Those maverick statisticians over at Retrevo have put together one of their smartphone landscape studies, finding that most consumers feel that their smartphones are either obsolete or will soon be obsolete.
That’s sort of a no-duh claim at first, but when you actually look at the numbers, smartphone makers are actually making new and better smartphones faster than consumers can possibly buy them.
Look at that chart above: during the last year alone, Samsung released over 30 new smartphones, while HTC released over 20 new smartphones. If you purchased a Samsung or HTC phone even as recently as a few months ago, there’s a good chance it’s already behind the tech curve.
The notable exception here? Apple. Ignoring the slight hardware changes of the Verizon iPhone 4 and white iPhone 4, Apple’s only released two smartphones over the course of the last two years: the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.
Better yet, Apple historically has only radically redesigned the iPhone every two years. That means if you buy an iPhone shortly after it comes out, you can be reasonably sure it won’t be totally obsolete before your contract is up. What are the argument for buying an Android smartphone again?
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
25 responses to “Study: People Think Android Makers Are Obsoleting Their Own Smartphones Too Quickly”
totally agree,Android phones there seems to be a couple of newer models out every other week.you think you have a top model then you see a better one.At least with Apple you have an idea when a new iphone is due.
Agree. The ‘and’ to the Android story is that I feel like the software demands progressed beyond the abilities of my phone much more quickly then it should have. So, I have a phone that is less than 2 years old, but is really, really slow.
Could not agree more. I purchased three HTC Hero phones on Sprint (USA) at the end of 2009. I was told an update was coming in the next two months. Nearly six months later, an update was released bumping us from 1.6 to 2.2. Shortly thereafter, I was told that is the LAST update I should expect to ever receive with the exception of some small maintenance updates. In my opinion, that is just ridiculous.
I don’t understand how people complain about iOS updates in light of what the phone companies are doing with Android.
This is the case of someone who is totally driven by the sheer desire to impress others with their latest gadget instead of buying a device that suits their needs. I have an HTC Magic that I bought 16 months ago running Android 1.6. Tons of other android phones have come out since. Various OS upgrades as well. I don’t care. Mine does the job very well. when it’s really time for me to shop for a new android phone, I know there will be PLENTY to choose from. And most definitely, one of them will be perfect for me (hardware and software wise). That’s all about choice. Do you complain about the massive amount of shoes or jeans to choose from? No. So why would I complain about the abundance of Android phones?
How dare you be here in the Cult of Mac while using Android? *makes cross with fingers*
Go away you mindless Android automatons! *throws holy water over you*
Because I am thinking clearly. Not following a cult. So sorry for you.
“That’s sort of a no-duh claim at first, but when you actually look at the numbers, smartphone makers are actually making new and better smartphones faster than consumers can possibly buy them.”
Pretty much sums up what i thought. Always said they push out to many new devices but wow I had no idea the numbers were so big…
It’s not just the amount of device either, manufactures were recently bragging about finally having dual core phones (1ghz) and by the time those phones are in stores qualcomm have already announced they will have 2ghz dual core cpus out before the end of the year (not that the cpu speed really matter a whole lot anymore but still)
You mac Apple users look stupid. Please stop.
Hey, moron. He was saying he agrees! That means, you know, he AGREES!
Apparently you are the “mindless” one here, kid.
You evidently just saw the word “Android” and thought you’d attack him? Classy, Scoobs.
In my humbled opinion, releasing 30 phones within a year makes i.e. Samsung look like they don’t really take their own products seriously.
Which one should I to chose? Where are the differences? And how long will my hi-tech phone be up-to-date?
I don’t know if better hardware justifies such short product cycles. Doesn’t that make it even harder to write apps that fully make use of the new hardware?
To me many phone manufacturers act like soldiers with bad eyesight — running around with machine guns — trying to hit the bullyseye. Maybe Apple is more like a sniper. Think, prepare, aim, shoot. But well, I guess I’m just kinda like a fanboy … just ignore me!
The smell of douche is sure strong in here today…
Which Android phone would you choose? There is such a thing as overwhelming your customers. Put your “non-tech savvy” glasses on for a moment: Now which Android phone would you choose?
The ordinary person is overwhelmed with all the choices. Instead, they look at the design, brand name, and what the salesperson tells them to buy (and gets them the largest commission).
My boss is that kind of person. He purchased an Android 2.2 device and is constantly running out of memory. (Remember: Previous to 2.3, you could not load applications on the SD card.) He hates his phone, especially since he could have gotten a better phone with a later version of Android for only a few $ more. The salesperson got their commission on an out-dated device and the customer is NOT happy with their phone.
Apple avoids these things. When you buy an iPhone, you have 2 or 3 models to choose from. Simple. Want a better-performing phone, pay a little more money.
Wait what ? I stumbled across this poll thing via a google… All bias aside – reading through the comments, and noting the URL/domain – i find it ironic that a poster on “cultofmac” has the audacity to refer to android users as mindless automatons.
What ever happened to “to each his own” ? For heavens’ sake, we don’t all buy the same clothes, cars, light fixtures, TVs, printers, cameras… on and on. But wait… maybe we *should* ? … … … … …
And yes, i know that this is eight months late.