Few people still want simplistic phones despite releases of new, high-tech smartphones

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As much as smartphone manufacturers would want people to purchase their brands, they can't force the issue on a group of people who prefer their old, working, still functional mobile phones. While Apple, Samsung, and other counterparts are racing to release the newest, fastest, most intuitive smartphones, some people are just not buying it.

One of those people is software analyst Zak Sommerfield, who expressed his dislike for smartphones to the Associated Press, ABC News reports. He has been using an LG flip phone for the last five years and plans to use continue using it, despite comments from his peers.

"I hate smartphones, I hate how they take over people's lives and they spend all their time looking at them," Sommerfield admitted. "I'd love to stay on this phone forever."

The Huffington Post reports that according to researcher Ramon Llamas, over 90% of smartphone users trade up their smartphones for newer versions in as short as two years. This is thanks to various loyalty perks from phone manufacturers, just like Apple, which loans the latest models of their iPhones to users for a year.

Phones have become an extension of a person's individuality, and in most cases, it even becomes a status symbol. In fact, the International Business Times reports that according to senior research analyst at PiperJaffray Stephanie Wissink, teens no longer consider their clothing as a status symbol. What they do consider as a status symbol is their phone. According to Wissink, teens now see electronics as "popularity devices, not utilities."

Additionally, Marcia Flicker, associate professor in Business Enterprise at Fordham University commented that "Technology is providing increasingly strong competition for teens' and young adults' spending money."

This is why a number of parents are continuously being bothered with pleas of purchasing a new phone once word of a new release has gotten out. Understandably, mobile phones are of great value to most people, as it combines the functions of a camera, calendar, planner, phone, PC, and so many more functions that people only once dreamed of.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said that these phones are "the most valued personal possession that we have. We use our phone to capture the memories of our lives."

However, Technalysis Research chief analyst Bob O'Donnell claims that smartphone technology is "hitting the top of a curve", meaning that they have slowed down on innovating and creating something entirely new and with the phones and instead have just delivered tweaks and refinements.

There are various reasons to refrain from upgrading, whether it be budget constraints, the refusal to adapt to sleek smartphones, the disconnect between what a user needs and what the phone can offer (sometimes phones have way too many functions that are of no use to the user, and therefore just take up memory and energy), or simply nostalgia. No matter what reason one may have, it's important for manufacturers to listen to what users want and quite possibly, look into areas of improvement to deliver a more satisfactory mobile phone experience, regardless if it's a smartphone or not.