In this blog post, I’d like to examine the problems facing the rapidly evolving mobile phone industry and discuss whether it’s necessary to slow down its pace of development.

Why is the mobile phone industry evolving so quickly?

These days, it’s common to hear news of a new smartphone model being released shortly after purchasing the latest one. Furthermore, when a new model is released, people show great interest, discussing its new features and design changes, and comparing the latest models from various companies. This illustrates just how rapidly the mobile phone industry has evolved in modern society. This raises a question: Is it really necessary for the mobile phone industry to evolve at such a rapid pace? Wouldn’t it be possible to generate greater profits by investing the costs and effort spent on developing and manufacturing new phones into other industries? Therefore, I’d like to discuss the issue from the perspective that we need to take a cautious approach to the mobile phone industry’s current, excessively rapid pace of development.

What problems does excessive smartphone use cause?

First, the volume of smartphone usage today is so high that it can be considered excessive. Some may ask what the high volume of mobile phone usage has to do with the rapidly evolving mobile phone industry. In the past, the functions of a mobile phone were limited to making calls or sending text messages, but mobile phones have evolved so rapidly that they now offer a wide range of features—allowing users to access the internet anytime, anywhere, and even serving as substitutes for computers. As a result, people have come to use their phones anytime and anywhere, which has led to excessive smartphone use and caused various problems.
Of course, I don’t think using a smartphone in moderation is a problem in itself. However, people are constantly checking and fiddling with their smartphones to browse the internet or try out new features. When using public transportation, such as the subway or bus, it’s common to see many people holding their smartphones and each doing their own thing. Some people even engage in other activities on their smartphones while talking to one another. Consider social gatherings: it’s typical for people to converse while sitting together, but when everyone is holding their own smartphone and doing whatever they please, this can be problematic from the perspective of social interaction.
Of course, this is not to say we should do away with smartphones, which have already advanced to this extent. Nor does it mean that the fact smartphones now offer a wide range of functions beyond their basic role as mobile phones is necessarily a bad thing. What I’m trying to say is that as smartphones become equipped with an excessive number of features, people are becoming overly dependent on them, which can result in a decline in direct communication between people. It’s impossible to know exactly what form smartphones will take or what new features they’ll have as they continue to evolve. However, if smartphones continue to play an increasingly significant role in people’s daily lives, there is a possibility that people will become increasingly distracted by them, which could have a negative impact on social activities. Furthermore, since I believe that some of these issues are related to the fact that smartphones—due to the rapid pace of development—are now used in nearly every aspect of daily life, I believe we need to exercise caution regarding the excessively rapid development of the mobile phone industry.

Are smartphones really necessary for social activities?

Those who do not understand the stance opposing the rapid development of the mobile phone industry due to excessive smartphone use might argue that smartphones can actually be helpful for social activities. They point out that smartphones allow people to search for meeting places, review user ratings to determine which locations are better, and exchange messages to decide on a location. Of course, it is true that smartphones are convenient because, unlike computers, they can be carried around and used on the go. However, activities such as searching for meeting places and reviewing ratings could be done via a computer even without a smartphone, and deciding on a location via text messages was also possible with pre-smartphone mobile phones.
If we think back to the time before the smartphone era truly began, people still engaged in various social activities and gatherings back then. Given that people were able to hold social gatherings and communicate with one another even in the pre-smartphone era, it is difficult to argue that social activities were difficult to carry out simply because smartphones did not exist.
The key point here is that even if the mobile phone industry had not developed at the current pace, means to facilitate social activities would undoubtedly have existed. Therefore, while it is true that the convenience provided by smartphones aids social activities, that convenience does not necessarily justify the continuous advancement and excessive use of smartphones. Rather, the various problems arising from excessive smartphone use today have become more pronounced as smartphones have penetrated almost every aspect of daily life.

Shouldn’t the investment concentrated in the mobile phone industry be shared with other industries?

Another argument is that it might be more efficient to allocate the costs and efforts invested in the mobile phone industry to other industries as well. Recently released smartphones offer numerous features beyond simply making calls and sending text messages, including cameras, internet access, various applications, and artificial intelligence. Many of these features provide significant convenience in daily life. In particular, as smartphones have become ubiquitous, the ability to access the internet anytime and anywhere, communicate with multiple people simultaneously, and easily obtain a wide range of information can certainly be considered useful changes.
However, given that smartphones have already reached a fairly advanced level of development, the release of a new product does not necessarily bring about a correspondingly significant change. Looking at the changes in new smartphones, we see slight improvements in performance, thinner and more sophisticated designs, and refinements that make functions—which previously required multiple steps to operate—easier to use. While these improvements are meaningful in that they provide convenience to users, it’s difficult to view every change as a major innovation that’s incomparable to previous generations.
Since the IT industry itself is based on creativity, creating something new requires extensive research and effort. Therefore, it cannot be said that devoting significant effort to advancing the smartphone industry is inherently wrong. However, we need to consider whether it is necessary to keep releasing new smartphones—repeating only very minor changes—until new features or technologies that provide substantial value to users actually emerge. If the industry has already reached a certain level of development, it may be worth considering a strategy that focuses on research and development until major changes occur, while simultaneously investing resources and effort into other industries.
Of course, given the nature of the industry, companies must generate profits in the market to continue research and development and achieve even greater profits. Therefore, companies strive to release products that add new features or performance improvements to existing models and encourage consumer purchases to generate revenue. In this situation, rather than continuing to concentrate enormous costs and efforts solely on the mobile phone industry, it may be more efficient to invest resources in other industries with relatively high growth potential while simultaneously advancing the mobile phone industry. Since other industries may yield greater profits as they develop, it is considered a better approach to develop both the mobile phone industry and other industries in parallel, rather than devoting all efforts exclusively to the mobile phone industry, which has already reached a high level of development.
For example, one approach is to conduct more research on electronic components and semiconductors used in mobile phones. If advancing the electronic components and semiconductor industries leads to new technological breakthroughs, it would be possible to channel these advancements back into the development of the mobile phone industry. Ultimately, rather than focusing solely on making minor changes to the finished product—the mobile phone—there is a greater potential for long-term innovation if we simultaneously promote the development of core technologies and related industries that make up the mobile phone.

Is it truly efficient to slow down the pace of development in the mobile phone industry?

Those who argue against this point out that, in the smartphone era, modern consumers are already highly engaged with smartphones; even the slightest change—such as a new feature—will pique their curiosity, leading them to purchase the product just to try it out. Therefore, from an economic perspective, pursuing other industries in parallel is not necessarily efficient. Furthermore, they might argue that this is especially true because there is no guarantee that other industries will succeed.
However, if a consumer purchases a smartphone with a new feature only to find that it is not actually necessary, they may try it out a few times initially out of curiosity, but once they realize it is not useful, they are unlikely to continue using it. Therefore, it is difficult to view a company as having achieved significant success from a technological standpoint simply because it added a new feature and generated profits by selling the product. This is because the development of an industry must be evaluated not only in terms of economic gain but also in terms of developing new technologies and creating tangible change through them. Therefore, continuously selling smartphones with only minor changes to generate short-term profits cannot unconditionally be called efficient development.
Those who argue otherwise might contend that since an industry inherently evolves gradually through repeated trials and failures, it is contradictory to suggest that the development of the mobile phone industry should be slowed simply because success is not guaranteed. However, my position is not that the mobile phone industry should not develop at all, but rather that it is necessary to slow the pace of development slightly, continue research to create more meaningful technologies or features, and then apply them to products.
Furthermore, the argument that there is no need to pursue other industries in parallel because there is no guarantee that they will succeed is not sufficiently persuasive. Since industries evolve gradually through extensive research and experimentation, it is unthinkable to refrain from even attempting something simply because there is no guarantee of success. The mobile phone industry is no exception—there is no guarantee that all research and development will succeed—so there is no need to focus exclusively on it.
If we develop the mobile phone industry gradually while simultaneously advancing other industries, and eventually connect the mobile phone industry with those other sectors to create new industries or technologies, there is a possibility that this could lead to major innovation. Such innovation could yield far greater benefits than focusing solely on the mobile phone industry and merely continuing to make minor changes to existing products. Of course, we cannot definitively state that any particular approach will succeed, but rather than concentrating resources and efforts on a single industry, exploring the development potential of multiple industries simultaneously can be a meaningful strategy from a long-term perspective.

In what direction should the mobile phone industry develop?

To summarize, my position is that while the mobile phone industry in modern society is advancing at a very rapid pace, it actually needs to develop at a slightly slower pace. My first argument is that modern people’s smartphone usage has become so excessive that it can actually cause inconvenience during social interactions, and that this phenomenon is partly a result of the industry’s excessively rapid development. While some may argue that the rapid advancement of mobile phones can actually benefit social activities, people have engaged in social activities in various ways even before smartphones reached their current level of development; therefore, it is difficult to view the continuous advancement of smartphones as an absolutely necessary condition for social activities.
The second argument is that, since many of the changes in recently released mobile phones are relatively minor compared to previous models, it would be beneficial for long-term development to slow down the pace of advancement in the mobile phone industry and pursue greater innovation in tandem with other industries. In modern society, cell phones can be considered essential tools. However, rather than rushing to develop the cell phone industry at breakneck speed, if we strive to develop it “properly and slowly”—by thoroughly researching necessary technologies and creating tangible value—the future of the cell phone industry will have a brighter outlook.