The End of the iPhone

Okay, sure, click-bait. But give me three minutes to make my case.

Back in 2011 (if memory serves) I fell in love with the HTC EVO Android mobile phone. It was a rock solid device and had a kickstand for watching videos in landscape mode, had an HDMI output port for sharing video on a big screen TV and a ton of other features. Including the Android OS (operating system). The biggest problem? I couldn't figure out how to make it work! It was fighting my every action or so it seemed.

It might have been my fault, I owned the iPhone 4 and it was also a beautiful device having shed the "toy like" look and feel of the first couple of versions and the apps were light years ahead of Android. Back then everyone developed first on Apple iOS then if the money was available they might create an Android version. By the way, I am telling the story, so I get to share it from my vantage point having been an Apple fan since my days in the Spring of 1984 while waiting for my first Mac, the original Macintosh.

I went on over the years to buy the Apple iPhone 5 and then iPhone 6. But when the 7 came out, the shine was off. The iPhone 8 and X didn't help. Steve Jobs had passed on October 5, 2011 and for me the products just haven't been up to what I thought would be his standards. Take water and dust resistance as one simple example. The Samsung S6 (and of course the newer S8 and S9) is more resistant (IP68) than all iPhones, including the 8 and X (IP67) and Samsung still has an earbud jack! I could go on and on but won't. No one wants to change and until some event makes you, you won't.

The final straw for me was innocent enough, my MacBook Pro was seven years old and the hard drive died. It happens. But Apple also has pretty definitive end of life measures. When I couldn't update the OS of my original MacBook Air (1st Gen) to stay current and use it for iOS app development, I had to switch to the MacBook Pro. Now what? I was on deadline for a project and needed a computer. Or did I? With limited funds I went to Walmart and paid $187 for a Samsung Chrome 3 Chromebook with 4gig of RAM. It was less money than a SSD hard drive replacement for the MacBook Pro. And it was in stock. Long story short, I may never buy another computer. It is that good now that I run Ubuntu Linux on it for apps like gimp and audacity:

Today, the advertisements are starting to hit for 5G service for mobile phones. One company hopes to grab the lead by offering a unique 5G platform that is not as robust as the standard that almost every other carrier has committed to support. How? By shipping months early... this year perhaps in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics. No idea which manufacturer as I write this post but the carrier is Verizon.

"Samsung is, without a doubt, the biggest company in the Android space and the biggest competitor to Apple and having it on board with the 5G NR from Qualcomm is the great tailwind in the fight for dominance in the 5G market."

Verizon's solution is just "5G" vs. the competition which are using "5G NR" (New Radio) for their phones and most likely lead by Samsung. In fact the Galaxy S10 should be a completely redesigned handset with the X50 Snapdragon chipset, 5G NR, and the all new Android v9.0 operating system. Shipping as early as late January 2019; however, the real target seems to be March.

"My last three phones have been Samsung and my next phone most likely will be as well."

If the hype is real (and it seems legit) I would not buy a new mobile phone until the 5G NR versions ship. Note too that most cellphones will include 4G connectivity for redundancy and functionality until 5G is legion.

As always, your mileage may vary. Questions? Give me a shout.

P.S. Yes, I know there most likely will be iPhones for years to come. But will you admit it might be time to challenge status quo?

Full disclosure: I no longer own stock at this time in any of the companies mentioned. Furthermore, I am not compensated in any manner for this article. The photo title "contrarian" came from my memories of a column in Forbes magazine years ago when Malcolm Forbes was Publisher. Back when I read every issue from cover to cover. I consider myself such a person. More so today than ever.