Stagnant Mobile Tech Innovation
If there's anything the iPhone X proves, it's the fact that mobile tech innovation has gone stagnant. It's almost like how our cars are mostly still running on fossil fuel, or that they are still rolling on four air inflated rubber tires. The mobile industry has taken its cue from the automobile industry. Just advertise it as new, even if there's really nothing new, and it will still sell as new.
Considering, it's not really like Apple invents anything new. Touchscreen smartphones were already around for years when they released the first iPhone 10 years ago. It's amazing how Apple gets credit for "starting" it, when in fact they just happen to make smart business decisions to start building something when parts and supplies are already cheaper, so they can put premium margin on top of them. Well, of course, there's the fact that the brand sells, so...
Anyway, let's look at iPhone X's Face ID, for example. It's not new, really. Many mobile devices are already out with, more or less, the same technology. Windows 10 Mobile has Windows Hello branded facial recognition and iris scanner in some premium models. Android device makers like Samsung also released models with (unfortunately very crude) facial recognition support -- which is, by the way, a disservice to building consumer trust on biometrics. The point is, facial recognition is nothing new.
Next there's iPhone X's edge to edge screen. Samsung and LG started it along with many other Android device makers for many years already. Even removing physical home buttons. The iPhone X is a "me too" participant here, in the same way that Apple's new iPhones are all playing catch up with wireless charging technology -- heck, did you know that I wirelessly charge my good old manufacturer-and-vendor-abandoned Nokia Lumia ICON?
And then there's the iOS that almost never changes. Using the automobile analogy, it's like buying a sports car with the same V6 engine used by a minivan. Only the car's external aesthetics changed, but it's really just the same technology underneath. Perhaps the engine has some tweaks and what have you. Regardless, it's really just the same thing in a different body. This always reminds me of Nissan advertising a new version of Maxima every year. Nothing really changed, but the ads would always claim that the new version rebuilt everything from scratch -- dramatic explosion of the old version into bits and parts, followed by a Transformers-style implosion to a new car that looked exactly like the original. Who are they trying to fool?
There is just nothing new anymore. Hardware development has gone stagnant. Software development almost stagnant as well. It's all just an exercise of "engineering" -- how to fit existing things in a small package and profit from them. Where are the solid state batteries? Where are the transparent smartphones? Where are the bendable/wearable smartphones? Where are the smartphone-tablet morphing hybrids? Where are the 3D and holographic displays?
iPhone X celebrates something. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it's nothing new.
Considering, it's not really like Apple invents anything new. Touchscreen smartphones were already around for years when they released the first iPhone 10 years ago. It's amazing how Apple gets credit for "starting" it, when in fact they just happen to make smart business decisions to start building something when parts and supplies are already cheaper, so they can put premium margin on top of them. Well, of course, there's the fact that the brand sells, so...
Anyway, let's look at iPhone X's Face ID, for example. It's not new, really. Many mobile devices are already out with, more or less, the same technology. Windows 10 Mobile has Windows Hello branded facial recognition and iris scanner in some premium models. Android device makers like Samsung also released models with (unfortunately very crude) facial recognition support -- which is, by the way, a disservice to building consumer trust on biometrics. The point is, facial recognition is nothing new.
Next there's iPhone X's edge to edge screen. Samsung and LG started it along with many other Android device makers for many years already. Even removing physical home buttons. The iPhone X is a "me too" participant here, in the same way that Apple's new iPhones are all playing catch up with wireless charging technology -- heck, did you know that I wirelessly charge my good old manufacturer-and-vendor-abandoned Nokia Lumia ICON?
And then there's the iOS that almost never changes. Using the automobile analogy, it's like buying a sports car with the same V6 engine used by a minivan. Only the car's external aesthetics changed, but it's really just the same technology underneath. Perhaps the engine has some tweaks and what have you. Regardless, it's really just the same thing in a different body. This always reminds me of Nissan advertising a new version of Maxima every year. Nothing really changed, but the ads would always claim that the new version rebuilt everything from scratch -- dramatic explosion of the old version into bits and parts, followed by a Transformers-style implosion to a new car that looked exactly like the original. Who are they trying to fool?
There is just nothing new anymore. Hardware development has gone stagnant. Software development almost stagnant as well. It's all just an exercise of "engineering" -- how to fit existing things in a small package and profit from them. Where are the solid state batteries? Where are the transparent smartphones? Where are the bendable/wearable smartphones? Where are the smartphone-tablet morphing hybrids? Where are the 3D and holographic displays?
iPhone X celebrates something. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it's nothing new.
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