back to article Smartphones merge into homogeneous mass as 'flagship fatigue' bites

People are turning away from pricey "flagship" smartphones sold on complicated expensive contracts, according to industry figures. Dealmaker site uSwitch says it's seeing steep declines in year on year sales of flagship smartphones in 2015, with Sony hit particularly hard. Even Apple’s much-anticipated iPhone 6 exhibited the …

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  1. Joe Harrison

    Obvious

    Phones all do basically the same things. Beyond a certain point paying more will not give you a better camera better or more accurate GPS. Being seen to afford a very posh car can make people pay for the flashpig model but I'm not sure the same really works for mobile phones.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Obvious

      Have an upvote for flashpig.

    2. Katie Saucey

      Re: Obvious

      "Phones all do basically the same things"

      Agreed. It took me years to justify banishing my Nokia 6120 to the glove-box. My most recent phone is a Galaxy S3 I bought for 45$ CAN (new in box) a few months back. I'd much rather be free of any contracts and have the extra few hundred bucks in my pocket, than take 8 megapixel selfies or whatever.

    3. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Keep taking the derivative until you find bad news

      "The iPhone 6 ...was up by 25 per cent which is less than previous years."

      So Apple was shipping iPhone 6 at a rate of 9.4 Hz for the entire quarter. They made a world record quarterly profit of $18 billion. They're the most profitable company ever. Sales are up by 25%. But we've detected a downward trend in the rate of change of the rate of change of the number sold.

      Larger point is still valid.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Obvious

      That's kind of true, but not entirely so at the low end of the market. When shopping for my last phone I found a lot of the budget models didn't even have GPS.

    5. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Obvious

      While cameras in smartphones have been improved, they will never reach the quality level of a proper purpose made camera. It's just plain old physics and easy to see when you compare sensor sizes and how much budget is given to get the best quality. /rant

      For a while now, there are so many off-brand phones that have the core set of features that people use day in and day out that paying 10x more for the latest name brand is ludicrous. Service universally sucks not matter which vendor you choose and the handset is going to be obsolete in a year or less, so why pay the premium? Get a phone now that does what you want it to do and don't get bamboozled by a load of useless gimmicks. Next year, sell off your aged piece of kit to somebody looking for a deal and pick up something else. Use the massive savings on a nice holiday somewhere sunny. (or buy food)

      1. ckm5

        Re: Obvious

        I disagree - I have a Nokia 1020 and a Sony RX1 (full-frame, 35mm f2 Zeiss lens). In quite a lot of areas, the 1020 can outperform the RX1 (recrop, focus speed, portability, even low light & dynamic range), particularly given the typical end-use, which is posting on the web at a significantly smaller size & resolution that most cameras. In those circumstances, you'd be hard pressed to differentiate the two, same goes with pictures out of an iPhone 6 or an LG G2/G3, all of which have vastly better cameras than any dedicated hardware less than ~$700.

        There are certain areas that are still problematic for some phones (DOF, low light, high iso), but modern phone cameras are miles better than quite a few dedicated cameras from several years ago.

        As someone who shoots a lot and has owned a lot of camera gear, from very cheap to absurdly expensive (think red dot), I'm leaning so much on the cameras in my iPhone & the 1020 that I rarely use the higher end gear. It's just not necessary to take fantastic pictures - most higher end phones from the last few years are good enough if you are a decent photographer. And to be a decent photographer, you must take a LOT of pictures with whatever camera you have at hand, not expensive dedicated gear.

        And, yeah, if you pixel-peep, the phone cameras might not pass muster, but specs don't create great pictures...

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Obvious

      iPhones used to have some sort of premium image, but as the masses have largely decided that having a mobile Internet slab is worth paying lots of money for the price Apple charges isn't seen as a lot any more.

      Apple should hike the price up to £1000 if they want to keep any illusion of prestige.

    7. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Obvious

      Phones all do basically the same things. Beyond a certain point paying more will not give you a better camera better or more accurate GPS. Being seen to afford a very posh car can make people pay for the flashpig model but I'm not sure the same really works for mobile phones.

      Indeed, so because of a lack of better ideas the manufacturers start making bigger phones, and people find them a bit too cumbersome to carry around so they don't buy them and look at mid range instead.

      I'll give the manufacturers a hint about some useful stuff:

      1. Readability in sunlight.

      2. Survive dropping from head height to concrete.

      3. Survive a dunk in a toilet

      4. Battery life able to sustain the advanced functions of the phone for at least a full day.

      5. Good solid signal strength in fringe areas.

      All those are genuinely useful. But instead we are getting more pixels that we can't even see.

  2. big_D Silver badge

    About sums it up for us.

    My family are all on 9€ to 24€ contracts without subsidised phones.

    1. gotes

      I've actually gone pay-as-you-go, and I'm not a teenager! After analyzing my usage over the past 6 months, I realised I was only using half of my bundled minutes and only a few MB of data every month. "Handsets upgrades" are procured from eBay when I break or lose the previous one.

      1. Teiwaz

        Pay-as-you-go vs. Pay-whether-you-go-or-not

        I came to the exact same conclusion in 2000 after one contract phone. Been on PAYG ever since. Usually buy my phones 2nd hand as well, same with my cars.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I'm not sure what contracts are for these days if you aren't buying a handset in the process.

        When I look at SIM free contracts the prices and offerings seriously suck compared to PAYG. It's almost like they're trying to discourage people from sticking with their current handset.

  3. Martin Summers Silver badge

    Network Quality?

    “Handset brands have become less important, and the quality of the network more important,” said Three’s CEO David Dyson.

    Nope. You're all much the same. Fact is there's just nothing exciting to be had anymore.

    1. goldcd

      Not quite true

      I spent last week working in the States, and being able to use by Three phone out there as if I were at home - no roaming charges, everything coming out of my 'near as damnit unlimited bundle. A revelation.

      At home, there's no real difference any more, I'd agree - but this is one thing I'm going to need if any other operator ever wants me back.

  4. RyokuMas
    Facepalm

    Oh dear...

    "“Handset brands have become less important, and the quality of the network more important,” said Three’s CEO David Dyson."

    Judging by my own experiences with Three, that's them screwed then...

  5. GregC

    SIM only is the only way for me

    and has been for years - just pay for the service and update my phone on my terms, as and when I want. People I know seem to be increasingly doing the same thing as well, and with handsets like the Moto G doing 90% of what a flagship phone can at a fraction of the cost it's becoming a practical option for more people.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: SIM only is the only way for me

      I just upgraded to a Moto G - I thought it was a flagship !

  6. cs94njw

    They need to start investing in the battery industry, before a Flagship phone becomes attractive at a high price.

  7. No. Really!?

    While it does feel like smartphones have moved into the "late Pentium" stage...

    How does :

    >Even Apple’s much-anticipated iPhone 6 exhibited the dreaded “flagship fatigue”: although sales >were up, the uptick was nothing like as great as in previous years.

    Square with having hoovered up more money in a quarter than any company before?

    I'm happy to believe it's going to be a different story next quarter, but right now it seems to be at odds.

  8. cambsukguy

    Looks much more like the money went to iPhones cause they made a bigger one.

    An overall dip makes sense in the saturated western markets though - it took a couple of weeks after release before I saw an iPhone 6 of any kind in the wild.

  9. Pen-y-gors

    Obligatory anti-fanboi tirade

    Actually, I'll skip it, it's boring.

    People buy smartphones because they can perform a function (I assume - if they want useless bling they would buy a diamond ring or gold necklace). If a mid-range phone is adequate for the job, then why would they buy top-of-the-range ones? I'm sure iPhones are quite effective tools for communicating and doing what they do, but I genuinely wonder at the mindset of people who buy them. Surely the rational approach is to buy a tool that offers good value for the purpose for which it is intended. If the manufacturer of the tool you're thinking of buying is making over £10 billion squids profit in three months, surely one would start to question whether it's really good value, or just very, very over priced, no matter that it does the job.

    Who are the people who pay over the odds for things? Are they the people who buy expensive designer clobber which they only wear a couple of times? Should I start a company selling gold-plated hammers at a 10,000% markup on manufacturing costs?

    I think I may be one of those boring old farts who foolishly thinks that clothes are just intended to keep you warm and dry, and which should last for years!

    1. gotes

      Re: Obligatory anti-fanboi tirade

      Who are the people who pay over the odds for things?

      I expect they are the same people who take out personal loans to buy a car or a piece of furniture, instead of saving up or buying second hand.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Obligatory anti-fanboi tirade

        @goa̶ts̶es "...loan....instead of ... buying second hand."

        "Instead"? I took out a loan to buy a 2nd hand car!!

        Of course... a Mercedes. A very nice one.

        At 0.75% interest rate.

    2. Richard Taylor 2

      Re: Obligatory anti-fanboi tirade

      "If the manufacturer of the tool you're thinking of buying is making over £10 billion squids profit in three months, surely one would start to question whether it's really good value, or just very, very over priced, no matter that it does the job."

      But then they might conclude that they are both getting a decent deal, cost of ownership low (in many aspects) at a greater initial cost, Integration effort of the originating company (plus very smart marketing) worth the premium? Maybe not, but your winge is not wel thought out.

    3. td97402

      Re: Obligatory anti-fanboi tirade

      Well, I don't know if I am a fanboi, I do know that I am not rich, don't wear designer clothes and my car is 8 years old. I am probably a tired old fart as well. All of that being said, I really like the build quality, simplicity and functionality of the iPhones. It is probably the only "luxury" product I own. I've also had great experience with Apple customer service on the rare occasions I've had to contact them. If Apple has managed to make a hefty profit then good for them. I am really enjoying my iPhone 6 and it didn't cost that much more than other high end phones.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Obligatory anti-fanboi tirade

        I use an iPhone too. Having tried on 3 occasions in the past to get along with Android phones, each experience just left me hating them even more. As an OS it is just too intrusive.

        So I use an iPhone, 2 years old, £150 off Ebay, 4G and does more than I need without making a big deal of itself. Absolutely nothing to do with luxury or bling.

  10. Khaptain Silver badge

    Flappy Bird Syndrome

    Whether or not you have a 6 inch 32 core i7 in your smartphone or 1/4 core Athlon, Flappy birds doesn't get any easier.

    In other words, the smartphones of today far outweigh the requirements that most users have.

    The capacity to have a 5 word instant message communication threads and the lining up of some silly fruits is all that is requried for 90% of the users that I see on the tram ride to and from work. They no longer need to spend 700 euros for this...

    1. BryanFRitt

      Re: Flappy Bird Syndrome

      "1/4 core Athlon"

      As if 1/4 core of any CPU would do anything useful without the other 3/4 of the core.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Flappy Bird Syndrome

      Not true. If you wish to view piss-poor websites such as Canada's National Broadcaster CBC.ca, you'll find your older devices bogging down due to the 130 to 200 separate element load calls that these World's Worst Webcoders (CBC.ca) have coded up. Two year old devices crash and burn due to their idiotic coders. Real amateurs those loons.

    3. Greg 16

      Re: Flappy Bird Syndrome

      That's not quite true. It's only really in the last 18 months, than I could buy a phone that can run a sat-nav app smoothly at the same time as receiving e-mails/texts/calls.

      What we're seeing is exactly what happened with digital cameras - rapid annual progress where it was worth upgrading almost every year, until they got so good that it's very difficult to justify upgrading at all.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Flappy Bird Syndrome

        "What we're seeing is exactly what happened with digital cameras - rapid annual progress where it was worth upgrading almost every year, until they got so good that it's very difficult to justify upgrading at all.

        Digital cameras actually started to get worse. Makers were in a senseless megapixel war, which meant cramming the sensor with too many small elements, each needing amplification resulting in high noise in images, and abominable low light performance. Canon actually took their Megapixel count down on their G range. All because the public understood a bigger number of pixels better than they understood a larger sensor area.

  11. K

    Curved screens... says it all ready

    The mobile industry is stagnant and short of ideas, its pretty much reminds of the mid-tier Laptop market, nearly every device is the same spec, very little to differentiate them.. I have a 2 year old Sony Z Ultra, with a 6.5" 1080p screen, 64Gb and runs Lollipop like a dream, runs all the latest and greatest games. There is virtually nothing new they can offer.

  12. DrXym

    I don't know why anyone buys a locked phone

    It's very rare for a "free" phone on 24 month contract to work out much better than just buying a phone and the SIM to go with it. As such I really don't why people would bother with the first option. It just means their phone is filled with network crapware, is locked to the network, firmware updates are few and far between and they're stuck on an expensive contract regardless of changes in their requirements or personal circumstances.

    All to save a few quid. It's not worth it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I don't know why anyone buys a locked phone

      Sometimes, an installment/hire-purchase plan is the only way one could afford something worth the puirchase, especially if they have money and credit trouble (meaning they can't make that big a gulp at once).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I don't know why anyone buys a locked phone

        People who can't afford a flagshop phone seem to be the ones most attracted to them. Stupid is as stupid does.

    2. David Paul Morgan

      Re: I don't know why anyone buys a locked phone

      my preferred method is definitely to buy the handset up-front and keep the connection + data part separate. I was on £10+£7(unlimited data) for ages.

      I did go the 24month route for my Z1 Compact which has 5GB data/month, but by going through Carphone Warehouse, it meant that the handset is 'unbranded' by the network operator, but I still kept the same network operator. I probably won't CyanogenMod this handset, as I like the Walkman & Sony Camera parts. To be fair to O2, their handsets are only lightly 'branded' and certainly not sim-locked to Network. (or have not been, in my experience)

  13. This post has been deleted by its author

  14. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    How does this square up with...

    the 76 million flagship phones that Apple sold last quarter?

    come on Mr O, we'd like an explanation or perhaps people are just turning away from flagship phones made by companies other than Apple?

    Otherwise, the article is saying,

    Apple is Doomed I tell ye, doomed.

  15. Down not across

    Shock! People on 24 month contract don't upgrade every 8 months

    HTC’s One M8 was down 23 per cent on the previous M7. The Samsung Galaxy S5 was 33 per cent down on the Galaxy S4. And Sony launched two flagships eight months apart, but neither matched the popularity of their predecessor; the Z2 was 23 per cent down and the Z3 61 per cent down.

    There is a hint up there especially with Sony, but equally valid point for Samsung and others. Most people (if they have gone the more or less subsidised route) are stuck with 18-24 month contracts. spewing out new models constantly doesn't fit in with the contract lengths. Combine that with the fact that mobiles have kind of plateaud a bit with no earth shattering reasons for people to upgrade and that will all hit sales.

    1. Greg 16

      Re: Shock! People on 24 month contract don't upgrade every 8 months

      Sony released the Z1, Z2 and the Z3 in the space of 12 months!

      I have a Z1 Compact and I love it - but it's so good that Sony will probably be up to the Z101 by the time I feel the need to replace it.

  16. OffBeatMammal

    Flag-sized

    the problem with most of the "flagship" phones is while they may have a nice feature or two, or a bigger CPU to cope with the OS they're running... they're getting freaking huge. 4.7" is a lot of glass to stick in my pocket, but with the new ones running to 5 or above to support UHD screens with advanced hyperbolic LTE and phase array GPS that works on Titan and other small moons the rise of the Man Purse will continue as people can't carry them any longer.

    On the subject of the battery... the fact these mobile devices need to be tethered for a top-up every couple of hours is becoming a joke. The bus-ride to work drops the battery on my (Android) m7 from fully charged to ~75% (listening to music and reading El Reg).

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch
      Thumb Up

      Re: Flag-sized

      with advanced hyperbolic LTE and phase array GPS that works on Titan and other small moons

      As everyone knows, you should always save hyperbole until you really need it. In this case, I approve, though I suspect that the natural evolution you are looking for is bigger hands/pockets rather than "man purses".

  17. Dr. Mouse

    There's always a trade off

    I have a friend who ensures that, when she buys a new PC, it is top of the range. She spends a hell of a lot of money, as much as she can afford, to get the latest everything.

    However, she expects that machine to last her for at least the next 5 years. She makes that investment for a reasonable length of time. By the end of it's life, it is still a reasonable machine, but then she can get a new one and get the speed bump.

    Myself, I go down another route. I upgrade often, a bit at a time, pretty much in a continuous cycle. But when I select my components, they are mid range at best. On average my machine is probably about as fast as hers: it will be slower at first after she's bought new, but will pass hers during it's life. But I avoid paying the premium for the top end.

    With phones, most people are locked in to a 2 year upgrade cycle (even if they aren't on a contract). If you don't upgrade, you won't get the latest OS, apps will stop working as well, and generally the experience goes down hill. Factor in to that the ridiculous costs of flagship devices (or the contracts for them), and the fact that a mid-to-low range handset is more than adequate for most people, and you can see why this is happening.

    1. Adrian 4

      Re: There's always a trade off

      If instead she bought a 2-year-old PC (that had been top of the line when new) and changed it after 3 years, she'd get much the same deal for about 25% of the cost. As with cars, but even more effective.

  18. MikeHuk
    Meh

    Just too expensive now

    I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and is certainly the best phone I have ever owned (including my previous Iphone). I would like a Note 4 but not at around £600 quid not enough extra value over what I have with the Note 2. No thanks Samsung.

    1. cmannett85

      Re: Just too expensive now

      I was in exactly the same position last month, I ended up getting a OnePlus - it's just as good as my Note 2 but only cost £270.

      1. jason 7

        Re: Just too expensive now

        My wife did the same. Had a Note 1 that was getting slow (though I did tell her and prove that the live aquarium wallpaper wasn't helping but you know...) and wanted the Note 4. One look at unlocked prices on Amazon and I was asking a mate for a OnePlus invite.

        She's as pleased as punch with a ultra snappy phone that goes four days on a charge and cost just over a third of the price.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Just too expensive now

        @cmannett85.

        Does the OnePlus also have the active stylus the same as the Note 2? For me the lack of the stylus is a killer, sorry.

        1. jason 7

          Re: Just too expensive now

          No, no stylus but to be honest...other than you, only folks in the marketing ads for the Note ever used one (or pretended to use).

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