Have you performed a smartphone upgrade in the last few years? Well done, you’re good for at least a few more. Unless you drop the thing, but that’s on you. But the sort of folks who nab a new phone every time they come out are, for the most part, wasting their cash.
I’ve seen this with every major smartphone maker, from Apple to Samsung, with all of the major Chinese manufacturers joining in to varying degrees. Samsung’s tendency to release the same phone as the previous year has been especially well documented on Stuff. That’s not because the South Korean company is the largest offender. Okay, perhaps they are. I haven’t done the math. But it’s certainly the most visible from South Africa, so patterns are easier to spot.
Smartphone upgrade?
Want a super-recent example? Samsung’s Galaxy A37 and A57, though not official at the time of writing, had their spec sheets leaked earlier this week. Side-by-side comparison (which I did, to some extent, here) shows that the phones are almost entirely identical to their immediate predecessors. If you own the Galaxy A36 or A56, you really don’t need this year’s A-series upgrade.
The same is true if you own the Galaxy A35, which sports the same camera setup, battery, and RAM/storage options. Oh, there are minor variations. The extra 0.1in of display (still the same 1,080 x 2,340 resolution, though), the processor upgrade, and a boost in charging speed all help set each phone apart. But the actual difference is so minor that you might as well have stopped looking at updates in 2024. Screen resolution for this lineup hasn’t changed since 2023. In 2022, the Galaxy A33 featured a higher pixel count (1,080 x 2,400) on a smaller display (6.4in).
The secondary cameras have remained unchanged since at least 2022. 2026 might see the ultrawide climb to 12MP from its habitual 8MP. Main camera sensors have been static for almost as long, going from 2022’s 48MP f/1.8 to a 50MP f/1.8.
If you check back over previous years, you’ll see the same stagnation in Samsung’s Galaxy S devices and the Galaxy Z range. Both the Flip and the Fold are guilty of this hardware immobility.
Habit-forming
The tendency isn’t confined to Samsung alone. Most brands are struggling to release devices that look and feel new. Some, like Oppo, will even launch the same phone twice in less than twelve months. At that point, the only upgrade you’re paying for is new branding on the box.
Even the mighty Apple isn’t exempt from this. Its marketing acumen and tendency to give common objects shiny labels help keep some of the heat off. The American company is better than most at bringing something new to the table each year, but it still serves up plenty of leftovers. But it, like every other brand on the planet, wraps each new release in enough flashy spectacle to distract you from the fact that this year really is the same as last year.
I could list Honor and Huawei’s failings in this area, too, but that would take up too much space. It’s not a surprise that every Chinese brand puts weight behind camera tech for each release. It’s also no accident that artificial intelligence is the major driver in almost every smartphone release in 2026. The hardware — the stuff you pay for that can’t be upgraded with a software update — isn’t going anywhere. Not in a hurry, at any rate.
Conspiracy theory
I firmly believe that every tech brand could drop a properly revolutionary smartphone in their respective markets at the end of any given year. The problem with that is that further innovation will stall for three to five years. It’ll be the last good phone from Apple/Honor/Samsung/Huawei, [insert name here] for a while. That’s not something shareholders and quarterly reports are built to endure. If the little graph doesn’t creep upward every financial year-end, the folks who run the world (or at least, the folks who hang out with them) get slightly miffed.
Instead, customers are given just enough to tide them over. A slight temptation toward something better than what they’ve already got, even if it’s only covered in marketing that hasn’t had the shine wear off yet. The whole thing is a donut being dragged on a string. It’s just slow enough to provide the taste that keeps you following the creeping confectionery. It’s also just fast enough that you might believe it’s actually travelling somewhere you might get to eat an entire donut. One day. Any day now. Promise.
Does that make sense?
Nothing to be done
Of course, unless you’re the CEO of Apple, Samsung, or whoever makes your favourite phone hardware, none of this will change. As long as folks keep tuning in for that annual or semi-annual smartphone upgrade, they’ll keep incrementing you to death. None of the tech brands will ever tell you that you don’t need this particular smartphone upgrade. That’s counter-productive, from their point of view. But it’s also the truth. You really don’t need the upgrade.
The newest shiny distraction — AI implementation across the board — isn’t much of a band-aid, either. Sure, your phone will do something that everyone else’s doesn’t. For a while. But three years of AI-capable hardware in phones also means that the features you’re considering paying a premium for will appear on the older phone. Eventually. Without charge. Unless Samsung gets its way and starts an AI subscription service. This is completely different from its other subscription service. And if it does… do you really think everyone else won’t immediately launch their own version?
All that can be done — which is, coincidentally, all that must be done — is to grab a phone, wait four to five years, and then grab another one. The real innovations are all software-based anyway, even if they’re of dubious value. They’ll get to you, eventually. It won’t cost a cent. Well, until it does. Because folks will stop paying for the same hardware at inflated prices every year. And our Corporate Overlords™ can’t have that. Imagine if, instead of getting money for a half-hearted smartphone upgrade each year, they were forced to make something novel? Multinational corporations just aren’t built to handle that sort of mental stress.
