This year has seen artificial intelligence become the focus of almost all companies. Volkswagen was willing to close its German factory for the first time in 80 years just to jump into the AI arena. Everyone is chasing trends and doesn't want to be left behind even though they are not really needed. But this is not the only disappointing trend of 2025. Below is a list of 10 disappointing technology trends this year.
1. Subscription Prices Increase Again
Subscription prices for various online services have increased this year. Disney+, Netflix, PC Game Pass, Spotify and PlayStation Plus are among those that have increased this year in Malaysia. Overseas, other services such as Apple TV have also increased, which is usually a sign that they will also be increased in Malaysia in the near future.
The strengthening value of the Ringgit against the Dollar was expected to reduce subscription prices, but this did not happen. We have no memory of subscription prices being lowered even though the economy is improving. So it is not surprising that there are reports of Torrent service traffic increasing again this year because people can no longer afford to violate "halal" services.
2. Recycled Specifications
I am pointing my finger at Samsung for this article because for four consecutive years their Galaxy S series has only received minor changes in hardware specifications but the selling price has increased. Camera size, battery size and static charging system speed when compared to those of Oppo, Honor, Vivo and Huawei.
If you want innovation, you need to look to Shenzhen and not Seoul or Cupertino. Apple is also guilty of this with its MacBook offering which simply swaps out chips for others, just like the model launched three years ago. We are sure it will happen again in 2026 as this recycling practice has spread to other brands, especially in affordable devices.
3. Apple Ecosystem 26
Apple standardized their operating system version numbers to 26 this year. With Apple 26, not only is the operating system version number uniform, but the interface is also the same regardless of the device used. On paper this is a great idea but in reality it has caused many hardcore Apple users to complain.
Liquid Glass creates a transparent interface that is not compatible with all applications. Notifications are difficult to read and on older devices like the iPhone 14 and MacBook Air M1 Pro that I use, it makes the device feel less smooth. It feels stuck which is very un-Apple. macOS Tahoe 26 gives an iPad-like interface to iMacs and MacBooks which I feel is not suitable for computers. There is a reason why the iPad, iPhone and Mac interfaces have been different for so long because they are used differently.
I believe Apple will not return to the era before Liquid Glass. For those who have not been with it for a long time like me, increase your patience and learn to use the Apple 26 interface because the alternative is Windows 11 which is even more terrible.
4. Forced AI
All applications, software and hardware have AI built in whether you need it or not. Microsoft Office now has Copilot integration and so does Notepad and Paint. Banking, music streaming, social media and driving apps also use AI. Some are ok but many are also annoying.
In the United States, an AI chatbot caused users to go berserk because it failed to listen to user complaints. YouTube's AI suspended a channel for saying that a microphone in a podcast was a gun. When an appeal was sent, the same AI disagreed so that users had to spread the issue to social media before humans on YouTube realized the problem. Forced AI caused subscription prices to increase as we mentioned above. Forced features, not requested, not used but still had to be paid for.
In Windows 11, Microsoft's efforts to introduce various new features caused problems such as lower gaming performance, slow Search, slow Taskbar displaying content and Settings also failing to work. Satya Nadella earlier this year said that 30% of Microsoft's code is now written by AI. Many believe that the problems faced by Windows 11 now are because the code written by AI is still not as good as the code written by humans.
5. Google Pixel 10 Series
A special entry for Google Pixel. A device that users in Malaysia have been waiting for for a long time but as soon as it arrived it caused disappointment. Last year, the disappointment was not too big because we were still in the honeymoon phase. This year we were disappointed because once again Tensor is a mid-range chip used in devices sold at a premium price.
The graphics performance in various tests is half of the Snapdragon 8 Elite and one-third of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. It is even more embarrassing that the selling price of this device with two Snapdragon chips is cheaper than the Pixel 10 series in Malaysia. Only hardcore fans will use the Pixel, but for other users, it is difficult to recommend its purchase.
6. Data Still Leaks Without Punishment
User data in Malaysia continues to be leaked and continues to be sold on the black market. In several previous leak cases, no one party has been found guilty and taken action by the authorities. Service owners are not given an incentive to make the system more secure if the fine is small or just insulted on social media. This is different from the EU where Meta had to pay billions of dollars due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal a few years ago.
With the leaked data, Malaysians have become victims of online pig slaughter with reports of losses of hundreds of thousands every week. Governments change, ministers change, but the level of seriousness in protecting Malaysians' personal data is still at the old level.
7. Scam Calls Increase
This year the number of scam calls has increased. In one day I received at least one in the form of a “silent call”. The latest scam syndicate uses the tactic of waiting for you to speak to record your voice before using AI to clone it. Family members will then be contacted to transfer money.
Why are scam calls increasing? Because of the problem we touched on above. Too much Malaysian user data is stolen, leaked and then sold on the dark web market. Even though every phone number should be registered using MyKad, local phone numbers are still being used for fraud purposes.
The statistics provided by PDRM are worrying. In 2024, the number of scam calls was 82.81% higher than in 2023. As of October 2025, 47,000 cases of scam calls were reported compared to 35,368 in 2024. We are now at the stage of not picking up calls from unknown phone numbers. Therefore, we hope that the proposal to limit the registration of only 2 SIMs for each MyKad will be enforced by MCMC in the near future.
8. Layed Off Because of AI
After the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of workers in the economic sector lost their jobs because they were said to be no longer needed because the world returned to normal. That was the reason two years ago. This year, technology companies have laid off hundreds of thousands more workers because of the use of AI. PETRONAS, Intel, Indeed, Glassdoor, Microsoft, TikTok and Amazon are among the companies that have admitted to reducing their workforce due to the impact of AI use in the workplace.
Three years ago, AI was sold as a tool to multiply productivity but now it has become a cheaper human replacement, does not complain, does not require sick leave, does not need to cut EPF and can work 24 hours a day. We are still in the first wave of AI use. In the next wave, driving tasks, warehouse workers and factory workers will be threatened by AI combined with humanoid robots.
10. Malaysia's 5G Is Slowing Down
5G network coverage in Malaysia has exceeded 80% this year with the government targeting it to continue to grow, aided by the second 5G network operated by U Mobile. In the early stages of 5G introduction in Malaysia, we admitted that the speeds were so fast that installing apps took a moment. Downloading was faster than the installation process.
But a recently published OOKLA report confirms what we have suspected since mid-year, namely that 5G speeds in Malaysia are slowing down. The OOKLA report two weeks ago found that the average 5G download speed in Malaysia in Q3 2025 was 242.92 Mbps compared to 451.79 Mbps in Q4 2023. The average speed is now almost half of what it was almost two years ago. The average upload speed has dropped from 49.87 Mbps to 29.52 Mbps in the same period.
Despite the growing 5G network, 5G devices consume 65.8% of the 4G network in Malaysia. The promise of faster and more stable telcos' networks has not become a reality. Instead, more and more people are using 5G until the network returns to 4G speeds.
