Despite sticking to this yearly cycle, in recent years phone manufacturers have fallen into a far more iterative release schedule, and are not making the large strides in technical innovation like the early days of smartphones - the smartphones are still in use but they may fade in the following years. Despite overturning major phone brands like Nokia and Blackberry almost overnight, nowadays, the best features Apple can and should promote are more cameras, improved battery life, incremental improvements in image quality, among others. This is in comparison to old, yearly innovations like the iPhone 3G, the front-facing selfie camera, iMessage, iCloud, Siri, Apple Pay, and more other useless apps for me (not using Apple products).
This slowing of innovation is causing consumers to keep handsets for longer, with USA consumers upgrading their phones every 2.67 years in the year 2023, down from 2.53 in the year 2015 while globally it’s down to 3.6 years. In addition consumers are frequently opting for cheaper or older models to save more and more money over the inflated costs. This is reflected by the introduction of the iPhone vs iPhone Pro branding in Apple, and Google releasing their ‘A’ models for their Pixel devices. Wearables like smart watches and premium devices like Samsung's Z flip and Fold are being used to diversify and offset slowing sales.
As innovation slows, awareness of the environmental damage Apple causes with its excessive manufacturing is now growing. Is Apple's technological peak about to end? Or will they find the Apple magic to innovate once again?
