iPhone users focus on basic uses, neglecting the more complex tasks it could perform.
Not all iPhone users use it in the same way, but there is a common core both in the most used functions and the most neglected ones. This is what the study recently published by CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners) highlights.
The organization relies on data collected over a year, from March 2023 to March 2024. It was carried out with American users, but we can safely estimate that more or less this data would be little different in France.
What stands out the most are the extremes. Messages and Internet browsing stand out among the most frequent uses. Calls are no longer popular although they remain in fourth position, just behind emails.
The photo at the bottom of the uses
But at the very bottom, we find unexpected functions, at least for one of them. Behind even video games, photography is at the very bottom of the ranking. Even though each new iPhone release is an element put in the spotlight by Apple, consumers do not seem to use their iOS smartphones more than that to take photos or edit them.
It would be interesting to have the same study on Android smartphones to see if there is a correlation. But at a time when manufacturers continue to shower us with ever more efficient sensors, variable aperture, ever more imposing telephoto lenses, it seems that this does not go beyond the stage of marketing advertising for many, on iPhone at least.
Longer-lasting smartphones and expanded updates
But the race for power is a trend that is tending to run out of steam. More and more consumers no longer want to change their smartphone as quickly as before.
According to the latest update of the Fnac-Darty After-Sales Barometer, the average renewal would now be every 4 years, compared to “ 18 months in 2017 […] and 30 months in 2022”, Charles Bocquillon, general director of Save, told me at the end of 2022.
In response, manufacturers are offering extended update periods to make smartphones last and evolve. We think in particular of the seven years of follow-up at Google or Samsung.
And if these are the good students here, the others will have no other choice but to follow next year since from June 20, 2025, smartphones sold in Europe will have to have updates for at least five years .
