Smartphone gimmicks are dead – Android Authority

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

Nevertheless, 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 — reminiscent of Sensible Scroll, which allowed you to scroll the contents of your display screen by shifting your head up or down — could be downright ludicrous to see in a 2023 cellphone.

Immediately, smartphones are ubiquitous instruments, not tech marvels. Shoppers use their telephones greater than ever, sure, however this has resulted within the shine carrying off. The trendy smartphone purchaser doesn’t need gimmicks; they need a cellphone 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, in the case of smartphones, we consider gimmicks as options that solely apply to very particular conditions, enchantment to a restricted subset of customers, or supply no true worth (or a mixture 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 might observe 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 within the historical past of Pixels.

A newer instance got here with final 12 months’s OnePlus 10 Professional. That cellphone had an ultrawide digital camera with a discipline of view of 150 levels. This was primarily a fisheye lens, creating very warped photos that regarded 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 12 months’s OnePlus 11.

Listed below are another smartphone gimmicks we’ve seen:

• Bizarre supplies: OnePlus lately 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 may very well 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 cellphone 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, decreasing the longevity of your cellphone.
• Cooling programs: The Lenovo Legion Duel 2 — a gaming cellphone — had a cooling fan constructed into it. Whereas that is sensible for a cellphone designed for players, it made the cellphone unwieldy, prevented an IP ranking, and made wi-fi charging unattainable. It solved one downside on the expense of core smartphone options. Equally, OnePlus’ most up-to-date idea cellphone 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: a fantastic all-around expertise.

However what about telephones in particular niches, like rugged telephones? Is a rugged cellphone a gimmick? I might argue it’s not, however in addition they aren’t promoting within the numbers we see with one thing just like the Galaxy S collection. These telephones exist for particular functions for a specific shopper, so that they get a particular move.

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

Right here in the US, the iPhone is the most well-liked 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 (largely Samsung). The iPhone doesn’t have many gimmicks to it. One might argue that Dynamic Island is a gimmick, however it’s one that buyers appear to take pleasure in, so it doesn’t really matter.

In second place, Samsung’s Galaxy S collection additionally stands out as being devoid of gimmicks. The Galaxy S23 Extremely’s S Pen is likely to be a bit gimmicky to some. Nonetheless, it’s additionally extremely standard 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.

After all, we are able to’t overlook Google’s line of Pixels. The Google Pixel 7 Professional doesn’t have any outlandish gimmicks, and it was voted the most effective Android cellphone 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 will be hits with shoppers with out gimmicks. Nevertheless, Dynamic Island and the S Pen present that there’s nonetheless room for enjoyable and doing issues in another way.

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

Take the Nothing Cellphone 1, for instance. The lights on the again of the system — formally often known as The Glyph — would appear to be a foolish gimmick. As soon as you employ the cellphone, although, you understand that it’s truly a rock-solid Android smartphone with the addition of a bizarre mild present. In different phrases, The Glyph will be ignored, and also you’ll nonetheless have a fantastic Android expertise with a particularly reasonable cost-to-value ratio.

This can be a good instance of how doing gimmicks proper will be advantageous. Nothing didn’t cram in The Glyph on the expense of wi-fi charging, a premium really feel, or an honest digital camera system. It used the sunshine gimmick like a garnish on prime 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 most effective) cellphone digital camera experiences obtainable, the Magic Eraser function exists as a useful gizmo for folks seeking to repair up in any other case nice images. You don’t want Magic Eraser, however it’s sensible and enjoyable once you need it.

That is all to say that smartphones don’t must 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 cellphone. They must be facet gamers.

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

We’ve additionally talked about OnePlus a number of occasions 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 12 months or in 2024. OnePlus has misplaced all its service partnerships in the US, and its newest flagship — the OnePlus 11 — isn’t getting sturdy evaluations. 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 so on. 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 programs, cooling followers, again panels made from rock, and all the opposite gimmicks we’ve seen.

Corporations which can be nonetheless caught in 2013 considering that cool gimmicks will promote numerous telephones are going to wish to get up from that dream sooner relatively 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.