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TECHNOLOGY A23
Wednesday 2 December
For some people, the older the smartphone, the better
MAE ANDERSON Every customer counts critical acclaim for curved In this Thursday, March 8, 2007, file photo, a C3 flip phone from
AP Technology Writer these days. Overall smart- screens that spill over a Pantech is shown, on a keyboard for size comparison, in New
NEW YORK (AP) — Between phone sales are slowing phone’s edges like a glassy York.
splashy launches, lavish down — particularly in in- waterfall.
new-phone offers (get a dustrialized markets such as Phones also get new sys- Associated Press
free HDTV on activation!) the U.S., where most people tem software every year,
and frequent software up- who want a smartphone al- and many apps require the nobody seems to be mak- which he has had for nearly
dates that slow down your ready have one. IDC fore- latest updates. Although ing them.” The computer 5 years — mostly because
old handset, it sometimes casts a 10 percent increase many older phones can science PhD candidate he doesn’t want to lose his
feels like the entiretech- in worldwide smartphone get the latest versions of from outside Rolla, Missouri, $30 unlimited data plan
nology industry is pushing sales this year, but that’s Google’s Android or Ap- still uses Google’s discon- with Verizon. “I’ve looked
you to buy the latest smart- slowed considerably from ple’s iOS software, the up- tinued 3.7-inch Nexus One around and nothing comes
phone. Yet some holdouts 27 percent growth in 2014. dates can slow them down, phone from 2010. close,” he said.
resist. Some manufacturers have and the phones sometimes Brett Shoemaker, 22, from For Mary Reichard, 52, legal
Take Zak Sommerfield, 35, turned to emerging mar- don’t support all the new Hattiesburg, Mississippi, a affairs reporter in Spring-
a software analyst in New kets for new sales, but features. regular upgrader since the field, Missouri, the money
York, who has hung onto many customers there can Not surprisingly, Sprint CEO original iPhone debuted and fear of the unknown
his LG Delight flip phone afford only cheaper — and Marcelo Claure argues that in 2007 — but stopped in that keeps her from up-
for five years, even though less profitable — devices. having the latest model is his tracks with the 4-inch grading from her iPhone 4s
his friends and co-work- To keep making money on important to many people. iPhone 5 in 2012. she has had for two years.
ers make fun of it. “I hate premium phones, Apple, Phones are “the most val- Manufacturers are “forcing “I long for the old days
smartphones, I hate how Samsung and their rivals ued personal possession users into larger screen sizes of one land line and tiny
they take over people’s are counting on regular up- that we have,” Claure said for the latest and great- monthly bills,” she said. She
lives and they spend all grades. in an interview. “We use est technology” he says. also fears she might lose
their time looking at them,” With its latest iPhones, Ap- our phone to capture the “I’m contemplating not data if she upgrades. “I’m
he says. “I’d love to stay on ple started an annual up- memories of our lives.” upgrading ever.” Or even a baby boomer, so tech-
this phone forever.” grade program that leases But O’Donnell of Technaly- switching to a BlackBerry, nology is still kind of scary.”
People like Sommerfield customers the latest mod- sis says smartphone tech- he adds, only half-joking. And some just feel too at-
are a rarity. More than 90 els for a year. Upgrades nology is “hitting the top of High-end phones start at tached to their current
percent of smartphone are particularly important a curve.” As a result, each a $200, a subsidized price smartphone to give it up.
users trade up for newer for Apple because iPhones new model brings tweaks that requires a two-year William Hurst, a 22-year-
models within two years, account for more than half and refinements rather service contract. More re- old student in Portland, Or-
says Ramon Llamas, who of its revenue. than new must-have fea- cently, though, wireless egon, said he decided not
tracks mobile phones at Sprint and T-Mobile also tures. companies have been to upgrade because he
research firm IDC. But a have leasing options “I think it’s a little ridiculous pushing people to pay full feels attached to his 3-year-
fraction of the population aimed at yearly iPhone up- to give up a perfectly good retail price — often around old iPhone 5. He even likes
continues to cling to older grades, but Apple’s new phone for a new one that $650 — via monthly install- its quirks like a lock screen
phones, some 3 to 4 years leasing option has put even is only slightly different,” ment plans. Although such button that doesn’t fully
old — or more. more pressure on carriers. says Kelsey Scott, 25, from deals also offer discounts work and a crack from
These upgrade holdouts They depend on regular Hutchinson, Kansas, who on voice, text and data ser- when he dropped it on ce-
have different reasons for upgrades to keep existing has an iPhone 5S from 2013 vice, many people just see ment in his rush to get in line
standing athwart techno- customers and sell them and doesn’t plan to up- that they are paying more for a concert.
progress, yelling “Stop!” more services, such as big- grade. for the phone. “I have lived two years
Some reject the trend to- ger data plans or cloud And while many people John O’Neill, 49, a tax ana- of my life with this same
ward ever-larger screens, services and storage. Since upgraded last year when lyst in Dallas, says he won’t iPhone and it’s a part of
preferring smaller phones a customer upgrades only Apple made larger-size upgrade from his iPhone 4, who I am,” he said.q
that are harder to find once every two or three iPhones for the first time,
these days. Others simply years, it’s an “important matching what Samsung
aren’t wowed by the lat- moment to capitalize on” has long had, others prefer
est features, or see no rea- for carriers, says FBR analyst smaller phones. Apple still
son to spend hundreds of Daniel Ives. sells the 4-inch iPhone 5S,
dollars when their current To encourage upgrades, but the technology is two
phones still work fine. manufacturers have been years old. The latest, fastest
“Just as we saw with PCs packing new phones with iPhones measure 4.7 inches
and tablets, lifetimes on cutting-edge hardware. and 5.5 inches diagonally.
people’s devices are gen- The latest iPhones have Nathan Jarus, 24, says
erally getting a bit longer,” better cameras and screen he’s been keeping his
says Bob O’Donnell, chief sensors to enable shortcuts eyes open for inexpensive
analyst at Technalysis Re- and other menus with a phones with 4-inch screens,
search. hard press. Samsung won but complains that “almost
