I’ve been thinking lately that phone companies are adopting a business model similar to HP’s old printer-ink strategy: selling devices as gateways to monetize user activity. Over time, phones might become cheaper and higher quality, but brands will compete to lock us into ecosystems where they profit from ads, services, or exclusive apps.

My POCO phone, for example, is great value, but it pushes me to watch banner ads during security scans. These are framed as "security recommendations" while quietly generating extra revenue for them. They even have their own short-form video platform, similar to TikTok, exclusively for POCO users, which feels like another layer of monetization.

On a related note, I use Brave for its sleek design and ad-blocking, though I switch to Opera’s free VPN to bypass geo-restrictions. It’s fascinating how this lets me search topics like "Australia’s view on Imran Khan" and get unfiltered global perspectives. (Side note: Bing’s AI image creator is a lifesaver when my free ChatGPT quota runs out!)

It’s clear companies are prioritizing secondary revenue streams over pure hardware sales. The question is: Are we trading upfront device costs for a lifetime of targeted ads and platform lock-ins?