No they don’t. What a rubbish clickbait article.
All they say is that there’s a (niche) trend of a few people using feature phones with expected combined sales of $2.8 million. Versus the $200 billions of iPhones alone.
They weren’t entirely wrong. The numbers don’t lie. They just don’t say what the author claims it does.
It’s directly in the headline: Gen Z is ditching the iPhone. That’s incorrect in two ways: A) it’s at best one in fifty people buying aforementioned feature phones and B) they don’t even know if all buyers replace their existing phone or buy it as an additional handset.
I have both a smartphone and a flip phone.
I kept both because the flip phone lets me make phone calls from my basement and many other places that the smartphone cannot.
I have never met anyone else with this setup.
the flip phone lets me make phone calls from my basement and many other places that the smartphone cannot.
Why? The smartphone supports everything the flip phone does. Honest question.
I guess the radio is a bit more efficient
Doesn’t seem very likely to me given that cheap feature phones likely use cheap older parts while flagship smartphones state of the art components.
He didn’t say his flip phone was cheap
I don’t know what to tell you. If that’s his experience…
I have never met anyone else with this setup.
That’s what I mean.
Can you not use Wi-Fi Calling?
Yes, I could. But that allows the phone company to be lazy about coverage and building their network. The primary reason I pay a monthly cell phone bill is for a good network.
It also gets into security issues that are different from cellular network use.
And what if my internet is down and I have an emergency?
How often do you have an emergency that combines lost wifi and inability to leave the basement?
The older I get the more possible that becomes. I am not 20 and bulletproof any more.
I had a biz partner who is a centimillionaire. He has an iPhone for data, and a flip-phone for calls.
I will now tell people I have a millionaire’s phone plan.
That’s still more than I expected. But it doesn’t look like the dramatic turn of tides.
I think it’s a fad. The moment you need a certain app or feature these feature (-less) phones become frustrating quickly.
Take the idea of taking a break from your smartphone on a vacation. You end up without a camera, without a map, without public transport apps, contact-free payment, etc.
I think you’d be surprised how easy it is to live without any of those things, even in the modern world. Also, feature phones have cameras and some basic apps. They’re not actually 80s cordless phones.
I wouldn’t be, because smart phones didn’t exist until I was in my 30s. No fucking way am I going back to paper maps and texting only through SMS with T9.
Okay. I’m not saying everyone should get a feature phone. I like paper maps though, and hate T9 less than I hate touchscreen keyboards.
Also, feature phones have cameras
I know the camera quality of this device category. They’re all crap, no exception. And even if you buy the best of the best it will cost you as much as a sophisticated smartphone that does everything better apart from maybe stand-by battery. Which is fine for an emergencyphone.
and some basic apps.
Mostly preinstalled because no app store, non-removable, and you never have to worry about missed updates because you won’t get any.
They’re not actually 80s cordless phones.
Agree, because they’re 2003 cordless phones and they suck for the everyday life of most people.
Okay. I didn’t say they’re good for most people. I don’t think they are. The cameras are good enough for me and the preinstalled apps usually include all the things I care about.
Also, why would I care about updates? Am I supposed to be afraid someone might hack my phone to steal my call history or something? The whole point is that it isn’t being used to log into every service on the face of the Earth.
Again, I’m not advocating for everyone to get a feature phone. I just think they do most of the things I use my phone for, and it would be pretty easy to just not do the rest. The fact that it’s not what most people want is not the same thing as it being terrible.
Thanks. Exactly what I thought.
“tHe NuMbErS doN’t LiE”
“Numbers” are some paltry bs that are “expected to grow in 2023” like BTC was “expected to hit a $100k in 2020”.
Welcome to news in Lemmy
I mean, the title is clickbaity, but what title isn’t at this point? The actual point of the article is just that there is a small but growing niche of younger people switching to feature phones. I think that’s neat, and I’m starting to consider a feature phone for my next phone myself.
Just because a lot of stuff is shitty doesn’t mean we should just a accept when things are shitty.
Yes, and pointing out that the title is clickbait is fine, but the entire post seems to be a disagreement with an article that agrees with the commenter. That seems to me to be a very unhealthy way of approaching the problem of clickbait titles.
Edit: I realized you’re not the original person I replied to.
Doubt.
Haven’t seen a flip phone in use in ages and I work among the public. Even the barely functional elderly on smartphones.
Who paid for this article? What’s their angle?
Just the other day I saw an article with the exact opposite headline about how Gen z is sticking with the iPhone. Now I don’t know which one is full of shit; but it’s obviously one of them.
It was about how Gen Z are rejecting “droids” in favor of iPhones
Playing_both_sides.jpg
Isn’t the angle just to sound interesting/controversial/unbelievable so people click and see your ads? You know, clickbait?
This is one job I’m glad AI is taking over.
For the past 10 years I never bought a phone for more than 300 euros.
I usually get a new phone every 3 years to have the latest tech and donate or recycle the old one.
For the last year I had an iPhone 13 pro (usually goes around 1100 euro) as a work phone and my personal Redmi Note 11 Pro I bought for 270 euros and not once I told myself: Man, this iphone is at least 3 times better than my Xiaomi. It’s clearly a premium product but a middle category budget phone can match most features and even more. I still have a headphone jack, bigger 120 Hz screen, IR blaster and an amazing fingerprint sensor.
iphone is clever marketing scheme to become a status symbol for a generation that no longer has a car as one.
And that’s why you shouldn’t buy those things new. If you really really want one, get a used one. Sure, it’s a few years old, but it’s fine as long as it’s still updated. Besides, you’re paying only a fraction of what it was when it was released.
you are talking about a car, right? because it doesn’t work well for iphone with their planned obsolescence… https://www.ifixit.com/News/11208/batterygate-timeline
Decaying battery is a serious issue in the long run. As long as you’re not buying a 5 year old phone, you should be fine. Get something that’s about 1-4 years old instead and check the battery health before the purchase.
If you need a battery replacement, that means that the previous owner abused the battery with suboptimal charging style or maybe the phone is old enough that you won’t be getting updates any more. In the latter case, it’s just pure planned obsolescence.
As for the article, slowing down the phone without the users consent was a bad move IMO. This shows how little Apple respects the user. Then again, tech companies tend to treat us like trash, so that’s nothing new.
Ya, this pretty much me. I had a bad experience with the budget pixel. Wouldn’t recommend them… But otherwise haven’t really missed out on having a top end flagship phone at all.
Yup, I’m on the Redmi train as well, got a Redmi Note 10, will probably upgrade next month or this month depending on how much money I have left after all expenses. Had it for 2 years or something and it has a crack throughout a good length of the screen otherwise I’d keep it even longer. Cost me 200 € new.
May just get the same phone you got or a newer one/alternative if I find one until then. -> Probably the Note 12 (Pro, if the features are worth it), looking at GSMArena right now. Rooting it again will be annoying though
Had it for 2 years or something and it has a crack throughout a good length of the screen otherwise I’d keep it even longer.
buying cheap screen covers from dealextreme, 20 pieces at a dollar per piece, is what kept my mi max 3 running for 5 years and counting. it still has enough performance for anything i do on it and i don’t plan throwing it away anytime soon.
Cheap smartphones are an incredible value. My wife bought a 180 EUR Realme 7 about 3 years ago, and it’s still working great, it’s plenty fast for everyday things (she’s not a gamer), has 8 GB RAM …
One thing you really need to compromise on are the cameras. But the problem is that I’m a sucker for cameras, so I keep buying expensive flagships …
maybe you would be better buying an actual camera. there are some really good compact cameras that aren’t necessarily heavy
I have a Fuji X-E3 with some nice lightweight lenses like XF35mm f/2, but even such combo is still far from pocketable. It’s also not great for immediate processing and sharing.
There are some 1 inch sensor compact cameras (Sony RX100), but they are pretty expensive and the IQ difference gets smaller compared to highend smartphones. In the end, my smartphone is the only device I consistently carry everywhere …
I’ve purchased several budget/midrange phones as my daily driver, and the long term performance simply wasn’t worth it based on the things that I do with my phone.
Now, this is based on cheaper phones with specs from several years so this doesn’t hold true anymore.
I though genZ only bought iPhone because of the green bubble or something?
That was never true to begin with
And i thought 90% of them have brain damage in general…
Aren’t they all broke as well?
I don’t trust these numbers, I really don’t trust any article that talks about my generation.
This same BS headline happens every generation. As soon as any small trends form, the media latch onto it like it’s gonna be the next big thing…
No, feature phones aren’t gaining mass adoption again. No, feature phones aren’t going to kill smartphones. It’s just a subset of people deciding to downgrade, or who want to buy a secondary phone.
Soon hipsters will be carrying wireless rotary phones.
USD$390.
This is a thing that isn’t happening, at least not among Gen Z. What a bullshit article.
As a millennial, the thought of ditching my smartphone is a thought that keeps coming up.
I did it for 3 months. I really enjoyed my time doing it and learned a lot about my usage. It was a cheap $50 experiment. After I went back to my smartphone, I uninstalled ALL social media apps. Turned off ALL notifications but left calls and messages as an exception. My smartphone is now essentially a feature phone. It’s not 100% the same since the big screen does lure you in to use it but my usage is still way down and because I don’t have any social media there’s no reason for me to be on my phone around other people. I wholeheartedly recommend trying it for those curious.
That reminded me how a local wanna-be influencer did a smartphone detox for a week, immediately after the completion she posted an FB story: Part 1 - Reflection, how eyeopening the experience was, how much time she suddenly had for the things that truly matter etc. Subscribe to not miss the Part 2!
Same. I’m beginning to hate having it.
Eh, I don’t like the idea of getting rid of my smart phone. But I did get rid of all the shit I didnt actually like. I use my phone for Music, maps, the camera, messaging a few people, and a few other things. I got rid of all the crap social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, even reddit(and have not put a lemmy/kbin app on there to replace it), there is not shit mobile games installed. Just does what I need it to do, and doesnt constantly bug me about Person X and what they had for lunch.
However, if I ditched the smart phone, I would need a phone still, but then I still need the MP3 player, a camera. And I would much rather have 1 bit of kit that does all that well, than 3 items.
If I was not disabled with way too much time to burn, and where the weight of a phone is ideal, I would go back to a dumb flip phone like this. Smart phones are an addiction that, at best, must be consciously managed. Heck, I’m beside my workstation procrastinating right now.
It’s after 1AM and I’m meant to be sleeping…what the heck am I doing? I’ll put the phone down now, just after I post this comment and maybe just refresh my front page one more time.
As if we needed another sign that ZDnet was trash…
I fucking hate these obviously bullshit articles. “Gen Z is using feature phones”, “Gen Z are using paper maps”, “Gen Z is doing XYZ”.
No, they aren’t. At best some sad excuse for a journalist found a handful of tweets and wrote a whole article on it like it’s a “trend”.
Look, I know “journalists” are being squeezed to produce at an unreasonable rate but if you write drivel like this then you have no business calling yourself a journalist, hell I don’t even think you can call yourself a “writer” or “contributor” either. It barely passes as writing and you are contributing nothing to society.
These articles of “Gen Z is doing X” is always wrong lol.
If only that’s allowed as a choice.
So many places assume you have a smartphone, and so many stuffs require one
There’s no rule that says flip phones aren’t allowed to have google pay. I think it’d be cool to see what a current year not-smartphone would look like.
This I wish, but I doubt. I still have my old Garmin GPS and play with the idea of a flip phone but I’ve been spoiled by the smaller things like iMessage not dealing with MMS. It’s an idea I come back to occasionally, but I also think about going back to my Palm with AAA batteries for my PIM needs. Had one in semi-regular-use as recent as 2018!
I’m looking at my Palm T|X or my Psion Revo as two potential revives. The Psion was quite awesome.
I used to have an orange Handspring Visor PIM, which ran the Palm OS. If I’m remembering correctly the original team that developed the Palm Pilot left to start Handspring. My friend topped me by buying the phone module for hers. It seemed almost breathtakingly futuristic at the time.
Havent seen “$100 feature phone” since 2017 when my grandpa upgraded his phone
- gen zThe games are better for one.
I’m so tempted to do this.
I did it for a few months and really enjoyed it. At the end of 3 months, I realized I could achieve nearly the same thing by turning off all notifications except messages and calls and uninstalling all social media. I realized… if I have the willpower to use a dumbphone I have the willpower to keep the distraction off my smartphone. Phone usage is now 100% intentional with the right setup.
Nice!
