The transcript in Apple conference call actually had a question similar. There are still new customers coming into the iPhone ecosystem, but the number suggest that users are now taking slightly longer cycle upgrading their Phones. So while in terms of market usage it is still expanding slowly, the unit sales is flat / stable.
For Android this is more of a problem, since there are larger number of people switching to iPhone then vice versa.
I personally do not feel any need to replace my current phone (even though it's 4 years old) - the new one simply will not really add any significant value to my everyday smartphone experience
Yesterday I've replaced the battery because the old one was slowly dying (cost me around $8), and that's it
Is the "post-smartphone era" coming soon?
As it is, the main issue with old devices right now is that most of them are Android, and basically unsupported. If the dominant mobile phone OS ever gets serious about long term support, sales will slow even further. Maybe that's why they haven't.
That is like saying you can have 4x more performance with the 16 Core Ryzen then your 4 Core Intel Chip.
The problem is multi core performance aren't as important as Single Core. And these improvment has lots to do with node size.
When it is good enough, more performance dont sell.
Hmm that does nothing for me. I wonder what the next big device is? Augmented reality? (Yes there was Glass but maybe the next generation will be more thoughtful.)
What I personally fancy is a drone-phone with more human-like AI assistant. Yes a talking, flying superphone. Inventors: please credit me, will ya ;)
Edit: maybe a scenario illustrates this best.
Me: “Mimi, what do you think of this? Is it right?”
Mimi peers, no doubt fancy AI tech whirring in the bg.
Mimi: “Looks good! I would also suggest recapping sohcahtoa.”
Ding-dong.
Me: “Mimi, can you get the parcel please.”
