offers (get a free HDTV on activation!) and
frequent software updates that slow down your
old handset, it sometimes feels like the entire
technology industry is pushing you to buy the
latest smartphone. Yet some holdouts resist.
Take Zak Sommerfield, 35, a software analyst in
New York, who has hung onto his LG Delight flip
phone for five years, even though his friends and
co-workers make fun of it. “I hate smartphones, I
hate how they take over people’s lives and they
spend all their time looking at them,” he says. “I’d
love to stay on this phone forever.”
People like Sommerfield are a rarity. More than
90 percent of smartphone users trade up for
newer models within two years, says Ramon
Llamas, who tracks mobile phones at research
firm IDC. But a fraction of the population
continues to cling to older phones, some 3 to 4
years old - or more.
These upgrade holdouts have different reasons
for standing athwart techno-progress, yelling
“Stop!” Some reject the trend toward ever-larger
screens, preferring smaller phones that are
harder to find these days. Others simply aren’t
wowed by the latest features, or see no reason
to spend hundreds of dollars when their current
phones still work fine.
“Just as we saw with PCs and tablets, lifetimes
on people’s devices are generally getting a bit
longer,” says Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at
Technalysis Research.
Every customer counts these days. Overall
smartphone sales are slowing down -
particularly in industrialized markets such
as the U.S., where most people who want a
smartphone already have one. IDC forecasts a 10
percent increase in worldwide smartphone sales
this year, but that’s slowed considerably from 27
percent growth in 2014.
Some manufacturers have turned to emerging
markets for new sales, but many customers
there can afford only cheaper - and less
profitable - devices. To keep making money on
premium phones, Apple, Samsung and their
rivals are counting on regular upgrades.
With its latest iPhones, Apple started an annual
upgrade program that leases customers the
latest models for a year. Upgrades are particularly
important for Apple because iPhones account for
more than half of its revenue.
Sprint and T-Mobile also have leasing options
aimed at yearly iPhone upgrades, but Apple’s
new leasing option has put even more pressure
on carriers. They depend on regular upgrades
to keep existing customers and sell them more
services, such as bigger data plans or cloud
services and storage. Since a customer upgrades
only once every two or three years, it’s an
“important moment to capitalize on” for carriers,
says FBR analyst Daniel Ives.
To encourage upgrades, manufacturers have
been packing new phones with cutting-edge
hardware. The latest iPhones have better
cameras and screen sensors to enable shortcuts
and other menus with a hard press. Samsung
won critical acclaim for curved screens that spill
over a phone’s edges like a glassy waterfall.
Phones also get new system software every
year, and many apps require the latest updates.
Although many older phones can get the latest
versions of Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS
software, the updates can slow them down,
and the phones sometimes don’t support all
the new features.
Not surprisingly, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure
argues that having the latest model is important
to many people. Phones are “the most valued
personal possession that we have,” Claure said in
an interview. “We use our phone to capture the
memories of our lives.”
But O’Donnell of Technalysis says smartphone
technology is “hitting the top of a curve.”
As a result, each new model brings
tweaks and refinements rather than new
must-have features.
“I think it’s a little ridiculous to give up a
perfectly good phone for a new one that is only
slightly different,” says Kelsey Scott, 25, from
Hutchinson, Kansas, who has an iPhone 5S from
2013 and doesn’t plan to upgrade.
And while many people upgraded last year
when Apple made larger-size iPhones for the
first time, matching what Samsung has long had,
others prefer smaller phones. Apple still sells
the 4-inch iPhone 5S, but the technology is two
years old. The latest, fastest iPhones measure 4.7
inches and 5.5 inches diagonally.
Nathan Jarus, 24, says he’s been keeping his
eyes open for inexpensive phones with 4-inch
screens, but complains that “almost nobody
seems to be making them.” The computer
science PhD candidate from outside Rolla,
Missouri, still uses Google’s discontinued 3.7-
inch Nexus One phone from 2010.
Brett Shoemaker, 22, from Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, a regular upgrader since the original
iPhone debuted in 2007 - but stopped in his
tracks with the 4-inch iPhone 5 in 2012.
Manufacturers are “forcing users into larger
screen sizes for the latest and greatest
technology” he says. “I’m contemplating
not upgrading ever.” Or even switching to a
BlackBerry, he adds, only half-joking.
High-end phones start at a $200, a subsidized
price that requires a two-year service contract.
More recently, though, wireless companies have
been pushing people to pay full retail price -
often around $650 - via monthly installment
plans. Although such deals also offer discounts
on voice, text and data service, many people just
see that they are paying more for the phone.
John O’Neill, 49, a tax analyst in Dallas, says
he won’t upgrade from his iPhone 4, which he
has had for nearly 5 years - mostly because he
doesn’t want to lose his $30 unlimited data plan
with Verizon. “I’ve looked around and nothing
comes close,” he said.
For Mary Reichard, 52, legal affairs reporter in
Springfield, Missouri, the money and fear of the
unknown that keeps her from upgrading from
her iPhone 4s she has had for two years.
“I long for the old days of one land line and tiny
monthly bills,” she said. She also fears she might
lose data if she upgrades. “I’m a baby boomer, so
technology is still kind of scary.”
And some just feel too attached to their current
smartphone to give it up. William Hurst, a
22-year-old student in Portland, Oregon, said
he decided not to upgrade because he feels
attached to his 3-year-old iPhone 5. He even
likes its quirks like a lock screen button that
doesn’t fully work and a crack from when he
dropped it on cement in his rush to get in line
for a concert.
“I have lived two years of my life with this same
iPhone and it’s a part of who I am,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment