Time to buy a phone as shops use discounts to clear out inventories

Against a backdrop of rising inflation and a less than certain economy in various parts of the world, the volume of global phones shipments is at the lowest rate in a decade. According to preliminary findings from tech analyst Canalys, sales into the channel – tech retailers, distributors and the like – fell by a whopping 17 …

[Joe W]

That sort of explains things...

Just bought a new phone - f'ing expensive, but I feel I got a decent deal (still a lot of money - caused by requirements like small size, dual sim, separate sd card slot, not too outdated). I actually had the predecessor on my list, but then got the current model for only a 15% markup (and under the MSRP, two months after the release).

[Piro]

Re: That sort of explains things...

Small size, dual SIM with dedicated microSD slot and not too old?

What phone? I have one that fits that description (Samsung Galaxy XCover 5), but it was cheap, definitely not f'ing expensive. It also has a removable battery and a 3.5mm headphone jack, it's basically the meme phone.

Although we can still discuss whether the size is really small. It's still a bit tall, I'd prefer <140mm, but what can you do.

[nintendoeats]

Re: That sort of explains things...

Unihertz doesn't make anything that ticks all those boxes, but they DO make a phone under 140mm in length: https://www.unihertz.com/products/atom-l

And then the Jelly and regular Atom which are silly small: https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-2 and https://www.unihertz.com/products/atom

The sticking point seems to be the dual-sim + microsd, since I think all of their dual-sim designs are hybrid sim-microsd.

[JimboSmith]

Re: That sort of explains things...

Do you like the 5? I need to upgrade and that’s a contender. I need an FM radio so that rules out a few phones instantly.

[nintendoeats]

Re: That sort of explains things...

Unihertz phones with 3.5mm jacks also do radio.

I swear, I don't work for Unihertz. I just really like my Titan Pocket.

[Piro]

Re: That sort of explains things...

I've only really just started using it. It's still going to get updates for a few years which is really a bonus, and parts will be plentiful as it's been sold to enterprise in large numbers.

It's got FM radio. As I see it, there are three "catches":

Sub-par cameras

No fingerprint reader

No notification LED

If it had marginally better cameras, a side-mounted fingerprint reader and a notification LED (what were they thinking?) then I could recommend it without hesitation.

It's the closest phone I could find to what I wanted.

[Piro]

Re: That sort of explains things...

I'll also say that it's bizarrely cheap that the usb-c port is only usb 2. You can tell it's been crippled in a few ways to keep most consumers away. A shame, as it's otherwise really rather good.

[JimboSmith]

Re: That sort of explains things...

Thanks I might take the plunge.

[Anonymous Coward]

Phones are now largely commodity items except for the more fashion sensitive. I imagine Apple get a small advantage from this as they ten to appeal to the more fashion sensitive group.

I wonder if it's still the case that Apple does better in the US and worse in Europe and other regions.....

(nothing against iPhones personally, I had a work one a couple of years ago and it was quite good, not so many apps but everything there was worked, at least among the things I was interested in)

[DS999]

Apple's biggest markets are in richer countries, so they have their highest market shares in the US, some EU countries, and Japan. I suspect if you look at a map of the EU with per capita earnings the countries with higher earnings have more Apple share and those with less have less.

Probably would see the same if you did the same exercise in the US states. States with higher incomes like California and New York almost certainly have a larger iPhone share than states with lower incomes like Mississippi.

[Lord Elpuss]

"(nothing against iPhones personally, I had a work one a couple of years ago and it was quite good, not so many apps but everything there was worked, at least among the things I was interested in)"

Not so many apps???

[phuzz]

My mum uses an iPhone, and it has dramatically simplified my tech support. Yes, there's Android solutions that might fit the bill, but it would require more research on my part than "just buy whichever iphone you like mum".

(Before the fanboi' complaints come in, my personal phone is a 5 y/o android running LineageOS)

[Flak]

Several factors

I believe several factors are contributing to this:

- cost of living crisis - leads to people delaying purchases of 'nice to have' items like the latest mobile phone, as well as driving people to 'cheaper' models

- market saturation - number of new users must be declining rapidly now with there being more mobile phone subscriptions than humans on the planet

- lack of step change innovation - once you have a smart phone, does a foldable screen or a marginally better camera provide enough mass appeal to get people to invest in a new phone

Investors, companies, countries and the planet in general needs to come away from the idea of infinite growth potential or infinite consumer need. Tactically, economists know that lowered prices will lead to an increase in demand. This is just not a game that can be played endlessly, either.

[andy 103]

Re: Several factors

cost of living crisis - leads to people delaying purchases of 'nice to have' items like the latest mobile phone, as well as driving people to 'cheaper' models

Absolutely this.

If you buy a brand spanking new iPhone 14 - even on 0% interest finance directly from Apple - it'll cost you £35.38/month. That doesn't include any airtime, so throw in a £10 SIM and that's £45/month. Assuming a 24 month repayment period. This is the cheapest way to own any new phone - see my post about contracts.

If you do an equivalent thing on contract you're looking at nearer £50-odd/month and possibly over a longer period such as O2's bonkers 36 month long contracts that even involve an upfront payment!

When you're poor, £45/month might be the majority of a weekly food shop. Imagine a couple with kids who both had these phones. £90/month just on a fashion accessory? Even people who are concerned about image have enough about them to know this is fucking stupid.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Several factors

"When you're poor, £45/month might be the majority of a weekly food shop. Imagine a couple with kids who both had these phones. £90/month just on a fashion accessory? Even people who are concerned about image have enough about them to know this is fucking stupid."

The kind of people that would buy an iPhone 14 for their (multiple) kids are those for whom £90/month doesn't even register as money. It's small change to them. The difference between cleaning out your pocket fluff, and.... not cleaning out your pocket fluff.

Nobody who has to actually think about money would do this.

[andy 103]

Re: Several factors

Nobody who has to actually think about money would do this.

I disagree. Go around any pub on the weekend and you'll find lots of people with brand new, expensive tech. Drinking and spending money on said tech, whilst simultaneously complaining about the cost of living.

Bizarrely it's people who "can't afford" to buy a house and so forth that spend money on relatively lower value items like phones and cars on finance. This is because they feel like they're getting something in a world where they ostensibly "can't afford" what they really desire. It's hard to get your head around this but you only need to take a closer look to see it happening all over.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Several factors

The comment was about spending it on their kids. Buy your kids an iPhone 14 when you're not obscenely rich, and you're a fucking idiot.

[johnfbw]

Forgotten how much houses cost

£90/month for 20 years comes to 21.6k so a third of the average first time buyers deposit.

Even people with several hundred a month in disposable income will never be able to own a house these days!

[Halfmad]

Never bought a new phone

I have always bought second hand, I never need the extra megapixel camera RIGHT NOW, I can always wait at least a year to get it far cheaper but typically I keep a handset for 3-4 years.

[chivo243]

Re: Never bought a new phone

Halfmad is all right! Give that commentard a beer!

I've never bought a 'new' smartphone* for me. I did buy a new iPhone SE for the missus as it was a special deal from a Telco, I think I shelled out 250 quatloos, and she's still using it 4 years later.

*I did purchase a Nokia(e something?) 11 years ago. Right now it's being used for a backup number for us.

[elsergiovolador]

Re: Never bought a new phone

I bought used phone two years ago. Paid less than half price with warranty and they even added a super fast charger, where brand new phone does not include that. It was at one of those online stores that sell refurbished items.

I don't think I am going to buy a new phone any time soon as the current one is just perfect, but if I have to I'd buy used one again.

[adam 40]

Re: Never bought a new phone

I bought a RedMi that I assumed was secondhand because at £80... it turned out to be new, and also had 2 chargers (because the original one was continental plug).

For the poster near the top - OK it's big, but dual SIM plus SD card... I need it big now anyway as my peepers are giving out after too much SMD soldering. That, and the porn.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Never bought a new phone

"I have always bought second hand, I never need the extra megapixel camera RIGHT NOW, I can always wait at least a year to get it far cheaper but typically I keep a handset for 3-4 years."

Me too. Always had iPhones because I like them, but never felt the need to go for the absolute newest until I saw the iPhone 13 Pro Max; and decided it was time to finally treat myself to a new one. Had it a month, and dropped it. Never dropped a phone in my life until this one. Cracked a corner off the back glass. Just one corner, and just the back glass. Repair costs £699. For the first time in my lifetime of owning Apple devices I genuinely thought: Fuck You Apple.

[Boo Radley]

My Samsung

My entire cell phone using life I've bought used, but last year AT&T offered $800 off the price of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, along with 5 years of Android and security updates. I bought the phone, with 256gb memory, figuring I wouldn't use up all that space in the 5 to 7 years I expect to use the phone. I haven't yet regretted my purchase, all those years buying cheap and used amortized the cost of the S22 down to a very affordable point.

[Missing Semicolon]

Re: My Samsung

You wait till you drop it/the charge socket breaks. Samsungs are not very repairable.

[Dave 126]

Re: My Samsung

> You wait till you drop it/the charge socket breaks. Samsungs are not very repairable.

However, I've found my Samsungs, when clad in a Spigen Tough Armour case and a glass screen protector, have shrugged off any number of drops onto concrete or into rivers. Wireless charging covers me should I ever wear out or gunk up the USB socket.

I believe many other phones in other cases will be similarly durable, but I I haven't personally tested them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: My Samsung

Those are great. They run so hot that you can put your coffee mug on it like a coaster and it'll keep your coffee hot all day.

[WilliamBurke]

Who needs a new phone?

Mobiles have now reached the point where PCs have been for a while: They do the job for a long time, and further technological improvements are only of interest to enthusiasts or showoffs.

As for brands, I had the pleasure of dealing with Samsung customer support lately and will never buy anything from them again. It was a fridge, but I'm not going to wait until I need another one of those...

[DS999]

Re: Who needs a new phone?

The mistake was buying a fridge that could possibly need "customer support" versus "repair".

I'm in the process of remodeling my house but when I get to my kitchen in a few months there no chance I'll be getting a new fridge with a screen, or that even offers a way to connect for wifi! The only fancy thing it'll have is a water dispenser/icemaker.

[WilliamBurke]

Re: Who needs a new phone?

It does need repair, but that's not forthcoming. Long story... And no, it doesn't have a screen, wifi, or anything smart in it.

[DS999]

Re: Who needs a new phone?

They failed to correctly build/QA a fridge performing its most basic function? Well I probably wasn't going to consider Samsung anyway, this story makes it even less likely I give their stuff a look.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Who needs a new phone?

I'd skip the water/icemaker. The water area gets moldy up inside and every other year the icemaker will spit itself into your glass. I've had one in the past, never again.

[Piro]

Re: Who needs a new phone?

Samsung don't have a good reputation in white goods, for what it's worth.

[Anonymous Coward]

pimp a second hand Sony XA2 with SailfishOs and use it forever

pimp a second hand Sony XA2 with SailfishOS and use it forever ( just make sure the boot-loader can be unlocked )

[andy 103]

Let's do the maths

I buy new phones outright because it's always cheaper than a contract. If you get a decent SIM only deal, no contract will ever be more cost efficient. I've never paid more than £10/month for any SIM and never got close to the limits of data, texts or minutes.

4 years ago I bought an iPhone XR on 0% finance from Apple. It was £750 so cost £31.25/month over 2 years.

2 years after buying the XR, Apple offered me £250 to trade it in for an iPhone 12 (these cost £699 at the time). So after the trade-in, the iPhone 12 cost me £449. Again, 0% finance, £18.71/month over 2 years.

But here we are in 2023 and even though it's coming up to 2 year renewal there's nothing that's a good option for me. A new iPhone 14 has a price tag which means even with the £270 trade-in they'll offer me, it'll cost £579 (849 - 270). They still offer 0% finance so my costs would go up to ~£24/month mark.

Unfortunately though, the iPhone 12 I have is so good, and will soon cost me £0/month for the device. We've reached a point where even upgrading in this 0% interest manner - with an outright purchase - doesn't make financial sense. And yet we must remember this option is always cheaper than a contract! I don't actually understand why people still take these out when some quick maths basically amounts to "this is a shit deal" in comparison to what I've outlined above.

Good luck with that, retailers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Let's do the maths

In the early days, when Nokia was king, it was possible to save money by getting your phone on a contract, but it isn't now (my Nokia 3210 was cheaper on a contract.)

Saying that, I've never bought a smartphone on a contract. My first one cost me £15 new without a sim (an el-cheapo LG handset that was remarkably good for virtually no money). I've gradually increased what I'm willing to pay to the point that my latest purchase was a Fairphone 4, but it's still cheaper without a contract...

[andy 103]

Re: Let's do the maths

In the early days, when Nokia was king, it was possible to save money by getting your phone on a contract, but it isn't now (my Nokia 3210 was cheaper on a contract.)

I'm of an age where I was a teenager around this time and vaguely remember that. But from what I recall the reason the contracts worked out cheaper was because of the deal on the airtime plan - not the actual hardware. Plus they had your billing details to charge you if you used over your limits, which was often the way. I think if you compared device costs only it was still cheaper to buy the phone outright.

But you wouldn't be able to use it...

Once you threw in a Pay As You Go SIM (remembering that the SIM-only deals we have today didn't exist then) that always meant having that particular phone ended up being more costly over an equivalent length of time. Contract time back then, as I recall, was almost always 12 months unlike the 24-36 month ones we see today.

[43300]

Re: Let's do the maths

"I buy new phones outright because it's always cheaper than a contract."

And it's often possible to get a decent one-year SIM-only contract. Those including handsets in the contract are nearly always 24 months.

[ragnar]

Re: Let's do the maths

PlusNet (EE reseller) have great £8/10 month rolling monthly contracts with no commitments. Even better, as they roll out better deals for newer customers, you can switch yourself onto them from the following month just using their website, with no need to do the telephone support dance of threatening to leave etc.

[adam 40]

Re: Let's do the maths

I'm on Virgin £6.18/m

RWG do a £10 one-off payment if you're a low user. No further monthly fee. (£5 for the SIM + £5 to activate the deal)

[Stork]

Re: Let's do the maths

A scary number of people can’t do basic math.

[andy 103]

Re: Let's do the maths

A scary number of people can’t do basic math.

Ironically I wasn't very good at maths when I was younger. When I started struggling financially I decided I'd better learn and learn fast. I'm pleased I did as both learning to budget and improving my maths skills have helped me, and are clearly interlinked ;)

[Stork]

Re: Let's do the maths

I had a period where I added up the prices of what I put in my shopping basket to make sure I was on budget. I follow you there.

[Pete 2]

A maze of twisty little phones ... all alike

> Price is the obvious weapon phone vendors wield when ...

... when all their various products are pretty much the same.

As far as functionality goes:

Communicate with people? Yes

Take photos? Check

Display "content"? Got it!

Store information? Yup

Use the internet? Affirmative

Manage location? Mais oui

and possibly controversially, but with the lack of alternatives: Confirm identity? Tick

The only real differences are "meta" properties such as battery life, screen size, bragging rights, durability and just possibly: security

[MrReynolds2U]

Re: A maze of twisty little phones ... all alike

The price difference between mid-range and high-end is huge. Unfortunately things like NFC and wireless charging tend to be only on the more expensive models and the cameras tend to be better on them too.

My latest Chinese random brand phone doesn't have any of those unfortunately (camera is appalling) but I can't justify the expense of a top-end model so if there's any recommendations for a phone I should look at, let me know.

[43300]

Re: A maze of twisty little phones ... all alike

"The price difference between mid-range and high-end is huge. Unfortunately things like NFC and wireless charging tend to be only on the more expensive models and the cameras tend to be better on them too."

And the SD Card slots and 3.5mm jack sockets tend to be only on the cheaper models!

[werdsmith]

Re: A maze of twisty little phones ... all alike

I have a cheapo Samsung from employer and it is proper dogshit. Not only does it suffer from Android, it is also dog slow compared to even an ancient iPhone 8 from three years earlier.

Luckily it only has to do MFA for me, so I can tolerate it.

[Dave 126]

Re: A maze of twisty little phones ... all alike

> I can't justify the expense of a top-end model so if there's any recommendations for a phone I should look at, let me know

I bought my Galaxy S10 E reconditioned for £200, my previous phone being a £500 brand new (though bought a year after initial release) Galaxy S8.

The S22 E has an SD card reader, 3.5mm headphone socket, OLED screen, wireless charging, good waterproofing, NFC... basically all the 'extra' features that, taken as a bundle, I wouldn't do without. (Waterproofing has already payed for itself many times over several phones, the wireless charging is insurance should the USB socket ever wear out. The colour accuracy and night-time comfort of OLED screens is such I would loathe returning to LCD, even if it was of higher res.)

Best of all, the S22 E has the fingerprint sensor mounted on the power button instead of under the screen - which means the phone is fully compatible with glass screen protectors.

It is not quite as comfortable to hold as the S8 because it has wider bezels around its flat screen, but the wider bezels allow 3rd party cases (Spigen Though Armour, on both phones) to do a better job of protecting the edges of the screen. The S22E has a lower screen resolution than the S8, but then I always had the S8's resolution dialled back to 1080 anyway in order save battery life - and you couldn't tell the difference without holding the screen an inch from your nose anyway.

Oh, and both phones let you remap the extra extra Bixby button to what you want if you buy the Bxactions app. In my case, hold for Play/Pause and double press for Flashlight.

[doublelayer]

Re: A maze of twisty little phones ... all alike

"but I can't justify the expense of a top-end model so if there's any recommendations for a phone I should look at, let me know."

I don't know your preferences, so it's hard to recommend something. I would need to know what features are important to you and what you're willing to compromise on. I can recommend this database to allow you to perform a detailed search on your own, but you could also clarify what would constitute the ideal feature set.

[nautica]

"Five percent of the people think;

ten percent of the people think they think;

and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”

― Thomas A. Edison

[Kevin McMurtrie]

"difficult macroeconomic environment"

No, it's because of innovation being nothing but minor benchmark bumps for several years now. Oh, sorry, I forgot about major innovations in the camera bump shape A lot of phones still, today, have a useless partial 5G implementation, a partial Android OEM overlay, and/or the same 128/256 GB storage as several years ago. It's so lazy and it comes with a huge price increase.

Google and Apple aren't doing their operating systems any favors either. iOS is still dated and clumsy. With 3rd party Android ROMs mostly gone, Android only has stupid idea from Google coming in.

[ecofeco]

Re: "difficult macroeconomic environment"

For me it's both lack of innovation and increasing price.

Having worked in large scale manufacturing for decades, I KNOW the prices are way, way, overinflated. Not one single phone is worth more than $100 retail at most.