It is planned obsolescence, but to be more specific it’s mostly the batteries. They just go to shit after ~500 charges. Nobody is willing to make a phone that sacrifices battery capacity for lifespan (by limiting charge to the 20-90% range you can extend the life of the battery, operating outside of that is stressful for battery chemistry) or teach consumers how to maximize lifespan (most people don’t want to babysit their batteries like that and enjoy all the bells and whistles of fancy UI animations and always-on connections and apps).
Plus increases in computing power almost all go straight to doing more stuff, faster, instead of doing the same amount of stuff at the same speed but more efficiently. We absolutely could have phones that stay alive for a week, they’d just be as powerful as phones from 2013. Granted they’d remain useful for a decade since it would take 5-7x as long to hit that 500 charge mark, so perhaps software improvements could keep performance up.
I think this is why manufacturers are charging more for phones these days, they see the writing on the wall. People are keeping their phones longer, and trying to fix them instead of just buying a new one. Fewer phones sold, but at a higher margin for each sale.
100% would replace my phone with one of these if it was an option. I remember keeping my Droid 4 alive by swapping to fresh batteries for years after they stopped updating it until even the texting app was unusably slow because of how much I loved the keyboard on it.
Nobody is willing to make a phone that sacrifices battery capacity for lifespan (by limiting charge to the 20-90% range)
My Asus Zenfone 3(?) hand this implemented as a settings option.
Also this whole battery problem could be solved by selling new batteries, even those new squishy ones. My friend got a battery for his four year old phone changed at a repair shop but it ended up barely any better than his old battery. It's always the case for some reason...
At the end of the day, it's just a product they want to sell in order to grow and obtain the skills for domestic ARM chip manufacturing. And for that, it's a massive success. And it's not as if the phones are terrible or anything, they're just another smartphone, with all the issues that they have
I just don't understand in 2021 why no one seems capable of making a decent smartphone that doesn't crap out after a couple of years.
Probably planned obsolescence.
It is planned obsolescence, but to be more specific it’s mostly the batteries. They just go to shit after ~500 charges. Nobody is willing to make a phone that sacrifices battery capacity for lifespan (by limiting charge to the 20-90% range you can extend the life of the battery, operating outside of that is stressful for battery chemistry) or teach consumers how to maximize lifespan (most people don’t want to babysit their batteries like that and enjoy all the bells and whistles of fancy UI animations and always-on connections and apps).
Plus increases in computing power almost all go straight to doing more stuff, faster, instead of doing the same amount of stuff at the same speed but more efficiently. We absolutely could have phones that stay alive for a week, they’d just be as powerful as phones from 2013. Granted they’d remain useful for a decade since it would take 5-7x as long to hit that 500 charge mark, so perhaps software improvements could keep performance up.
I think this is why manufacturers are charging more for phones these days, they see the writing on the wall. People are keeping their phones longer, and trying to fix them instead of just buying a new one. Fewer phones sold, but at a higher margin for each sale.
TAKE MY FUXKING MONEY
100% would replace my phone with one of these if it was an option. I remember keeping my Droid 4 alive by swapping to fresh batteries for years after they stopped updating it until even the texting app was unusably slow because of how much I loved the keyboard on it.
Wait so just to be clear, taking my phone off the charger at 90% and not letting it hit 20% would improve longevity of the battery?
Yes, battery chemistry is more stressed at either extreme. Keeping it out of those extremes prolongs its life and helps to avoid risk of fire.
you can replace your own battery for pretty cheap these days. just buy the repair tool kit and the battery. just did mine for $20.
My Asus Zenfone 3(?) hand this implemented as a settings option.
Also this whole battery problem could be solved by selling new batteries, even those new squishy ones. My friend got a battery for his four year old phone changed at a repair shop but it ended up barely any better than his old battery. It's always the case for some reason...
At the end of the day, it's just a product they want to sell in order to grow and obtain the skills for domestic ARM chip manufacturing. And for that, it's a massive success. And it's not as if the phones are terrible or anything, they're just another smartphone, with all the issues that they have
you can replace your own battery for pretty cheap these days. just buy the repair tool kit and the battery. just did mine for $20.