In this era of transformation and innovation where new technologies are expected to push boundaries, smartphones become imprisoned on their own. It seems to be stuck in the loop of mediocrity. Those days seem only a distant past when revolution was associated with smartphone technologies.
The brand-new iPhone 15 Pro Max has been launched and is already tagged as the most expensive iPhone so far. However, except few PR, paid promotions and die-hard iPhone fans we barely witness any hype in the market for the latest version. Many had already argued about the necessity of launching newer versions with iPhone 13 or 14 having merely a few updates with existing models.
Now the discussion started again with the latest iPhone 15 version. Was the price of the iPhone 13 or iPhone 14 reasonable? Or is the price justified now with the latest version considering its product value? Or we are now paying for the iPhone brand only? These are the questions for further discussion but now let’s see what is wrong with modern smartphones. Have they become such common that there has been no space left for innovation?
When Graham Bell first patented his telephone in 1876 it was a transformative invention in history and was the beginning of the revolution in communication and information. It was such extraordinary that people found it hard to believe that sound could transmit to such a long distance. The craze and hype were unimaginable and it completely changed the world.
Fast forward to 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. It is considered as a monumental event of the decades. It was a marvel in design and innovation and it has inspired millions of people to be more creative and innovative in their respective fields. It was the birth of the App ecosystem which led to a whole new industry. It was one of the earliest convergence devices built beautifully serving as a phone, media player, camera and internet.
It has economic impact, social impact and impact across industries throughout the globe. But no one expected a tsunami to come off cheap and tons of new features. Every day there was a new phone in the market claiming to have a new feature. With time they kept losing the hype and now nobody gives a damn about a new phone launch or new feature because there is not much creativity or innovation happening since iPhone. Why did it happen?
Soon we may see a completely transparent phone or completely foldable phone to be kept in a wallet like paper. But the question is how much impact would they make in our society, on our life by any means. They are not going to make our lives any easier by these innovations. So it is not wrong to say that this is nothing but the result of a lack of creativity and overspend in the smartphone industry at the same time that we see no groundbreaking innovation any more.
Death of innovation
In this era of transformation and innovation where new technologies are expected to push boundaries, smartphones become imprisoned on their own. It seems to be stuck in the loop of mediocrity. Those days seem only a distant past when revolution was associated with smartphone technologies. We are left with the barrage of lacklustre upgrades only. Even hubs of innovation like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Samsung have failed to impress users with any groundbreaking ideas. iPhones are becoming luxury only and demotivating other phone makers to reduce price. Its newer versions often feel like mere echoes of the past glory ignited by Steve Jobs.
Innovative vs. Gimmicky
New features of smartphone companies introduced in their new models including even iPhones are merely nothing but flashy gimmicks. They have lost their way to innovation and now trying their best to gain attention and hype with only gimmicks with failed attempts to pitch into innovation or creativity. But why this is happening when other products are becoming smarter smartphones becoming stupid or just stopped being smarter? Should we put all the blame on the manufacturers only or are there any responsibilities of the users as well?
There is a question for users if we become too jaded to recognise true creativity when we see it or we are just too satisfied with the products we have? If manufacturers are not receiving any demands for innovation why would they do it? They will play safe by keeping their market intact. However, I think users’s demand for innovation is just a small factor but it is the manufacturer’s role to take the opportunity to surprise and captivate users and capture more market share than they agreed to have.
The perception of users has also been changed towards smartphones. They have become more a luxury than a necessity, I mean who doesn’t have a phone (ignoring the fact that millions of people in the world are deprived of even basic cellular phones)? If everyone has a smartphone only price can make a phone appreciated or unique.
Apple seems to have attached to this philosophy producing only what people want and increasing price without any reasonable justification making it only a luxury item. Here I observe that there is nothing unique left in the smartphone that only led users to perceive the phone as a luxury to make it unique and if it is not a natural phenomenon then smartphone manufacturers played a really dirty game here.
There are various spoken and unspoken factors to talk about the smartphone industry but what is obvious and blunt is that innovation in smartphones is dead. Maybe we have to wait for another Graham Bell or Steve Jobs to revolutionise this industry again and surprise us with something extraordinary that we might never have thought.
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