eWaste 'Я' US
Aren't smart phones good enough already? Do we need any more? It's the manufacturers creating the need. Maybe we can spend less time gazing into our smart phones and maybe go for a walk or something instead.
Smartphone markets the world over are in decline, but that news doesn't appear to have reached North America, where the market grew by 4 percent in the first quarter of 2022. Tech market analytics firm Canalys reported that smartphone manufacturers shipped a total of 39m units in North America in Q1 2022, and most of it was …
Apple has realized that this is coming, which is why they want to offer a leasing scheme: you pay them $X per month, and they'll keep sending you their latest shiny, every year. They probably hope you won't notice the new phone isn't substantially different from the old one...
Well, their phones' software last longer than most, their official battery replacement cost is roughly ten percent of the handset cost (in line with rival Samsung), recent hardware revision has been more durable materials.
The predictability of the iPhone resale market was such that people could already determine a cost per month for an iPhone if the latest model was their fancy.
Also, I haven't seen the data regarding who upgrades their iPhone each and every year. No point getting anecdotal here. It is possible that many folk are on two-plus year cadences. It is likely that the majority of people don't upgrade every year, so let's not phrase our comments as if they do.
Apple has realized that this is coming, which is why they want to offer a leasing scheme: you pay them $X per month, and they'll keep sending you their latest shiny, every year.
So a scheme that’s already been normal for some years, Apple will adopt it and call it their own? Where have I heard that before?
Suggesting someone take a walk is probably the best advice I can give anyone, given I'm not a physiotherapist or mental health professional. And I consider myself a lucky soul that I have green hills on my doorstep. For those who don't, phones make using public transport easier.
And whilst I've just dug out the charger for my dedicated camera (and found the gubbins needed to empty the camera's SD card on to the computer, more faff) I'm more likely to use my phone's camera for recording which fungi I've found where. Waterproofing wasn't standard on phones ten years ago, today it is common - and it has saved me replacing one phone several times over.
It is very easy to use phones in ways that don't benefit us. It's better for my head to listen to birdsong instead of a podcast. Photographing instead of just looking? Why not both? Different but both valid experiences.