The End. For Flagship Phones.
Smartphone prices have reached all time highs. Flagship phones from Samsung, Apple, Huawei, and the rest, are hundreds of dollars more expensive today than they were 3 years ago. One argument for this is inflation. Another argument is that flagships now come supercharged with way more crap than a person needs in their day to day lives.
120 hertz adaptive OLED displays, four-five cameras, 8–12 GB RAM, Octa-Core processing. While these features sound exciting, are they really necessary?
To put things in perspective, I am a casual gamer and I enjoy playing games like Dota 2 on my 13inch Macbook pro, and the occasional Call of Duty game on my Samsung S8. Both devices are over 3 years old, and I do not encounter any issues while using them. If I had to choose which device to sink my hard earned money into, I would upgrade my Macbook pro over my phone. The reason being I do most of my heavy multi-tasking on my computer rather than my phone.
Most people, I assume, use their phone like I do. To take calls, text people, and consume media from youtube, instagram, whatsapp or whichever unicorn tech company is currently killing the consumption space (TikTok comes to mind). It blows my mind that the latest flagship phones come equipped with more RAM and processing power than my current computer. An Iphone Pro max costs around the same as a brand new Macbook Air these days (both start at 1000 USD). So, if you are considering replacing your phone and are looking at a shiny new flagship, consider the points below.
Are you a camera junkie?
No, seriously. one of the main reasons flagships cost so much is because they come equipped with insane camera modules. Unless you make a living out of taking photos, and need to edit them down to the last pixel, the cameras on the new flagships are overkill. We used to use dedicated digital cameras back in the day that had sensors that were way less powerful than today’s flagship phones. Most of my house is decorated with pictures from those cameras. My Samsung S8 camera is from 3 years ago and still takes pretty decent pictures today that are definitely instagram worthy. Mid range phones have great camera modules now, and can beat previous year flagship camera performance if you pick right. If editing pictures regularly and content creation is not your jam, you should rethink whether the latest flagship is the right choice for you.
Are you a competitive gamer?
Another reason why you should opt for a flagship is if you are a serious gamer. Higher screen refresh rates, faster processing, and better graphics, all lead to a better gaming experience. When every second matters, and you don’t want that annoying text message to lag the game you are currently playing, a flagship is not a bad choice. The emphasis, however, should be placed on the word competitive. Flagship performance will only result in noticeable differences if you are trying to climb up the ranks, and make it into the top percentile of players. I am quite competitive when I play Call of Duty for example, but this doesn’t necessarily mean I qualify as a competitive gamer. The time I invest is far too minimal for me to climb the ranks high enough where the minute edges I would get from flagship performance would make a meaningful difference. Sure, I do not game on the highest settings but this does not dramatically impact my overall playing experience. So what, if the shadows on my screen are not perfectly generated, or if I can’t see the details on a leaf during gameplay. I can still rank 1st in the games I play with a phone that does not perform as well as a flagship.
I guess you love multi-tasking!
One of the biggest factors that induce people towards buying the most powerful phones is that they use it to do a lot of things. They check e-mails, browse the web, and have multiple applications open at the same time. Most people use a laptop to do the same activities, and if thats the case, flagship performance is not warranted on a phone. How often do you need to keep seven applications open on a mobile while you are on the move? I can keep seven applications running on my S8 and while there may be a small lag when I switch between them, it by no means renders them unusable. I use my Macbook to do a lot more work than I do with my phone, and if my dedicated computer has 8 GB RAM and a dual core processor, why should my phone have more ram and eight processors? I’d rather invest the extra cash to upgrade my computer than buy a flagship.
Mid range phones are getting better. Way better.
So, if you aren’t a camera junkie, aren’t a competitive gamer, and often use your computer to get work done over your phone, what’s the solution? Buy a mid-range phone. Mid-range phones in 2020 are seriously powerful. The One Plus Nord and Samsung Galaxy A71 are good mid-range phones to consider and will deliver more than what ordinary users are expecting from their phones. They come equipped with 6–8 GB ram, fast processors, amazing HD screens, on-screen fingerprint sensors, fast charging and more.
The drawback when compared to flagships? The camera modules aren’t as powerful, and the performance of flagships are better when doing complex tasks like gaming. The differences, however, will not impact most peoples experience with their phones. The positives? A way cheaper price tag. The One Plus Nord costs roughly 420 USD while the flagship One Plus 8 pro costs 899 USD. The Samsung Galaxy A71 costs 450 USD while the similar sized flagship S20 Ultra costs 1300 USD. One Plus is known for making cheaper phones and so the price difference between the Nord and the flagship is around 500 USD, while the difference between the mid range Samsung and their flagship is around 900 USD. You can use comparison websites to the compare the specifications, and you will see the differences between flagship and mid-range are by no means massive.
The End.
Mid Range phones are finally good enough to be flagship killers, unless you are one of the rare few that uses their phone to create content for a living, or game aggressively. Save the extra dosh and invest it elsewhere where you will actually reap the benefits for the money. If you are concerned that only flagships gets meaningful software updates, and mid-range phones will be left in the dust, consider buying a flagship from the previous year. Tech companies churn out new phones every year, and the differences in hardware are often minuscule. The difference in price, however, is highly noticeable. A Samsung S10 which was released a year ago is now half the price it was at release (around 450 USD), making it even harder for an ordinary consumer to rationally pick a brand new flagship over an older alternative or a new mid-range phone.
