It only took a week: Samsung, the biggest seller of Android phones in the world, and OnePlus, a more niche Chinese brand, but not without ambitions, unveiled not only new phones, but also , an extension of their lifespan which is more than welcome.
It’s not the repairability so much hoped for by the minority of hacker consumers who aren’t afraid to play under the hood of their electronic devices. For the general public, it’s still the signal that their next phone is likely to stay healthier longer than its predecessors. Samsung and OnePlus have confirmed that they now support up to four upgrades to the Android system that powers their newest devices, the Galaxy S23 and OnePlus 11.
Horizon 2028
The two manufacturers are launching a trend which, given their relatively large weight in the mobile market, should expand to the entire industry in the coming months. So far, Google and its Pixel phones have been the most generous in this regard. The Pixel 7, launched last fall, promises three Android upgrades before it’s officially supported by its manufacturer.
Beyond upgrading the system, manufacturers are also extending the automated push of security updates to their phones. The Pixel 7 will be protected from the latest cyber threats until the end of 2027. The Galaxy S23 and OnePlus 11 promise security updates until 2028.
What this implies is that your next wireless could last at least five years. Since the price of new devices keeps going up and newcomers from Samsung and OnePlus start at around $1,000, that makes the bill easier to bear.
Hopefully, it will reverse the mobile phone market trend of the past four years. In 2019, the average life cycle of a phone sold in North America hit a high of three years. In other words, before the pandemic, North American consumers changed their phone on average every three years. This average has gone down to about two and a half years these days and if nothing is done it will go down further in the next few years.
A darkroom in his pocket
Samsung and OnePlus are like Apple and Google and are betting big on the camera of their latest phones. In the heap, however, OnePlus stands out in two ways. First, his phone exists in only one version, this year. No Ultra, Pro, Max or Plus version. We promise to have adopted this strategy in a sustainable way. We doubt it, but we will see.
At least it means you don’t have to buy a version that sells for twice the price of the phone to get your hands on the best camera available. And this is also where OnePlus stands out: its three-lens device is signed Hasselblad, named after the Swedish digital camera manufacturer. Without promising that the photos taken with this camera will all be good, at least it signals that care has been taken to integrate good quality hardware.
It will appeal to purists: OnePlus does less on the software side than its two Android system rivals, Samsung and Google. It will appeal less to those who dream of having the equivalent of a darkroom in their pocket. There, Samsung wins the bet with its Galaxy S23 Ultra. Its four-lens camera can capture 200 megapixel photos, a top in the market today.
To do this, you must opt for an “expert” photographic mode, which saves files in JPEG format as well as in RAW format. The latter retains more data on the taking of photos and makes it possible to carry out many subsequent retouchings without damaging the image.
Samsung has also agreed with the software publisher Adobe to include by default on the Galaxy S23 Ultra its photo editing application Lightroom, popular with photography enthusiasts. The app is free, but its more advanced features are available for $6.50 per month. That’s on top of the price of the phone, which starts at $1,650…
At that price, it had better last a decade!
In 2019, the average life cycle of a phone sold in North America hit a high of three years. In other words, before the pandemic, North American consumers changed their phone on average every three years. This average has gone down to about two and a half years these days and if nothing is done it will go down further in the next few years.
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