Nowadays, all phones feel the same: mature and boring. Every generation is a minor refresh which is mostly just software features, and there are even changes they make that are downgrades (an example would be Samsung removing Bluetooth from the S-Pen in the S25 Ultra). Back then however, phones were the opposite: unique, soulful, and fun. So what happened? Why are phones so boring now? Well, there are many reasons, but in my opinion, the main reasons are the market maturing, lack of innovation, and less competition mostly because of the absence of 2 major brands. Firstly, the smartphone market was new, and companies were still trying to figure out what people wanted. Some companies thought people wanted a simple and easy to use device; others thought they wanted endless features and customization. Some thought people wanted projectors built into their phones with devices like the Samsung Galaxy Beam! The ideas were endless. However, the market slowly started to mature, and companies began to figure out what people wanted. Secondly, there is innovation. Back then, mostly because of smartphones being a new market, there were cool new features and gimmicks companies used to persuade you into buying their phones. Now, people usually know which phone brand they want, so companies just copy each other to the point where everything seems the same and they make more money since they don’t have to build new technology. Thirdly, there’s the lack of competition. There used to be many brands that were huge like HTC, but they slowly lost their grip and died out. Even though losing HTC was sad, there were still some innovative brands like Huawei and LG that pushed the boundaries. Unfortunately, LG would leave the smartphone market in 2021 due to low sales and Huawei would be put on the entity list in 2020, getting them banned from working with US companies and banned from many countries for allegedly spying though there was no proof they did this. Huawei still makes great phones, but they are mostly Chinese exclusive and can’t use things like Google services, making their phones hard to use if you aren’t in China. I think the downfall of these companies was a huge factor in phones being boring now since their exit lowered competition and innovation as companies have no reason to innovate anymore.