Why You Will Continue to Fork Over $1,000+ for a New Phone
Why have a home computer if your phone will do the trick?
It’s 2019. Samsung has just announced a foldable phone that transforms into a tablet, with an eight-core processor. Eight cores were the cutting edge of computing four years ago and cost $1000. Today they fit in your pocket and cost less.
Huawei’s Mate 20 used the artificial intelligence in its two neural processing units to finish Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.
The graphics processor in a good phone will outperform even a mid-level laptop, meaning you can game better on your phone than your computer.
Your phone is becoming much more powerful than you need it to be, and that power is driving phone prices skyward. A top-of-the-line Samsung now costs $1,600+. The competing Apple product costs about the same.
Phone companies need to sell updated versions of their products every year to keep their margins intact. How will they convince people to keep buying devices with more juice than they need? By replacing one they do need: the home computer.
The beginning of the end
With the move to the cloud, most people don’t need a computer for most tasks: a chromebook will suffice. For almost every other application you currently use a laptop for, a current-model phone has more than enough processing power, memory and storage.
5G wireless communication will make it possible to upload and download data at up to 10 Gbps, which means you could park your phone next to even the biggest, baddest screens available and watch movies, play games and almost anything else you currently do on a laptop. Add a keyboard, and you have no further need for a computer at all. Phones will become even more viable as computer replacements as voice input starts to replace keyboards.
More essential than a laptop
Your phone is more useful than your home computer in a number of ways. It’s your wallet, your universal password, your personal assistant and more. It travels with you everywhere you go. Now that phones have more than enough juice to do everything a laptop can, there’s no reason to fork over $1,000+ for one. Phone manufacturers know this and will begin to make your phone even more the centre of your world than they already are, and a replacement for the venerable home computer. RIP.
