Plateauing smartphone costs representing a change for the 2020 market

Touted as cutting-edge systems that everyone needed, smartphones have enjoyed a position of ubiquity in the Western world for years. Long operating with fluctuating prices as new systems and components were released, modern premium smartphones like the iPhone are only slightly more expensive than their originators when adjusted for inflation.

In the 2020s, this could indicate a problem of stagnation, where further more expensive upgrades to hardware could be unnecessary for the bulk of users. This raises questions about the future trajectory of smartphone systems.

Could overall prices plummet alongside a decreasing cost of production and the need for significant upgrades, or will manufacturers attempt to reinvent the wheel to maintain current margins?

The necessity of future upgrades

Before looking at why future changes to mobile systems are becoming increasingly redundant, it’s important to consider how the vast majority of customers use their current mobile systems. One of the most common ways this occurs is with media playback. Video streaming services like Hulu and Netflix are capable of the highest-quality output on modern devices, both from home networks and mobile...