If you’ve been holding on to a phone for a while, curre…

This must be a universal experience at this point for people who aren’t swayed by the latest and greatest marketing hype around new phone models: there’s just nothing out there that fits one’s needs. When I walked into a phone shop, I expected to witness with…

This must be a universal experience at this point for people who aren’t swayed by the latest and greatest marketing hype around new phone models: there’s just nothing out there that fits one’s needs. When I walked into a phone shop, I expected to witness with amazement how much technology has advanced in the present day compared to my eight-year-old model, and for the power of marketing to mind control me into buying a new phone that would bring all sorts of benefits to my life.

But instead, I felt disappointed that I’d be forced to choose between two suboptimal devices, either of which would be a compromise compared to what I already have. I felt frustrated that my OnePlus 5T, which still meets my needs and is working wonderfully (apart from the volume buttons), is being taken from me by the 3G shutdown. It’s remarkable how a market that was once rife with competition and choice, has now been reduced to well I guess I’ll settle for this one then in such a short time frame.

There’s barely any competition, the number of device makers in (western or western-adjacent) countries has dropped to two, maybe three, and all of them are making what is essentially the exact same device with only the smallest of differences between them. For most average, normal people, it’s some model by either Samsung or Apple. There’s definitely more choice once you’re willing to leave local stores (and thus, easy and quick repairs) behind, but most normal people who just want a phone aren’t going to do that.

You can also spend like twice or thrice the amount of money to get some foldable thing, but again, if you’re just looking for a bog-standard normal-person phone, that’s not a realistic option either. Smaller devices, headphone jacks, SD card slots – so many things have just disappeared from the face of the earth for most people, something that will definitely come as a huge, unpleasant surprise if you’ve been happy with an older phone that just had those things.

It’s like driving the same car for a decade and needing a new one, but you can only choose between a Toyota and a Volkswagen that look and feel entirely the same. And also the seats are now candles, door handles are gone, and there’s no trunk. The situation seems to be slightly better in Europe than the U.S., where de-Googled and non-Android/iOS phones are available, Its true you can buy non-google more easily, but they are a real limitation in real world use.

Not having access to banking apps, or supported payment methods (goodle/samsung/apple pay) is a major limiting factor. Those devices also tend to be mid-range spec’d at best. Certainly not a 1-4-1 replacement of a Samsung S series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMFxJDpvQvA (France is Chasing Them Out.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCingzHsZkQ (GrapheneOS Leaves France) I felt frustrated that my OnePlus 5T, which still meets my needs and is working wonderfully (apart from the volume buttons), is being taken from me by the 3G shutdown.

The 3G shutdown in the US a couple of years back affected many of us here too. It felt wasteful to have to throw out working phones and have to shell out for mandatory new phones to continue service. Given that there’s only so much frequency available I understand that 3G would eventually need to be decommissioned to allocate spectrum for 5G, but IMHO it would have been nice to have more time for consumers to replace their 3G phones naturally.

I’m not sure why New Zealand held out longer, did the government play a role? The carriers here in the US were thrilled to decommission 3G despite very widespread usage to force us to buy new phones. To be fair, `we` had about 2.5-3 years lead time from the announcement of the phase-out til it actually happened. If that’s not a natural amount of time for people to replace their 3g phones, what do you think is when most people seem to be buying new phones every 1-2 years?

I think 2.5-3 years is easily sufficient notice & time to plan. For the record, I am not one of those people who “upgrades” yearly or bi-yearly. I tend to buy my devices outright and keep them until the wheels fall off or my needs have outgrown their capability. I don’t believe the decommissioning of 3g was a money-grab or nefarious because the simple truth is demand & needs ballooned beyond 3g’s ability to accommodate.

You don’t wait until a cup is spilling over before getting a bigger cup. To be fair, `we` had about 2.5-3 years lead time from the announcement of the phase-out til it actually happened. If that’s not a natural amount of time for people to replace their 3g phones, what do you think is when most people seem to be buying new phones every 1-2 years? I question whether that stat is true, it comes across as luxurious to me, Most people in my circle were forced to replace their phone and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case for large segments of the population as well.

My wife purchased a new phone less than two years before the carrier stopped supporting it. We could blame consumers for buying older & cheaper models, but even so the time frames involved were not reasonable at all IMHO. Phones should be expected to last 6 years at a minimum. While some people will elect to purchase phones more frequently, secondhand markets still manage to make used phones useful and decelerate the ewaste cycle.

In this respect it’s hard to deny that the 3G shutdown was harmful for lifetime and ewaste. This is just one provider in the UK and not US, but I think the point is still valid everywhere… https://envirotecmagazine.com/2025/03/20/13-7-million-of-e-waste-will-be-generated-by-april-3g-switch-off/ The 3G switch-off on O2’s network is expected to affect approximately 4.3 million people across the UK.1 It could generate an enormous 70,516 kilograms of e-waste I don’t believe the decommissioning of 3g was a money-grab or nefarious because the simple truth is demand & needs ballooned beyond 3g’s ability to accommodate.

You don’t wait until a cup is spilling over before getting a bigger cup. 3G wouldn’t have needed to “balloon” to accommodate anything new, I don’t object to 5G but I don’t think it was ever demand driven; it was carriers pushing for an insane 5G revolution that barely materialized. https://cheezburger.com/32079367/was-5g-just-a-big-scam-five-years-later-its-time-we-had-this-conversation Phones are trash and it’s getting worse.

User replaceable batteries are essentially gone. You have to be a soldering/circuit guy to take a phone apart now. Cost is insane and features are rubbish. Current phones are not trash and they’re aren’t getting worse. Replacing batteries isn’t as easy as replacing the batteries in your tv remote, but in most cases you don’t have de-solder anything or tamper with any circuitry – at most deal with some tiny screws and ribbon cables, not _that_ difficult.

The `worst` part probably being heating the glue that secures the cover – also not that difficult with a little care & patience. I’ve seen people achieve success with harder challenges using nothing more that youtube videos as a guide. I can agree that phone prices are insane but we live in a society that prioritizes profit-at-all-cost so no surprise there. The “features are rubbish” part though, also disagree there.

My current phone takes great photos, crystal clear calls, fast data speeds, great integration where I need it, etc etc etc. Always used “used” phones with replaceable batteries like the Nokia N95, the HTC Evo3D, the LG G3, the Fairphone 4. Chinese manufacturers have really progressed on the camera side with better sensors and good software. If you look only at Google and Samsung then you will see stagnation.

Once the industry chased Apple down the path of selling glass slabs, the writing was on the wall for smartphones. You would think that there would be space to add more innovations as they got larger, but the slab form factor seems to have prevented that. Perhaps foldable phones will shake things up. Smartphones have peaked in terms of functionality and features a long time ago, and are now in a firmly downward trajectory.

The best one I ever had was a Sony Z1 Compact, circa 2013. Positively tiny, it disappeared in my pocket, had a headphone jack, great sound quality, SD card, waterproof, good battery life. The only thing missing was a removable battery, but that’s not what eventually killed it. I held on to it as long as possible, installing an alternate OS once official support ran out, and only reluctantly looked for a replacement once it was physically falling apart.

Not necessarily a “downward trajectory”, but once you’ve packed so many functionalities and features into such a small package, it’s hard to “revolutionize” but add a pinch of AI on top. Any “disruptive” idea (but folding phones) ? Im currently rocking a Hibreak Pro (colour). Its basically a midrange phone with a colour e-ink screen. Think kindle display. With Android 14 and Google Play.

Is it perfect, no, it definitely required some adapting to. You won’t be watching any sport on it anytime soon for example. BUT i really like how they are trying something different. In my case the driver was eyestrain and behaviour changes. I now spend less time scrolling insta and more time reading books on it. So in that sense, its working! I might be in a niche bracket where my idea phone would still be a Blackberry Bold.

But sadly that isnt an option If you’re pining for Blackberry-like keyboards, check out the “Titan” smartphones from Unihertz (https://www.unihertz.com/collections/titan-series): Android phones, real QWERTY keys, reasonable prices. Me and my fat thumbs were happy enough when using an original Titan for a a few years. I’m now even happier with the newer, lighter Titan2. “For most average, normal people, it’s some model by either Samsung or Apple.” There’s more choice than that.

Not saying said choice breaks the premise of the articles, but e.g. Motorola, OnePlus and Oppo have good enough midrange models. And then there’s the Fairphone, expensive, but fair™. My dealbreaking bugbear is the lack of “fullscreen phones” (ones without a notch/cutout/teardrop) at a sensible price – only expensive Sony Xperia and some gaming phones still have them – there’s nothing in the sub-$500 market at all!

It all vanished at the start of this decade – pop-up cameras fizzled out and underscreen selfie cameras are on very few models still. My last 2 phones have been £150 second-hand models – the OnePlus 7T Pro was my previous one and my current one is a Sony Xperia 1 III. Both ran custom ROMs – the Xperia is running LineageOS 23 (Android 16) and gets weekly updates to the OS (more than Samsung, Apple or Google provide I suspect).

Both are fullscreen phones and it’s looking like my next one will have to be a later Xperia model with a custom ROM because OnePlus abandoned fullscreen phones after the 7T Pro. They’ve been “reducing features” for a very very very long time. Sure, the number of “this” or the speed of “that” does up for elementary common components, as you’d expect as things become more modern….

Best phone I ever had, HTC One M8. FM Radio, Infrared blaster, expandable storage, headphone jack, HDMI capable, kickstand. Yes, that incredibly ancient old phone had features that many would die to have today. Just the ability to take control of a TV that doesn’t have a reasonable or working remote while traveling… victory!! Imagine a phone that truly is your universal remote. I want a very expensive device to “do everything”.

Also, btw, I bought One M8s for my entire family, each one cost $0.01 (to own), because that was back in they day of re-upping your cheap contract for another 2 years. Today’s flagship phones in fact, have even fewer features than the relatively featureless average phones on the market. It’s a total mess. Best phone I ever had, HTC One M8. FM Radio, Infrared blaster, expandable storage, headphone jack, HDMI capable, kickstand.

Yes, that incredibly ancient old phone had features that many would die to have today. It used to be extremely handy to be able to project your display onto a bigger screen, but most new phones no longer have HDMI because google disables it in firmware. My car doesn’t have bluetooth, but few phones have audio jacks anymore, Expandable storage is nice if you take tons of photos and want to move them to a computer,, but this too has gone away.

Not everyone wants/needs all these features, but the big problem is when all manufacturers follow the market leaders in removing features. Those who still want hardware connectivity aren’t really being catered to. On top of this, google were officially planning to curtail android app sideloading in 2026… Given the loss of freedom at stake, I’d never want to upgrade a phone again. Of course we don’t always have a choice, like when I was forced to get a non-modded phone for work…grr.

Summary

This report covers the latest developments in samsung. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

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