It’s that time of year again when the tech giants fall over each other to get people to buy their latest and greatest smartphones. Google has recently released its latest Pixel 9 handsets, followed by Apple’s unveiling of the iPhone 16 while Samsung launched the latest variants of its foldable phones, the Z Flip6 and Z Fold6. Huawei, however, has just trumped them all with the launch of Mate XT, a smartphone containing two folds, folding the screen into thirds. All these launches come at a time when smartphone sales are slowing worldwide and market messages are becoming increasingly dazzling.
While Apple boss, Tim Cook, has promised that the iPhone 16 will “redefine what a smartphone would do,” Google product management VP Brian Rakowski raved about the stunning design of the “gorgeous” Pixel 9. Huawei, on the other hand, has its own consumer brand song highlighting its pursuit of dreams.
Both Apple and Google have touted AI features in their latest launches. Google’s Magic Editor, for example, can add AI-generated content to existing photos, while Apple Intelligence has embedded OpenAI’s tech into the digital assistant Siri.
Mobile phone expert Ben Wood of CCS Insight said that while AI features aim to make digital life easier, they’re not necessarily at the top of everyone’s wish list. He believes that most people already know what they want from a phone, and that one of the most important things is the camera. Despite this, people are holding on to their phones for longer. Back in 2013, 30 million phones were sold annually, but this year that number is expected to be around 13.5 million. This is due, in part, to the ongoing cost of living crisis affecting people’s spending decisions, as well as the environmental impact of producing a new handset, all of which contain rare elements and precious metals.
In addition, more and more people, especially parents and young people, are trying to step away from smartphones entirely. There is a growing trend among UK schools to review their smartphone policies, and some have already opted for an outright ban. Pupils starting at the public school Eton this term were issued feature phones, with several other schools and institutions, both in the private and state sectors, considering doing the same.
Finally, one firm that is bucking the trend of increasing features and functionality is HMD, the Finnish company behind Nokia. Last month it launched a Barbie-themed feature phone in collaboration with toymaker Mattel. The phone is functional, comes in pink, and has no apps, app store, or selfie camera. If you want to listen to music, there’s an FM radio. HMD still predicts that around 400,000 feature phones will be sold in the UK this year, a small drop in the number of smartphones being bought but not insignificant
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