Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
The Almighty Buck Cellphones United States Technology

Less Than 10 Percent of Americans Are Buying $1,000 Smartphones, Report Says (9to5google.com) 126

According to a new report from research firm NPD, less than 10% of Americans are actually spending $1,000 or more on a smartphone. 9to5Google reports: The report was produced by research firm NPD and shows that while the media and brand focus is on the flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy S10, and iPhone 11 Pro, everyday Americans are less likely to spend their hard-earned dollars on these expensive trinkets. NPD does note in their report that this could be due to the rate of 5G adoption. Currently, 5G is in its early rollout stages in the U.S., with many regions simply not covered. 5G-enabled smartphones are thin on the ground and also come with the associated "early adopter" price-tags of well over $1000 in most cases -- although that isn't the case with products like the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren edition.

Some buyers may simply be holding out until 5G becomes more affordable or viable before taking the plunge and opting for those $1000+ flagship smartphones. The report also highlights the significant difference in buying habits from region to region. NPD notes that those living in major cities such as Los Angeles and New York City are far more likely to spend over $1000 on a smartphone.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Less Than 10 Percent of Americans Are Buying $1,000 Smartphones, Report Says

Comments Filter:
  • The numbers to me aren't entirely clear, is 10% of the overall population buying a 1000 smart phone in a given year, or are 10% of smart phones sold over 1000? If the former, then since most people don't replace phones on a yearly basis.
    • or something like that. not that they would buy it yearly. or that phones sold in a given year would be that.

      just that 10% might be buying a 1000 dollar phone.
      what this means is that 10% of the population considers themselves rich enough to buy a 1000 dollar phone without being a stupid fool.

      personally, I wouldn't spend more than 150 bucks on a phone and I'm a professional mobile developer. the return on money spent diminish really, really quickly over about 150 bucks(+tax).

      granted I get 1000 bucks phone fr

      • My biggest annoyance with this is that the one feature I want in a phone is only available on flagship phones. (up to date, stock android). I can basically only get that on nexus and pixel devices...and Google has basically stopped doing cheaper nexus ones.

        • I costed out switching to a Google phone (from iPhone) and switching to Google Fi (since Fi needs a Fi compatible phone) for a family plan of 4 phones.

          The purchase price didn't make much difference. The savings of Fi vs, AT&T made up the difference in a few months at any of the available phone prices.
          I got the LG (because headphone jack). The rest of the family got Pixels.

          If the upfront cost for the phones, to save money over six months is not within reach, then that's just another way that the poor get

      • by fermion ( 181285 )
        So if it is population, that is 30 million buying $1000 phones, so that is what, 30 billion dollars?

        I think as a general rule getting 10 of any population to buy anything is going to make you rich. It is how infomercials work. It is why didn’t and apple and the nba are kowtowing to China

    • The numbers to me aren't entirely clear

      It's also not entirely clear if I'm supposed to be angry about this or relieved.

  • Moto G (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2019 @09:49PM (#59514694)
    Thumbs up for the Moto G series. $200 for a G7 and you get a kick butt phone.
    • by quenda ( 644621 )

      Thumbs up for the Moto G series. $200 for a G7 and you get a kick butt phone.

      Nice phones. But even better, get an old-model Moto-X or flagship Z on clearance for the same price.
      There was a time when phones were advancing so fast I pre-ordered the latest best thing, but those days are long gone.

      Unless you are into IOS, in which case you need to spend more, but they depreciate more slowly too, so it evens out.

      • Nice phones. But even better, get an old-model Moto-X or flagship Z on clearance for the same price.

        I got an X4 android one edition for $150. My only complaint is that Motorola won't tell us if it's getting Android 10. I keep asking on twitter and they keep saying they will evaluate the software "later this year", which is almost over. I presume we're not getting it...

  • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Thursday December 12, 2019 @09:49PM (#59514696) Homepage Journal

    Seriously, every time I go out shopping, if I pay attention I will see at least one person using a smartphone with a cracked screen. People don't need thousand dollar smartphones, and they can't afford to buy them repeatedly. I'm not against people wasting their money, it's theirs to waste, but you can get a damned fine phone for half that, or less. Most people will never notice the difference in usage between a $500 phone and a $1000 phone.

    • Here in the UK I am perfectly happy with a $25 Alcatel smartphone. Works fine and the Chinese are welcome to snoop on me - along with google facebook the nsa yahoo and all the rest of the vampires, I paid $25 for it, i am sure they are desperate for my data.

      • by goombah99 ( 560566 ) on Friday December 13, 2019 @12:50AM (#59515036)

        Just hear me out for a second. Yes not everyone has an extra $1000, but many people do. How much do you spend on a Latte or a vente every day? maybe $3? more probably. But that's $1000 per year. The lifespan of these phones is at least several years (I'm still using my iphone 6). So it's cost to you on a daily basis is 1/4 of your coffee habit.

        Maybe you also have $69/month internet connection? that's over $800 a year. So again the iphone on a daily basis is a third of that.

        Now how many things do you touch and fondle and stare at over 100 times a day. Not you wife. Not your kids. But you certainly do your magical phone. You love this thing. You need this thing. it's your precious.

        The ONLY reason to have a dumb phone is precisely because you find the smart phones to be a bad habit, like smoking. Something you like but you know is sucking your enjoyment of life away as you stare at your palm in line. No freedom to be ust bored while waiting. No need to let your own thoughts reign. Distract yourself from the hell of non-overstimulation.

        But if you like your smart phone you'd have to be very poor or very stupid not to want something you are constantly using. DOn't get a blunt tool when you can get the sharpest one. Your joy is worth the difference.

        • -1 for being depressing as shit, yet tragically true.

          • Ha! Perhaps the perfect comment :-) though I might have said -j for tragic depletion of imagination.

        • by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Friday December 13, 2019 @02:28AM (#59515160) Homepage Journal

          If you're drinking that many venti lattes with caramel and whip then you'll also need a gym membership. So that's another $1800/year.

        • by aRTeeNLCH ( 6256058 ) on Friday December 13, 2019 @07:41AM (#59515436)
          You can make relative comparisons all you want, the fact of the matter remains that spending $1000 on a phone where you wouldn't notice the difference if you got a $500 phone is still $500 wasted. I'm not saying it always is for everyone, but it is for many, and it restores faith in humanity that $1000+ phones are not the hottest runners.
        • by in10se ( 472253 )

          How much do you spend on a Latte or a vente every day?

          I probably spend $0.10 on coffee per day because I brew it at home.

          Maybe you also have $69/month internet connection?

          What does that have to do with my phone? Even if I had no phone, I would still need internet access at home.

          Any $100 smartphone with a recent OS can get all the same apps and do everything your $1000 phone can do. The $1000 phone probably has a better camera though. I had a flagship phone through work before and I was no more happy with it

        • I have a smart phone and I was curious how much screen time I was using so I loaded an app to track that. It turns out I clock in at about an hour a day. Most of that time is checking e-mail or text messages, managing my podcast feed or playing a single puzzle game (dissembler).

          I get what you are saying about buying the sharpest tool, but I would also say that you don't need to buy a scalpel for whittling wood. Buy the best tool FOR THE JOB. That will make you the happiest in the long term.

          • Concur. it's definitely not of everyone and positively harmful for the compulsive, but quite right for a not inconsiderable number of "normal" folks.

        • How much do you spend on a Latte or a vente every day? maybe $3? more probably.

          No dollars, but regardless, this logic is not compelling. Because you do this one crazy consumerist thing -> therefore, also do this other crazy consumerist thing.

        • >How much do you spend on a Latte or a vente every day?

          $3.75. There's an add on fee for heavy cream.

           

    • by Ryzilynt ( 3492885 ) on Thursday December 12, 2019 @11:54PM (#59514944)

      Seriously, every time I go out shopping, if I pay attention I will see at least one person using a smartphone with a cracked screen. People don't need thousand dollar smartphones, and they can't afford to buy them repeatedly. I'm not against people wasting their money, it's theirs to waste, but you can get a damned fine phone for half that, or less. Most people will never notice the difference in usage between a $500 phone and a $1000 phone.

      Think software/hardware integrity (closed system regulated market place, synergy between software and hardware both specifically designed for one another, continuous security updates)

      Then add in all the shit Apple won't let you have (easily replaceable battery, access to removable storage i.e. mSD cards etc.).

      You get a really compelling product. It could last a decade.

    • People don't need thousand dollar smartphones, and they can't afford to buy them repeatedly.

      A yearly $1,000 smartphone upgrade is roughly $83 bucks a month. That's also assuming you take your previous phone and toss it in the trash, rather than opting for a trade-in offer or selling it 2nd hand. People get way less grief over wasting that amount of money on cable TV service, a cigarette/alcohol habit, new clothing, or dining out.

      Having the latest smartphone really isn't this awful financial sin that some people make it out to be. It's not like we're talking about the difference between being st

      • People are keeping them for 2-4 years now. I don't know anybody that seriously considers a new phone every year because the feature and performance changes are so minimal that it doesn't make sense unless you have some other financial incentive (work pays, or a family cycles their phones down from parents to kids, etc).

        So your $1k phone kept 3 years is now about $27 a month, which is about a Starbucks a week.

        • People are keeping them for 2-4 years now. I don't know anybody that seriously considers a new phone every year because the feature and performance changes are so minimal that it doesn't make sense unless you have some other financial incentive (work pays, or a family cycles their phones down from parents to kids, etc).

          So your $1k phone kept 3 years is now about $27 a month, which is about a Starbucks a week.

          Exactly. I had my Note 3 for 4 years. Got a Note 8 2 years ago, and should have no problem keeping it for 2 more. It does everything I need it to do. I still have the Note 3 as a backup and it still works fine for that matter (though it has a replaceable battery). 10 or even 20 bucks a month for a phone is hardly a big deal. I spend more than that on Chinese takeout every week.

          • I sometimes get the feeling that Slashdot is full of a lot of relatively low income people. I mean I kind of hate having a life dependency around a fucking smart phone, but such as it is, it is.

            And I don't want a piece of shit phone that's unreliable, hard to use or bugs me, and I want it to last. I guess the price of that is $1000 these days, yet people around here treat it like you were lightning dollar bills on fire. I'm like, what the fuck?

            If I priced the dumb thing based on cost per minute used it w

    • but you can get a damned fine phone

      If you're buying a phone then by all means buy a phone. Many people aren't just buying phones and there significant differences in feature sets and performance of a $500 smartphone and a $1000 smartphone.

      As for your cracked screen, a crack in the screen is relatively cheap to fix, and also doesn't prevent things like the far superior cameras in the high end devices from functioning.

      • As for your cracked screen, a crack in the screen is relatively cheap to fix, and also doesn't prevent things like the far superior cameras in the high end devices from functioning.

        I don't see a cracked screen in my hand, because I put a screen protector on every phone. I don't even see a scratched screen. I don't even see scratches on my phones, because I put a TPU case on every one. But I can see cracked screens in other people's hands, which proves that it's an actual problem which actual people are actually experiencing.

        • which proves that it's an actual problem

          The fact that you think this is a problem that needs "proving" means you completely failed to comprehend my post.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well, it is mostly a good thing, though.
      You see, when I need a new smartphone, I just buy a formerly expensive one with a cracked screen and replace it. I could afford to buy a new one, but I'd rather spend the money on being a tourist.

    • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

      It is because the way the phone companies set up payments for the phones and make the buyer think they are getting a free upgrade. They don't "see" the money leave their hand when they get the phone so their brain goes "free phone." These people think that if the phone breaks they will just get a new "free phone." They don't connect that they are paying for the phone, its just apart of the bill.

      I paid cash for my phones so I know how much I have invested in this little computer I carry around. The

    • by k6mfw ( 1182893 )

      Yep, most only buy another if they HAVE to. Like me my phone is "old" and it has issues such as it can't view many webpages. I'm too lazy to see if the browser can be updated but to make and receive calls including text it is perfectly fine.

      Regarding 5G, I'm not sure what that will provide what I don't already have except send more data to advertisers? I think for most people don't see a pressing need to get 5G over their 4G (kind of like no pressing need to replace DVD player with a Blueray). I remember

  • Companies or other large organizations are probably more likely than consumers to purchase a $1,000 phone. They'll just pay for model with the max storage, RAM, or battery life. They just sell off old equipment like they do with computers.

    Right now, 5G is useless to the typical consumer. But it might make sense for a company based in a major city.

  • That's 10% of 300 million times $1000 each. Oh Noes! How can we expect our executives to get by on $30 billion? Implement UBI now!

  • https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com] This is why 5g is useless. Also who actually has any use for 1gigabit download speeds on their damn phone.
  • NPD notes that those living in major cities such as Los Angeles and New York City are far more likely to spend over $1000 on a smartphone.

    I've always suspected that people living in major cities were, shall we say, less advanced intellectually than they would like to believe. Spending that much on a phone seems to be proof positive....

    • I wonder what proportion of families with household incomes over say $400K live in major cities though? The vast majority I would guess.
    • Then tell me, what's the point of earning a better income if you're not going to find things to spend it on?

      No one is stopping someone who earns 400k/yr from living in a trailer park, driving a Nissan Versa, and using a flip phone. But why would you want to? You can't take the money with you.

    • Nobody in the sticks GAF what kind of phone you have. But they do in the cities. Having a shinier phone makes you look like you have more money. Buying a thousand dollar iPhone might conceivably improve your life. Granted, it's only because of a bunch of fake-ass fucking dumbshits, but pretending people aren't stupid assholes won't help you in life.

      • Looking like you have more money is good for getting robbed, but what other utility does it have?

        It may turn out nobody gives a fuck anywhere, unless they're somebody toxic trying to get you to buy them shit.

        • Looking like you have more money is good for getting robbed, but what other utility does it have?

          Getting laid. Or getting a job, which is usually just another way to get fucked.

          It may turn out nobody gives a fuck anywhere, unless they're somebody toxic trying to get you to buy them shit.

          Yep. Toxic is as toxic does. And it does a lot.

          • I have never once seen an employer get more exited to hire an employee because they think the employee already has money.

            • I have never once seen an employer get more exited to hire an employee because they think the employee already has money.

              If you look like you have money, you look like you know what you're doing, just like it's easier to get a job when you have a job. Which really is a variation on thinking the employee already has money.

              • My goodness.

                I'm hoping that was a joke that went past me, rather than proof that you learned business from Dilbert.

  • by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Thursday December 12, 2019 @10:17PM (#59514756) Homepage Journal

    ...for a reason. Or "halo" products. The top model is rarely the top selling product. The top selling product is usually in the mid or low ranges. I don't know why this is any kind of a surprise.

    • You can also get a flagship phone for a lot less money if you wait. I just bought a brand new unlocked S8 Active for under $300. It's the phone I really wanted, and 2 years ago they were $850.
      • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        What has happened is capability has exceeded need. When they got to the Note 3, well you are kind of done, what more do you need, answer, maybe some better software but the hardware was all there. The only thing keeping upgrading is bullshit with built in batteries and software updates, without that, sales of new product would be even lower.

        Personally I will probably swap over for a mid range Linux phone to get away from privacy invasive anal retentive control freaks at Google and that mid range would prob

      • I just bought a brand new unlocked S8 Active for under $300. It's the phone I really wanted, and 2 years ago they were $850

        Yes, but will it ever get any Android OS updates?

        • A fair point, only with this phone did I update from my S5. It was getting slow for today's apps, but also, was past getting updates and was having more compatibility issues with everything.
  • by Way Smarter Than You ( 6157664 ) on Thursday December 12, 2019 @10:33PM (#59514784)
    Omg! Only 10% of new phones are over $1000! 90% of the population is in poverty!!!! Auuugggghhhh!!! SLAP! Oh uhm wait, sorry, getting it together.... So, most people aren't dumb enough to spend over $1k on a fucking phone?? This is not a problem unless you consider that 10% too stupid to breed. The only people who need 3 cameras on their phone for over $1k probably don't. They likely own a real camera that outperforms the phone by every photography metric. Everyone else is dumb or wasting company money.
    • Get off my lawn!

    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Re "most people aren't dumb enough to spend over $1k on a fucking phone?"
      That $100, $300, $500 is all that people need to find for a smartphone.
      Got a camera, display for movies, OS, can do internet, voice calls?
      Who needs to pay an extra $500 for the words designed in CA, USA?
    • So, most people aren't dumb enough to spend over $1k on a fucking phone?? This is not a problem unless you consider that 10% too stupid to breed.

      Or, much more likely, that 10% is simply less sensitive to cost, because they're wealthier. If you assume that a phone last two years (and, again, people with less money are more likely to stretch that out), and you use the phone for three hours per day, that gives a total of just over 2000 hours of use. Someone who makes $10 per hour is therefore spending three minutes working for every hour they use their $1000 phone. You'd have to really, really like the phone for it to be worth that. On the other ha

      • Or they could buy a $200 phone and still text, email, browser, apps, camera, and have $800 they could spend on something more useful like crack or lsd.
        • by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

          Only an irrational pile of shit would suggest that spending money on hard drugs is better than spending it on a useful pocket computer that can make phone calls.

      • So, most people aren't dumb enough to spend over $1k on a fucking phone?? This is not a problem unless you consider that 10% too stupid to breed.

        Or, much more likely, that 10% is simply less sensitive to cost, because they're wealthier. If you assume that a phone last two years (and, again, people with less money are more likely to stretch that out), and you use the phone for three hours per day, that gives a total of just over 2000 hours of use. Someone who makes $10 per hour is therefore spending three minutes working for every hour they use their $1000 phone. You'd have to really, really like the phone for it to be worth that. On the other hand, someone who makes $100 per hour only has to spend 18 seconds working for every hour they use the phone. The $1000 phone only has to be a little better than a $500 phone to justify the difference.

        No, they spend it on life's necessities like a pickup truck, lots of guns to prepare for the coming apocalypse, season tickets to sporting events, a plasma TV, a swimming pool, a $6000 gaming rig, a donation to their wealth ministry, ... y'know, sensible things.

    • Cameras on phones are quite god now. Even the small number of people with 'real cameras' better than their phone cameras, don't carry their 'real cameras' everywhere with them like they would their phones.
      The best camera to use is the one you have with you at the time.

      Different people have different priorities. Why do you care what phone they use?

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday December 13, 2019 @04:42AM (#59515266)

      The only people who need 3 cameras on their phone for over $1k probably don't. They likely own a real camera that outperforms the phone by every photography metric.

      I own a camera that outdoes my phone in every metric. I wish I had a better camera on my phone. The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact I'd wager most people with high end cameras wish their phones had higher end cameras too given how they a) seem to place value in quality of images and b) still have no other option than carry a large high quality camera everywhere.

      That second part being unresolvable is precisely why flagship phones are so damn popular among photographers.

      • I actually carry a medium size camera everywhere, because my high quality camera is too big to carry around unless I'm specifically out to do photography.

        If my phone had a good camera, that would be a useful feature. But the camera I'm carrying around only cost around $200, can shoot underwater, and is rated to be dropped up to 7 feet. I'll get 10 years of use out of it. There is basically no way to do that. I'm not willing to pay an extra $300 on a phone that will only last 2-3 years in order to replace a

    • This is not a problem unless you consider that 10% too stupid to breed.

      What about the massive portion of the population too stupid to not breed? There are an awful lot of people who can't afford a kid but have several anyway. They'd be much better off buying condoms and $1,000 cell phones.

      • Hint: Unless the child died of starvation, they found a way to afford it after all. You're just farting hate out your mouth, you're not saying anything.

  • by t4eXanadu ( 143668 ) on Thursday December 12, 2019 @10:41PM (#59514802)

    The real question is, how many people are spending 50,000 on a Mac Book Pro? Chumps.

  • by drew_kime ( 303965 ) on Thursday December 12, 2019 @10:45PM (#59514812) Journal
    I'm shopping for a phone for my wife right now. I'm checking all the numbers, and I can tell you the $1,000 price is a much more important number than the 5G. I don't see any evidence in that story that I'm the minority on that.
  • So... 5G service gives me a theoretical 10Gbit data rate. I have a 10GB shared data plan with my family that I could exhaust in a bit over 7 seconds of use? What's the point other than selling shiny new devices and saying they have a cool new feature? Improve CPU/RAM/responsiveness, give me timely software updates and don't load my phone with cruft. Make it durable too and I'll pay a premium.
    • Well you see you just need to upgrade to the "Unlimited* 5G data plan" for $50/month. ( *after the first 10GB of data is used your speed is reduced to 100kb/s until the next billing cycle. )
    • by oic0 ( 1864384 )
      Agreed. The higher speed does nothing for normal usage. Anything over 10mbs is near instant for browsing and loading web optimized images. It only helps streaming at very high resolutions. Resolutions not usually offered in mobile apps... Not to mention streaming at all is a terrible idea with a data cap.
      • But a lot of people have money but not the knowledge; they think the more they spend, the more powerful/better product they are buying. And they also think that better product will enable them succeed in their endeavor more. All you need is a good marketing team and such customers to sell your $1k, $10k phones. Note we are not even talking about status symbol conscious crowd (like the 1%)
    • by k6mfw ( 1182893 )
      with 5G the latest rave from marketing people, I probably need to watch this again on better knowlege of 5G:
      Taking the Pulse of 5G: The Status of the Next Gen Cellular Network, Jan 8, 2019
      "Jonathan Wells updates us on the progress of 5G over the last few years, and describes what we can reasonably expect for the future of wireless broadband, and provide a likely timeline."
      https://player.vimeo.com/video... [vimeo.com]
      from https://californiaconsultants.... [california...ltants.org]
  • That's still A LOT of expensive phones. So uh, 10% of 329,968,629 is...still A LOT of dang pricey phones!
  • by LostMonk ( 1839248 ) on Friday December 13, 2019 @04:03AM (#59515236)

    That's what happens when the selling point for the last 2 years is zero-width bevels... Does anyone, other than product designers and gadget reviewers, really care about the width of the bezel? I'll only see that elegant beauty for a minute - once; before I shove the phone in a protective case for the rest of its working life - thus adding the missing bezel myself.

    • That's what happens when the selling point for the last 2 years is zero-width bevels... Does anyone, other than product designers and gadget reviewers, really care about the width of the bezel?

      I care. I want it to be there, so I don't accidentally fat-finger the edges of the screen while using my phone one-handed.

  • I think phone marketers are borrowing a page from restauranteurs.

    A nice restaurant might carry a few ridiculously expensive wines, with a menu price of $500 or $1000/bottle or more. They don't expect many people to actually order it (maybe only a half-dozen per year will -- buying the most expensive wine on the menu enables them to flaunt their wealth), but suddenly it makes the $80/bottle wine not seem so ridiculous to the average consumer.

    For Apple and Samsung, I'm guessing that having a $1200+ phone enab

  • What a difference a title makes. Consider the difference in impact between:

    "Less Than 10 Percent of Americans Are Buying $1,000 Smartphones"

    and

    "Nearly 10 Percent of Americans are Buying $1,000 Smartphones"

    The first implies some sort of failure. The second title implies that a surprising number of people will spend crazy amounts of money to have the latest gadget. Which is more accurate? Is it possible to formulate a neutral title?

    • Is it possible to formulate a neutral title?

      Yeah, just remove the superlatives instead of looking for a neutral one.

      "9% of ___ are ____." Completely dry and neutral.

  • If you ask me the bigger story is that almost 10% of people have so little money sense that they're spending $1000 on a phone.

    Note-to-self: Need to give more people that sales pitch on that bridge in Brooklyn.
    • If they're replacing a laptop with it, they might have saved money.

      "Money sense" requires careful dispassionate analysis, just getting emotional about big round numbers doesn't get you there.

  • The summary refers to $1000 phones as "expensive trinkets" which is like fuel for most of the anti-Apple Slashdotters as well as the legions of cheapskates proud that the Android they bought at the convenience store "does everything that they want."

    I'd argue this is just trolling the echo chambers. Few professional adults would argue their smartphone is a "trinket", most would consider it a necessary productivity tool for at least work, if not a nearly necessary tool for navigating modern life, often liter

  • My phone works fine. Why should I buy another?
    • Other details that leaked into their summary of whatever the actual data is: People are keeping their phones longer. They don't provide any information about if per-user annualized spending went up or down.

      They pointed out that manufacturers are looking to 5G to "invigorate demand" to counter people keeping phones longer, but they also found that 73% of consumers are aware of 5G... and 33% are interested in buying a 5G phone. That's just expressed interest without having to buy anything! If you asked people

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Also, they count all phones with a MSRP greater than $1000, they're not using data about price paid, only units sold.

  • by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Friday December 13, 2019 @11:08AM (#59515898)
    I just put my Nokia 2.2 through the washer this weekend. It sucked, I actually really liked that phone, but it was $150. Not the end of the world.

    Can you imagine if I had bought some fancy flagship phone instead? I guess maybe the flagship might have been waterproof... if you trust that claim, I guess. Either way, even with two 2.2s, I'm still not even out half the cost of a $1000 flagship. And I have a replaceable battery, headphone jack, etc., stuff that for whatever reason flagships almost never have.
    • It's incomprehensible to me that one would be able to leave it in their clothes long enough to go through the wash. I use my phone as my sleep tracker and alarm. I have scheduled timers to help me get through my busy day. I notice if I don't have my phone nearby after about 20 minutes. I really do use it for everything.

      And so, for me, $1000 on a phone is a lot of money, but it's a justifiable amount of money. I don't even use the desktop computer I have at home anymore, a machine that I would have no proble

  • For a good while now I've been buying a 1 year old or less used phone for a steep discount when I buy my phones. I tend to keep them for ~3 years.

    I bought an unlocked LG V30+ in Jan 2019 for $220. It was about a year old with an tag of around $700. The thing works great and has great specs, I can't see eating that depreciation. I plan on keeping it for another 2ish years.

    Side note, keep your battery charged between 30-80% instead of charging to 100% overnight. Your battery usable lifespan wi
  • I rarely buy "top" "flagship" phones, except for on discount, or last year's models. It looks like 90% of the US agreed with me, which makes sense.

    Most people would buy "medium" models. That is why F150 is the top selling truck, and Nissan sells more than Infinity, and Acura is not as popular as the Honda brand.

    And the next largest category would be "bargain" or "used" ones. In fact it might even be larger than the second. I am not sure most people have money to buy the top models, nor they would want to ev

  • People might if the flagship phones were the only ones with an analog headphone jack.

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Working...