Gen Z is ditching iPhones for $100 'feature phones,' and the numbers don't lie
Gen Z and millennials have become the unlikely heroes to revive the slow-fading phone market in the US, according to Counterpoint Research.
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No they don't. What a rubbish clickbait article.
All they say is that there's a (niche) trend of a few people using feature phones with expected combined sales of $2.8 million. Versus the $200 billions of iPhones alone.
They weren't entirely wrong. The numbers don't lie. They just don't say what the author claims it does.
It's directly in the headline: Gen Z is ditching the iPhone. That's incorrect in two ways: A) it's at best one in fifty people buying aforementioned feature phones and B) they don't even know if all buyers replace their existing phone or buy it as an additional handset.
I have both a smartphone and a flip phone.
I kept both because the flip phone lets me make phone calls from my basement and many other places that the smartphone cannot.
I have never met anyone else with this setup.
the flip phone lets me make phone calls from my basement and many other places that the smartphone cannot.
Why? The smartphone supports everything the flip phone does. Honest question.
I guess the radio is a bit more efficient
Doesn't seem very likely to me given that cheap feature phones likely use cheap older parts while flagship smartphones state of the art components.
He didn't say his flip phone was cheap
I don't know what to tell you. If that's his experience...
I don’t know what to tell you
Well, you apparently don't know the cause of his experience, so duh ...
I have never met anyone else with this setup.
That's what I mean.
Can you not use Wi-Fi Calling?
Yes, I could. But that allows the phone company to be lazy about coverage and building their network. The primary reason I pay a monthly cell phone bill is for a good network.
It also gets into security issues that are different from cellular network use.
And what if my internet is down and I have an emergency?
How often do you have an emergency that combines lost wifi and inability to leave the basement?
The older I get the more possible that becomes. I am not 20 and bulletproof any more.
Too true. Sad what life does to us.
I had a biz partner who is a centimillionaire. He has an iPhone for data, and a flip-phone for calls.
I will now tell people I have a millionaire's phone plan.
That's still more than I expected. But it doesn't look like the dramatic turn of tides.
I think it's a fad. The moment you need a certain app or feature these feature (-less) phones become frustrating quickly.
Take the idea of taking a break from your smartphone on a vacation. You end up without a camera, without a map, without public transport apps, contact-free payment, etc.
I think you'd be surprised how easy it is to live without any of those things, even in the modern world. Also, feature phones have cameras and some basic apps. They're not actually 80s cordless phones.
I wouldn't be, because smart phones didn't exist until I was in my 30s. No fucking way am I going back to paper maps and texting only through SMS with T9.
Okay. I'm not saying everyone should get a feature phone. I like paper maps though, and hate T9 less than I hate touchscreen keyboards.
Also, feature phones have cameras
I know the camera quality of this device category. They're all crap, no exception. And even if you buy the best of the best it will cost you as much as a sophisticated smartphone that does everything better apart from maybe stand-by battery. Which is fine for an emergencyphone.
and some basic apps.
Mostly preinstalled because no app store, non-removable, and you never have to worry about missed updates because you won't get any.
They're not actually 80s cordless phones.
Agree, because they're 2003 cordless phones and they suck for the everyday life of most people.
Okay. I didn't say they're good for most people. I don't think they are. The cameras are good enough for me and the preinstalled apps usually include all the things I care about.
Also, why would I care about updates? Am I supposed to be afraid someone might hack my phone to steal my call history or something? The whole point is that it isn't being used to log into every service on the face of the Earth.
Again, I'm not advocating for everyone to get a feature phone. I just think they do most of the things I use my phone for, and it would be pretty easy to just not do the rest. The fact that it's not what most people want is not the same thing as it being terrible.
Thanks. Exactly what I thought.
“tHe NuMbErS doN’t LiE”
“Numbers” are some paltry bs that are “expected to grow in 2023” like BTC was “expected to hit a $100k in 2020”.
Welcome to news in Lemmy
I mean, the title is clickbaity, but what title isn't at this point? The actual point of the article is just that there is a small but growing niche of younger people switching to feature phones. I think that's neat, and I'm starting to consider a feature phone for my next phone myself.
Just because a lot of stuff is shitty doesn't mean we should just a accept when things are shitty.
Yes, and pointing out that the title is clickbait is fine, but the entire post seems to be a disagreement with an article that agrees with the commenter. That seems to me to be a very unhealthy way of approaching the problem of clickbait titles.
Edit: I realized you're not the original person I replied to.