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It is that time of year again, when the tech giants pull out all the stops to persuade you to upgrade your gadgets. Recently Google launched the latest Pixel 9 handsets, followed by Apple unveiling the iPhone 16.

In July, Samsung released the latest versions of its foldable phones, the Z Flip6 and Z Fold6, and Huawei has just upped the ante in that department by unveiling a handset called the Mate XT, in China, which contains two folds, folding the screen into thirds.

With smartphone sales slowing worldwide, the marketing messages getting pushed out are increasingly dazzling.

Apple boss Tim Cook promised that the iPhone16 would “redefine what a smartphone would do”, whatever that means. Google product management vice president Brian Rakowski waxed lyrical about the “stunning” design of the “gorgeous” Pixel 9 (whisper it: it still looks a lot like a black rectangle to me).

Huawei now has its own consumer brand song, it says in its press material, which “powerfully expresses the pursuit of dreams, highlighting that every breakthrough and success the company has achieved stems from a belief in dreams”.

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