According to SamMobile, the “nobody asked for this” criticism has become a common social media response to tech products that fail to make significant market impact in 2025. The author argues this mindset contradicts creative thinking and innovation attempts, pointing to historical examples like the iPhone, iPad, and Galaxy Note phablet that succeeded despite no initial consumer demand. The analysis specifically mentions the Galaxy S25 Edge as a current example where this criticism is being misapplied, noting that consumer requests don’t guarantee success either—compact flagship phones have consistently failed commercially despite vocal online demand. This perspective challenges the assumption that market research should drive all product development decisions.
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The Historical Reality of Breakthrough Products
Looking beyond the current tech cycle reveals a consistent pattern: truly transformative products rarely emerge from customer feedback sessions. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, market research would have shown people wanted better keyboards and longer battery life on their existing phones—not a touchscreen device that eliminated physical keyboards entirely. The same applies to countless innovations from the automobile to the personal computer. Market research excels at incremental improvements but fails at predicting paradigm shifts because consumers can only articulate solutions within their existing frame of reference. The most successful innovations often solve problems people didn’t know they had or create entirely new categories that didn’t previously exist.
The Corporate Innovation Dilemma
The “nobody asked for this” criticism creates a dangerous environment for corporate R&D departments. When every failed experiment becomes social media fodder, companies become increasingly risk-averse, sticking to safe iterations of existing products rather than attempting genuine innovation. This creates a paradox where consumers demand breakthrough products while simultaneously punishing the experimentation required to create them. The reality is that most innovation attempts fail, and that’s not just acceptable—it’s necessary. The few successes must fund the many experiments, but public shaming of failures disrupts this essential economic equation.
How Social Media Distorts Product Development
The rise of “nobody asked for this” as a meme reflects a broader issue with how social media platforms shape business decisions. Viral criticism creates the illusion of widespread consumer sentiment when it may represent only a vocal minority. As the source notes, compact flagship phones had enormous online support but consistently failed commercially. This disconnect between social media chatter and actual purchasing behavior creates dangerous feedback loops where companies might prioritize appeasing online critics over serving their actual customer base. The instant, public nature of platform criticism also prevents the gradual refinement that many successful products require—the original iPhone had significant limitations that improved over multiple generations.
Toward a More Balanced Innovation Strategy
The solution isn’t to ignore customer feedback entirely but to recognize its appropriate role in the innovation process. Customer input is invaluable for improving existing products and identifying pain points, but breakthrough innovation requires looking beyond what customers can articulate. Companies need to maintain what innovation experts call ambidextrous organizations—teams focused on incremental improvements alongside groups working on speculative, long-term innovations. The healthiest approach acknowledges that some percentage of R&D budget should be allocated to high-risk experiments without immediate commercial justification, understanding that these investments may fail individually but are essential for long-term competitiveness.
What This Means for Tech’s Future
If the “nobody asked for this” mentality continues to dominate tech discourse, we risk entering an era of innovation stagnation. The most immediate casualty will be the mid-range experimental products that often serve as stepping stones to bigger breakthroughs. Companies will increasingly focus either on safe iterations of proven products or moonshot projects so ambitious that failure is expected. The middle ground—where most practical innovation occurs—will become increasingly barren. Consumers who genuinely want innovative products should reconsider their criticism framework: instead of asking whether they requested a product, they might better ask whether it solves meaningful problems or creates valuable new capabilities, even if those benefits weren’t previously on their radar.
