Once you're in the market for a new smartphone, one of the first things to consider is what smartphone reviews have to say about the device you want to buy. Beyond the specs you see on the advert banners, you want to know how the device performs in real-world situations.

How good is that 64MP camera? How long does that 6000 mAh battery last? Does it heat up when in use? These are the typical questions that smartphone reviews are supposed to answer. But can you trust smartphone reviews?

Why You Should Question Smartphone Reviews

Once a new smartphone is ready for the market but not on sale, there's a frantic race by the public to get a feel of the new product. Unfortunately, only a few people access the product in the early days, and smartphone reviewers are typically the favored few. Most of the public then depends on reviewers to get an idea of how good or not-so-good the new product is.

For smartphone manufacturers, these early-days is a very crucial period. It is an important window to control the narrative about their products. Early positive reviews can significantly boost sales. Conversely, bad reviews while the product hasn't deeply permeated the market can negatively affect sales revenue.

As a result, smartphone manufacturers are incentivized to deploy a range of not-so-ethical tactics to ensure that early-days sentiment about their product is as positive as possible. They do this by influencing reviews. But how exactly do manufacturers influence smartphone reviews?

How Manufacturers Influence Smartphone Reviews

Independent reviewers typically review new smartphones. However, while reviewers typically want to be as honest as possible, there are different ways manufacturers can indirectly (and directly) influence the outcome of their reviews.

1. Forced Review Delays

Smartphone Reviews

Even when a smartphone is ready for the market, there's usually no legal way to get it until it is officially up for sale. Of course, unless you're a smartphone reviewer being gifted a copy by the manufacturers. However, a lot of times, this "gifting" typically comes with some conditions from the manufacturers.

Conditions like: "We give you first dips, but in return, you have to wait for some time before publicly saying anything about this product." In addition, the manufacturers place an embargo on any device review for a certain period. During this embargo, reviewers can only make "first impression" videos, which, in most cases, are a shallow look at the product that creates publicity without critiquing its features.

This favors the smartphone manufacturers in two ways. Firstly, they buy themselves enough time to sell a lot of products before reviews that might be unfavorable start to trickle in. So, for instance, if that 64MP camera is not that great, people would have already bought the product before most reviewers with a large audience point it out.

Another way manufacturers benefit is in terms of a shallow first impression. When those publicity-heavy first impressions "reviews" hit the internet, many people make buying decisions based on them. Even people that don't buy immediately live with the mindset that they know enough about the phone when, in fact, they have little knowledge of it.

2. Premature Verdicts

Premature verdicts on smartphone

A good smartphone review requires extensive personal experience. While reviewers can get a fair assessment of some features in a few hours of use, some features may require up to several weeks of comprehensive use to give an honest verdict. Ideally, to get a fair assessment of the general performance of a smartphone, you need some weeks of use. However, when manufacturers are not putting up embargoes, they push reviewers to talk about a product shortly after it launches.

On their part, some reviewers typically one to be the first to talk about a new device. Unfortunately, this rush creates room for premature verdicts on many features. This, in turn, hurts consumers that make buying decisions based on those reviews.

A good historical example is Samsung's Galaxy Note 7, widely praised by reviewers in the early days just before it started exploding in numbers. While getting a recently launched device is tempting, it is logical to wait for balanced reviews based on weeks or, if possible, months of extensive use. Those early days reviews may be the reviewer's honest opinion, but sometimes performance is too early to tell. This is why it is a good idea to wait for a while after a phone launches before you buy.

3. Review of "Coming Soon" Features

Smartphone Reviews

One of the worst mistakes you can make as a consumer is to make a buying decision based on a review of a coming soon feature. Unfortunately, a lot of consumers make this mistake.

Sometimes, before a smartphone goes on sale, manufacturers directly or indirectly drop a feature teaser to create a buzz and excitement around a product. A teaser could come in one of those "smartphone XYZ leaked images" or an outright feature teaser.

Take the iPhone 11, for instance. Apple teased the iPhone 11 alongside its Deep Fusion technology. The technology that shipped with the iPhone 11 was supposed to have a huge impact on the iPhone 11 camera experience. The feature was announced at the iPhone 11 official launch event on 10 September 2019, but consumers could only try it out after 20 September, which was when the device was put for sale.

Since the feature wasn't available for use by the announcement, smartphone reviewers parroted Apple's official marketing narratives. Unfortunately, as previously discussed, a smartphone manufacturer's marketing narratives can be misleading.

Without any hands-on experience, most reviews at the time were basically a copy-paste of what Apple said the feature would do. Many people probably ordered the device with this feature in mind. However, as it turned out, Deep Fusion was good, but it wasn't as great as people thought it would be at the time.

Should You Trust Online Phone Reviews?

In an era with so many smartphone brands to choose from, consumers rely heavily on honest smartphone reviews to make buying decisions. Consequently, technology blogs and video-sharing sites like YouTube are packed with honest smartphone reviews. So, yes, you can probably trust your favorite smartphone reviewer.

However, when next you read or watch a review, have it at the back of your mind that there are variables beyond the reviewer's control. Make an effort to research from multiple sources and, if possible, ask peers who have used the device before.