Downside to an upgrade

Phones used to be exciting. Now, each new model feels like the same idea rehashed over and over. Why aren't innovation and fun part of the specs?

- Christalle Fernandes

In Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, Klara and the Sun, the humanoid robots refer to phones as “oblongs”. Phones have been feeling very oblong-y and uninspiring lately. A Reddit user on the thread r/ UnpopularOpinion commented: “I can’t believe we're all just roaming around with these flat bricks in our hands.”

A decade-and-a-half ago, everyone waited breathlessly for iPhone launches and the friendly fire that would ensue when Samsung tried to one-up their rival. When Samsung introduced curved screen displays in 2013, it felt like the future had arrived.

No frill was left unfrilled: Phones came in limited-edition colours, camera upgrades really made a difference, we learnt to swipe-text, open a drawer of apps, use our face to unlock the home screen.

"Every phone that came out then felt brand new," says Delhi-based techcontent creator Yukti Arora. "Every year gave us bigger touchscreens, fingerprint sensors, dual cameras. Each upgrade changed how we used our devices."

Then, innovation slowed. Updates became more about boring specs that only gadget nerds cared about. Manufacturers ran out of ways to copy each other. Apple’s iPhone launches have a breathless sameness to them. No one cares which version you have.