New research shows people are keeping their mobile phones for longer and the upgrade cycle is extending.
The time it takes for people to upgrade their mobiles is getting longer, which could mean a huge problem for the mobile industry.
If people are taking longer to upgrade it could cause issues for the mobile industry that measures growth by the consumer upgrade cycle.
According to Recon Analytics, the US smartphone upgrade cycle reached 22 months in 2012.
The research carried out by Business Insider suggests that declining innovation in the smartphone hardware has caused customers to hold onto their existing handsets for longer periods.
It could also be down to the consolidation of mobile software and manufacturing which means key players in the mobile industry share hardware and launch dates, which increase consumer confusion.
Tech giants have also been focusing strongly on software features more recently, rather than hardware innards.
Plus, users tend to be tied in to 24-month contracts with smartphones, which limit the upgrade possibilities unless you’re prepared to pay premium prices for SIM-free devices.
Smartphone manufacturers want as short an upgrade cycle as possible as they want as many consumers to own their new devices as possible and to improve the adoption of the latest operating systems.
This latter point is particularly important to Google as it has always had issues encouraging users to update their operating systems.
The longer upgrade cycle will also have an effect on network operators as they rely on new phones to run on the 4G wireless networks, which encourage more internet data consumption and in turn boost revenues.
App developers could also suffer, as software is designed around the latest OS to take advantage of new technology.
However, they are not so affected by longer upgrade cycles with Apple as the majority of devices are compatible with new OS versions.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
