I used to be a "cutting edge phone guy" where I'd get the latest iPhone ever year and the thought of having the older phone just didn't sit well with me. These days though the upgrades are so marginal I don't even care. I'm looking forward to upgrading my three year old phone this year, but not because I expect it to be more than "better camera, faster and thinner" but just because its time.
Why is it "time" after 3 years? They should hopefully still be getting software updates, at least security updates.
I'm on an iPhone 13 since launch (almost 5 years ago) and still see no reason to upgrade. There just hasn't been anything 'exciting' in phones in many years.
EDIT: should add, I've only used 50% of the 256GB storage and battery life is still fine (comfortably gets through an entire day+night). But I'm not a heavy phone user so that's perhaps atypical for a 5yo phone.
It’s a fair question. The battery is on the border of needing to be replaced, which is a $79 repair and would probably buy me another three years or so. But at this point I want something a bit snappier and I’ll probably replace the battery and use it as a backup phone.
Same here. Battery health is 84% which is not disastrous. But charging is a chore. The charging port doesn't work half the time (a problem in the car especially). I would also like it to be lighter, which I probably won't get.
The charging port might just need cleaning. I’m still using an iPhone 11 and the charging port was getting super unreliable. I cleaned it a couple of weeks ago - gently, with a toothpick and a flashlight, there was some lint stuck inside - and it’s worked perfectly since then.
If you like taking pictures with your phone, the cameras are still improving steadily enough that you'll see meaningful improvements if you upgrade every three years
Anecdotally, every iphone I've tried since my iphone 11 pro seems to take worse photos. I do take a lot of photos with a standalone camera though so I imagine I am biased.
what a strange comment! It's totally fine, you do whatever you want, but it sounds like "I used to be an alcoholic drinking two 12-packs a day, now I don't even care about beer: I just have 6 a day and that's not because I want to be drunk but just because I feel like it". Like, sure it's quantitatively better but... it's not really qualitatively very different is it
I agree; but I'm not sure it is fixable. Without some technological advancement to actually move the needle, most manufacturers are just stuck with marginal hardware changes and then some cheesy software-locked exclusive to the latest models.
it is a phone. you use it to look up content and maybe endlessly scroll. i am very sure a new iphone is not boring to a young person getting their first phone. i am sorta sure that phones feel they've plateaued because present day app store policies no longer support high quality ideas.
Might be cheaper than replacing the battery. Might want more storage.
I have a Pixel 7 I'm still happy with other than 2 issues. Battery wear is starting to be noticeable. There's a loose cable or something that causes the screen to go to static sometimes. If I press firm on the bottom it's good again. With the cost of getting these issues repaired, I just started looking into getting a new phone instead.
An official OEM battery for the Pixel 7 along with all the tools you need is $50. It is not expensive. The process to replace it is easy. Certainly nerve racking the first time but I've opened up my pixel phones at least 6 times now and it is pretty trivial.
I’m also getting ready to upgrade from my 3yo iPhone. For me, my phone is running out of storage, starting to feel a little slower, and the battery has less capacity. I’m sure I could wait another year, but I’d rather be a little ahead on updates than be behind on updates where my phone is creating problems for me.
I am so amused at the “HiLight” feature (lighting up colored LEDs for notifications so you can see them “at a glance” without looking at the screen). This is a feature that was on the Android phones of old (including the original G1) and I loved it, but it got phased out in favor of “always on displays”… which apparently now we want less of!
It’s funny how trends like this are a circle sometimes.
Google can't seem to decide on a direction and stick with it. Years of new features that inevitably ended up abandoned 2 versions later resulted in a constantly changing and unpredictable user experience.
It was fun while I had free time in college and enjoyed flashing ROMs, but as I got busier with life this lack of refinement pushed me away.
The RGB leds were one of my favorite features of early Android phones. I even backed a terrible Kickstarter campaign that synced those colors to an RGB wristband (this was before smartwatches were a thing).
Conversely, I was surprised to learn that the temperature sensor introduced on the Pixel 8 Pro in 2023 was only removed this year. No one knew why it was there in the first place.
I heard that it was a COVID feature. I guess people thought you would be scanning your friend's foreheads before socializing.
That sensor would be much better if it was integrated with the camera and LIDAR, so that you could "paint" a scene with thermal data by moving the phone around.
That's the only plausible scenario, but it also came out in 2023 and people stopped caring at least a year before. And it persisted for a few years so either someone thought they could salvage something from it, or no one had a better idea what to put there.
> Google can't seem to decide on a direction and stick with it. Years of new features that inevitably ended up abandoned 2 versions later resulted in a constantly changing and unpredictable user experience.
I'm guessing cultures that reward shipping new products (e.g. 67 different messaging apps) don't turn out great for consumers.
They had it as a hidden feature up till the nexus 5 or 6 I believe. Someone bothered to include hardware for an LED even if the stock software never supported it.
I remember my old nexus had it, and it was very customizable. I had it flash different colors for different chats. Definitely funny seeing this make its way back as if it's some new revolutionary feature
The Hiptop’s OS was far ahead of its time; the hardware not so much.
I had one from the CSK through the 3rd or 4th and then moved to iPhone. I still think I was able to do far more, faster, on a Hiptop than a modern iPhone except having websites support mobile well.
These phones are getting larger each release, and it's the opposite of the trend I prefer now. I really am starting to miss the SE phone sizes and not feeling like I'm carrying a literal brick in my pocket wherever I go now. I don't think Apple is cutting back on the phone size either when their Fold comes out, and we're slowly just moving towards the point where a phone is just a mini tablet.
Are they? The Pixel 11 Pro and regular screens are only a tenth of an inch larger than the 3 year old Pixel 8s. The screen sizes have largely stabilized IMO with people who want any larger screens being pushed into the folding phone category. I get it's larger than the mid 2010s normal but they're not really getting much larger in the last couple years.
I was legitimately excited to get an iPhone Mini. Every new phone feels like a downgrade. I don't care if the phone is faster if it's an annoyance to carry, or hold in one hand.
We don't even need to reverse the trend! Android is flexible, so it wouldn't be a big ask for one of the many models to be smaller! Each pixel is larger than the last. I was a Pixel 4 holdout until a few months ago when they stopped supporting tap-to-pay. The 10 is a monster, and the trend is as you say.
Maybe I'm being too cynical, but all the benefits in the video intro are either things that aren't benefits of the hardware (screen calls without looking, Gemini, tap less do more) or they're compensations for the foldable screen (30% more durable, 20% brighter ... than the last Fold, but likely still worse than non-folding phones.)
I don't see that as a product video that's telling me why I need one. It's just telling me that they've iterated on the last model. I mean, congrats, well done, but why should I buy it?
Why is Google averse to larger batteries? The Chinese makers have been stuffing 8000ish mah batteries in rather diminutive phones for two or three years now, and Google is releasing one in 2026 with about half that.
I was looking forward to this one because of the IP68 dust and water protection rating, but the fact that it has the same cameras as the base Pixel 11 instead of the Pro is very sad. I also wish the HiLight feature was more used at launch - for example, having it glow red while recording.
I am only 75, but in a few years I have thought of downsizing to one device (and a VPS for a little coding). A future version of this phone that is triple fold would work for me.
The Fold still has 16GB of RAM. The 11 Pro and 11 Pro XL both got nerfed to 12GB.
You also only get 6 months of a free Google AI Pro subscription (a $120 value) as opposed to the 12 months with the 10 (a $240 value). It's hard to see the 11 as an upgrade.
I was going to buy an 11 Pro, but now I might just grab a 10 Pro instead. What is the 11 buying me, some extra attention grabbing lights and a small redesign? in exchange for less memory? Oy vey.
I'm looking forward to when "fold" is not so equivalent to "premium". I'm interested in a folding phone, but I don't think I've spent a cumulative $2000 on my last 4 phones. I'd have a hard time justifying spending even $1000.
I'm also looking forward to nomenclature settling so the horizontal-folding passport-style folding phones (like this, which I find interesting) can be more clearly distinguished from the vertical-folding flip-phone style folding phones (which don't remotely interest me).
With fewer and fewer interesting things getting added from one generation to the next, freedom, security, and privacy have become my main selling point when deciding on a phone. 7 years of updates, strong hardware enforced security and the ability to run graphene is have been the deciding factors in the last 3 phones I've bought for myself and my family.
I have been using the iPhone for something like 10 years now. I am getting the urge to de-apple since I fell down the slippery slope and now have an iPad, watch, apple TV, MBP, etc.
Exercising less dependence on a single company for everything seems like a good thing, but I'm struggling to really ground that principle against the convenience of just buying "what works." Does it really matter at the end of the day?
What would it take for them to add a spring to the hinge? I would love a foldable that opens with a flick of the wrist without the need to pry it open.
What genuinely disappointing result. Long time pixel user here and I've been routinely buying these phones with the argument that you're getting the most value of any modern smart phone. Now? I'm just waiting for the pixel 10 family to drop in price. Happy to just wait.
How many people actually care about phone tech anymore?
Like, of course there are subcultures that love this stuff, and I'm not criticizing that. And these folding phones are neat tech. But at some point phones for the 99% got "good enough", the model to model upgrades aren't even worth it.
I used to be a "cutting edge phone guy" where I'd get the latest iPhone ever year and the thought of having the older phone just didn't sit well with me. These days though the upgrades are so marginal I don't even care. I'm looking forward to upgrading my three year old phone this year, but not because I expect it to be more than "better camera, faster and thinner" but just because its time.
These updates are so boring now!
Why is it "time" after 3 years? They should hopefully still be getting software updates, at least security updates.
I'm on an iPhone 13 since launch (almost 5 years ago) and still see no reason to upgrade. There just hasn't been anything 'exciting' in phones in many years.
EDIT: should add, I've only used 50% of the 256GB storage and battery life is still fine (comfortably gets through an entire day+night). But I'm not a heavy phone user so that's perhaps atypical for a 5yo phone.
It’s a fair question. The battery is on the border of needing to be replaced, which is a $79 repair and would probably buy me another three years or so. But at this point I want something a bit snappier and I’ll probably replace the battery and use it as a backup phone.
Same here. Battery health is 84% which is not disastrous. But charging is a chore. The charging port doesn't work half the time (a problem in the car especially). I would also like it to be lighter, which I probably won't get.
The charging port might just need cleaning. I’m still using an iPhone 11 and the charging port was getting super unreliable. I cleaned it a couple of weeks ago - gently, with a toothpick and a flashlight, there was some lint stuck inside - and it’s worked perfectly since then.
If you like taking pictures with your phone, the cameras are still improving steadily enough that you'll see meaningful improvements if you upgrade every three years
Anecdotally, every iphone I've tried since my iphone 11 pro seems to take worse photos. I do take a lot of photos with a standalone camera though so I imagine I am biased.
what a strange comment! It's totally fine, you do whatever you want, but it sounds like "I used to be an alcoholic drinking two 12-packs a day, now I don't even care about beer: I just have 6 a day and that's not because I want to be drunk but just because I feel like it". Like, sure it's quantitatively better but... it's not really qualitatively very different is it
I agree; but I'm not sure it is fixable. Without some technological advancement to actually move the needle, most manufacturers are just stuck with marginal hardware changes and then some cheesy software-locked exclusive to the latest models.
it is a phone. you use it to look up content and maybe endlessly scroll. i am very sure a new iphone is not boring to a young person getting their first phone. i am sorta sure that phones feel they've plateaued because present day app store policies no longer support high quality ideas.
> but just because its time
If you already know the new phone isn’t going to do anything better for you, why is it time?
Might be cheaper than replacing the battery. Might want more storage.
I have a Pixel 7 I'm still happy with other than 2 issues. Battery wear is starting to be noticeable. There's a loose cable or something that causes the screen to go to static sometimes. If I press firm on the bottom it's good again. With the cost of getting these issues repaired, I just started looking into getting a new phone instead.
An official OEM battery for the Pixel 7 along with all the tools you need is $50. It is not expensive. The process to replace it is easy. Certainly nerve racking the first time but I've opened up my pixel phones at least 6 times now and it is pretty trivial.
https://www.ifixit.com/products/google-pixel-7-battery-genui...
I’m also getting ready to upgrade from my 3yo iPhone. For me, my phone is running out of storage, starting to feel a little slower, and the battery has less capacity. I’m sure I could wait another year, but I’d rather be a little ahead on updates than be behind on updates where my phone is creating problems for me.
I am so amused at the “HiLight” feature (lighting up colored LEDs for notifications so you can see them “at a glance” without looking at the screen). This is a feature that was on the Android phones of old (including the original G1) and I loved it, but it got phased out in favor of “always on displays”… which apparently now we want less of!
It’s funny how trends like this are a circle sometimes.
This is precisely why I left Android.
Google can't seem to decide on a direction and stick with it. Years of new features that inevitably ended up abandoned 2 versions later resulted in a constantly changing and unpredictable user experience.
It was fun while I had free time in college and enjoyed flashing ROMs, but as I got busier with life this lack of refinement pushed me away.
The RGB leds were one of my favorite features of early Android phones. I even backed a terrible Kickstarter campaign that synced those colors to an RGB wristband (this was before smartwatches were a thing).
Conversely, I was surprised to learn that the temperature sensor introduced on the Pixel 8 Pro in 2023 was only removed this year. No one knew why it was there in the first place.
I heard that it was a COVID feature. I guess people thought you would be scanning your friend's foreheads before socializing.
That sensor would be much better if it was integrated with the camera and LIDAR, so that you could "paint" a scene with thermal data by moving the phone around.
That's the only plausible scenario, but it also came out in 2023 and people stopped caring at least a year before. And it persisted for a few years so either someone thought they could salvage something from it, or no one had a better idea what to put there.
> Google can't seem to decide on a direction and stick with it. Years of new features that inevitably ended up abandoned 2 versions later resulted in a constantly changing and unpredictable user experience.
I'm guessing cultures that reward shipping new products (e.g. 67 different messaging apps) don't turn out great for consumers.
> The RGB leds were one of my favorite features of early Android phones. I
Right man. I had forgotten that my nexus 7 had this kind of LED and I really liked it and missed it later.
They had it as a hidden feature up till the nexus 5 or 6 I believe. Someone bothered to include hardware for an LED even if the stock software never supported it.
I remember my old nexus had it, and it was very customizable. I had it flash different colors for different chats. Definitely funny seeing this make its way back as if it's some new revolutionary feature
I remember having this on a Sidekick in like 2007.
The Hiptop’s OS was far ahead of its time; the hardware not so much.
I had one from the CSK through the 3rd or 4th and then moved to iPhone. I still think I was able to do far more, faster, on a Hiptop than a modern iPhone except having websites support mobile well.
RIP
These phones are getting larger each release, and it's the opposite of the trend I prefer now. I really am starting to miss the SE phone sizes and not feeling like I'm carrying a literal brick in my pocket wherever I go now. I don't think Apple is cutting back on the phone size either when their Fold comes out, and we're slowly just moving towards the point where a phone is just a mini tablet.
Are they? The Pixel 11 Pro and regular screens are only a tenth of an inch larger than the 3 year old Pixel 8s. The screen sizes have largely stabilized IMO with people who want any larger screens being pushed into the folding phone category. I get it's larger than the mid 2010s normal but they're not really getting much larger in the last couple years.
I was legitimately excited to get an iPhone Mini. Every new phone feels like a downgrade. I don't care if the phone is faster if it's an annoyance to carry, or hold in one hand.
We don't even need to reverse the trend! Android is flexible, so it wouldn't be a big ask for one of the many models to be smaller! Each pixel is larger than the last. I was a Pixel 4 holdout until a few months ago when they stopped supporting tap-to-pay. The 10 is a monster, and the trend is as you say.
To be clear, this is slightly smaller than the pixel 10 by ~1mm in each direction, but they are still too big.
You know, maybe cameras are good enough, and I don't want a tumor at the top edge of my phone that gets tiresome to hold after 5 minutes.
Maybe I'm being too cynical, but all the benefits in the video intro are either things that aren't benefits of the hardware (screen calls without looking, Gemini, tap less do more) or they're compensations for the foldable screen (30% more durable, 20% brighter ... than the last Fold, but likely still worse than non-folding phones.)
I don't see that as a product video that's telling me why I need one. It's just telling me that they've iterated on the last model. I mean, congrats, well done, but why should I buy it?
Why is Google averse to larger batteries? The Chinese makers have been stuffing 8000ish mah batteries in rather diminutive phones for two or three years now, and Google is releasing one in 2026 with about half that.
Shipping regulations. >20Wh can't go by airpost in the west.
Oppo doesn't have that issue in EU and ships 7500mah just fine though. Some also split batteries into two just to accommodate this.
They split it up into multiple smaller cells to do that. Or don't ship by airmail.
Split batteries are also better for efficient space usage (depending on the chassis) and longevity.
Is this enforced?
Because those are a different kind of battery, silicon-carbon and they wear out much quicker. I am sure they will eventually though.
Might be longevity concerns. Those new batteries are impressive, but the concern is that they will degrade a lot.
Also, remember the exploding Samsung phone. Experiments with batteries are risky for those companies.
I was looking forward to this one because of the IP68 dust and water protection rating, but the fact that it has the same cameras as the base Pixel 11 instead of the Pro is very sad. I also wish the HiLight feature was more used at launch - for example, having it glow red while recording.
I am only 75, but in a few years I have thought of downsizing to one device (and a VPS for a little coding). A future version of this phone that is triple fold would work for me.
The Fold still has 16GB of RAM. The 11 Pro and 11 Pro XL both got nerfed to 12GB.
You also only get 6 months of a free Google AI Pro subscription (a $120 value) as opposed to the 12 months with the 10 (a $240 value). It's hard to see the 11 as an upgrade.
12gb is a huge downgrade.
I was going to buy an 11 Pro, but now I might just grab a 10 Pro instead. What is the 11 buying me, some extra attention grabbing lights and a small redesign? in exchange for less memory? Oy vey.
Just a note that the 12GB nerf only applies to the base storage version of the pros.
I'm looking forward to when "fold" is not so equivalent to "premium". I'm interested in a folding phone, but I don't think I've spent a cumulative $2000 on my last 4 phones. I'd have a hard time justifying spending even $1000.
I'm also looking forward to nomenclature settling so the horizontal-folding passport-style folding phones (like this, which I find interesting) can be more clearly distinguished from the vertical-folding flip-phone style folding phones (which don't remotely interest me).
Does anyone had a good experience with foldable phones? The only people I know that bought one had them broken near the 2 year mark.
My phone from 2018 it's still working perfectly.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold had a lot of warranty replacements due to a failing internal cable. The 10 seems to have resolved the issue, but time will tell.
Other than that, the Pixel Fold has been a great phone. It's like having a tiny tablet with me everywhere I go.
With fewer and fewer interesting things getting added from one generation to the next, freedom, security, and privacy have become my main selling point when deciding on a phone. 7 years of updates, strong hardware enforced security and the ability to run graphene is have been the deciding factors in the last 3 phones I've bought for myself and my family.
I have been using the iPhone for something like 10 years now. I am getting the urge to de-apple since I fell down the slippery slope and now have an iPad, watch, apple TV, MBP, etc.
Exercising less dependence on a single company for everything seems like a good thing, but I'm struggling to really ground that principle against the convenience of just buying "what works." Does it really matter at the end of the day?
What would it take for them to add a spring to the hinge? I would love a foldable that opens with a flick of the wrist without the need to pry it open.
New phones are so boring now, bring back Nokia
Here's to fast GrapheneOS support for all the get the 11 line.
seems the big phone makers are going with the phone-2-tablet fold.
very few have gone with the ultra portable and pragmatic fold like razr-ultra.
hopefully apple comes out with a razr-ultra like fold.
What genuinely disappointing result. Long time pixel user here and I've been routinely buying these phones with the argument that you're getting the most value of any modern smart phone. Now? I'm just waiting for the pixel 10 family to drop in price. Happy to just wait.
Ugly as ever. Bleh. Hire a proper industrial designer.
How many people actually care about phone tech anymore?
Like, of course there are subcultures that love this stuff, and I'm not criticizing that. And these folding phones are neat tech. But at some point phones for the 99% got "good enough", the model to model upgrades aren't even worth it.
If that were true, then so many people wouldn't keep buying new high end phones. Yet they continue to do so.