What's the obsession with expensive phones?

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I seriously don't get why everyone "needs" an expensive phone these days. I don't really think it's a status symbol thing because I don't think I've ever seen someone bragging about how new their phone is and you can't really even tell a low/mid-tier phone from a flagship because they all look really similar; I guess iPhones don't have budget models really but most people make fun of Apple products anyway. The only other reason is that people think the low/mid-tier phones just have shitty performance I guess due to advertising of the flagships. However, if you buy a phone that's just like one step above bottom tier, it will do literally everything you need it to do and probably much more. Plus, it's somewhat likely to have a removable battery that you can replace when it starts dying.

I've been using a Samsung Galaxy On5 for 2 years that I got for free for switching to MetroPCS (only $30/month). The only minor issue with it is the storage space at 8GB. It still does literally everything 99.9% of people use a $700 phone for like I streamed the entirety of the Cubs' 2016 clinching game against the Dodgers to make it to the World Series during my cousin's wedding. I have it setup to automatically turn off of data when I get home via Tasker/AutoApps and turn it back on once I leave the house. Just turning on my car, my phone auto-connects to bluetooth and starts playing music. I, of course, can utilize GPS/Google Maps for directions without issue. I don't know the game situation that well as I have a few board games on my phone like Sentinels and Through the Ages and they run just fine. Although I'm decently sure most games are made with the most potential customers in mind so not having a $700 phone isn't going to exclude you from playing games.

For example, the Galaxy J7 Prime [https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_j7_prime-8314.php] and Galaxy J7 Neo [https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_j7_nxt-8785.php] are 2 phones in the $150-$200 range that will do everything you'll ever need along with a SD card slot and removable battery.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Instagram. Its all about being able to post on Instagram and show off your life, and get attention and followers. Fashion has gone the same way - its not about what's trending or fresh, its what's about getting views and clicks on the 'Gram.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Don't ask me, I use a "dumb"phone.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I dunno. I use a Galaxy A5 2017 and it's just fine. Better than I even need, actually!

 

[Chewster]

I mean, define "obsession"? 'Cause from where I sit, most people I know upgrade every couple years or as often as their phone contracts will allow. Hardly an obsession.

I have a Galaxy S9+ and I have it because it's useful. Before that, I had a Note Edge for three years and only upgraded recently because that one went to crap and had a lot of problems and instead of getting it repaired, it made more sense to just upgrade.

I use it for it's GPS/bus/taxi apps, taking pictures when traveling and keeping in touch with distant friends and relatives via social media. I've had job interviews where finding the place was difficult and I would have been screwed without a GPS. Same for travelling and trying to find various sightseeing places. Plus I use it to keep in touch with coworkers in case of developments at work. If you don't need all that, fine but I mean, most young professionals, in my experience, find it useful to be able to keep in touch with potential employers on the go in this fast paced world. I know it has been useful for me in the past.

Newer phone = faster network connectivity and faster, more reliable performance overall, but especially battery performance. That's basically it.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Newer phone = faster network connectivity and faster, more reliable performance overall, but especially battery performance. That's basically it.

Until you learn that Samsung and Apple have been purposefully reducing the quality of batteries in their smartphone so they crash and break sooner, requiring a new phone purchase.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Fuck if I know, I have an Alcatel One Touch C9 7047D. Look it up.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Instagram. Its all about being able to post on Instagram and show off your life, and get attention and followers. Fashion has gone the same way - its not about what's trending or fresh, its what's about getting views and clicks on the 'Gram.

Why do you need a flagship level phone to use Instagram?

I mean, define "obsession"? 'Cause from where I sit, most people I know upgrade every couple years or as often as their phone contracts will allow. Hardly an obsession.

I have a Galaxy S9+ and I have it because it's useful. Before that, I had a Note Edge for three years and only upgraded recently because that one went to crap and had a lot of problems and instead of getting it repaired, it made more sense to just upgrade.

I use it for it's GPS/bus/taxi apps, taking pictures when traveling and keeping in touch with distant friends and relatives via social media. I've had job interviews where finding the place was difficult and I would have been screwed without a GPS. Same for travelling and trying to find various sightseeing places. Plus I use it to keep in touch with coworkers in case of developments at work. If you don't need all that, fine but I mean, most young professionals, in my experience, find it useful to be able to keep in touch with potential employers on the go in this fast paced world. I know it has been useful for me in the past.

Newer phone = faster network connectivity and faster, more reliable performance overall, but especially battery performance. That's basically it.

But why do you have a $900+ phone? All the things you just listed as needing your phone for, you can do with a phone that retails for $100-$200 quite easily. My phone retailed for $150 that I got for free (no strings attached) with a budget carrier (I only pay $30/month) and it has just as much connectivity and performance that 99.9% of people need. I streamed an entire baseball playoff game during my cousin's wedding on data (not wi-fi) without any issues. There's only 4 major cell phone networks in the US and even if you're using a budget carrier it's still using a major network like MetroPCS uses the T-Mobile network, Boost Mobile uses the Sprint network, etc.

Fuck if I know, I have an Alcatel One Touch C9 7047D. Look it up.

The only issues with that phone is the storage at only 4GBs and using a decently old Android now so you might not have access to certain apps. Also, the battery isn't removable. Anyone switching to MetroPCS in the US can get the Alcatel 7 [https://www.metropcs.com/shop/phones/details/Alcatel-7/610214657398] completely free, which looks really great from a specs standpoint outside of the battery not being removable.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Its a status thing. Same as some people choose to wear flashy watches. Its just a way of looking somehow better

 

[Chewster]

Snipidee-do-dah!

According to whom, exactly? I've seen this claim a few times but never anything to back it up. Besides, getting a replacement battery costs fuck all. My old phone, they cost like 30 dollars maybe. Seems like a stupid way to make money to me, especially given contract cycles generally run one or two years anyway and most people I onow seem content to replace their phones that often regardless.

Citizen Snips!

Why do we need anything? Why do people buy cars new off the lot when they depreciate like five grand instantly? I knew a girl in high school who bought a shitbox for a hundred dollars and it ran fine for a year before it fell apart. Why doesn't everyone just do that?

Why do people go on vacation? You don't need to do that. You don't have to go to Niagra Falls or Japan. You can just look up pictures on the Internet or watch documentaries on Netflix or whatever, and you can do it all from your living room for a hellova lot cheaper than the cost of a plane ticket.

I mean, you can look at the specs. A 200 dollar phone that is a few years old isn't going to have the same functionality or features as a newer one. Newer apps aren't going to run as well. I have a ton of music I like to listen to and older phones don't have the internal storage nor the external capacity needed for that and all the pictures I like to take. The camera on this is better than my older phone and has more features. I also partially bought this because I am an adult, I have a stable job that I worked my ass off to get and I earn my own money and why shouldn't I have nice things?

But if a cheapo phone works for you or it is all you can afford, great. I'm not judging, I had a shitty flip phone for ages. But they aren't practical for me any more and I like having this now. It doesn't malfunction, the battery life is great and having a newer phone that I know is stable is comforting for me. It's hardly a status thing. Not a single person I know has ever bragged about their phone and anyone who would is an asshole.

 

[Baffle]

Fuck if I know, I have an Alcatel One Touch C9 7047D. Look it up.

I've got the internet, not a time machine.

OT: Newer and more expensive things tend to be better than older and cheaper things. I've got an Honor 9 Lite and it's much better than the Samsung J3 it replaced (better battery, quicker, better photos, etc.). I imagine the Honor 9 (non-Lite) is better again, and an iPhone 10 probably even better. It depends on what you want to do with something.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Instagram. Its all about being able to post on Instagram and show off your life, and get attention and followers. Fashion has gone the same way - its not about what's trending or fresh, its what's about getting views and clicks on the 'Gram.

Why do you need a flagship level phone to use Instagram?

Its not to use Instagram, its to get famous on Instagram. Kylie Jenner posts a paid photo with her holding a Galaxy 99x, it gets hundreds of thousands of likes, amateur models think if they get that phone they can get as many likes and get paid to advertise it, and the cycle continues over and over.
Remember Instagram is a life-style porn site with ads, and phone companies, hell ALL companies, love the idea of false exclusivity their brands get when celebs advertise for them.

SNIP

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-iphone-battery-slow-down/

Literally just google Apple batteries. They purposefully slowed down their old phone batteries so customers would have to buy new phones. and you bet your ass they're still doing it.

 

[Catnip1024]

Its a status thing. Same as some people choose to wear flashy watches. Its just a way of looking somehow better

Well, the way I was going to word it was, "it's like expensive watches for poorer people / people with no taste". Marginally lower buy-in requirements, but it doesn't actually look much better than a low end phone, and in 5 years will be completely worthless and have no battery life.

Whereas your Rolex, on the other hand, will be worth pretty much what it was before.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Its a status thing. Same as some people choose to wear flashy watches. Its just a way of looking somehow better

Most the flagship phones don't really look that much different, plus everyone has them in a case so they are even less identifiable. I really think people just don't realize that $100 phones do all the same things and in some regards better like a removable battery.

Why do we need anything? Why do people buy cars new off the lot when they depreciate like five grand instantly? I knew a girl in high school who bought a shitbox for a hundred dollars and it ran fine for a year before it fell apart. Why doesn't everyone just do that?

Why do people go on vacation? You don't need to do that. You don't have to go to Niagra Falls or Japan. You can just look up pictures on the Internet or watch documentaries on Netflix or whatever, and you can do it all from your living room for a hellova lot cheaper than the cost of a plane ticket.

I mean, you can look at the specs. A 200 dollar phone that is a few years old isn't going to have the same functionality or features as a newer one. Newer apps aren't going to run as well. I have a ton of music I like to listen to and older phones don't have the internal storage nor the external capacity needed for that and all the pictures I like to take. The camera on this is better than my older phone and has more features. I also partially bought this because I am an adult, I have a stable job that I worked my ass off to get and I earn my own money and why shouldn't I have nice things?

But if a cheapo phone works for you or it is all you can afford, great. I'm not judging, I had a shitty flip phone for ages. But they aren't practical for me any more and I like having this now. It doesn't malfunction, the battery life is great and having a newer phone that I know is stable is comforting for me. It's hardly a status thing. Not a single person I know has ever bragged about their phone and anyone who would is an asshole.

I'm just saying phones are easily the most luxurious item people buy when the best phones aren't much of a leap over much cheaper phones. I just shake me head when someone says what they pay monthly for their phone and service. And it doesn't seem to matter whether the person is well-off or living paycheck-to-paycheck, just about everyone seems to think they need a $700+ phone and pay around $100/month for this same thing that can be gotten for much much cheaper. It's the one thing that just makes no sense to me. The only conclusion I can come up with is that the advertising of expensive phones just worked so well or that initially you needed an expensive phone to do all this extraordinary stuff that is now just plain ordinary but people don't realize this all can now be had in the range $100-$200.

There's a big difference between seeing a video of Niagra Falls (although I hear its a tourist trap) or Japan and actually going to those places.

Mobile technology actually doesn't advance as fast as people think. If you buy a $200 phone today, it will be good for at least 5 years and the first thing to go would be the battery and the cheaper phones have a higher chance at having a removable battery (a very great and overlooked feature). Not many apps require higher specs because they are just ordinary programs really. Only certain games might be not available on older phones. However, app creators want to reach the most potential users so they aren't going to make an app/game that can only run on say the Galaxy S9 or better. You can put a 256GB SD card in most phones, there's no reason to pay hundreds of dollars more for some more internal storage. I have my all my music on my phone and it only has 8GBs of internal space, I have all the music on the SD card. I can understand someone getting a luxury car with all the bells and whistles like heated seats/remote start because they will use those features and cheaper cars don't have that but with phones, you don't really have stuff the flagship does that the others don't. Sure, if you have the money and want the best just because, I don't have a problem with that, but I don't understand why the average person needs an expensive phone, most people easily pay $1,000 a year more than they need to for their phone when they barely have the budget to be able to do that.

Instagram. Its all about being able to post on Instagram and show off your life, and get attention and followers. Fashion has gone the same way - its not about what's trending or fresh, its what's about getting views and clicks on the 'Gram.

Why do you need a flagship level phone to use Instagram?

Its not to use Instagram, its to get famous on Instagram. Kylie Jenner posts a paid photo with her holding a Galaxy 99x, it gets hundreds of thousands of likes, amateur models think if they get that phone they can get as many likes and get paid to advertise it, and the cycle continues over and over.
Remember Instagram is a life-style porn site with ads, and phone companies, hell ALL companies, love the idea of false exclusivity their brands get when celebs advertise for them.

I don't use Instagram at all but then don't you need 2 phones to "properly" Instagram then (1 phone to actually use the app, then another phone just sitting there to be in the picture)?

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Obsession is a strong word. I've known people who fawn over new phone releases but never to a degree where I'd label it as an obsession. The only thing that comes close are those who'd form a line outside the store a week before release day

I feel like a lot behind this threads creation can be summed up with run of the mill user ignorance
Many people still believe that once the memory gets full that the device has reached its end of life and its time to buy another
Phone shopping is intimidating and the safest choice is usually discerned to be the most expensive one

I have a Blu Studio C which I bought for $100 over 3 years ago. Still runs fine. Sole reason for my upgrade was that developers finally made mobile browsers capable of executing userscripts that only worked with Kitkat and onwards
I pay $15/mo for unlimited everything

SNIP

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-iphone-battery-slow-down/

Literally just google Apple batteries. They purposefully slowed down their old phone batteries so customers would have to buy new phones. and you bet your ass they're still doing it.

Apple saved countless lives slowing down their batteries. Those things were smashing into cars left and right
[small]They slowed down their old phones via software updates to compensate for aging batteries to extend device run time[/small]

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Its a status thing. Same as some people choose to wear flashy watches. Its just a way of looking somehow better

Most the flagship phones don't really look that much different, plus everyone has them in a case so they are even less identifiable. I really think people just don't realize that $100 phones do all the same things and in some regards better like a removable battery.

Yeah but if you tell people you have the latest tech then you still get the imaginary status points. Its the having it, and being seen to have it that counts

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Because people's lives are inherently empty and the facade of their personality and even memory itself is self and socially constructed rather than based on facts of existence, and so as to avoid the crushing reality that you are the universe recognizing itself and like stars there will only be a blackest void between you and another against a gulf of incomprehensible distances they instead buy excessively expensive toys despite knowing full well that planned obsolescence and low general uptake because people use their phones as phones and mere social media app portals means they probably won't get their money's worth out of it.

More to the question, why do people consume in general? Well, what else are you going to do with money that you probablydon't really need, but have?

I don't need an expensive phone. I don't think I've ever had a really expensive phone. All the phones Iget are plans, and Idon't really have much choice beyond selecting a phone plan that other people keep demanding I get in order to service my contractual obligations.

I don't have much choice either way. I will say a decent Note is useful if you're a trader... but even then you don't need the latest model. And it will just break anyways in 2-3 years. It's good having a decently sized tablet, with a decent bit of processing power behind it to run 18+ browsers all day, with a decent screen and battery life, and because it will be in your hands a lot you can instantly answer calls with it gives it an all-around utility.

Plus they're fairly tough and they're not too expensive when you consider the utility it gives you.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Obsession is a strong word. I've known people who fawn over new phone releases but never to a degree where I'd label it as an obsession. The only thing that comes close are those who'd form a line outside the store a week before release day.

Yeah, I guess obsession isn't quite the right word. I guess I feel like everyone thinks they need an expensive phone vs obsession. I often hear a friend that isn't even tech savy or well-off say something along the lines of needing to upgrade just because it's been like a year or two with their current phone and I'm like your current phone is better than mine already and mine does everything you use yours for or whatever phone you're going to "upgrade" to.

Because people's lives are inherently empty and the facade of their personality and even memory itself is self and socially constructed rather than based on facts of existence, and so as to avoid the crushing reality that you are the universe recognizing itself and like stars there will only be a blackest void between you and another against a gulf of incomprehensible distances they instead buy excessively expensive toys despite knowing full well that planned obsolescence and low general uptake because people use their phones as phones and mere social media app portals means they probably won't get their money's worth out of it.

That's rather depressing.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

That's rather depressing.

All of us are depressing. Sapience is a curse. Buyer's remorse makes that easy enough to see. We consume to take the edge off, feel guilty that we need to and remember pur mortality, but in the back of our minds we're still lost as to whether it would make us happy to begin with so why bother?

There's no such thing as an adult, you're just a tall kid holding a glass of wine.

There's the answer to why people buy toys. All of us know it's unhealthy, but given that being healthy is depressing and lonely no one for their own sake should truly commit themselves to it. Just enough to get by. Just enough to recognize you'll be miserable in time, just not yet. Achieve that and you'll do fine. That's the sweet spot.

I suppose for some people that's an excessively expensive phone and social media app interface. For others it's clothes. For others it's cars... or motorbikes... or whatever.

Basically the number 1 sales technique in so-called 'aspirational brands' is emotional sabotage. The reason why sales people in these boutiques use veiled insults, feigned looks of disapprovable when they *want you* to think you can actually see them but they don't realize it ... suddenly the purse comes out.

A combination of pride, a sense of status fleeting, and social disapproval.

It's actually kind of hilarious when you turn these psychological phenomena back on them. One time I made them almost tear their hair out in frustration. It was great ... then I realized that they're an underpaid storehand for whom aren't like that in reality, only just because their boss tells them to be.

Then right back to miserable and I end up spending $900 in guilt. So either I got played or I'm a victim of myself... and in the end none of it really matters.

 

[gsilver]

I've only upgraded when the devices were steeply discounted (whether by contracts in the past or by sales more recently).

I never have and never will spend $900 for one.
Dunno why people spend that much.