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Is it time to question the yearly release cycle for phones? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip to c/technology@lemmy.world

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So recently I've been seeing the trend where Android OEMs such as Google, Samsung, etc. have been extending their software release times up to like five, six, and seven years after device release. Clearly, phone hardware has gotten to the point where it can support software for that long, and computers have been in that stage for a very long time. From what I can tell, the only OEM that does this currently might be Fairphone.

Edit: The battery is the thing that goes the fastest so manufacturers could just offer new batteries and that would solve a lot of the problem.

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[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I don’t even understand the concern here: why shouldn’t manufacturers have a yearly release cycle? Technology continues to change and there’s value in continuing to improve. I also don’t understand how better software support means less hardware improvement.

If you mean “a consumers yearly purchase cycle”, then yeah. Long since. It’s such a huge waste of money for incremental value and always was. Don’t get caught up in the hype or be manipulated by marketing. It always made more sense to upgrade on your terms

[–] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The annual cycle is quite nice from a buyer's perspective too, when I need a new phone I've got a reasonable idea that Google aren't going to release a new device in a couple of months and leave me feeling shafted.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Very true. In contrast, I’m fed up with Firestick and am interested in trying AppleTV instead. But that device is two years old. I’m not in a hurry to buy, so that means I’m on the sidelines as I waited for the Spring announcement, then the summer announcement, then the fall announcement, and a new model never came. Now I’m getting stubborn: there must be a new version coming soon. If I knew when to expect any update, Apple would likely already have my money