Every year, tech reviewers position the latest chip as much better than the old one, and the same thing happens next year, and the next. The Snapdragon 8 Elite was better than the Gen 3, which was better than the Gen 2, and so on.
If the “flagship” chips are so good, why not just stop to save cost? Why upgrade the chipset every year with minimal gains?
If everyone stuck with the same generation of chip, smartphones could be cheaper (good for consumers) OR profit margins could be increased (good for companies). Or maybe a mix of both.
What drives the yearly update in chips? AI maybe?
I disagree. New smartphones may have a few better specs, but are overall worse than older models.
For example, they are getting bigger and bigger and can’t be operated one handed any more, even with Androids one-handed mode, because the zoom makes everything tiny.
Newer phones become hotter, batteries more likely to turn into spicy pillows.
More bloatware preinstalled, like AI stuff or “AR Emoji” etc.
The camera notches are growing too, even though most people would be fine with notchless cameras.
They are getting heavier and thicker too. In 2015 we had 5.1mm 98g phones. Not even a notch. It all went downhill from there.
And don’t even get me started on the prices.
Well it’s not ALL progress, personally I’d like the notification LED and the mini jack back.
But overall, I think modern smartphones are amazing.