Why 2015’s flagships are more familiar than ever, and we shouldn’t be upset

2015 is shaping up to be a very prolific year, and for seemingly all the wrong reasons. Smartphone fans around the globe eagerly await the days leading up to the official announcement of their company’s new flagships, and the road to release is paved with lots of leaks. Funny thing though, despite some rather lofty claims, a number of devices we’ve seen so far have been mighty disappointing to a number of people. The crime is really one of time: it passes, yet the physical forms refuse to change.

To sum up the situation, “core” Android OEMs have collectively decided to “pull an Apple” this year, and there is a sobering reality check involved here, as barring any major changes, things are only going to get “worse”.

It’s time to come down to Earth…

They’re all flagships, but don;t actually look all that different from one-another.

Since Android’s inception, smartphones have been released at a breakneck rate, even among the big players. Names like Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, and Sony put forth device after device, and indeed if one were to look back at each company’s flagship evolution over the years, it’s damn impressive to say the least.

The problem, however, is that the times have changed. Whereas the selection was once rather barren with only the five aforementioned core players supplying a major chunk of the mainstream market, there are now dozens upon dozens of other players in the game, some in starring roles like Huawei from China, and others in supporting positions like Blu Studio. Heck, even new faces like OnePlus and (in the West) Xiaomi are trying to get their fifteen minutes and steal the show.

With all this crowd gathering, it’s no wonder companies like HTC have been facing financial frights: whereas it once had a real edge with smartphone specs and design, now any number of companies are making use of metal, unibody designs, or top notch specs.

Suffice to say that, as a result, people need to brace themselves for what’s already started to happen: realistically speaking, there is just no way many of these companies can actually afford to release brand new looking products every year.

…and check into reality

The Xperia Z4, which was only announced, was panned across the web within minutes.

As I argued on Monday with Sony’s Japan-only announcement of the Xperia Z4, everyone needs to stop for a second, take a deep breath, and consider (1) just what a “new” phone is, and, (2) just why they want a “new” phone in the first place.

Inherently, (1) a new phone is a product that has the latest and greatest specs, or at least specs that are superior to model(s) which came before it. The consensus as of April 2015 seems to be that flagships should contain the following: a Snapdragon 810 CPU, 3GB of RAM, at least 32GB of storage, a Full HD or QHD screen with Gorilla Glass 4, a front facing camera with a wide-angle lens and relatively high megapixel count, and a rear camera with good aperture, OIS, and a high megapixel count. Metal and/or glass should be used at least somewhere aside from the screen (in the case of glass).

Funny then, as both of this year’s big let-downs so far have met those expectations to the letter. Funny then, as neither the HTC One M9 nor the Sony Xperia Z4 are considered “new” phones because they lack something else: a new design.

And therein lies the real crux of this detestable situation: tech fans love to obsess over specs, yet when push comes to shove, (2) if they don’t have a redesigned package to show off, it just isn’t worth having; a new phone means a new design.

The HTC One M9 fits all the technical requirements of a new flagship phone, yet many feel it’s anything but simply because of its appearance.

Apple has long since been “disappointing” fans to the point where it’s now blatantly obvious that every other year will be an “S” release, and thus the internals will receive an upgrade while the body of the iPhone remains the same. It’s held true of the iPhone 4, the 5, and you can bet your last cent that 2015 will see the release of an iPhone 6s. Mind you, Apple has the cash to redesign the phone. After its world-recording earning profits, one might argue it has the cash to release a new phone for every single month (if not week) of the year.

But Apple meticulously crafts its iPhone, and in a spout of true business sensibility, wants to cash in on that R&D for as long as possible. In short, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Ask yourself a question here, just for the sake of argument: if your current phone were to be re-released tomorrow with the exact same internals but with a new design, would you consider it a new phone? More importantly, would you repurchase it?

You’re not wrong, but they’re also right

Reality Bites: Fans are often led to believe that concept renders by 3rd party sources might be indicative of a real product despite technological limitations.

Don’t feel bad: you’re not wrong for waiting a new design. People love seeing before-and-after pictures of their friends, family, and celebrities. We love hearing about things like “reboots” and “remakes” because it tickles our fancy for a fresh paint on something tired and true.

Android fans were upset when HTC announced the M9, and rightly so. It looks exactly like the M8 save for very minor cosmetic changes. The same holds true of the Xperia Z4. But they are, in fact, new phones, and the manufacturers are charging full price for them as such.

Even back in 2012 it was obvious that “lesser” companies were spending less money on marketing as their market share shrunk.

The Wall Street Journal

One of the big “concessions” that everyone needs to finally accept and overcome is that companies simply don’t have the budget to redesign their phones every year anymore. It takes a lot of money, and for companies like HTC and Sony, they really don’t have so much to spend. Even LG is going to be facing an uphill battle with its upcoming G4, as everything leaked so far indicates the phone will essentially look like the G3 which came before it, just with a removable leather rear cover of questionable taste and tact.

Say, what about Samsung?

Samsung has radically redesigned its Galaxy line for 2015.

We would be remiss to ignore the obvious standout to this sea of similar: the Galaxy S6 is not only the most radically redesigned phone Samsung has ever produced, but it even spawned a sibling, the even more mystifying Galaxy S6 Edge. This premium pair of products have had such a profound impact on consumer interest and carrier curiosity that Samsung has already gone on record to predict sales may reach 70 million units. For a company that couldn’t start 2015 fast enough, the cash-money-machine is back on “printing press” mode.

But let’s get one thing clear here: Samsung had everything to lose, and by all indications, it was already in the process. The Galaxy S5 was a sales disappointment for the largest Android OEM, and it didn’t help that 2014 also saw the company fall from its top position in both China and India, the two countries that have the world’s largest populations. Chinese “upstarts” like Xiaomi and Huawei and even Lenovo have managed to put forth products that have all the specs and spectacle of Samsung, yet are nowhere near as price-prohibitive. Even more impressive? Their offerings had even more premium builds to boot.

Who knows what the Galaxy Note 5 will look like given the major redesign the S6 received.

Samsung had to redesign the Galaxy S6 if it wanted to stay relevant. It has, and now that the threshold of top-quality materials has been forced upon the company’s top brass, there is seemingly a great amount of potential that remains in the company. Samsung has just now reached the design-state that rival companies HTC and Sony had arrived at years ago, and with the sizable coffers it has, there is really no telling just what kind of devices will be in store for consumers in the future.

Community service

Like it or not, smartphones are just a few years, maybe months, away from becoming a commodity, at least as things stand now. Some might argue the turning point has already passed. Google itself has done a fine job of pushing this reality, especially beginning with Android 4.4 KitKat, wherein it lowered the basic requirements to run the OS, much like what Microsoft did with Windows 7 coming from Vista before it. The results is that dozens upon dozens of small scale OEMs can put out budget friendly phones that have standard specs, but still manage to run a rather up-to-date build of the OS.

The VAIO Phone is extremely generic except for the fact that the brand name seeks to justify the obtuse price point: will people still spend for the same specs in 2015 and beyond?

The only real differentiation among smartphones that exists now are those made by the major players we’ve discussed so far, and even within their own stable devices tend to look similar. While Samsung fans love Samsung and HTC fans love HTC, the vast majority of consumers don’t give a crap who made their phone. Chances are, if the branding isn’t apparent, they are probably more likely to know what carrier sold it to them than they are the OEM that produced it. (Unless the device is made by Apple, of course.)

This is a rather tough reality to confront, but one that companies like Sony are having to come to terms with: aside from a core group of fans, there is just very little motivation or need for someone to go out and spend $200+ on a 2-year contract when they can get a much cheaper phone for half that, if not free, and it still meets all their basic needs. The amount of money that needs to be spent on marketing and R&D offers progressively less potential return with each passing release cycle.

Does the leaked image of the LG G4 actually look all that different than the G3 from last year? Not really, save for the leather-on-plastic back cover.

Sure HTC could have released a radically redesigned One M9, but would it have sold any better than the M8? What if it sold worse just because of the Galaxy S6’s existence? How would that affect the morale of the staff at HTC, not to mention the company’s finances? Sony could have put out a totally re-imagined Xperia Z4, but considering the brand is the top Android seller in Japan (and the device was, in fact, only for Japan) did it actually need to? Even LG could have gone to town with the G4 but (assuming the leaks are legit) why bother when it has already announced a more premium product to release later this year?

It’s not the end

While this piece can certainly put a sobering spin on the whole “not new” situation, that doesn’t mean we should abandon hope for the future. HTC wasted no time in announcing a “real” flagship for Asia just weeks after the One M9, and in many ways it is more what many wanted. Likewise, Sony may have something in-store for international customers in just a short while. Companies will eventually release new products that have the visual “factor” going on, but it just seems like it’s not going to be happening at the same rate we’ve come to expect.

Once phones are supposed to bend (in the future), design might heat up again in a major way.

Still though, we need to ask ourselves one final question: just how much “newness” can there actually be when it comes to a product that is supposed to be designed simply and safely? If things get thicker, people complain. If things get thinner, people complain. If things get heavier people complain. If things get lighter people complain. Unless some kind of radical paradigm shift occurs in the future (like say, foldable/bendable products) that fundamentally alters the very idea we have of a smartphone and its form factor, there is a rather finite level of refinement that can be achieved. Look at how long it’s taken to release a truly “new” looking laptop like those Dell or Apple have just put forth.

While everyone is allowed, if not encouraged, to voice their opinions about stale design amid super specs, just remember that at least we have something, even if it’s not what we hoped and dreamed for. Sometimes, you can’t always get what you want, but the next best thing ain’t all that bad either.

Android innovation: Sony and HTC risk falling behind even more

Like many technology lovers, I eagerly look forward to the next press conference or handset launch and seeing what manufacturers do to innovate in each version of their flagship. This is why I’m really disappointed at the moment: yesterday morning’s announcement of the Xperia Z4 left me feeling flatter than a pancake.

Before I get into the innovation in Android, let me first explain my definition of innovation; simply put, this is when a company thinks outside the box and aims to revolutionise a handset line. Innovation is usually hardware related but, in some cases, it can be software related.

Let’s back up a little. A few years ago, Android manufacturers were setting benchmarks in design and specifications as the platform evolved to lead the smartphone industry. The T-Mobile G1 was a truly innovative design that looked to replicate the success of the physical BlackBerry keyboard on the Android platform, while the HTC Desire arguably set the standard by which candy bar Android devices were ranked against over the following years.

During this period, Android was still growing and aiming to knock Apple off the top of the smartphone charts but as the platform evolved and became the market leader around the world, manufacturers stopped needing to innovate as much in the hardware.

Fast forward a few years and this problem is still apparent; Android is so far ahead of the competition that Android manufacturers no longer feel the need to innovate as much. As Samsung learned at its cost last year, just running Android does not guarantee success anymore, especially as Asian manufacturers such as OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei and Gionee are all making inroads into the market share of the current leaders.

So where do we stand today?

Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge

Let’s start with Samsung, easily the biggest giant in the Android world. Typically Samsung is content to stick to very reiterative designs while stacking new software features into an already overflowing TouchWiz UI. That all changed this year. Samsung has innovated heavily with the completely revamped Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, which are major departures from Samsung devices of old and are arguably light years ahead of anything else on the market.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are major departures from Samsung devices of old and are arguably light years ahead of anything else on the market.

Samsung devices have usually sold in the tens of millions even with the same old ‘boring’ design, so with a completely changed and vastly superior design, it’s no surprise that the Korean manufacturer is aiming for 70 million plus global sales.

Of course, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge aren’t perfect, making sacrifices such as the removal of microSD and having a non-removable battery. TouchWiz has been slimmed down considerably, but it may still be a bit too heavy for stock Android lovers and those that simply don’t like Samsung’s UI design. All that said, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are still very innovative products, at least by the definition I set above.

HTC, Sony, Huawei and LG

Now let’s look at the rest of the flagship handsets that have been announced this year: HTC have the One M9, Sony just announced the Xperia Z4, Huawei introduced the Huawei P8 last week, and LG are expected to unveil the LG G4 in a week’s time.

Let’s kick things off with the One M9. I’ve already written a lot about my thoughts on HTC’s latest flagship, but I’ll summarise: HTC have stuck with the same design as last year and updated a few bits before releasing it to the market as an entirely new flagship handset. Except it’s not, it’s just a small revamp of the previous year’s flagship.

Just like the One M9, the Xperia Z4 is just a small revamp of last year’s flagship.

Now to Sony and again, I’ve written about Sony’s new flagship but I’ll summarise: Sony have done what most manufacturers seem to be doing and have taken the Xperia Z3, added a new processor and re-released the handset. While HTC have made a few changes to the One M9 to at least improve a few faults with the One M8, Sony have made barely any changes to the Xperia Z3 successor. Just like the One M9, the Xperia Z4 is just a small revamp of last year’s flagship.

Now we move to Huawei and the new P8, which is arguably much more of a flagship upgrade than either the One M9 or the Xperia Z4. The P8 comes with a slimmer body, updated camera, better display, bigger battery, and newer processor and this essentially determines what a flagship handset should be: simply put, much better than the previous flagship.

Last up is LG and I’ve left the G4 until the end because this is based purely on leaks and not on confirmed details. Last year, the LG G3 was arguably the stand out handset of 2014 as it was the first commercially available handset to offer a Quad HD display and for LG, improving one of the best smartphones was always going to be a challenge.

Based on the rumoured specs, it seems that LG is going to take the G3 and make it even better with a tweaked display (albeit with same resolution), bigger battery, new design options and a tweaked camera. With the G4, LG are arguably innovating as the handset already has market-topping specs but this doesn’t apply to HTC, Sony and arguably Huawei. In fact, the LG G4 could even be the answer for Samsung fans disappointed by the company’s move to non-removable battery and non-expandable storage.

Many Android OEMs are failing to excite

Looking at the HTC One M9 and the Xperia Z4, they both don’t excite as much as the Galaxy S6 and Huawei P8. Whether it’s the dated screen, the same old design, or the compromise of specifications, there’s something about the two handsets that just fails to excite. Now compare them to the Galaxy S6 and the contrast is stark.

Compared to the Galaxy S5 of last year, the Galaxy S6 has a vastly superior design, screen, processor,and build. Add the massive software improvements and the differences are astonishing. Samsung seems to have built several years of innovation into one device and the Galaxy S6 could easily be one of the best selling handsets on the market for a whole two years, let alone being replaced by the Note 5 later this year and presumably by the Galaxy S7 next year.

Could the One M9 or the Xperia Z4 sell for two years? That seems highly unlikely; the Xperia Z4 will probably be pulled from the market by the end of the year, as will the One M9, and the only way that both manufacturers will be able to complete is through price. Except this poses another problem: Samsung has the finances to compete against everyone on price and if HTC or Sony wanted to compete on price, Samsung could probably undercut them.

Even if Samsung didn’t lower the Galaxy S6 price – and why would they when the handsets are worth every penny Samsung is charging – a price drop on the One M9 and Z4 might mean more sales, but it would almost certainly mean less profit. Both HTC and Sony need profit and sales to cement their future and reducing the price of their flagship would probably have a negative effect on consumer faith in their brands.

Is innovation dead in Android?

So is innovation dead in Android? It depends on the manufacturer. Samsung and Huawei have innovated compared to their previous flagship devices, and LG has done so with the G Flex series and is set to innovate to some degree with the G4, but HTC and Sony have just failed. Failed to think outside the box, failed to innovate and failed to produce little more than rehashes of last year’s flagship.

For Sony and HTC, their current designs were both innovative when first released; Sony was the first manufacturer to go after waterproofing and HTC were the first to release metal-clad handsets. The Xperia Z1 and Z3 and the One M7 and One M8 all set benchmarks in what a smartphone should look like and do but over the past twelve months, the companies seem to have lost their way.

Arguably both HTC and Sony need to just release one handset a year. One handset that comprises of the absolute best that the company has to offer.

Is it recoverable? For Sony the future looks bleak unless the Xperia Z4 is a stop-gap until the metal-clad “real” Xperia Z4 is announced at IFA (although it’d probably be called the Xperia Z5). For HTC, there comes the need to innovate heavily; since the One M9, they’ve introduced the One E9 Plus and One M9 Plus which both use Quad HD but where was this in the flagship? Where’s the fingerprint sensor from the One M9 Plus in the flagship One M9?

Arguably both HTC and Sony need to just release one handset a year. One handset that comprises of the absolute best that the company has to offer. Unfortunately, some manufacturers seem completely against the belief that “less is more” to their peril, especially when this strategy has worked so well for the Apple iPhone. HTC and Sony used to be at the forefront of the smartphone industry but for now at least, they seem to be struggling to keep up with the best that Samsung, Huawei and others have to offer.