zlacker

>>alphab+(OP)
It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle for smartphones. So much of this product page is focused on new software functions that may have some vague relationship with the slightly upgraded hardware, but that could mostly be released to existing phones. Every new iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone basically claims the camera is marginally better and hey, look at these software features that have very little to do with the hardware and should not fundamentally be a reason to upgrade to this phone.

There is so much time, effort, and physical waste that is generated by slightly redesigning phones every year purely for the sake of making sales (as opposed to meaningful improvement upon the existing design or introduction of a new hardware feature). Think not only of people upgrading for the sake of it, but all of the cases, screen protectors, and other assorted accessories cast in plastic for previous models that are garbage now.

It would be nice if we could just space these things out to 5 years or so now, because that's probably how long it takes for anything to change enough to justify a new model.

>>kimber+T71
Nobody is demanding that you buy a new smartphone every year. Modern smartphones have 3-5 years of security/bug updates and the batteries no longer degrade as fast as they used to.

>>0xDEF+vi1
I bought my pixel 7 early this year because my s20's screen broke and the cost to buy a new one to replace it myself, which is not something I think most people would be willing to do (instead paying even more for someone else to do it), exceeded the cost to buy another S20. On top of that, the moment my 3 year old, perfectly working phone had anything other than a pristine screen, it had zero trade-in value and basically encouraged me to throw it in a drawer or the trash. This was literally Samsung's flagship phone only 3 years prior.

That could have probably been mitigated if the s20 remained relevant for more than a year or two and there was a mature parts market that made it feasible to upkeep rather than scrap.