It is that time of year when companies including Apple and
Samsung try to get us VERY EXCITED about their new smartphone models. I give
you permission to tune them out entirely.
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Some people get a thrill from the latest phone camera
improvements and remodeled designs. It is fun! Or maybe you have been waiting
eagerly to ditch your busted old phone. In either case, go forth and fawn.
But a lot of hoopla around new smartphones is an anachronism of
the years when the devices were precious pieces of magic pitched hardest at
tech enthusiasts. They are not anymore. Smartphones are normal and for
everyone. And that makes it natural for them to become less noteworthy.
It is a sign of how miraculous smartphones are that we do not
have to think about them very much. Like other consumer products including
cars, TVs and refrigerators, most people in relatively affluent countries buy a
new smartphone when an old one wears out or they want a change.
Largely because of this healthy evolution from novel to normal,
new smartphone sales had been declining for several years, although they are
climbing this year.
Somehow it feels like there is more pressure on us to have
opinions and feelings about our phones than about our refrigerators. (Although
I will not argue if you want to hug your fridge. Do it now. I will wait.) I
know that cars in particular can be emotionally resonant. But for many of us,
getting a new phone, car, TV or fridge is neat for a little while, and then we
get used to it, and it feels fine. That is fine.
That said, we should be glad that smartphone makers keep
improving their devices in small and large ways. It has been good that personal
computers — which like smartphones shifted to less noteworthy essentials from
novelties — took the opportunity to reimagine what else people might want from
computers.
We got clever new products like Chromebooks, the bare-bones laptops
that took off in many US schools because they were relatively inexpensive and
easy for educators to customize for students. We also got more variety in
computers that combine elements of tablets, souped-up PCs for people who love
video games and computers with the zippy brains of smartphones. When computers
became too normal for people to care very much, it sparked invention.
It is possible that the same thing may happen in the not-magical
phase of smartphones. I am cautiously curious about smartphones that fold or
unfurl to offer more screen real estate in a relatively small package. So far,
folding smartphones — Samsung showed off its latest models Wednesday — have
been mostly expensive and awful. I still think there is a promising idea in
there. (Or maybe not.)
Smartphones also remain a test bed for useful inventions,
particularly for photography and for software features such as voice
recognition.
So hooray for the smartphone companies that keep perfecting
their products. That does not mean that we need to care a jot about
Google’s odd-looking new Pixel phones — they really do look weird, though — or
Apple’s coming iPhone ... 13? 12S? Whatever.
The latest phones will be lighter, faster, better and maybe more
expensive than the old ones. The cool new features will be there when you are
ready. You do not have to care until then.
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