X

Android and iPhone fail: Our lust has petered out

A Gartner forecast of phone shipments projects sales will decline for a second year in a row. But there's a flicker of hope for 2017.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng
iphone-7-pool-tests-water-splash-0072.jpg

A water-resistant iPhone 7. Yay?

James Martin/CNET

Chances are, you're probably not rushing out to buy a new iPhone or Galaxy device.

Tech giants like Apple and Samsung have hit a wall when it comes to phone innovations, as each new model offers just a handful of minor improvements over the previous iteration. Yeah, the iPhone 7 has a nicer camera, but is it really that different from the iPhone 6S?

The latest data from research firm Gartner reflect that sentiment. The research firm projects phone sales will fall 1.6 percent in 2016, which would make it the second year in a row in which sales have declined. The only area of growth is in the market for low-cost Android phones, dominated by a number of Chinese vendors.

But 2017 may hold a reason to get excited again. The Gartner forecast points to growth returning next year. Maybe the new Google Pixel or the 10th anniversary of the iPhone will bring the phone mojo back.