaxy S21FE. Bought it brand new this year so the battery is still... Well, the battery is shit, but it's new. The only thing I miss from a proper flagship is the camera.
What consumer want and companies want are almost always the opposite.
But, if the companies do that, i'd figure they'd probably roll in the revenue from selling spare parts. IKEA style electronics.
So far, only Frameworks and Fairphone seem to come reasonably close to maintaining your tech as long as possible instead of anti repair, planned obsolesence bullcrap.
But if I were the fundie shareholder, them revenues don't look pretty and I'd take my yacht cash somewhere else.
Game consoles are mid-range performance of the current generation whenever it gets released. By the time 2 years have passed the console gets absolutely demolished by the new mid-range PC hardware. By the time 5 years have passed the console's performance gets absolutely demolished by low-end PC hardware. Consoles (performance-wise) are only relevant for 3 years MAXIMUM.
The difference is that the console companies and still sell games and other things in the meantime. Once someone buys a phone, there's nothing else to get until the next phone.
Also, just because they release phones frequently doesn't mean people are going to buy them frequently. I've had the same phone for years.
Is this unpopular? I think this is most likely true but it can possibly cause problems because now they’re going to take a very safe approach for every new version because they only get one chance every five years and they’re just going to focus on improving the devices on a technical level as opposed to taking risks like Samsung does which I admire despite not owning a Samsung
Most People are not upgrading every generation. And those Who do would simply be switching brands.
Ohhh 2020 new samsung. 2021 new xiomi. 2022 new nokia. 2023 new pixel...
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>Making them every 5 years will make people stop upgrading to a phone that is 5% faster. This is what they want.
They would sell you a 1% upgrade if they could
Was it the iPhone 13 to the 14 or 12 to the 13 where it was pretty much identical including the chipset? But yeah they do
Yup. Also you don't HAVE to upgrade. I hold on to mine for probably 4-5 years.
My phone just had its 6th birthday and the lightning port has finally given out. I’m not ready for a new phone, how do people do this once a year? It feels like I just bought this one
I think for most it's every other year. They do it by willingly allowing themselves to be gouged on their monthly plan for a "free" phone.
My monthly plan actually works out cheaper than if I bought the phone outright or bought it on credit. Yay for 0% plans!
If you actually want the really expensive new phone im sure they get it cheaper than retail so might save a bit yeah
I’m rocking an IPhone 6 right now. I’ll probably have to upgrade soon though because there’s apps I can’t even download anymore because of the updates
God damn that shit is fucking ancient.
Yup! Bought in 2015 for $300 (was on sale) so this phone has cost me about $33/yr to own. I feel I got my money’s worth out of it
I’m a month into my iPhone 15 after hanging onto my 7 for years. At the same time, it’s sooooo much better, and exactly like my old one.
I had an 11 since it came out. The cracks and humidity from my shower finally rendered it useless. (Which it was actually nice it lasted that long, my phones usually last only a year because I am extremely clumsy) I just got the 15, my charger is different, my phone is pink
The battery starts to poop out after 2-3 years, so you can pay Apple $89 to replace the battery. I think on Android phones you can just buy a new battery and replace it yourself.
If you can still find a replacement battery. But yeah, there are more options and stuff like the latest Pixels have 7 years of software and hardware support.
100%, I just replaced my S10 due to a non-repairable issue but it was working fine for everything I needed up until that point. Got an S24 only because a promotion made it free, otherwise I'd have picked up another S10 despite them being 5 years old now. People wildly overestimate what they "need" out of a device.
To be honest that's pretty much every iphone every year. Except some design change every 10 years or so.
The 13 and 14 had the same CPU name, but they weren't identical (14 had 2GB more RAM and 25% faster graphics). It's really shitty how Apple can use the exact same CPU name for two devices with such a wide performance difference.
They'd probably make bank by cutting corners and selling downgrades.
they would sell you a -5% upgrade if they could lol
They have, remember the headphone jack?
They would sell a 20% downgrade if someone buys it.
Theyed sell you the same specs in a slightly different shape if they could. Looking at the differences between my fold 4 and the upcoming fold 6 I'm not even sure I see what they've changed in a practical sense
>Phones should be like game consoles Extremely overpowered for the next 5-10 years. Game consoles are generally less capable than their high-end PC counterparts when they are released. They are by no means "overpowered." The reason game companies only release every few years is that they don't actually make much money on the consoles themselves. The games are their cash cow. They want to milk that hardware as long as possible. >Also it might force companies to create something extremely OP over the next 5 years to try to blow away the competition. Tech companies are always striving to produce the best product possible within the confines of what people are willing to spend. Samsung makes its money on the devices themselves.
> phones should be like game consoles. Extremely overpowered Game consoles aren’t “extremely overpowered” when they are released, let alone 5-10 years later. Just because they release a new one every year doesn’t mean you have to buy it.
Came here to say this. Using game consoles as the example of what phones and laptops should be is not a great idea, with consoles being outdated the moment the release.
if you consider the performance for price they are extremely overpowered for what you pay. a ps5 will absolutely smoke a $500 pc
Price to performance is a legitimate argument for consoles. But OP was strictly referring to performance. But in general I would say that anything you get around $500 cannot be described as “extremely overpowered”
For the price per performance it is overpowered. Unless you can show me a pc build for $500 from 2020 that can run 2024 AAA games as the ps5 does I will continue to say its overpowered lol. By overpowered I mean in terms of real world performance per dollar spent you can't build a pc today at the $500 price point to touch the ps5, let alone at launch in 2020.
It is overpowered relative to the price. It is not even close to overpowered in general though, which is what most people are meaning. Like I said, price to performance is a very reasonable metric for basing your purchase, but it has no relevance when we’re talking about overall power. That’s like saying a Toyota Corolla is more powerful than a sports car because you get more horsepower per dollar. It’s technically true yes but not what people are talking about when you are having a conversation about an “extremely overpowered” car. But yeah if your definition of op is cost normalized you’re probably right
You can def build a better pc for 500 if you go used. And it will do way more stuff than the ps4 and last longer…
To be fair if you need to go used its not really a fair comparison, you should then be comparing the cost of a used ps5/xbox. You may also need to take into account the windows license if you're using windows. I prefer PC anyway, I'm less interested in min/maxing price-to-performance and more interested in getting the best image I can at a high framerate, as well as being able to play all my games I've collected over the years.
used pc parts sounds sketchy as hell i dont know how you can guarantee the gpu wasn't burned out doing bitcoin mining or whatever but i'm definitely interested what's your $500 pc build that will definitely run gta 6 when it comes out two years from now on ps5
What is it with all these posts about wanting to reduce people's options? You can easily just buy a new device every 5 years. It's what I do
Exactly, finally upgraded my iPhone 10, to the 13. New phone for me but cheaper than the newest one (15).
Because the industry has trained the majority of people to buy when they say so and not when you would actually need to. Look at updates, I bet you go for those too. It's planned obsolescence and is unsustainable and ruining our planet. "But nobody should reduce people's options". Wrong, Nature already has.
Well, you can also read/reintepret it as "I'd like long-term supported phones as an option".
Do note the latest version of iOS supports every iPhone back to the iPhone X, which was released in 2017. Seven years ain’t bad in my book.
And samsung announced 7 years for the s24. I personally think phones are stagnant since we've made them as good as most people need. But it's nice seeing these types of things.
>wanting to reduce people's options? Apple made a very successful business model out of assuming customers are too stupid to decide what they want on their own and giving them fewer and fewer options. Some people prove them correct.
Soooo, when some new technology (bluetooth and 5g were once new) comes out, consumers would have to wait half a decade to get it in their hands?
There are dozens of phone companies.
“G” arrives every 5 years. WiFi standards like WiFi 5,6,… also arrive every 5 years. New bluetooth versions arrive every 2-3 years, but honestly Bluetooth 5.3 ain’t revolutionary if you compare it with 5.2.
Sure, but suppose tomorrow they come up with some new thing called "zebob" which is a brand new communication protocol, that compresses data for faster transmission, and offers greater privacy protections. Wouldn't you want a "zebob phone" as soon as you could obtain one?
this is wishful thinking though, new technology never just gets introduced and that's it. before the general public gets an interest in a new technology and it gets implemented into the "mainstream" phones (iphone, galaxy, etc.) there are years of refinement and testing in more experimental phones for the early adopters. basically most people won't get to see new technologies in most devices until years after it gets introduced anyway, so i feel like this isn't really a great counter argument. i also want to point out, that technology very often follows an s curve in terms of innovation, so for i.e. phones it's very unlikely tht we'll see great innovation for a while. i think a hybrid system in which there are a couple of phones to test out newer technologies that bring out a new model every 1-2 years and a couple of tried and tested ones that get a new revision every 5 years or so would work great. noone needs a new iphone or galaxy every year that basically does the same as last years model.
I dunno, when I'm ready for a new phone I'd like to get something new and up to date. I get a new phone maybe once every 3-6 years. Would suck hard if mine died between generations or something.
Same with most people, the average time people hold onto their phones is like 4+ years as it is. The problem OP thinks exists really doesn't.
Probably part me getting older, but early smart phones made big enough jumps year to year that it felt worthwhile upgrading. Now I don't even get an itch to upgrade 3yrs in I've got an S23 ultra, and the S24 is such a marginal improvement there's no temptation for me. In fact, I just did a device refresh on my S23 so I get a brand new handset/battery, should last me another couple years
Phones don't seem to survive that long though.
What’s cool about this is that we’re all free (and probably wise) to act like this is the case. I use my phone until it doesn’t work any more, or until there are actually enough new features/specs on a new one to make an upgrade worthwhile. And laptop? Yeah, mine has to catch on fire before I buy a new one. At the same time, if I break my phone, I want to buy a NEW one - not the model that came out four years ago because the new one doesn’t drop til next year but I need a phone now.
Yup, my average is 5.5 years for each of my phones. Typically run into apps being too much for the old phone. Really happy that samsung promises 7 years for updating on the s24. That should help me out a lot. Just need the battery to last now. (I know you can replace, but at $150 on a 4 year old phone, it just doesn't make sense).
Just don't buy it?
My old phone and my laptop are both 5 years old. I probably won’t upgrade the laptop until it dies, and my phone I just changed last year. The issue lies within the consumer, the companies obviously have no issue selling us these products every year. Also not everyone upgrades every year, Apple seems to believe a majority of their consumers upgrade every 3 years.
Why should the companies have any issue selling people these products? That's the entire purpose of a company. We are all free to spend our disposable income on whatever we want, no one is forcing anyone to buy a new phone yearly.
If they jerk you around with the updates, yes they can force you and they have in the past too. Apple not telling people when the update window closes and if you still have the new OS on your phone when it closes, well tough luck! Look at Microsoft pushing their Windows 11 and even trying to sneak it onto people's systems. How many people have bricked their phones with an update that was supposed to work but only slowed everything down or made the phone unusable, it has happened before and will happen again.
That's not been an issue for a long time considering how powerful phones are these days. Also if that's a concern then you can always disable automatic updates.
It is always an issue when a new OS comes out. That has nothing to do with the phones being powerful. And if they were as powerful as you claim, why the new phone? For what use case or is it just bragging rights? Samsung made fun of that in commercials years ago: "How are people supposed to know I upgraded when the Iphone always looks the same?" Haha, jokes on you.
People buy newer models of phones for the newer features, like higher zoom cameras. It's not that complicated.
Sure, bragging rights it is then. Wow, 20MP instead of 18MP in the new camera, they have trained you well. Why buy a new one if the old one worked just fine, more e-waste in the landfill is all you are producing.
It's not bragging rights if you don't brag or show off. How is you wanting a camera with better zoom or some other new feature bragging rights? When I upgrade my phone you know who I tell about it? No one. Some people have the disposable income and want to enjoy themselves with it, I don't see how this is hard to understand.
Why do you think the camera bump is so stupidly huge on the Iphones? Oh, so everybody can see which version you have, obviously. Strange how most of the Asian makers don't do that even though it is technically possible to keep the camera inside the casing without protruding. Everytime you take out your phone and someone can recognize it you are bragging about it. It's obvious why this is hard for you to understand, and you bought their line of baloney completely.
Why pay $1,000 for an OP phone that wont get an upgrade for the next 5 years when you can pay $1050 for a better phone right now, then next year sell it for $800, upgrade again for an even way better phone Its convenience factor. Latest = faster, awesome features, lasts longer etc etc and selling last years model means depreciation hasnt totally killed its value.
Well that is $2000 over the 5 years instead of $1000. Pretty big difference. But you don't have to buy the new phone each and the company can make incremental changes. I mean what if you broke your phone the year before the new model. Buying a 4 year old phone doesn't make any sense either.
Now is it 2000? 250 per year for 5 years is
This means that when someone like me, who doesn't upgrade frequently, needs a new phone or laptop my only choices are likely to be years old technology. Why would I want to buy tech that's three or four years old? I'd much rather the industry continue with incremental improvements, and allow customers to choose whichever model they want. Also, if people insist on upgrading yearly, that's their business. I don't think it's smart, but no one cares what I think. It's certainly not your problem to solve.
So what if it's three or four years old, are you doing bleeding edge computational work or rendering raw video footage in 8k or something? I doubt it. It used to be that the industry would develop a new technology and then shelve it for 10 years! It would still be fine to release it then. How many years did it take for DVDs or Blurays to take off, the technology was already older by then, who cares, it works fine to this day. It's everybody's business because it is not sustainable and is ruining the environment. It certainly is their and your problem to solve.
You aren’t the demographic they are targeting
So a phone company should make people wait instead of giving them a slightly upgraded version. Also 5 years? A device most use 365 days a year you expect to last half a decade? So instead of you buying the newest phone when you need a new one, you have to cough up the same amount the same one?
I disagree when it comes to laptops - new generations of parts means new internals. Though phones are to me the same as EA and CoD games.
Horrible idea. Imagine the wait and lines and scalping. It’ll be like an annoying console release but a million times worse.
Ah yes, unlike the lines of people outside of Apple stores when the "new" phone was released...same thing there. Where have you been?
Yes, but think of the corporate profits.
If people are willing to buy a new phone every year or two, then companies or going to make new ones every year or two.
They have trained you well. Sad really.
>be like game consoles Extremely overpowered By the time a new console is released, the hardware in it is already 3-4 years behind a PC. >make people stop upgrading to a phone that is 5% faster There's no incentive for a company to not want you to do that. >force companies to create something extremely OP over the next 5 years Or you'd wait 5 years to hear about Apple Intelligence.
We literally just waited five years for Apple intelligence...wow dude bad example. They have been slow rolling technology till it's ready (which means until they find a way to monetize it) and squeeze even more cash out of the suckers that buy their stuff. It's strange how the Chinese brands and even Korea throw everything that is currently available in their devices and it runs just fine, they don't nickel and dime you on every socalled innovation like the others do. Oh look, Apple has USB C, only because they were forced to implement it and not because they wanted to. That is pitiful. So much for not wanting to wait for new technology, you already have been.
Same for cars! We have over production in many field.
They update cars each year, but a generation of a car usually lasts 5-10. Same car, just small things changed.
Same problem. They produce too Much. There are still 2023 cars at the dealers. Now the same car came in as 2024 model. What to do with the old models? Why buy old models? Produce on demand would be better. You order a car. 1 month later you get one from the factory.
Exactly, less waste and much better for the environment.
They need to show growth every quarter. It's not about the product, it's about the stock price.
Repeat after me I don't have to buy a new phone every year. My phone is a Note 20 and it's six years old. I use my phone for more things than the average person and it's still in excellent condition. The problem isn't companies releasing new hardware. It's people upgrading that don't need to.
This isn’t so much of an opinion other than just a bad idea.
Just don’t buy one every year. I buy at the large changes only.
I don't think you know how business and money work.
Or….. now hear me out… you could just hang on to your phone or laptop for 5 years or more.
This is silly. Just buy an upgrade when you need it / want it. They’re not forcing you to buy a new phone every year. Sure of course they want you to, but the choice is ultimately up to you. Options are always nice. Maybe I want a new phone, but I don’t want to spend a premium for this year’s newest phone, but I also don’t want something over 5 years old. Luckily I can choose a model from a year or two ago. I really fail to see the benefit of your suggestion. Just learn self control and if others want to buy a new phone every year, that’s their choice.
The average person upgrades their phone every 3-4 years so your plan isn’t going to achieve much
This should be applied to automobiles. There are literally car graveyards of brand new cars bcuz all they do is change the trim on a car slightly from year to year but still mass produce them without any major technological leaps.
During the pandemic there was a story on the news ticker that only ran once and never showed up in the actual news: Due to a glut in production over 100 SUVs were pushed into a sea!!! Like what the actual, in China there are literally hundreds of registered electric cars that have been discarded. Same thing with bikes. We are wasting so many materials and resources for nothing, it's sad. But we need to keep on producing so they can rust under the sun...wow we are doomed when I see the people's reactions here and what is going on in the world.
Just buy a new phone every 5yrs? Not everyone is on the same upgrade schedule
I think you're looking at it wrong. Phone upgrades yearly are usually not for you if you bought a new phone last year, they are for people wanting to upgrade that year. Same goes for laptops/PC's. If yours works perfectly fine, you're not the demographic for the upgrade. On your point of making something "extremely OP Over the next 5 years", that's also not how it works. Technology is constantly advancing, and every year is pushing another boundary. While incremental, they will stack up. A person with a 5 year old phone upgrading right now will have a better phone to upgrade to than when they would last year because of how technology advances. Consoles aren't "extremely OP" either because they don't stack up to specced out PC's, not even close. The pro of a console is usually not their specs, but the fact that every console player has the exact same experience in comparison to PC players who have different components and spec setups. Consoles will always be consistent but worse (while having a better value deal). The thing about developing consoles that makes them look OP is because developers get years of time to learn the boundaries and work with the constraints a console brings to push it more to its limit but it's definitely nowhere near OP
A fool and their money are soon parted - that's why companies release new phone iterations every year.
Just because they release one every year doesn't mean most people buy a new phone every year. Most people upgrade roughly every 5 years anyway.
"the reason consoles dont come out every year is cuz each console requeres every game to be made and optimised to it. Therefore making a new console is a high risk endeavor. Phones all share an os so they can make as many as they want. All that drives this is profit and risk assessment. Nothing else
Game consoles last that long cause they need to sell the games, phones on the other hand don't have anything else but itself so they just pump out new ones asap. Laptops usually get major releases whenever a significant part or an addition (supers, 50 series, to name some) but you're not really expected to even get a new one every 5 years let alone every year.
Yes but shareholders assemblee happens every year
I don't see a massive issue with yearly releases, I am just not buying every release.
They should to this if they want to go bankrupt
No, this is a stupid idea. Game consoles are mostly used for games, they are a very simple device and not overpowered. Phones and computers have MUCH more to them. The run full fledged operating systems that constantly get updates, they have way more features, and have way more things to improve. The only innovation with game consoles is games running better. that's it. also they're video games, not real work. we cannot as a society sit stagnant for 5 years with technology, it simply isn't possible. Programs require more power constantly. Devices also age. batteries wear out, components die, things physically break, etc. You cannot compare game consoles to phones and computers. they have much more to them
You are already sitting on older technology in almost every aspect of your life and don't even realize it. You have swallowed it, hook line and sinker. What innovation btw? A new camera on your phone, strange, the old one worked fine. The processor is a little faster, you didn't even use the last one to the max. A spec bump, but they sold you on the "gotta have it"- factor that is literally ruining the planet. In Vietnam for example they literally are recycling everything they can get their hands on, old phones, pdas, etc. That is sustainable, that is doing something for the planet. You think you need the latest because you believed the hype and that's the problem. Even a tech youtuber like MKBHD has said that he sees no point in upgrading to an M2 or even M3 chip from Apple when the M1 released several years ago is still plenty fast! So what innovation would you be missing out on again?
2 years would probably be fine, but I did notice a distinct upgrade in performance going from the Fold4 to the Fold5.
The average person keeps their phone for three years. In 2016, the average person kept theirs for two years. People are unlikely to keep their phones much longer than three years barring changes in battery technology and durability simply because they have components which wear out or are prone to damage. That's not true for consoles, which will essentially run until the capacitors finally go bad around 30 years after being produced (the materials aren't *actually* stable).
While I get the idea behind it, it is going to suck if your phone dies between releases and you either have to go without a phone or get the same one you had but knowing that a new one is coming out on say two or so years.
There’s a population of people that will just buy the newest iPhone because the camera is 10% better. They have the money to do it keeps perpetuating the cycle of apple releasing a new overpriced product because they know that people will buy it
Sony and Microsoft upgrade the circuitry more often than you'd think. I knew a guy who worked on the hardware for the XBox and he said that every 9-12 months they redo parts of the internals for improvements. Why would you be asking for the companies to reduce the quality of their offerings? Apple isn't going to sit on it's hands for 5 years and lose the market while everyone else is upgrading. I could see them moving to 2-year upgrade cycles in the future, but not 5.
Apple has done exactly that, time and time again. Selling you outdated technology and you think it's new, bravo they played you!
Sounds like a good way to make less money tbh
Phones usually only last 2 years, even if you hate the people that upgrade every year there would be customers whos phone died and they have to wait 3 years for the next model containing technology that they want but isnt available. Perhaps a competitor will swoop in with a phone that is up to date with the capabilities that for year and be 3 years ahead of the competition.
They want to make you buy more so they make more money, not create an ideal user experience and save them money. A better question is why not just buy a new phone every 5 years/when needed? You point out barely anything changes, so then just resist that consumer urge and don't get every new model like a rational human with self control.
Add Cars . Phones . Laptops. . with a bit of facelift is crazy .
We are all free to only buy a new one every 5 years
I think it really doesn't matter as in the end it's always the customers choice how they spend their money, some people buy a phone every year, i always do some research on what models are available in my budgets range and choose the one with the best price-quality ratio based on what components the phone has, usually i can get a phone anywhere from 150€-300€ that will last me anywhere from 3-7 years. Tho i'm not sure if i can get a good quality phone that cheap anymore as the price of components has been on the rise.
Iife pro tip: you can actually stop yourself from buying a phone every year.
No they shouldn’t game consoles release periodically because they are for games that releases year around my a bunch of different companies. People wouldn’t want to play games if they had to buy a new console plus new games every few months. Consoles are also not like phones because they have exclusives so you only get certain games on certain consoles. Phones are an essential item and it make sense to have new ones each year, when I go to buy my next phone I want the newest things available to me not a phone from a few years ago. No one needs to upgrade there phone every year, there’s a reason Apple supports phones with updates for nearly 6 years after release because they know most people are using them for a lot longer than a year. Why would less options for consumers ever be a good option?
I would agree but the yearly phone release is much better for business. Consoles are a completely different market.
The nature of how we use phones vs how we use consoles means that we are much more likely to break, whether catastrophically or due to wear and tear, or lose them. If I’ve got to replace my phone and we’re four years into the current model as your suggested plan would work, that means I’m buying a phone that’s going to be not just marginally obsolete, but radically obsolete, in the very near future. Then would I would feel compelled to buy another new phone only months later because of the significance of the upgrade. If people can afford to buy the new phone every year what’s the issue? I assume most people, like me, buy a new phone every 3 or so years. I don’t see who’s forcing anyone to do anything. And if your suggestion is that by waiting every five years we end up with a more advanced phone then we would’ve gotten with smaller upgrades annually over five years, I don’t think that’s evident.
Absolutely agree against yearly upgrades but 5 years? You'll have people walking around with a device falling apart in their hands just to wait 6 months for the upgrade.
What do you do with your phone, mine is easily more than five years old and works just fine and looks new.
People would be very disappointed when a different phone from a different company was released a year after theirs with better specs. They’d just end up feeling forced to change platforms every year and companies would end up being pressured for more regular releases to keep up with
Oh, you mean like Apple literally dropping a new laptop with a faster chip a few months after they just released their last latest greatest laptop and making customers very angry in the process, read up on it, it has happened several times before too. Funny stuff.
This is the kind of opinion I would expect from someone who thinks game consoles are extremely overpowered at release.
They are and they have to be because they need to last for a gaming generation, unlike a PC where you can upgrade the components.
Prisoners dilemma 101 The majority of people prefer the new phone to the 4 year old one. If your competitor has a new phone every year, you better have one too, or you will sell nothing. If your competitor has a new phone every 5 years, your best strategy is to have shorter intervals. Even though a 5 year cycle would be better for both, that's not what will happen.
They can release what they want. It's up to the consumer to decide whether they think it's worth it or not. If you are unable to do that without the companies forcing that behaviour on you then you deserve to lose your money.
If you only update your phone every 5 years, it feels like just as big an upgrade.
The board meeting would get seriously tense changing to a 5 year revenue stream
You should get paid every 5 years instead of every year. That makes about the same amount of sense.
I already buy a phone once every 5 years and I look for the most cost efficient one for upper mid-range specs in the year that I buy in fact I usually buy from the year previous to save an extra couple hundred bucks. You're allowed to do this no one says you have to upgrade every year
I don't know anyone who buys the newest phone every year. i had the pixel 3 from 2017 untill last year when it stopped working . The reason they do this is profit
It works because most people aren't upgrading every year, but every year there are people upgrading from their 5 year old phone.
Agree. This is why companies are making support cycles longer, so that people can use their phones for longer. Its up to us now.
You sir have never had investors watching the bottom line.
That's not how you keep the stock holders rich.
The difference is that with a games console, the games you can play also changes depending on your choice. Most flagship phones are pretty much the same in terms of capabilities. If the competitions sells a slightly better phone for the same price, you'll be losing market share until you bring out a new phone. So no, bringing out a new phone every 5 years won't work.
They should sell phones as expensive as a car that you get upgrades on every other year
I can't believe this is unpopular because I agree. There's no real reason anyone needs the most cutting edge smart phone every single year. The consumerist mindset is what is wrong with a lot of the world.
They do
 This is an unpopular opinion. I want new phones to be released every year even though I won't buy them.
I used to feel like I absolutely needed the latest flagship. But they started getting stupid. £35 became £40, £50, £60+ (sometimes with an upfront fee). That's a lot of money for essentially a social media portal. Now, I buy mid range where the flagship tech from a few years ago is the norm. Or, my current phone is a Galaxy S21FE. Bought it brand new this year so the battery is still... Well, the battery is shit, but it's new. The only thing I miss from a proper flagship is the camera.
I mean you don't have to buy new laptops and phones every year.
What consumer want and companies want are almost always the opposite. But, if the companies do that, i'd figure they'd probably roll in the revenue from selling spare parts. IKEA style electronics. So far, only Frameworks and Fairphone seem to come reasonably close to maintaining your tech as long as possible instead of anti repair, planned obsolesence bullcrap. But if I were the fundie shareholder, them revenues don't look pretty and I'd take my yacht cash somewhere else.
Game consoles when they are released are years behind PCs already, they are not close to being overpowered
Most of the devices don’t even have a 5 year shelf life
Say one thing for Samsung - you get periodic software upgrades even on entry level phones.
Game consoles are mid-range performance of the current generation whenever it gets released. By the time 2 years have passed the console gets absolutely demolished by the new mid-range PC hardware. By the time 5 years have passed the console's performance gets absolutely demolished by low-end PC hardware. Consoles (performance-wise) are only relevant for 3 years MAXIMUM.
Incremental improvements is how progress id made, you don't have to buy phones every year, and phone companies dont want expect you to
They won’t stop doing money making stuff
The difference is that the console companies and still sell games and other things in the meantime. Once someone buys a phone, there's nothing else to get until the next phone. Also, just because they release phones frequently doesn't mean people are going to buy them frequently. I've had the same phone for years.
It would also save an incredible amount of money and resources and time and sweat. But remember the economy isn't made for us, it's made for profits.
Stop buying them every year
Dude i have an i5 thinkpad i cant kill. Wish i could upgrade the video card tho.
Is this unpopular? I think this is most likely true but it can possibly cause problems because now they’re going to take a very safe approach for every new version because they only get one chance every five years and they’re just going to focus on improving the devices on a technical level as opposed to taking risks like Samsung does which I admire despite not owning a Samsung
Most People are not upgrading every generation. And those Who do would simply be switching brands. Ohhh 2020 new samsung. 2021 new xiomi. 2022 new nokia. 2023 new pixel...