Smartphone season is on, but consumer buzz is off
Even new features have failed to reignite the excitement of previous years
Another autumn is fast approaching, and with it a new crop of smartphones. But if excitement over them seems a little muted this year, it’s not just you.
A PCMag survey recently asked more than 1,500 people which smartphone launch they most anticipated this year. Apple’s launch, which may reveal three iPhones, came in first with 42 per cent. Samsung’s Galaxy Note9, which debuted last week, garnered 24 per cent.
“None” came in third — ahead of the next Google Pixel’s 7 per cent. That’s a pretty lukewarm welcome for Google’s next phone, expected in October. While smartphones used to generate a lot of excitement before, even phones with new features, such as the iPhone X’s nearly full-screen front or advanced biometric scanners, have failed to reignite the excitement of a few years ago. The average time people wait to upgrade their phones continues to grow. Americans are now likely to hold on to their phones for an average of 32 months, research firm NPD Group reported earlier this month, up from 25 months at the same time last year. The number of people holding on to their phones for more than three years is also up, from 18 per cent at the end of 2016 to 22 per cent at the end of 2017.
Smartphone makers are making up for the slower unit sales by charging more per phone, a strategy that worked well for Apple but sent mobile revenue at Samsung down sharply last quarter.
There is a lot of hype about where smartphone hardware could go next, with excited speculation about folding displays and new camera types. But these aren’t likely to show up in this year’s remaining crop of smartphones in the United States.
So what could drive consumers to the stores again for smartphones? The next big upgrade that we’ll see from smartphones is the inclusion of 5G antennas, which analysts expect will be revealed in new models in February 2019. Even then, the roll-out of 5G networks will be limited in the United States.