For some purpose, chip producers, cellphone makers, and software program builders all determined directly that this was the proper yr to rename their choices.
Apple, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Qualcomm: What if we simply destroy naming conventions this yr?
I get it, all firms must reinvent sure features each few years, and naming modifications are an integral a part of rebranding efforts.
What does not make sense is whimsical methods. Xiaomi’s technique, for those who may even name it one, is to comply with Apple. It blatantly admitted that the only purpose it strayed from its common naming conference is that it needed its new telephones to be seen as direct iPhone 17 Professional rivals. Did not all of us study in highschool that sitting subsequent to the cool child does not make you one?Â
5 years in the past, we launched a high-end technique to study from our best opponents and firmly benchmark towards the iPhone. To this point, Apple remains to be wonderful. Everybody has seen the success of the iPhone 17 sequence, however we’re nonetheless very assured that we are going to face the iPhone in the identical technology and degree.
Lu Weibing, Xiaomi’s accomplice and president, September 2025
Qualcomm is probably the worst offender. Bear in mind the Snapdragon 888 5G? Its follow-up was 2021’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Then got here final yr’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. This yr? Say good day to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
And for those who suppose Qualcomm skipped a technology, that is so not true, in accordance to the corporate.
Qualcomm put up a complete weblog put up to clarify its complicated resolution.
The chip maker says that it adopted single-digit naming in 2021, and swears the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is the fifth chip within the sequence. Foolish of you to even suggest that it isn’t persevering with with the identical naming conference.
At the least Apple’s intention to align the software program model numbers with the calendar yr appears logical.
With my doomscrolling, my Kindle, and the enormous display screen in the lounge already competing for my consideration, it isn’t straightforward to maintain monitor of a number of, and typically, pointless title modifications.
And perhaps I’m imagined to have all these names at my fingertips always, and this put up is one other self-sabotaging transfer. Basic me.Nevertheless, with a barrage of recent launches yearly throughout totally different gadgets and software program classes, I actually do not respect these erratic modifications.
The one case the place it will make sense to deviate from a naming technique is when a tool is totally totally different from its predecessor. In these situations, it will be extra prudent to discontinue the last-gen gadget, as Samsung did with the Word.
The smartphone market is fiercely aggressive. Whereas a large like Apple can afford to confuse its prospects with erratic naming, others may need to contemplate treading just a little extra rigorously.Â
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