Counterpoint Research's analysis shows that at its peak in 2017, there were more than 700 smartphone brands contributing to the 1.5 billion units sold annually. In 2023,...
    • genoxidedev1@kbin.social
      45·
      10 months ago

      With all the shitbrands on amazon and similar sites I was only half surprised but still 100% more surprised than I should have been.

    • erwan@lemmy.mlEnglish
      25·
      10 months ago

      Most of them were not real manufacturers, but slapping their name on Chinese white brand phones.

    • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      111·
      10 months ago

      The movement for free and open source software has not achieved a world in which most people use only FOSS. But it has achieved a world where there is a lot of diversity in technology, including many Android smartphone brands you haven’t heard of.

    • toddestan@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      Maybe they are counting all the times Microsoft launched a new brand of phone and then unceremoniously killed off about 6 months later?

  • master5o1@lemmy.nzEnglish
    1042·
    10 months ago

    Were they real or just shit novelty, scams, or rebadges and sister brands of those multi brand companies like BBK?

    • 3laws@lemmy.worldEnglish
      983·
      10 months ago

      LG was the shit. Best DAC, first to the multi cam game, clean looks, innovative designs, pristine screens.

      • I may add I’ve owned the V35, V40, V50 and V60. I’m a video specialist and the manual video control with audio levels have been a lifesaver more often than not.
      • InvertedParallax@lemm.eeEnglish
        15·
        10 months ago

        V30, V35, V60, they put out world-beating designs without any of the shitware.

        But fuck one goat (V20 bootloop)…

      • phx@lemmy.caEnglish
        13·
        10 months ago

        LG and HTC. The Razor Phone 2 was also pretty cool but didn’t sell well so they didn’t make a third gen

        • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          8·
          10 months ago

          I had a razor phone 2. It was trash. That’s why they didn’t make a third gen.

          Within 6 months I was getting screeching from the speakers intermittently, even when nothing was supposed to play (known issue they wouldn’t cover), and at the year mark the charge port stopped working (also known issue they wouldn’t cover), so I had to use wireless charging from then on.

          Apps also thought it was a tablet semi-frequently, I assume due to misconfigured android version settings or something. This caused the display scale to be too large to actually use. My thermostat app was one such so I could turn the heat up, but not down. The down button was cut off.

          • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzEnglish
            4·
            10 months ago

            It’s a shame, because the Nextbit Robin was such a cool phone. In a market full of black glass slabs, they stood out and did something different. Every time I took out the Robin in public, people were wowed by it and asked me what phone it was.

            Their community involvement and customer support was also a refreshing change compared to other big companies - like they worked closely with custom ROM developers, and were even quite active on Reddit, taking user feedback and implementing fixes quickly. Everyone was looking forward to a Robin 2, but unfortunately Razer bought then and ruined them forever.

            • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              2·
              10 months ago

              That’s sort of what I was expecting when I bought it. A wow device from a company that makes gaming hardware. And for a while it was awesome. (I had no prior experience with razor products, and that soured me to ever considering them)

              The sound on it was phenomenal, battery lasted decently, and the screen and refresh were great for games. Good weight, seemed like a nice phone.

              It just fell apart super fast, and they covered none of it because they could find a way to blame you, certainly not worth the $400.

              For example their reaction to the charge port issue was to say that if you ever used a third party charge cable, it wasn’t warranted anymore because it wasn’t OEM and they can’t guarantee the charge cable was within tolerance. And literally who hasn’t used a third party cable ever in a pinch?

              But it was a known issue because their specs were ever so slightly different than standard; a standard cable apparently stretched out the metal port housing causing loose connection, which it turn resulted in uneven pressure on the connector chip, which unseated it from its board, causing charging to fail.

          • phx@lemmy.caEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            I still have one - though I don’t really use it much - and the only issue I ever ran across was a bit of sound feedback as well, but that was caused by the shitty Dolby software. Disabled that and it was fine

        • 3laws@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          10 months ago

          I can settle for a Fairphone just because of the philosophy. Sony and Asus still listents to consumer feedback (I’m talking about that glorious headphone jack) on their flagships so maybe one by them.

      • andyMFK@reddthat.comEnglish
        6·
        10 months ago

        I have no idea what I’m gonna do when my LG eventually dies. I went from the v30 to the v40 and now the v50. Not a single phone on the market offers what I want in a phone anymore

      • TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.comEnglish
        4·
        10 months ago

        I liked that my LG phone had a back made of metal. I don’t like that phones are entirely glass now, it makes them feel delicate and fragile and they get covered with fingerprints immediately.

      • gnygnygny@lemm.eeEnglish
        4·
        10 months ago

        First really modular phone. But the conception and logic of LG was sometimes very disappointing like the humidity sensor on the mainboard blocking the touchscreen on the G5. That was betting against customers.

      • MacGuffin94@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        I’m running my V60 into the ground. Easily the best phone I’ve ever had and I’m really disappointed I won’t be able to get another LG when this one dies.

        • 3laws@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          Same, I’ve replaced the screen twice and upgraded the battery. No sign of stopping anytime soon.

    • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      10 months ago

      Lot’s of crypto phones as well, who scammed promised users to return them the value of the phone by using it to mine some shitcoin.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1325·
      10 months ago

      Well, yes, that’s how it works. What’s the problem? We should have 500 factories cranking out pollution and waste vs. the cream of the crop rising up?

      • neptune@dmv.socialEnglish
        38·
        10 months ago

        That’s not really how it works. I would bet most of these companies were building their phones in the same factories as other small time brands. It’s not like they were all making their own chips and capacitors and assembling every last piece.

      • sebinspace@lemmy.worldEnglish
        26·
        10 months ago

        I’m mocking the fact that the articles are often written in such a way that I should feel sorry for the companies that die, like how we killed the Diamond industry and the fashion industry and gasp the napkin industry

  • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
    57·
    10 months ago

    Smartphones have reached a maturity level where upgrades aren’t really exciting. Sure there are the usual hardware power upgrades (and even those don’t really open up new applications), but in terms of features they’re not coming out with anything really novel. Last thing I could think of is bringing back folding which I do find appealing, but not for the cost or the reliability issues.

    • locuester@lemmy.zipEnglish
      102·
      10 months ago

      One of them has to do 3d camera sooner than later. It’s so close… just need another camera at the bottom back of the phone.

      • Jumpinship@lemmy.worldEnglish
        151·
        10 months ago

        This has been tried and I’ve tried one out back in android KitKat days. Glassless display and all. HTC phone. They’re now bankrupt. The battery lasted a few seconds, and the display was not amazing, and even if done better today it’s a gimmic at best

      • vonbaronhans@midwest.socialEnglish
        7·
        10 months ago

        There have been plenty of phones and tablets with 3D camera systems. It’s just not something that most consumers really want or need, so it tends not to become mainstream.

        It still comes up every now and then. The iPhone 15 has a computational 3D camera thing it can do, but I’ve seen virtually no buzz about the feature.

        • locuester@lemmy.zipEnglish
          51·
          10 months ago

          No I mean true 3d by taking 2 pictures an eye length apart. Not ml based (or otherwise) depth sensor stuff.

          • skyspydude1@lemmy.worldEnglish
            8·
            10 months ago

            I had a phone that took 3D pictures with a true stereoscopic camera and had a 3D display all the way back in 2011, an LG Optimus 3D. It was really neat, but 100% a gimmick because you could only share them with other people who also had the same phone or a 3D TV/monitor, and photos took up 2x as much space. You could still obviously share/view them in 2D, but it kind of defeated the point.

            The one really neat feature was that it could “convert” games into 3D, which worked pretty well and was a pretty cool effect overall.

            • MrPear@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              9 months ago

              I hate that LG left the market. A LOT of innovation came from them, including a lot of quircky (and often cool) features. They experimented a lot which didn’t always work out, but often it did work out great and it made their phones a lot more exciting then most other brands. Because of this a lot of features that are now the industry standard, like having a wide-angled camera lens, were popularized by LG. And yet, somehow, most people don’t know this and always saw it as a lesser brand.

          • GamingChairModel@lemmy.world
            English
            4·
            10 months ago

            The iPhone 15’s system will use two lenses and two sensors. It hasn’t been launched on the software side, but is expected in the next few months using the existing hardware.

            And it doesn’t need to be an eye length apart: the parallax between two lenses can create an accurate 3D image. Apple’s AR/VR system will also give a way to view/share the actual captured video, assuming it gets some level of adoption.

      • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        10 months ago

        The problem with 3D pictures is needing something to view them on. I’ve heard of one phone from maybe a decade ago that had a full 3D display that could be viewed from a wide range of angles, but it cost way too much and heavily sacrificed display resolution. Without widespread adoption, it’s doomed to be mostly a gimmick. Some would argue that it’ll always be a gimmick, but I think if it was widespread it’d basically be like high resolution i.e. an enhanced way of looking at content. Maybe not mindblowing after you’re used to it, but worthwhile if it can be done without sacrificing too much.

      • tehmics@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        5·
        9 months ago

        I had it, it was called the HTC Evo 3D. Used the same type of display as the 3ds. Wasn’t particularly well supported but it technically worked I guess.

  • applejacks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5225·
    10 months ago

    We are heading towards a future of Apple, Samsung, and Google, with even the latter two struggling to stay afloat.

    And to be fair, Google deserves a lot of the blame for this happening.

    • ramble81@lemm.eeEnglish
      604·
      10 months ago

      Tell me you only live in an American bubble without telling me you live in an American bubble.

    • dual_sport_dork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      281·
      10 months ago

      I’d doubt Samsung will be struggling to stay afloat. They’re so diversified they could pick one of their departments to throw money at and just run at a loss in perpetuity, if they felt like it. Apple makes phones, computers, and phone and computers accessories.

      Samsung makes phones and computers. And appliances. And chips. And container ships.

    • 💡dim@lemmy.worldEnglish
      172·
      10 months ago

      Huawei and Honor can both survive purely on domestic sales before you even worry about ROW.

      No idea why you think there are only three brands, or why you think the US is the only market that matters (it’s fairly obvious you are US based)

  • malchior@aussie.zoneEnglish
    25·
    10 months ago

    LG failed because for some stupid reason, they decided to sell 9 million different phones between countries.

  • doublejay1999@lemmy.worldEnglish
    273·
    9 months ago

    apple & china robbed us of so much, if you’re a gadget guy.

    i had sony phones, laptops, palm pilots, panasonic bit and bobs.

    i get that technology has advanced infinitely in the last 20 years, but we are on a very narrow path at the moment.

    • elucubra@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      7·
      9 months ago

      Sony still makes phones, some super high end, bur their marketing sucks balls

      • HollandJim@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        As did their support - I had a p800 and p910, and while they looked cool, they were really not great compared to my original iPhone. Everyone here can romanticize all they want, but leaving symbian for ios was like a revelation; I can still remember the wonderment.

        Its so cool to be contrary and hate the successful thing now, but nothing was “stolen”. You always had choice. Its not what was chosen though - that how evolution works.

    • Pratai@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      9 months ago

      Yeah…and google had nothing to do with that. It was ALL Apple & China.

  • WuTang @lemmy.ninjaEnglish
    251·
    10 months ago

    what was their added value despite cutting down price with their poor hw and integration, shitty drivers?

    I mean, FairPhone, Librem, PinePhone have real value and strategy, sure not perfect but this Vitamin (real chinese/french mark), LIPOq or VARK chinese knock-off phones, really, what did they expect?

    those craps were like throwaway cameras in the 90’s.

    • space@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      14·
      10 months ago

      But I loved my HTC 10. And let’s not forget about LG. Also, Sony, Motorola, Nokia are just a shadow of their former selves.

      Today your main choices are Apple, Samsung or a Chinese brand (Oppo, Xiaomi etc). Sure, there are those niche phones like Pixels and Fairphones used mostly by nerds, but they are a tiny market.

  • EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    16·
    10 months ago

    I didn’t even know there were that many.

    I’ve been using motorolla android phones for like…16 years now.

    I just remembered! I got a samsung recently.

    • Spaniard@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      Motorola phones for me and my family, they are reliable and work. At work they give me Samsung phones I guess that knox things sells to companies.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    I liked some of them. I still wonder how many were Amazon’s random relabeled crap like AIUEO.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
        21·
        10 months ago

        It clears out companies who fail to complete. There are only so many people willing to buy a phone at a time and too many phones on the market means that the phone companies won’t be able to sell enough phones to stay afloat. This means that the companies who can’t offer a compelling device to consumers will disappear.

        Its similar to natural selection

        • caseyweederman@lemmy.caEnglish
          71·
          10 months ago

          My response got eaten so here’s the gist: big tree gets all the sunlight, and you rejoice when a few saplings choke each other out.

          The entrenched companies don’t need to do anything other than exist in order to eliminate competition. Fewer saplings means less risk of the big tree getting disrupted. That means less innovation.

            • caseyweederman@lemmy.caEnglish
              5·
              10 months ago

              Break up the monopolies and encourage actual competition and innovation instead of this stupid hopeless deadlock.

              • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
                1·
                10 months ago

                I don’t think Tue android phone space is a monopoly. (Not counting Google’s control of course) A monopoly is when a single company is the only one selling a product or service