How long have I had my current cell phone? Well, long-time readers of my blog know that I purchased the Google Pixel 6 Pro during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Verizon decided to brick my BlackBerry KeyOne cell phone just because they didn’t want to support the phone any more. That, and Verizon are a bunch of chisel-heads.
So I’ve held on to this Google Pixel 6 Pro cell phone for (checks date) almost FOUR YEARS now. Hey, I’m of the belief that if the phone works, you don’t get rid of it. I’m not a big fan of planned obsolescence.
But if I did feel the urge to upgrade … to maybe purchase this new whiz-bang Google Pixel 10 cell phone – the pro model – with the fold-out screen – and a terabyte of storage … it should only cost me …
(checking online information)
Two thousand one hundred forty-nine dollars, plus tax and tariff taxes.
FOUR TIMES the price I paid for the Google Pixel 6 Pro cell phone FOUR YEARS AGO.
Uh … no. I don’t care if this phone is the greatest thing since Alexander Graham Bell told Mr. Watson to come into the next room. Two thousand dollars and change is enough to purchase a Nikon Zf mirrorless camera and have leftover money to put a down payment on a second one. I shouldn’t have to take out a second mortgage just for a freakin’ phone.
And I’m sure that if I walked into a Best Buy and tried to (ahem) negotiate the price, the conversation might go this way.
“Hi, welcome to Best Buy, how can I help you?”
“I’d like to purchase the new Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold Phone, one terabyte version.”
“Great, that’ll be $2,149 plus taxes and tariffs.”
“I’m not paying the tariffs. You’re paying the tariffs.”
“Sir?”
“Yeah. According to the orange goblin you guys elected, the corporations are supposed to pay the tariffs. So from my understanding, there’s a 100% tariff on electronics and microchips, and I know those electronics and microchips weren’t manufactured in the United States. So that should mean my phone is now (checking calculator) $1,000.00. For start.”
“No, it’s not, sir. This is Best Buy. This isn’t a bargain store.”
“Oh, I’m not done.”
“Sir?”
“Yeah, because you’ll need to throw in a service plan, and if I know Best Buy, their service plan promises to cover everything, but when the nail meets the hammer, it doesn’t cover anything more than a deductible on an aftermarket protective case. So that’s another 25% off. Which should bring the phone down to about $750.”
“Sir, I think you’re missing the point here – “
“Oh yeah, and I’ll need to remove that Google Gemini AI nonsense in the phone. I don’t need an AI suddenly achieving sentience and making like HAL-9000 at the worst possible moment. I don’t need it suddenly handing over my personal information to some data-mining company, and i don’t need it purchasing things on Amazon that it THINKS I might want. So we can remove that from my phone, which should take the price down to about, oh, let’s say $500 off. So now we’re down to $250. Do you take cash?”
“Sir, there’s no way we’re going to sell you this phone for $250.”
“Right, of course you won’t. You’ll try to sell it to me for the most you can get, and then throw another 25% on top of it for some type of status symbol boost. And then next year, I’m sure you’ll come up with a Google Pixel Pro Fold Bend Spindle Mutilate 11 for $3,500 and will try to brick the phone I currently use so that I’ll have no choice but to purchase the upgrade. Right?”
This is what happens when you study mathematics from pro wrestling.
Yeah, by now they’re looking for a store manager and store security to show me the new sale on the other side of the entrance door.
Sorry, Google. I’m not falling for it. If you want me to purchase this new whiz-bang phone, you need to make the prices more reasonable. And you need to give me a damn good reason why I shouldn’t get rid of the phone you sold me four years ago.
And don’t try the old “Well, we’ll have Verizon brick your phone and then you’ll have no choice” tactic.
Because I moved to Spectrum Mobile a year or two ago. So there’s that.
And unless you’ve suddenly developed a modern-day BlackBerry …
I’ll keep my phone for as long as I possibly can. And maybe a few weeks longer after that. 😀
Chuck The Writer 
Ah, the timing.
I’m right in the middle of window shopping for a new Android to replace my dying Galaxy J7 Sky Pro (born 2017). Came across Samsung’s latest: Galaxy Z Fold 7, @ ~ $2,000. Yeah, that’ll be the day.
That number takes me back, wayyy back, to my first new CAR – a basic 1968 Chevy Nova, out of Dick Smith’s Livermore Chevrolet on Central Ave., that listed for $2,300.
Tempus sure does fugit.
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And before anyone starts thinking “Oh, must be nice…,” an out-of-pocket purchase wasn’t even a remote possibility. I won the car in a month-long WTRY radio contest.
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I miss my analogue Audiovox cell phone. It was just a phone. And it worked better than any phone I’ve had since. But alas … Anyway my ‘smart’ phone has been inactive and off for months because the service isn’t worth even $20/month. Two grand for a phone? It should have a motor and wheels. No, I don’t advocate AI cars. Or AI anything.
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“Or AI anything.” I’m right there with you.
If we can’t trust what we see and hear with our own God-given senses, I’d say we’re in trouble. Sad to say, it’s off and running.
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