Recently Google launched the latest Pixel 9 handset, while Apple unveiled the iPhone 16. Samsung has also come up with its foldable phones, the Z Flip6 and Z Fold6 and Huawei just launched the Mate XT. The marketing sections of these companies are doing everything possible to make us buy these phones even when we don't need them.
A close look at the latest versions of these phones shows that they have slight differences from the previous generation. The major difference is that these new phones have advanced AI features and improved camera quality. Poor economic conditions and awareness about the little upgrades in advanced models might have started contributing to the continuous decline in the sale of phones globally. This claim correlates with
Counterpoint findings that “Consumers are holding on to their smartphones for longer periods because upgrades are offering limited differentiation in features.”
SourceBut I know some set of people who will always go for the new generation of phones. It is like a yearly ritual that they must buy the latest model of their phone. I have seen some go as far as buying these phones on credit because they don't have enough funds to pay. The most troubling part of it is that they are not using these phones for business or any productive activities.
It will not be a bad economic decision to reconsider and adjust our craving for these new products especially if they will not be beneficial financially.
ReferenceLike most things today those phones are in a way a disguised scam, since there is so little difference between the models sold last year and the models sold today, the same happens with video games in which a game like FIFA has almost no changes from one version to the next and yet you are expected to pay the full price for the newest game, plus all the microtransactions needed to unlock the full game, and taking all these factors into consideration it is not rare that people are changing their spending habits and they are keeping their phones for a longer period of time.