A Best Buy worker thinks the latest and greatest smartphone updates aren’t all that great. Dallas Ponzo (@dallas_ponzo) argued that major tech companies like Samsung and Apple have only been rolling out incremental upgrades. He says these minor tweaks aren’t enough to capture the interest of prospective buyers.
“I just saw the S25 and the S25 Edge,” he says. According to Dallas, there seems to be a lack of innovation in the mobile smartphone space. “Why is the phone market so bad right now? Every single phone that’s new is just a refresh of the old one.”
The Best Buy employee concedes that some folks would defend these incremental changes. “And people will say like, yeah that’s what’s been happening for years. But that didn’t happen in 2018 when the iPhone X came out,” he says. “It was a totally new technology. The pre-order sold out in two minutes. Like that phone was innovative. It had new things. You weren’t just buying the same one, which is why it sold out.”
iPhone progression
Dallas believes that Apple has effectively stopped innovating from the iPhone 12 on.
He highlights the dedicated shutter key as an example. “The camera button, honestly is more frustrating to use and takes more time to use than just pressing it,” he says. “It’s cool, and I use it, ’cause it’s cool. And it was like engineered well. But it’s not really practical.”
He also says some updated features feel more like lip service rather than actually meaningful progressions. “And the Titanium’s cool. But once you realize it’s only around the border of your phone. Kinda loses it’s like pizzazz,” he says.
Back to the Galaxy
He then discusses the updates in the Galaxy S25. “Samsung…they had different phones. It has two new features. It has a 50 megapixel ultra wide, versus a 12 on the S24. And a new processor, and obviously it looks different, and that’s it,” he says.
He engages in a mirthless, mocking applause. “Here’s to hoping that phones get better technology,” he says before the video ends.
As a previous writer for Gsmarena.com, I can understand Dallas’ sentiment. It appears that a lot of the current ennui with mobile phones has to do with the homogenization of form factors. Prior to the capacitive touchscreen revolution spurred on by Apple, mobile phone manufacturers offered a wide range of devices. Many of these consumer tech products also sported their own mobile operating systems with their own variants.
Phones that slide up vertically and horizontally. Phones that had physical landscape or portrait keyboards. Heck, Nokia even once had a feature phone that could be mistaken for lipstick. However, once glass-coated, hard touchscreens (as opposed to resistive ones like on the Nokia N900) came into play, things changed. Manufacturers saw the demand for these types of devices skyrocket.
Consequently, companies decided to invest heavily in these types of offerings. Before the glass touchscreen smartphone revolution, people typically had a feature, or “dumbphone” and a computer. For years now, fewer people own personal computers, as they have effectively been replaced by smartphones. During the glory days of cellphone yesteryear, this was not the case. That’s because smartphones simply could not replace the functionality of a dedicated computer for most people.
Economics?
Mass manufacturing practices can also be attributed to the prevalence of homogenized smartphone models. Businesses get better deals when they produce or purchase processors, screens, and other components in bulk. So dedicating upgraded components, like imaging sensors for cameras, and higher resolution screens for flagship models, is a relatively easy swap.
Furthermore, designing a phone around a slab design already sets the groundwork for the direction of where a new model is headed. However, Dallas isn’t the only one who believes that major companies like Apple are lacking. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently had the same criticisms of the Cupertino-based tech company.
During a recent interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, he stated that he thinks Apple is in an innovation rut. In the above-linked Motley Fool article, the outlet indicates the tech giant’s “sales declined in its most recent fiscal year.” Moreover, the website agreed, stating that the brand’s “been relying on making minor improvements to its iPhones and iPads over the years.”
But Apple’s not hurting for money either, according to the Fool. Currently, it enjoys a $3 Trillion valuation and could very well be the “first company to hit a $4 trillion” milestone. It’s also worth mentioning that criticisms about Apple’s gradual implementation of technology aren’t anything new.
Slow and steady?
FaceTime, for instance, wasn’t a new concept for mobile smartphones. Devices outfitted with front-facing cameras that could be utilized with apps like Skype existed well before FaceTime. Wireless data transfers via Bluetooth also existed. Heck, when the first iPhone came out, it didn’t even have 3G. Nor was there an app store, and it couldn’t send media messages (you had to email). Not to mention, you couldn’t take videos on them either.
Again, this functionality existed on devices that cost a fraction of the iPhone at the time. Where Apple excelled, however, was how this functionality was integrated into its operating system. Additionally, these newer features work seamlessly. At least on the devices they’re being concurrently released with. We’re not talking about a 7-year-old base model iPhone struggling to handle the latest software update.
Commenters agree
People who responded to Dallas’ post nodded in unison with the Best Buy worker’s sentiments. One person speculated that with current smartphone form factors, there isn’t much room for growth.
“Because there isn’t much left to do with phones really,” they wrote. “Unless you specifically want bigger or more screens.”
@dallas_ponzo Samsung S25 Edge(ing the upgrades)
♬ original sound – Dallas
Another thinks that manufacturers should ditch annual release strategies: “Smart phones peaked a long time ago. Both Apple and Samsung need to switch to a 2 year cycle. I didn’t upgrade from my 15 Pro Max to the 16 because there was no point. Don’t get me started on AI.”
Someone else believes that market dominance is the reason for the lack of innovation. “There’s no incentive to innovate bc the market is saturated and theres little to no competition to apple or samsung in the US,” they said.
Another commented that there are more intriguing form factors being developed, specifically by Samsung. “That’s not true. Samsung has the fold and the flip. They have been pushing the bar high,” they said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Dallas via TikTok comment along with Samsung, Apple, and Best Buy via email.
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