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Downside to an upgrade

Hindustan Times Navi Mumbai

November 15, 2025

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

- 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.

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