TECH

The biggest failures in the world of smartphones in 2022

The outgoing year was not the brightest for smartphones, but far from the dullest. There have been some updates (like the Pixel 7 series and Samsung's foldables), interesting mid-range models (Nothing Phone 1, Poco F4, Pixel 6a) and some innovative devices (Sony Xperia 1 IV, Xiaomi 12S Ultra)

However, in 2022, smartphone manufacturers made, to put it mildly, a lot of mistakes. Among them were poor models, dubious software solutions and a poorly chosen promotion strategy. Let's talk about the most notable flaws.

Samsung: GOS and gaming drama...The Galaxy S22 smartphone series has seen a number of improvements, including a new main camera, a nice telephoto lens for the S22 and Plus, an S Pen slot for the S22 Ultra, and excellent software support.

Unfortunately for the company, it turned out that Samsung was throttling the performance of many games with its Game Optimizing Service (GOS) software package to avoid heat issues. What's even worse is that the package has been configured in such a way that the benchmarks are not subject to restrictions.

The Korean market, in particular, balked at Samsung's restrictive practices, eventually forcing the company to implement a "performance priority" mode that reduced the GOS-induced throttling. Not the best start to the year for Samsung.

Speaking of throttling…The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 matched the Exynos 2200 in that regard, which was arguably the biggest chipset disappointment of the year. Everything looked good on paper: a powerful octa-core processor, promising graphics and improved AI/ISP capabilities. But in practice? Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is facing severe throttling issues. Android Authority's own tests showed that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with this chipset lost approximately 50% of its performance in stress tests compared to 35% for the Exynos. This applies, in particular, to mobile games. The fact that the Tensor G2 in the Pixel 7, which lags behind the Snapdragon chip in classic benchmarks, was able to deliver more consistent performance than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 across multiple devices also speaks volumes.

Is it because Samsung's 4nm process isn't up to par yet? Well, Qualcomm has shifted orders to TSMC for the production of Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 and coincidentally, it has boasted a huge boost in power efficiency and performance. Android Authority's own stress test found that the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 loses less than 10% of its performance, which is a huge improvement over the previous version.

The Failure of the HTC Metaverse...After exiting the mainstream market, HTC has only released a handful of budget devices in various regions in recent years. So when the Taiwanese brand started to attract attention in June with the promise of a “phone to the metaverse”, it was a surprise to say the least.

As defeated as the metaverse hype sounded, it did give hope that HTC would return to the high-end segment. Unfortunately, it turned out that the teaser was only related to the launch of the Desire 22 Pro, a budget smartphone.

HTC's metaverse claim hinged in part on the ability to pair the Desire 22 Pro with the company's Vive Flow VR headset, but that could already be done with OnePlus and Samsung mid-range phones. So it's not more of a metaverse device than other smartphones. And so, among its features are the Snapdragon 695 processor, a 4520 mAh battery and 18 W wired charging, all priced at 43,000 rubles ($400 in other markets). The IP67 rating and support for wireless charging were the only really good things about the smartphone on paper.

Communication issues on Pixel 6... The glitch is technically related to the 2021 smartphone series, but the story gained traction after it was reported by users and merchants in 2022. Many Google Pixel 6 series owners have complained of severe connectivity issues wireless.

In particular, Pixel 6 owners have found that their phones have much weaker cell signal reception than their competitors. And that wasn't all. Some have also found that their devices have difficulty switching between cellular and Wi-Fi (when leaving the house, for example). Users were forced to enter and exit Airplane Mode to reconnect.

This issue didn't affect everyone, but many people reported that it was a serious mistake on Google's part. A July 2022 Android Authority survey found that three-quarters of Pixel 6 readers experienced some type of connectivity issue.

BlackBerry-branded 5G smartphones... TCL's BlackBerry-branded smartphone contract expired in 2020, but at the same time, security company Onward Mobility announced that it would launch BlackBerry-branded 5G smartphones in 2021.

The wording seemed simple and rather vague: We were promised next-generation 5G smartphones that would be “highly secure” and have “end-to-end security solutions”. At least one of the devices must have received a physical keyboard.

Then the release was moved to 2022, and in the end it turned out that Onward Mobility had lost the rights to the BlackBerry brand, and then it was decided to cancel the release of the phones altogether. Perhaps this is yet another sign that the brand should be left alone and die. Though polls show that many still dream of a rebirth of the BlackBerry.

Weak policy from Asus and Sony... We've finally reached the happy times when most (though not all) Android smartphone brands are making more reasonable commitments to software updates for their flagships. For example, Samsung offers a generous four operating system updates and five years of security patches. Google is responding with three operating system updates and five years of security patches. But Asus and Sony haven't moved in that direction.

Asus is only promising two OS updates and "at least" two years of security patches for the Zenfone 9 and ROG Phone 6 series. The 2022 Sony Xperia flagships will receive two OS updates and three years of security patches. safety. That's especially odd in the case of the Xperia 1 IV, given its starting price of $1,599. You can spend half that amount and get a Google or Samsung smartphone with much better software support.

However, those aren't the only two brands with questionable update policies. Thus, the company promises “at least” two years of support for the recent flagship Honor Magic 4 Pro. And Vivo appears to offer 3 years of updates, which is perfectly fine, but only for “select models” of the Vivo X series.

As you can see, 2022 has been without marketing disasters. However, it's frustrating that the list of failed solutions still includes overheating chipsets, bad update policies, and bugs that companies take too long to fix.

What would you add to the list of 2022 failures in the smartphone world?

Based on Android Authority materials