Apple just announced the iPhone 7 and many Apple fans and iphone owners will upgrade for the name, likely not even being aware of the differences between their iPhone and the new one. Some consider Apple the epitome of capitalism, people having a market to shop, a preference, a company to rally behind, and the company has a product, the masses, and the ingenuity to sell.
I used to be more excited about phone upgrades and new phone announcements, but that was before Android and iOS, back when one phone couldn't have a great battery, screen, interface, and camera, it was at most pick-two. Now they all have it all, and yet they have nothing new. The camera is a little better, the battery is a little better, the screen is a little better. All are upgrades but for a little better why are people still paying $700 or more for a new phone?
When people celebrate capitalism they often mention the size and price of computers over the years and sometimes cell phones but lately it seems like phones are not getting cheaper, only slightly nicer. It's not just Apple it's Samsung, Sony, LG, and others that have fallen into the same rut. So maybe Apple isn't dying, not alone, maybe it's variation that is. New technologies will open new options and create more variation, in time. For industry leaders it's easy to get into a mindset of infinite growth, our economy is based on that outlook. But we are in a lull and it's not a bad thing, it should be a great time for prices to go down and to improve on all the technologies little by little as we have. But the corporations making our cell phones are acting more like our politicians, giving us the same product we already have for a lot of money and selling it on the idea that it's great because it's not the competition.
It's no secret that people are getting pretty sick of establishment candidates and the 2016 election has had a few unexpected twists and turns but mostly apathy. People are starting to see this with technology, TV's have been moving in that direction too, there is only so much HD and Ultra-HD one can get excited for. With phones I hear rumblings of people asking why can't phones be thicker with better battery life, seemingly the opposite of what manufacturers think people want.
So what's next? .......Nothing, for a while. Remember a few years back when the movie theaters weren't making money and they were claiming it was because nobody wanted to go the cinema to see a movie, that people were happy at home with a big screen television and too many people were pirating movies? Then we saw the quality of movies go up and people returned to the cinemas and that is exactly what will need to happen with cell phones and other electronics. Sales will eventually stagnate, the biggest corporations will blame consumers for declining sales and they will start listening, and I mean really listening to what people want. And that is when products will improve and so will sales. Research will need to change direction, maybe a few times before they hit on the features that will make a difference.
The boom and bust of the market, a beautiful innovator but unfortunately it requires stagnation to inspire the innovation that will define future products. In the mean-time we will have to put up with celebrating mediocracy. And just like the election, not voting is a vote for none of the above and voting for the lesser evil brings more mediocrity. At least with technology it's much easier for the average person to vote with their dollars.