Have we Reached PEAK Smartphone?

33 Comments

1. I have oneplus nord 2 and tbh other than more battery (current last up to 2 days) i don't know what can you even add. Maybe under display front camera or audio jack. Even mid range phone like this one runs everything, i play genshin impact on medium 60 fps and it is great.

2. I need apple to find an ios version that WORKS and stop changing and introducing new bugs. I'd like to keep my 13 pro max for a while. It took too long to get high refresh rate on iphone I think. Now that I have it i'm happy. Now just hammer out the bugs of ios so I can rely on the email app, etc. and stop changing it every year!

3. my htc10 had a resolution of 1440 x 2560, and i would be still using it but it broke

4. In my opinion, there are still a lot of things that can be improvised in the world of smartphones.

   For instance; the front facing camera. This has always been an awkward thing in a smartphone. It is a general fact that a smartphone needs a front facing camera. It did not matter if the user never uses it, it still is something that should not be left out.

   What made it weird is that the smartphone company seems to be in a dilemma on whether or not to hide the camera under the display like the Galaxy Fold 3 or placing it on a motorized part like OnePlus 7 Pro. On the other hand, iPhones and Vivo seems to embrace the huge notch in favour of better camera and additional tech.

   It is good that the rear cameras are having a major upgrade, but front camera seems to be left behind by a couple of years back. From my experience, I found myself needing to use the front camera a lot more than the back ones since it is needed in video call, video recording, and livestreaming.

   Another thing to mention is in the adoption of graphene as the new battery cell. We have heard on how the graphene can hold more capacity and emits less heat. But, till this day, lithium is still the primary sources of smartphone cells. The charger are improving, but what about the battery itself?

   In addition, smartphones are getting better than ever, so much so that it can replace the laptop segment. Yet, the transitioning phase seems to be very slow and a buggy mess. I love the idea that a smartphone as a compact form computer, like how Samsung Dex is. Yet, here we are lugging both laptop and smartphone everywhere we go.

   These are just some of my opinions on what the smartphone companies can improvise. I really want to see improvements, not just a yearly smartphone price increments.

5. I feel that performance is def worth the upgrade cycle, maybe not core speeds but more efficiency, ML and AI. These will drive the future tech and allowing these yearly upgrade cycles pushes the tech quicker and harder. From computational photography and now video, to dictation, to Assistant learning, none of these will please the spec-chasing demographic that are looking for gimmicks and BIG numbers but for the techies that love technological progress these year-on-year upgrades are still exciting.

6. I wish they would make smaller versions of phones. Using a phone with one hand is becoming almost impossible and as someone who doesn't watch a lot of content on my phone I miss the convenience of the smaller form factor.

7. There are plenty room for improvement with smartphones, esp. with SoC, software and ecosystem.

   The argument that the SoC's are fast enough that we don't need to care about them is just rather asinine, that comment only applies to the big CPU cores and the GPU, when there are so many aspects of the SoC that impacts the user experience is completely neglected there. Here are some recent news that showcases how much the SoC impact an android phone beyond genshin:

   – Oppo and Redmi have flagship phones this year that offers variants with Dimensity 9000 and SD 8G1, and the D9K variants have been tbagging 8G1 on its grave. Better real world gaming performance despite lower benchmark numbers because of the massive efficiency gap and lower device temperature doing so, and completely obliterating snapdragon in cpu performance at 20%+ lower power, and the big headline being 10+% battery life improvement with the same phone because of that efficiency gap.
   – Redmi has released K50 with a Dimensity 8100 variant, and it basically murders the 870 based sibling in battery life by more than an hour in common mixed usage tests. Notably, K50 has a variant with 870 that gets obliterated. 870 is 865 based, and it is no secret that 888 and 8G1 aren't exactly improvements over 865 for the battery.
   – Oppo offered their marisilicon externap NPU/ISP silicon on their find x5, only on the 8G1 model, and other parts of BBK like vivo seems to be doing the same. It has been reviewed by chinese reviewers that generally conclude it helped a lot in low light video, but not exactly doing better than samsung.
   – Apple's A15 offered a meagre ~5% efficiency gain on the big cores over A14, but the small cores received a massive boost in efficiency. These blizzard small cores draw around the same power as the android small cores, but out perform them by several folds, catching up to the big cores on the android side and surpassing a good number of them. That is exactly how apple got that massive battery life lead on IP13PM, none of that iOS optimisation nonsense. It is all hardware.
   – Since I mentioned small cores, android has been recycling the same A55 small core for the better part of the last decade, yet still manages to screw up the implementation. The last implementations of A55 from Snapdragon and Exynos gets murdered by Mediatek's in efficiency to the tune of 10s of percents, for SD in particular representing a regression over previous SD chipsets. Last year Arm Holdings released A510, the successor after more than half a decade of recycling harder than iphone designs. To my complete bewilderment, it offered zero efficiency gain. It is just a bigger core that draws linearly more power for more performance, even the official press material demonstrates zero efficiency gain.
   – Oppo selled a case with Find X5 Pro that helps with the cooling of the phone with quite significant thermal gains. It uses a gel material that is able to rehydrate itself with the humidity of air, takes around overnight to do so. The gel itself seems nothing new, but it represents a new external cooling implementation that goes beyond a fan or a massive phone that is much more elegent.

   With software and ecosystem, I simply believe current smartphone hardware are capable of much more than it is used for rn with samsung dex being the leader in harvesting that capability, this list of complains are going to be android focused because I am currently not using an iphone. Why is android allergic to more than one audio source playing at once? Why are android games always lacking support for controllers and/or K&M? Why can't we put full scale desktop apps into android if we think its performance is so good that we don't need more, where is my mobile blender, mobile matlab, mobile visual studio and most importantly a full scale desktop browser on mobile? Samsung is the only monitor maker offering a monitor that even takes miracast, why are we not pushing that to be the norm so android phones can offer a full desktop working environment wirelessly with common monitors when airplay is absolutely everywhere?

8. Great video, I've been thinking this for a while. I haven't upgraded in years and have no plans to barring phone death. Camera quality means nothing to me since the only time I use it is to either record a drawing I made or snaps for eBay crap. Mobile gaming is not for me either.

9. I changed my samsung note 8 that I bought when it came out, for note 10plus that also just came out, at the time I sadly broke my note 8.
   I didnt notice any difference between the two, as far as my usage goes. Only I didnt like note10 because the screen is far worse in direct sunlight.
   Im a heavy tech user. High end pc, gaming laptops, Vpns, Home networks, remote access, 3d printing remote controlls and monitoring etc.
   As far as a new phone goes, I wont spend more than 500-600usd on a new one… Because at that price range the phones now have everything I need.
   "flagships" today just raise price on 5% processor power, unneeded tons of RAM and high refreshrate that leads to poor battery life.
   Ill pass…

   Edit: my gaming rog strix g15 with 3070 cost less than a new phone. LOL

10. Please do a review on the hyperx alloy 65

11. i used to want the latest but now i just wait till the phone i have seems sluggish, the latest phone for me is irrelevant at this point.

12. 5G in the Netherlands, its completly covered 😅

13. I admire the way you explain, not a single filler word!. Salute!

14. My P30 Pro has a great camera, a full screen with no bezels, the battery life lasts all day and even though it's three years old I won't be upgrading.

15. The only really terrible thing about the Pixel 6 and 6 pro was the fingerprint reader,.
    After the march patch it is actually just as good as any other under screen reader.
    I'm very happy about that cause I was honestly going to get another phone because it was that annoying.

16. I'm sure you guys and other channels have done this but I'd love regular up dates on what a perfect phone would be for you guys. What phone is out now or in the past that fits that spot for you? What kind of features do you want in future phones that use to be a thing (headphone jack, MicroSD slot, removable battery) or features that you hope can come soon (waaaaaay smaller battery for same amount of power, batteries that degrade a lot slower)?

17. I hate the camera bump and its one of the worst developements they made in the last years. Can we please go back to flush fitments in the back?

18. I think smartphones are underpowered with respect to machine learning applications. I use tensorflow based TTS everyday in my my pixel 3a and it barely catches up. Also, the output quality is like an analog radio. What do you think?

19. I got an iPhone 13 pro a month ago because I dropped my 11 while I was running and it was damaged beyond repair. Honestly, the 13 feels faster and the camera is better but the 11 got the job done fine.

20. Like transparent glass smartphone as shown in sci- fi movies

21. a very good video and something i ask myself for a long time now. i see much less reason to upgrade every year. the changes are so minor and no innovations anymore.
    maybe when apple makes their first foldable smartphone, we will see something new.

22. What I really miss is actual thought-out plan for deployments – as in to make even mid-level phones resemble those expensive top rangers, certain finishes have been chosen just for the form, without taking into account usefulness.
    I mean, if the phone does not support wireless charging, why slap a glass back just to make it look better/fancier? Heck, the device has higher chance of needing panel replacement if you're not careful and if you are and you slap the phone in a case you're not going to even notice the glamour… On the other hand, slap a scratch-proof plastic/gum or even metal back like many mobile phone makers did back in the good old days of 2G/3G networks, and make the phone more durable and less prone to become e-waste and less prone to pick up fingerprints or scratches and the end user would have been more impressed. Even now, the top contenders from major brands support ceramics, faux-leather etc. finishes to emphasize the durability aspect, so the lower end of the spectrum should apply similar line of thought and just use what worked well for decades in the regular non-smart age of mobile market.
    Manufacturers slap few camera modules or even fake slapping them just to be able to fool some customers or say that they're offering 4-camera module… Instead I think that they should eg. focus on giving a better single camera module – make it a really good one, similar to what Sharp released in Japan. Do it once, do it well, not proclaim multi-camera modules when only 1 is actually useful. Money saved on those extra camera modules could be spent on getting the better one for the main snapper or two. And if manufacturers slap a camera module, at least they should make it a useful one, not a gimmick you're gonna play with the first 2 days of ownership only. Furthermore, if the multiple camera modules are used, they should not proclaim to have XX-mp camera system if only one camera sports it. The CPUs or RAM chips are not defined as eg. 2Ghz due to one transistor switching at that frequency, but rather by all the components capable of working at that speed as a whole, that is why we're getting then the silicon lottery aspect that allows some cores from your machine to reach very high speeds while others are limited to only a fraction of that speed and the whole package is sold as the common denominator/speed, not as the higher singular speed only. Similarly, if a phone comes with say 48mp+2mp+2mp, this should not be marketed as a 48mp multi-camera system, rather as a 2mp camera system with single 48mp module 😉 CPU market space managed to standardise and keep manufacturers in check, why not make it happen for smartphone makes as well? Maybe then instead of a 50MP-wide+5mp-uwide+2mp-depth+2-macro+2mp-infrared etc. products we could get a more balanced say new tech-based physically larger and better light gathering sensors of say 20mp-wide+20mp-uwide(with macro focusing)+20mp-tele package with same sensor only differing lenses? It'd be easier to color balance and be closer to how a real camera works with differing lenses… and more truthful when the manufacturer then says "true 20mp multi-camera-module system" 😉
    And then, the elephant in the room… Sure the phones are getting faster and faster, but the one thing that is not taken care as thoroughly is the battery life. Sure, the new SD8g1 or SD888 are fast beasts, but they also sip, or rather guzzle by mobile standards, energy from your precious limited reserves. Were the chips made in similar tech but more energy frugal, majority of users, those not living by the benchmark numbers alone, would not feel a difference in how the devices operate but they will benefit from a better battery life. Heck, even something as small as battery drain when the device is left alone on its own can make a phone better to use – iPhones tend to have lower single digit battery level losses over night, while many Android devices seem to have issues with lasting till morning if they're left with 20+% charge evening before… Since these are supposed to be mobile devices, not tethered ones, battery life should be the priority over thinness or form. Better battery life = less daily recharging required = less battery wear inflicted = smaller chance of battery/device replacement needed in short and long term. Win for the customers, win for the environment, only manufacturer support may lose customers due to no battery replacements attempts or manufacturers may lose customers due to them less in need of an upgrade over a year of use (thus breaking the yearly replacement expectations from the manufacturers)… Or to put it in another way – would you rather have your car be able to keep up with your daily routine and last say for a few days of driving or get a chance to drive a thing that on very limited occasions can get you somewhere a few minutes earlier at the cost of having to topple it up once a day or more often to get you through a day? Sure you'll find some wishing for that Bugatti's W16 or cranked-up dragster V8 guzzler under the hood of their daily driver but most would rather have something more dependable/usable over time…
    And finally the size… when smartphones started they had bodies that were then huge compared to many popular regular cell-phones, but they were miniscule compared to what we get today. The smaller device market is devoid of any useful/balanced new products… Sure, if the manufacturer takes great gear inside from a bigger brethren and scales the size of the screen and whole body down, the battery life will suffer enough to repulse users from choosing the smaller variant, especially if by smaller we mean only a fraction of the bigger longer-lasting brethren's size. Instead, let's just play with the idea, if eg. Apple took their iPhone Mini, scaled the screen down to 5" to further differentiate on screen size, had it with some impressive LTPO tech and refresh/resolution scaling down options, but nearly doubled the thickness in order to accomodate battery of the same total capacity as their Pro Max line, the battery life would have been far better, and the end product would have sold far better… All while the phone would have been far more one-hand managable… something a mobile phone should aspire to. Of course the other end of the spectrum would benefit from the phablet sizes, but "player on the go" type of customers would choose this mobile "console alternative" with larger screens and also larger batteries regardless of the smaller offerings presence in the product line-up.
    As a side note, I'd consider standardising the connections – get all the manufacturers to use eg. USB4 for data/video/power, and allow this to be software-optimised in ReadyFor/Dex wired/socketable formats, and also push for wireless solutions integration. I mean, it'd be great to have any phone capable of miracasting to any PC/computer/TV… But more so, it'd be more interesting to get to even more cable-free future – the SIM card solution is there as e-SIMs that should be far easier to exchange – just open an app from your carrier, download your "SIM" profile and apply on the e-SIM, all while on WiFi connection, and you're set to go… Want to switch to another ISP/PSP? Just use their profile… Less things to break/lose or open for ingress. Plus if done correctly and used by manufacturers, you might get a couple e-SIM "containers" to use at the same time same as with multi-sim-card solutions. If the hardware gets standardised and pushed by all manufacturers the carriers will get themselves certified and will start offering their support for the standard… Get the wireless integration with other devices throughout the markets and we might no longer require a cabled interface… unless you need to do some low level rooting procedure in a support booth 😉

23. Waiting for Watchdog-like smartphone then it means we reached peak smartphone

24. I wonder if anyone cares about smartphones anymore. I remember following every new flagship phone release. At some point it was pointless anymore as it was basically same phone at some point with higher price. Wonder if ppl still excited about new cpu/ gpu or camera capabilities. I don't see difference anymore other than specs on paper.

25. We still have hole punch cameras and this guy's already asking if we've reached peak smartphone. You gotta think bigger than that

26. Still using 4 year old phone with sd835. Ok, for "gaming" it's not that good, but I don't really need it for that. Everything else works just great. I've just replaced the old battery and plan on using it for a while…

27. Honestly, the only things 'wrong' with my old Xiaomi Mi 5 was the lack of Android /MIUI updates, the poor camera and the terrible battery life after the last update.

    With the Redmi Note 10 (250 Euro phone…) I have solved all of those points, but I'd really wish that I could replace the battery easily, like I could on the Galaxy Nexus.

    Yeah, I definitely feel that smartphones have plateaued, to the point where taking features away (headphone jack, SD card, etc.) is now used as excuse instead.

28. This is a question that is always asked every year and the answer is still the same, no

29. Thanks for video!
    You told about think what I think when I buyed my iphone 13 mini.

    I can buy iphone 13 pro, but for what? I use phone only for call and chat, some times for watch video…
    I buy 13mini because my iphone se (2016) just die. On one morning I wake up and see how my phone don't work… I get my wife and we go to store for new phone. She told me "look, that 13 pro so cool, so pretty color, pro motion and etc.", she have iphone 12.
    Because I use se2016, I wanted small iphone. Now I absolutely happy and I don't understand people who told "oh, that mini have so smaller battery" or "u don't see some content"…
    I don't care, I buy this iphone because he covers my needs.

30. I only upgrade when my battery dies. Since i can't swap it myself. Other than that, browsing the web, watching youtube, navigate, listen to music, shooting photos and taking part in social media is all I do on these things anyways. And even low end devices can deliver.

31. Honestly the worst part is removing sd cards, limiting storage space yet pushing the pixel amount on cameras. Who the hell would use 8k video or 108pixel photos when you are limited to 256gb?

32. basically it feels like if the manufacturers don't slow our phones down to protect the batteries we won't need a new phone unless we want one 😀

33. I think we hit peak Slab like a dacade ago not peak smart phone. What we need know is old '00s designs to come back like what the Gemini PDA is… Like imagne a new brick with a year of stand by battery life or a phone with physcal controls for days… Like why don't we have a IR,Back and front finger print sensor? Like why waste the back like that? I really don't get way Phone companies are the most conservitiive design was of all tech maker…. Like why?

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