What Succeeds my iPhone XS Max? — 2 — The Criteria
Tech plays such a huge role in my life — personal and professional — every tech buy of mine goes through an intensive process of evaluation. I use my massive knowledge of tech that has been absorbed since I was a kid, to collect and collate stuff.
It’s unfortunate I did not have the same rigorous process when choosing a mate for life (what with the wife, leaving me and all, and taking the babies with her), but, at least i make the right decisions when it comes to gadgets.
This is a continuation of my previous post.
So, let’s lay out the criteria for my next phone.
No Low End Or Mid Range Phones
So, the golden rule is, I cannot make a budget or a mid range phone my daily driver. I mean, a compromise mobile phone is okay as a backup device. It is also okay if I am truly desperate. I used to be poor and desperate till Age 32.
Then, became poor again for the last 10 months.
However, god’s blessings, touchwood, income is rising again, debt is reducing. Yes, I can move some money around and get a decent phone. Once again, touchwood, my good fortune, most of my gadgets seem to work for for anywhere from 2 years to 4 years.
My old Macbook Air ran for 4 years. My first iPad, is still working after 5years, giving endless entertainment for my mom. The current iPhone XS Max is still going strong after 3 years.
So, I can surmise that any purchase I make, is an investment that will (hopefully, predictably), last for 2 to 3 years. Hence, a low budget phone (Anything that is less than ₹ 20000/ ＄300) or a midrange phone (₹ 30000/＄500 to ₹ 40000/＄700) would be a compromise.
Also, I already have a budget droid as a back up phone.
So, if I am truly desperate — my income might drop again — I might as well cancel the phone purchase plan. The issue is already solved with my backup, emergency droid phone.
So, yes, if we are going to buy a phone, we must look at the high end offerings.
Premium Brands Only
Despite market consolidation in India, we still have a few brands operating in the mobile space. Amazon shows at least 10 brands at the headline list. Of course, some of them, are duplicates. Little known company called BBK owns the following brands — Oppo, Vivo, One Plus, Real Me and IQOO.
So, really, in India, you actually have only four Companies — Apple, Samsung, Xioami and BBK.
The thing about India is, we are used to getting horrible customer service from birth. It is automatically assumed that we should expect the worst when it comes to after sales support. The cheaper is your product, the worse your experience will get. The more expensive is your product, your chances of something being ‘worse’ is less.
Most of the time, the service center will be situated in some dingy corner, like a basement or a small room in some remote building. Plenty of times, I have simply bought a new gadget, instead of going through the hassle of repair, especially with a low end, budget product.
However, higher prices, do not automatically guarantee a higher service.
Like everything in life, we have to hedge our bets. So, yes, it would have to be a premium brands, so that when something breaks down, you have a better chance of getting things fixed.
Final Note
When I started typing this, I thought I might have higher criteria. Turns out, I put more preference to after sales service more than anything else. Years of buying gadgets in India, and dealing with customer service, has taught me the following.
- Acceptable customer support is only available with premium models.
- Premium models have all the latest features.
- They breakdown less, so, you can perhaps avoid contacting support entirely.
So, it just makes sense. It’s possible that I might simply circle back and buy an iPhone 13 (which already meets all the requirements above, and is well within my budget). However, one should keep an open mind. Post pandemic life has made the mobile phone a less important gadget. I might be able to buy a high end droid phone, and save some money.
If I am to take any risks, this might be my only chance. Who knows when the next pandemic will come again, reduce me to poverty again, and force me to cut costs with my gadgets purchase, again?
I work as a full time freelance coding tutor. Hire me at UpWork or Fiverr or Stack Overflow. My personal website is here. Find more of my art at Behance and Unsplash.
