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Tech Talk
Time to break free of the incessant tech upgrade cycle
Technology companies are seeing a dip in product sales after high demand of the last two years.
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Discarded mobile phones sent for e-waste recycling.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Lim Sun Sun For The Straits Times
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SINGAPORE - As more countries transition towards living with Covid, technology companies are seeing a dip in product sales after high demand of the last two years when working and learning from home became the norm. Shareholders are undoubtedly fretting at this gloomy state of affairs because the capitalist growth-at-all-costs model is not going quite according to plan.
Yet this lukewarm climate for technology products may compel a rethink of the classic upgrade cycle that companies and consumers alike have become accustomed to - buy a smartphone or laptop, use it for a few years, jettison it when it turns sluggish and upgrade to an improved model. Rinse and repeat.
