I mean, brands of electronics launch so many models of smartphones, tablets, computers and TVs with different RAM and storage capacities, inputs like HDMI and USB, screen sizes and so on that we can’t decide which one to buy.
But as I observed, domestic appliances like washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, fridges, irons, vacuum cleaners and so on nearly stay the same and not many of them are launched so often. Their main functions approximately have stayed the same, except detergent adjusting and less water consumption for washing machines, for example. And ovens adjusting time of cooking according to type of dish. And robot vacuum cleaners. [And appliances with Wifi connection](https://www.vestel.com.tr/akilli-urunler-c-1108)
Like the capacity of washing machine doesn’t bother us, for example, but we’re disappointed when buying a smartphone with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage but seeing another one with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
Plus, we don’t change domestic appliances as often as smart devices, like I had a washing machine bought in 1997 working until 2022 but changed 9 mobile phones since 2006 to this day.
Why is there such a difference?
In: 597
All those things you mention have been around for many years. Early on, there WERE a lot of advancements and changes as the designers were able to tinker and discover better ways to do whatever the things did.
After a while, everyone more or less settled on the best way, with only minor tweaks after that. Unless something unexpected happens, these things are thought to be sorted out. After that, changes are often largely cosmetic. We can think of these as ‘mature’ technologies.
Once in a while, something new IS developed, and everyone reacts by doing the same thing, or going out of business. EVs have disrupted an otherwise stable gas-powered car market, and electronics have improved clothes washers, for example.
But after a while, things settle out again, and the changes to those will slow down again.
Look at the shapes of nearly every compact car today. If they didn’t have logos on them, I could not tell half of them apart. There seems to be one best shape for a car for fuel efficiency while carrying people, and everyone therefore does the same thing.
Once smartphones have been around for another 40 years, we may find that they are not changing much year-over-year either.
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