It used to be that new phones that came onto the market were very different from the ones that came before it, but recently, that gap is narrowing. Most manufacturers are rolling out devices with only minor power changes but for a high increase in cost. Let’s look at the smartphone stagnation and how small business smartphones should be used and purchased.
The Smartphone Market
The biggest smartphone brands have been the same two for almost a decade. Apple and Samsung are the biggest players, although others like Blackberry, LG, and HTC have arrived. There is also now competition from Chinese companies thanks to the increase in the Asian smartphone demands, so manufacturers like Xiaomi and Huawei have grown a lot.
The smartphone market relies on repeat customers who replace their phones and the increase in popularity of smartphones with high populations. Smartphones are designed to help manufacturers make back money with high sales by building in new specifications. Samsung and Apple have a large number of repeat customers, especially compared to their closest competitors.
The technology market’s stagnation is occurring at the same time as the mobile device market stagnation and the ultimate cause is the increase in demand for devices. In some locations where smartphones are gaining popularity, like southeast Asia, India, and Africa, they don’t have internet access needed to use their devices fully.
The smartphone market, even though numbers are low, will continue to innovate and push groundbreaking technology. Augmented reality and 5G wireless are some of the big hot topics that might be integrated into smartphones in the coming years.
2018 Smartphone Technology
Smartphone companies rely on their most popular devices to be successful and so they need to take steps toward improving these devices. Everything about these devices needs to feel new and exciting so customers will want to purchase them. From cameras to the screen specs to the operating system, and other software included. Recently, new devices have not been so different from other versions.
Most smartphones today offer:
- 4G LTE availability
- Large application ecosystem
- Responsive operating system
- Usable screen size around six inches
- PPI over 400
- Carry weight of less than 7oz
- At least a 12 Megapixel rear-facing camera
- OLED, AMOLED, or Super AMOLED display
- Front-facing camera
- 4K video capture
- Optical Image Stabilization
- At least a 3.25 GHz processor
- At least 3 GB of RAM
- At least 64 GB of onboard storage
- At least quad-core
- At least 10 hours of constant usability on battery
- Rapid charging with USB Type-C (or proprietary charger)
- Water resistance
- Bluetooth
- Security features (like face lock or fingerprint scanner)
If there are poor sales rates, then higher prices will have to make up for this. This will make it difficult for small businesses to always have updated technology, especially if they are working with a limited budget.
Choosing Small Business Smartphones
If your business provides your employees with smartphones, you will definitely want to consider how you plan on paying for them. First, you should consider if the phone runs the applications that your organization uses. You can actually bulk purchase devices at wholesale price for your team, which MyTek can help you connect with these vendors and help you managed used or repurposed devices.
Most businesses don’t provide smartphones for their employees and work with a BYOD (Bring your own device) method. If this is the case, your business should have a BYOD policy so that your data stays safe and your employees know what they can and can’t do on their personal devices.
MyTek can help your business find small business smartphones or make a BYOD policy, so give us a call today at 623-312-2440.