Smartphone gimmicks are lifeless – Android Authority

Ten years in the past, the 2013 Samsung Galaxy S4 was a technological marvel. Android telephones had solely been round for just a few years at that time, and the Galaxy S4 appeared prefer it might accomplish that a lot regardless of its small dimension. As shoppers, we have been enraptured. A lot in order that the Galaxy S4 stays to at the present time the best-selling Android telephone of all time, with greater than 80 million models bought.

Nonetheless, that was ten years in the past — an eternity within the tech world. Issues have modified considerably since then. The smartphone gimmicks we noticed within the Galaxy S4 — equivalent to Good Scroll, which allowed you to scroll the contents of your display screen by transferring your head up or down — could be downright ludicrous to see in a 2023 telephone.

In the present day, smartphones are ubiquitous instruments, not tech marvels. Shoppers use their telephones greater than ever, sure, however this has resulted within the shine sporting off. The trendy smartphone purchaser doesn’t need gimmicks; they need a telephone that nails the fundamentals and disappears into the background.

In 2023, if a smartphone producer thinks that some cool new trick would be the lynchpin that sells its telephones, it’s in for a world of disappointment. Not solely will shoppers not care, however investing within the R&D for that gimmick would possibly do extra hurt than good.

The time period “gimmick” can be utilized fairly broadly. Usually, relating to smartphones, we consider gimmicks as options that solely apply to very particular conditions, attraction to a restricted subset of customers, or supply no true worth (or a mix thereof).

One of the vital egregious historic examples of smartphone gimmicks was the Soli radar system within the Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. Soli was a set of front-facing radar sensors that would monitor your hand actions. They allowed you to do issues like pause music just by waving your hand close to the show. Whereas Soli carried out as marketed, shoppers merely didn’t care, and the Pixel 4 collection was the largest flop in the historical past of Pixels.

A more moderen instance got here with final yr’s OnePlus 10 Professional. That telephone had an ultrawide digital camera with a area of view of 150 levels. This was primarily a fisheye lens, creating very warped photographs that seemed unreal. Though software program trickery helped repair images in post-processing, critics and shoppers alike noticed no want for such a weird lens. OnePlus scrapped the lens within the OnePlus 10T and this yr’s OnePlus 11.

Listed here are another smartphone gimmicks we’ve seen:

• Bizarre supplies: OnePlus not too long ago introduced a Jupiter Rock version of the OnePlus 11. It has a again made out of what’s primarily rock. Who requested for this?
• Macro lenses: Whereas a terrific macro lens could possibly be an attention-grabbing addition to an in any other case rock-solid lens array, this isn’t the case more often than not. Usually, OEMs will throw in low-cost 2MP macro lenses to make it appear a telephone is extra premium than it’s. In different phrases, the thought course of is that extra lenses = higher cameras, which shoppers aren’t fooled by anymore.
• Extremely-fast charging: Whereas it’s fairly loopy to see 240W charging speeds on a smartphone (that’s quick sufficient to cost from empty to full in about ten minutes), who actually wants that? These speeds are additionally reportedly detrimental to battery well being, lowering the longevity of your telephone.
• Cooling methods: The Lenovo Legion Duel 2 — a gaming telephone — had a cooling fan constructed into it. Whereas that is sensible for a telephone designed for avid gamers, it made the telephone unwieldy, prevented an IP ranking, and made wi-fi charging unimaginable. It solved one drawback on the expense of core smartphone options. Equally, OnePlus’ most up-to-date idea telephone has a liquid cooling system that didn’t even work.

These gimmicks don’t assist promote telephones as a result of they don’t give us what we actually need: an excellent all-around expertise.

However what about telephones in particular niches, like rugged telephones? Is a rugged telephone a gimmick? I’d argue it’s not, however additionally they will not be promoting within the numbers we see with one thing just like the Galaxy S collection. These telephones exist for particular functions for a specific client, in order that they get a particular move.

We all know why smartphone producers put money into some of these gimmicks. Clearly, they suppose they’ll assist promote telephones or, on the very least, assist their merchandise stand out from the gang. This can be a unusual technique as a result of essentially the most profitable telephones are typically comparatively gimmick-free.

Right here in the US, the iPhone is the preferred smartphone by far. For the primary time ever, Apple owns over 50% of the market within the US, leaving the opposite half to Android OEMs (principally Samsung). The iPhone doesn’t have many gimmicks to it. One might argue that Dynamic Island is a gimmick, nevertheless it’s one that customers appear to get pleasure from, so it doesn’t actually matter.

In second place, Samsung’s Galaxy S collection additionally stands out as being devoid of gimmicks. The Galaxy S23 Extremely’s S Pen could be a bit gimmicky to some. Nonetheless, it’s additionally extremely in style and a calling card of the premium Galaxy expertise, so we’ll fortunately let that slide. The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus, although, are borderline boring with how sensible and no-nonsense they’re. And guess what? The Galaxy S23 line is promoting higher than the Galaxy S22 line.

In fact, we will’t overlook Google’s line of Pixels. The Google Pixel 7 Professional doesn’t have any outlandish gimmicks, and it was voted the very best Android telephone of 2022 by each Android Authority and our readers. It’s fairly attention-grabbing that when Google deserted gimmicks, it ended up promoting extra telephones than ever.

Clearly, telephones may be hits with shoppers with out gimmicks. Nonetheless, Dynamic Island and the S Pen present that there’s nonetheless room for enjoyable and doing issues otherwise.

We’ve already mentioned loads of examples of silly smartphone gimmicks getting in the way in which of an excellent expertise. Nonetheless, some gimmicks work.

Take the Nothing Telephone 1, for instance. The lights on the again of the gadget — formally often called The Glyph — would appear to be a foolish gimmick. As soon as you utilize the telephone, although, you understand that it’s really a rock-solid Android smartphone with the addition of a bizarre gentle present. In different phrases, The Glyph may be ignored, and also you’ll nonetheless have an excellent Android expertise with a very reasonable cost-to-value ratio.

This can be a good instance of how doing gimmicks proper may be advantageous. Nothing didn’t cram in The Glyph on the expense of wi-fi charging, a premium really feel, or a good digital camera system. It used the sunshine gimmick like a garnish on high of a satisfying meal. It’s a pleasant element that accentuates an already good dish.

Google’s Magic Eraser is one other instance of a gimmick that works. Because the Pixel digital camera expertise is already among the finest (if not the very best) telephone digital camera experiences obtainable, the Magic Eraser function exists as a great tool for folks trying to repair up in any other case nice images. You don’t want Magic Eraser, nevertheless it’s sensible and enjoyable while you need it.

That is all to say that smartphones don’t have to be boring. There’s loads of room for enjoyable gimmicks, cool aesthetics, and thought-provoking twists. However gimmicks can’t be the promoting level of the telephone. They have to be facet gamers.

Keep in mind the Lenovo Legion Duel 2, the telephone with a built-in cooling system? Sadly, that gimmick didn’t work out too nicely for Lenovo. Only in the near past, the corporate confirmed to Android Authority that it had shut down the smartphone arm of Legion.

We’ve additionally talked about OnePlus just a few instances on this article. That firm isn’t doing too nicely, both. There’s a rumor that it and its sister model OPPO might pull out of the European market both this yr or in 2024. OnePlus has misplaced all its service partnerships in the US, and its newest flagship — the OnePlus 11 — isn’t getting sturdy opinions. As soon as once more, the gimmicks don’t appear to have helped right here.

This all helps my central argument: gimmicks don’t promote telephones. We have now settled on wanting telephones that excel on the fundamentals: battery life, digital camera, show, ease of use, efficiency, and many others. I might additionally argue that design is equally necessary right here, though that’s extra subjective than one thing like battery life. What doesn’t matter are superfluous lenses, radar methods, cooling followers, again panels product of rock, and all the opposite gimmicks we’ve seen.

Firms which can be nonetheless caught in 2013 considering that cool gimmicks will promote numerous telephones are going to want to get up from that dream sooner moderately than later. Apple and Samsung are consuming your lunch and are doing it with none reliance on gimmicks. Make your telephones nice at a aggressive value, and we’ll purchase them. It’s that straightforward.