Main points
- The diversity of the smartphone market in 2014 laid the foundation for today’s tech giants, although many of the innovators no longer exist.
- Even with breakthrough innovations, companies must adapt to changing market trends to achieve long-term success.
- The success of the Apple iPhone 6 series highlights the importance of knowing when to incorporate new technologies for market success.
As the famous English poet William Blake once said, “Hindsight is a wonderful thing,” and this applies not only to every aspect of our lives, but also to technology, yes, even smartphones. Ten years ago, it was a very different playground than smartphones. 2014 was the pinnacle of smartphone innovation, and in fact, there were many more smartphone manufacturers on the market than there are now.
But if you see it Hindsight, innovations introduced a decade ago laid the foundation for the technology we enjoy today. We’ve seen so many smartphones and even new consumer technology categories emerge over the past decade, but 2014 is proving to be a very pivotal year for smartphones. We took a look back at the best smartphones of the decade and discovered a bittersweet truth.
The smartphone market was more diversified at that time
Back in 2014, the smartphone market was very competitive. Unlike today, in 2024 we will find only a handful of flagship manufacturers, especially in the United States. However, the situation was completely different back then. Nokia, BlackBerry, HTC, LG and Sony are all well-known manufacturers, and OnePlus has just launched its first smartphone, the OnePlus One. There are many smartphones to choose from in the market.
Nokia focuses on Windows Phone, while BlackBerry remains a favorite among business professionals. Apple continues to lead in terms of quality, while Samsung pushes the boundaries with innovations like stylus-equipped phones, curved screens, and top-notch cameras. HTC makes some of our favorite smartphones of all time, and the likes of LG and Sony aren’t far behind. Competition is fierce, to say the least.
All innovators are now (or are dying)
However, as the saying goes, “all good things come to an end.” Today, many of the smartphone brands mentioned above no longer exist. But what went wrong? What can we learn from their fate? But before we delve into all of this, let’s first take a look back at where these companies were back then.
At the time, Motorola had just launched the Moto X (second generation), a device that at its core offered an Android-like experience on the inside and hardware-level customization on the outside. Motorola has its Moto Maker website (via XDA-Developers) where you can customize every detail of your Moto X. You can customize the color of your phone based on the type of material used on the back, and you can even have text engraved on the back of the phone. This feature was not available on any smartphone at the time.
HTC has launched one of the most iconic smartphones of the past decade: the HTC One M8. The device impressed the world with its industrial yet premium design and dual stereo speakers on the front, delivering an audio experience unparalleled at the time. But that’s not all. The HTC One M8 is the first commercial smartphone to use a secondary 2MP depth sensor and the main camera to create a 3D map and use that data to simulate bokeh.
The LG G3 was another innovative smartphone in 2014, bringing a quad HD display to the Android world for the first time. It’s one of the best flagship smartphones of 2014, has the most powerful hardware, and sets new standards with its Quad HD screen. The Nokia Lumia 1520 was another eye-catching device of 2014, marking it as the first Windows Phone to feature a phablet-sized display. While the phone is overall impressive, the Windows Phone operating system fails to take full advantage of the device’s large-screen potential.
What did major manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung do in 2014? Samsung just launched the Galaxy Note 4, which delivers the best Android experience with powerful hardware, customizable and feature-rich software, and a great camera, all at a competitive price point — a formula that defines of its product lineup to date. But what about Apple?
Innovation alone does not guarantee success
Apple has long said it will not produce large-screen smartphones. In fact, as early as 2010, then-CEO Steve Jobs even said at a press conference that “no one will buy a big phone.” During the meeting, he said it was difficult to get a handle on it and “no one would buy it.” But look at what Apple did in 2014 when it launched the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
It went from a 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5s to a larger 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch display on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus respectively. Despite initial skepticism, the iPhone 6 series has become Apple’s best-selling iPhones to date. There’s a lot of interest in the big-screen iPhone, and despite its “bendgate” controversy – with some users reporting their iPhone 6/6 Plus bending when carried in tight pockets – it’s still the company’s biggest iPhone yet. Good product.
So, what’s the upshot of all this? Clearly, innovation alone does not guarantee success. Although some of the companies mentioned above are leading the way in smartphone innovation, they fail to understand the changing market trends and customer preferences. In contrast, companies that adapted to changing markets and integrated the right technology at the right time became the biggest winners of this era and remain influential today.
There is no denying that innovation remains the key to driving the industry forward. The proven innovations of early brands paved the way for the products we have today. However, knowing when to integrate these innovations at the right time is equally important.
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