[surfar]

The Chinese phones are just as good as Apple or Sammy and 1/4 the price...my latest is on a slow boat and they stopped 2 weeks for New Year!

U$250 2.5ghz Octacore, 4gb ram, 64gb storage + card space, dual sim,cameras fine $ony sensor,SUPER rugged IP68 construction.5.7inch screen,17.9 aspect...other bells and whistles.

[Jeff Lopez]

I think its because of personal credit. As milleniums and young generational are getting more self employed, its getting harder to adquire a 2 year plan. The companies are now stricter than ever to this. Also its almost impossible now to unlock current phones to other carriers, undermining the options of changing companies before your contract is up. A lot of people used to contract buy a premium, unlock it and sell for 2 times more, then use a cheap phone for the remaining contract time..Times are changing.

[Lord Lucan]

Smart phones aren't in decline, although sales of new models might be. It's an entirely different thing. People are just making their phones last longer and not seeing a reason to upgrade as often.

Exactly. When new tech is introduced it rapidly improves for a few years (think cars c1900, PCs c1985) but then the improvements level out, or are no longer needed (my 6 year old PC does all I need).

At that point the makers start introducing sales gimmicks to try to make people dissatisfied with what they already have, even their needs are already met. There even comes a point when the makers, to keep their profits up with declining sales, start reducing the features to save costs while maintaining the price (Apple do this - making gadgets thinner is a good excuse for removing features). However, enough people are circumspect enough at that stage to realise that they might as well keep their existing gadget until it fails. Hence the year-on-year sales fall.

[reeftool]

Smartphones were selling like crazy when the carriers were subsidizing the cost. As soon as your 2 years were up, you paid out another hundred bucks and got a new phone. That isn't happening anymore so sales have slowed a little. I kept my iPhone 5s for over 4 years until recently when I picked up an iPhone 8. A pretty good upgrade with the camera although I got a new phone for different reasons. I needed more storage space and 16GB just wasn't enough and the 5s bluetooth wasn't playing nicely with the new Garmin fitness watch I bought. I will keep my iPhone 8 for as long as it does what I need it to do. I think that's what most people are doing now and not upgrading automatically on a 2 year cycle.

[dstar]

I would expect the average consumer to eventually realize he or she does not need a new phone every 1-2 years

Sorry Adam You underestimated addiction Apple and Samsung to young customers
How many people stay near BH photo door when new camera go out for sale
Did you see how many people wait near Apple 1 store in SF or any city to pick just now new Apple device Price doesn't matter .It just crazzzy

[surfar]

Sorry Adam

Just think of how many K-1ii models would be sold if the offered an Apple as a bonus!Lots of campers outside the camera stores then!

[surfar]

Sorry Adam

Just think of how many K-1ii models would be sold if the offered an Apple as a bonus!Lots of campers outside the camera stores then!

[dstar]

Just think of how many K-1ii models would be sold if the offered an Apple as a bonus!Lots of campers outside the camera stores then!

Sorry production line to small Pentax will out from product in one day .
May better ask Apple injected little cash to Ricoh

[photoptimist]

Sorry Adam You underestimated addiction Apple and Samsung to young customers
How many people stay near BH photo door when new camera go out for sale
Did you see how many people wait near Apple 1 store in SF or any city to pick just now new Apple device Price doesn't matter .It just crazzzy

Although some people do go crazy for each new phone, the actual data show a significant lengthening of the average replacement cycle even for iPhones & Samsungs.

That's especially true in the US where complaints about lock-in and high-charges for early cancellation of cell phone contracts forced phone providers to end bundling. Now US phone buyers must pay full price for the phone up-front or explicitly sign a two-year purchase agreement and that creates a much bigger hurdle to upgrading.