Happy new smartphone season to all who celebrate. It's that time of year again, when the tech giants pull out all the stops to persuade you to upgrade your gadgets. Recently we've seen Google launch the latest Pixel 9 handsets, followed by Apple unveiling the iPhone 16. In July, Samsung released the latest versions of its foldable phone, and Huawei has just upped the ante in that department by unveiling a handset which contains two folds, folding the screen into thirds. With smartphone sales slowing worldwide, the marketing messages getting pushed out are increasingly dazzling. What is definitely happening is that people are holding on to their phone for longer. There is an ongoing cost of living crisis affecting people's spending decisions. And there's also an environmental price tag attached to every handset. In addition, there is a growing trend, especially among parents and young people, to try to step away from smartphones entirely. A number of UK schools are reviewing their smartphone policies, and a few have already opted for an outright ban. Pupils starting at the public school Eton this term ere issued feature phones and several other institutions, both in the private and state sectors, are considering following suit. There's increased talk of "digital sobriety" in the way we build and use technology - but is sound like smartphone designers are going in the exact opposite direction. One company that is listening to the growing calls for reduces phone function functionality is the Finnish firm HMD - which still makes basis Nokia handsets. CCS Insight forecasts that around 400,000 feature phones are likely to be sold in the UK this year - nowhere near enough to knock the iPhone off the top of the list of the world's most-sold handsets any time soon, but not a bad market space.