Why consumers are choosing simpler gadgets as technology gets smarter

Compact cameras, wired earphones and dedicated music players are finding new users as consumers seek fewer distractions and more control over their technology

The more technology can do, the more some consumers are choosing devices that do less. Compact cameras, wired earphones, dedicated music players, physical music formats and even older phones are finding new users despite smartphones being capable of performing most of the same functions.

 

But this is not necessarily a rejection of newer technology. Instead, some consumers appear to be choosing devices that put limits around specific activities, whether that means listening to music without notifications, taking photographs without immediately sharing them or keeping a music collection that does not depend on a streaming service.

 

The change is visible in India's personal audio market. Raghav Somani, founder and CEO of Headphone Zone, said the company is seeing a significant increase in consumers outside its traditional audiophile base choosing wired in-ear monitors, wired headphones and dedicated offline music players.

 

“We're seeing a very large number of people who are outside of the traditional for audiophile customers, choosing to buy wired in-ear monitors, buy wired headphones, use offline dedicated MP3 players, and listen to music like this,” Somani said.

 

He said the company has seen “something like a 10x increase in the number of new people that are choosing wired in-ear monitors, dedicated offline MP3 players, these kind of products to listen to music now”.

 

That is significant because these consumers already have the more convenient option. Their smartphones can stream music, wireless earbuds can play it without a cable and cloud services can keep entire libraries available without carrying a single file.

 

Yet for some users, those advantages are precisely what they are trying to step away from. 

It is not just an audio trend

The same shift is visible in point and shoot cameras, where a product category that smartphones were expected to make obsolete is seeing renewed demand.

 

Canon India’s head of camera business Vishesh Magoo told news platform Digit that demand for compact digital cameras in India was running at around 10 times Canon India's current supply. He described the situation as roughly a 1:10 demand-to-supply ratio, rather than a percentage increase.

 

The demand is notable because compact cameras occupy a very different position today from when they were a mainstream alternative to smartphone photography. A smartphone is easier to carry, can edit photographs immediately and can share them within seconds. A compact camera offers fewer of those conveniences.

 

Yet that is also part of the appeal.

 

In an interview with Indian Express, Fujifilm Asia Pacific managing director Haruto Iwata said that younger consumers are buying QuickSnap and Instax cameras in India, while Fujifilm India has said Instax is one of its major growth drivers. The company is also seeing increased interest in compact cameras.

 

The trend is also visible globally. Data from the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) showed shipments of cameras with built-in lenses, a category that includes compact cameras, rose 29.6 per cent in 2025, while their value increased 48.9 per cent. CIPA's data for the first four months of 2026 also showed shipments of cameras with built-in lenses were up 29.9 per cent year-on-year globally.

These products are not necessarily competing with smartphones on convenience. They offer a different experience. A compact camera cannot immediately become a messaging app, social media feed or entertainment device. An Instax camera cannot store thousands of photographs and ask its user to scroll through them. The limitations are part of the product.

 

That helps explain why the renewed interest in simpler gadgets is not restricted to people who remember using them the first time around.

Younger consumers are not necessarily looking backwards

The resurgence is often easy to dismiss as nostalgia, particularly when older technology starts appearing on social media. But the demographics make that explanation less straightforward.

 

Younger consumers did not necessarily grow up using iPods, compact digital cameras or wired earphones as their default devices. For them, these products can be new rather than old.

 

Somani sees the same change in audio. He said traditional audiophiles were historically an older group, but the category has expanded as younger consumers have gained access to more affordable headphones and in-ear monitors.

 

“Younger people were not traditional audiophiles earlier,” Somani said. “But they are getting into the hobby because the products are now more affordable.”

 

The result, he said, is that the traditional older audiophile demographic has “certainly expanded to a much younger demographic which is getting into it now”.

 

The distinction matters because it suggests that the appeal of these products is not necessarily based on having experienced the technology before. A younger consumer buying a compact camera or a dedicated music player may be responding to what the device offers today, rather than trying to recreate an experience from the past.

The attraction is often the limit

What these products have in common is not necessarily their age. It is their ability to impose a boundary.

 

A smartphone can take photographs, play music, stream video, deliver messages and run an AI assistant. A dedicated gadget generally cannot.

 

That can make the latter useful precisely because it removes choices.

 

Somani said people buying dedicated digital audio players often want to listen to music without notifications, WhatsApp messages and Instagram DMs entering the experience.

 

“If you want to sit down and listen to music for even 10 minutes, two songs, the experience of listening to it on a digital audio player is probably what a lot of people want, only so that they can get rid of the smartphone from the entire equation,” he said.

 

The same principle can apply to photography. A person carrying a compact camera is not necessarily trying to take better photographs than a smartphone can produce. The person may simply want the act of taking photographs to remain separate from everything else happening on the phone.

 

This is where the idea of digital fatigue becomes relevant.

 

Somani said consumers are now surrounded by several devices that require their own charging, maintenance and attention.

 

“I mean, you're charging your phone, you're charging your smartwatch, you're charging your power bank, you're charging your Airpods. At some point in time, a person just runs into digital fatigue,” he said.

 

For some consumers, choosing a less connected device is therefore not about giving up convenience altogether. It is about deciding where convenience is worth the additional layer of connectivity.

Streaming has made ownership relevant again

A smartphone and a streaming subscription provide access to a vast catalogue without requiring consumers to store anything themselves. But that convenience also means access depends on a platform continuing to carry the content.

 

Somani said some consumers are beginning to question that arrangement. The concern is about whether something that is available on a streaming service today will still be there tomorrow.

 

“Now, the second thing that we're seeing happen very recently is this idea that people don't want to stream music for the idea that they don't own the content,” Somani said.

 

He compared the experience with video streaming, where films and shows can disappear from a service's catalogue.

 

“My favourite show on Netflix disappears one fine day. My favourite movie on, you know, Jio Hotstar disappears one fine day,” he said. “One album that I've been listening to my entire childhood is not available on a streaming service. I don't know if I want to live this kind of life.”

 

For consumers who think about music this way, keeping a personal collection on a dedicated device offers a degree of certainty that streaming does not. Somani said this was one reason he had returned to a 15-year-old iPod containing music he had grown up listening to.

 

“I literally only listen to music on this iPod from 15 years back, because it is filled with every single one of my favourite songs that I've grown up listening to in my childhood,” he said.

 

The same preference for physical ownership can be seen in music formats. According to IMARC data, India's vinyl record market was worth $62.1 million in 2024 and is projected to reach $112.5 million by 2033.

 

In the US, CD sales rose 45.7 per cent in the first half of 2026, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Vinyl sales continued to grow as well.

Simpler gadgets in an increasingly AI-driven world

The timing of this trend is important. Consumer technology is moving towards greater connectivity. AI is being integrated into smartphones, earbuds, watches and other devices, with companies increasingly positioning these products as systems that can understand context, anticipate needs and perform tasks on behalf of users.

 

At the same time, some consumers are deliberately choosing products that cannot do any of those things.

 

That does not necessarily make the two trends contradictory. The same person can use an AI-powered smartphone for work, a wireless earbud for calls and a compact camera for photography. A person can stream music most of the time and still use an old iPod when they want to listen without interruptions.

 

The growing appeal of simpler gadgets is therefore more about separating activities that have become bundled together.