The Malaise Era of Tech: When Better Gets Worse and Costs More The latest iPhone may have just arrived in stores, but for many consumers, it's already feeling like a tired rehashing of last year's model – and priced accordingly.
This trend is reminiscent of the automotive Malaise Era of the 1970s, when American car manufacturers struggled to adapt to changing external factors.
In that decade long period, rising oil prices and new safety regulations forced car companies to improve their technology and become more consumer friendly.