How much should you spend on a smartphone
In the current spectrum, how much should one spend to get the best value? I know everyone has a different taste and budget. But analysing the current trend of smartphone culture could give a bit of insight into spending wisely.
Under $300 IMO, that gets you a used flagship model from 1-2 years ago that isn't too much different from the current models.
The issue is that currently the 1-2 years used flagships have a lot of issues
That reduces quite a lot what should be the main source of used flagships
I prefer older used flagships. It's hardly depends on the use case though. I don't care about camera, games or what so ever. Phone, messenger and maybe a handful of apps for social and homelab. So for me it's max 100€
This is getting to be a better and better option with Google and Samsung promising more than 3yrs of OS updates.
I use apple phones, but i usually run 3-6 years behind.
Currently have an 11 , I think they are up to 14. I don’t really see what the new models do.
Still the thick end of 250 quid.
I don’t know what people who spend 1000 tell themselves.
See the new models have a bigger number so that is better
That I had a savings goal that I put a dollar a day into for three years to get there lol.
It's funny, I bought an s9 plus at launch and was recently "kicking tires" thinking of upgrading.
Looked at the recent crop and from my judgement, they're about 15% better than this one for the things that matter to me. For only $2,000 CAD
Looks like I'll be having the screen and battery replaced and keeping this for another 7 years.
If you don't care about the cameras...
Nowadays that's probably the biggest most worthwhile improvement you'll see.
Edit: The difference between your S9 and an S23 or S24 would be pretty dramatic.
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These questions are so exhausting.
How much does a car cost?
Look, you have to figure out what you need and what you can afford and then research it.
Divide the total cost by how many years of OS updates are given by the manufacturer.
This, plus make sure it's hardware security updates too, and not just OS updates. Some disenguious vendors like to confuse the two terms in their favor. I.e. fair phone.
You’re an Apple fanboy too, eh?
That’s the metric I’ve been using for the last decade-plus, and it’s kept me locked to Apple for that very reason. When you can get 6-7 years of completely new OS upgrades, and another 2-3 years of security updates after that, Apple is a no-brainer choice to make.
I tend to limit myself to max €100 per expected year of use. It's just a phone to me. My Nokia 6.1 was €300 and is still working. Main requirement is the availability of an alternatuve rom for it.
Yup, I also budget 100 euros per year. I tend to buy phones around 400 euros myself, they need to last 4 years before I buy a new one.
Currently on a Poco F2 Pro with LineageOS, still needs to live for a couple of years.
For me its 250-350. I can usually get a 1 or 2 generation older flagship device at that price, refurbished.
250-350 of what currency?
Pixel A series for $300 is a good deal, or just deal with the OnePlus models. I don't use my mobile much anyway
Value is subjective.
When the Pixel 7 came out it was incredibly good value for money. Buttery smooth, high quality cameras, best quality android experience $500. Unbeatable, and made the A series not worth it that year.
This year I'd probably say the pixel 7a.
I thought maybe if I buy flagship Samsungs, I won't have those problems I had with Xiaomis, unpredictable bugs, slowing down, also maybe Samsungs have better build quality...
tho I don't have those and yeah, much better build quality, my Note 20 Ultra still had issues where warranty replaced almost the whole phone - after one year. My Fold 4 cracked its own inner screen by the peeling off screen protector, which costed me with a one time offer around 150USD. Again, in one year after buying.
the price don't matter. it's just pure luck at this point.
I used to buy phones for around 150USD. tho this trend of mine was only possible 5-10 years ago.
My BlackBerry Z10 and Z30 costed me this much, and those were the best smartphones I ever had and will have.
after this Fold 4, no idea what will I get, but I hope for several more years, this won't be an issue.
My advice would be to stay away from smsung
Samsung seems to be failing in almost every consumer sector they’re in. Their appliances in particular are being dropped by stores across Canada because the chains don’t want to deal with the tsunami of warranty issues that crop up.
I only wonder when this drop in quality will trickle down to their business-class products… I have a thing for their U.2 drives (dat DWPD goodness!) and ECC RDIMMs.
yeah, my conclusion is kinda that.
and this is the reason why I really don't know what brand to jump in next. I try to avoid Chinese or emerging Chinese companies for a while, tho quite a few years has passed since I owned one, so I'm not completely dismissive with them either. It would be nice to stay in the foldable world, though.
costed
Particples are hard.
My Fold 4 cracked...
Yeah. Ya think?
Really, I'm amazed when the folding-screen phones don't crack; it's like they've broken a fundamental law or something by continuing to exist intact.
Particples are hard.
idk man, I just pretend to know English, so errors may occur here or there.
Whatever the most recent cheapest Pixel costs
Yeah, just find a phone that was cutting edge 3-4 years ago. get it used off amazon or wherever for like $200-300. I bought my Samsung Galaxy S10 like 4 years ago, it still runs amazingly well.
This is going to be even better with 7 years of updates on flagship smartphones from Google, samsung and Fairphone going forward. Your phone would still be updated and fairly secure by the time you get it.
It depends. If you can find good deals then any phone within $300-$500 should suffice. They are for the most part quite similar.
My current one cost $350. It has 12GB of ram, 1TB of fast ufs 3.1 storage. A 120hz curved amoled display with HDR support(on youtube). Also supports 67w fast charging. Plus, stereo speakers and a capable dimensity 7050 Soc. The camera is also nice with OIS.
I was considering a midrange Samsung. But, the deal(1Tb of storage and 12gb of ram, within $350) was too good to let go and Samsung wasn't providing any price cuts to justify the price. So, I made the choice. YMMV. Good luck.
Which phone is it? My pixel 5a's camera just gave out and I'm in the market.
It's a realme smartphone. I have the local variant purchased from Amazon india: https://m.gsmarena.com/realme_narzo_60_pro-12396.php
The global variant should be: https://m.gsmarena.com/realme_11_pro-12261.php But, depending on the region you may or may not get the higher storage variant.
The 11 pro plus should have the 1TB variant. https://m.gsmarena.com/realme_11_pro+-12246.php
You can also consider the latest poco X6 pro smartphone which comes with an even faster UFS 4.0 storage and equally powerful processor. The realme phones are a year old at this point with their succesors launched this month.
250€ because I spent that much 18 months ago and still super happy
I paid for the Pro version of the Pixel on my last go round, and I have to say it wasn't worth it at all. Unless you're doing gaming on your phone, the previous year's flagship is almost definitely good enough. Or go for the non-Pro if you don't care that much about the camera.
My general rule of thumb when getting a cheap device:
The thing with cheap device is it's not guaranteed to have 3rd party roms available, and even if one exists, it's not guaranteed how long they'll be maintained, so it's not a factor when I'm trying to get a very cheap device.
Best to look for current rom development on a device first. The Lineage device list is a big part of why I'm now going to Pixel.
Generally you get roms on the newer devices, and the older they get, development drops off.
Also depends on the device. If it was a flagship, it tends to have a longer rom lifespan because the hardware has a longer usability curve.
The Lineage device list is interesting in that you see which devices are (generally) more usable long term by the development cycle.
You can spend barely a whole minute during first time setup to make Samsung phones not give you any ad and remove most tracking that has no direct use for the end user.
I wouldn't spend more than 300 bucks
I paid NZ $469 for my current Samsung A31 almost four years ago, I wasnt fussed about the camera but wanted a 3.5 mm jack and lots of storage. Its now looking fairly shabby but still works well. I'll use it until its dead and get another phone around the $400 mark. Midrange, not top end, but not a budget phone either. It needs to do a number of jobs (play music, navigation, web surfing, record rides and hikes, camera, find cheap gas, tell me how much UV dosage I'll get at any particular time, weather, messaging on 3-4 apps plus calls of course) and be reasonably robust. Style and status dont come into it, I dont care about any of that
Find cheap gas? One secret america dont want people to know.
We have an app here in New Zealand (and Australia as well I believe) called Gaspy which shows gas prices for all stations within a set customisable radius, in price order, or on a map. And believe me we need it here with gas averaging between $2.60 to $2.90 a litre. Thats $9.80 to $10.96 a US gallon
I spent £250 on my Motorola G73 and am very happy with it
The best value smartphone on the market is the Fairphone 5. 70 euros per year, amortized over 10 years. Compare with a cheap, slower, but more expensive to repair Samsung A14, which would only last 2 years before the battery starts dying, and cost 85 euros per year over that time.
I typically buy a new flagship on sale and hold it for 4-5 years. Buying a new $300 phone means you start with mid-range performance and go down from there over time. This means you'll either have a really slow phone for the last year or two or you'll need to replace it sooner.
Depends on what phone you get and where it cuts the corners. The Snapdragon 845 in my Poco F1 is still plenty fast 4 years later. The camera is still respectable even today.
The plastic body and shitty LCD screen aren't great, but that was already there when I got it.
I got a couple Galaxy a20 like phones (can't remember all the names) and they would break very easily, one fell from my pocket onto my shoe and the screen cracked . I eventually got a galaxy s21 and this phone has been dropped on pavement a bunch of times. Dropped in water , butter chicken etc and still is just fine. Other than that I actually don't notice much difference in performance . I bought my s21 directly from Best Buy and it was almost $1000 Canadian.
Not necessarily. It depends. Some Socs like the 888 and 8 gen 1 were bad. I briefly used a Xiaomi 11T pro(8/128GB) and the snapdragon 888 inside compared to the dimensity 7050 in my realme 11 pro(12/1TB) is not much faster, if at all. The difference was super small. Instead I have much higher ram and large storage which negates any speed advantage it may have in day to day usage.
I think it depends on your use case and how strapped you are. Unless you're gaming, you don't need a super performant phone these days. Anything midrange will perform around the same as a flagship in normal phone tasks. What does matter is the form factor, battery life, and support window.
That being said, I basically only recommend the pixel series these days, because they support grapheneOS and they're just cheaper than other phones with that long of a support window.
Samsung and Motorola do make some nice hardware though.
Best value is around 300-400 $
But it depend on what you need on your phone, and you need to choose well.
https://www.kimovil.com/ has some good comparison.
Somewhere between 300-500 Prioritising getting a decent chipset over the rest of the features, because having all the gimmicks doesn't matter if the phone feels slow after a few years of updates.
300-500 of what currency?
Euro, although it should still apply to dollars since phones tend to be a bit more expensive here.
I would say the opposite.
The chipset is no longer important unless you're heavily into smartphone games. Even a mid-range chipset from 2 years ago will run standard tasks just fine these days. Smartphone requirements have basically plateaued for a few years now.
Prioritize just about everything OTHER then the chipset, depending on what you really use the phone for. Cameras, battery life, screen quality, memory capacity... Prioritize chipset only if you're gaming.
I dont really game on my phone but my parents both got the Samsung a51 shortly after i got my Poco F1. And nowadays the a51 takes a while to load basically anything while the F1 still feels pretty snappy.
Chipset also plays a huge part in the battery life and camera experience.
For me I only start looking for a new phone when i get annoyed by how slow my current phone feels, I'm not saying you should get a shitty phone just because it has a good chip, it just really helps it not feel old in a few years.
I think the budget is between $250 and $300
Personally I would look for Linage OS supported devices on second hand sites. I managed to get a Oneplus 8T for around 250€. Didn't had any problems and it still runs smooth
My work phone is nice (~$700 new?), so I use that for camera when possible.
My personal phone is an entry level "free" phone. Through Google Fi, and for this one you pay up front, with bill credits for the next year (I think?) which covers the cost --- so basically I give Google Fi a $200 loan where the "interest" is a cheap phone. No complaints, it's not premium but it works.
As much as you can afford. When it comes to technology you can't go for the budget options without truly feeling the consequences. That said, apple is extremely overpriced for the hardware, but don't get a cheap $150 android phone. I've heard the Pixel's are good I know Google yuck, but if I'm remembering correctly you can get one if their phones for ~$600
The Pixel A series runs ~$400-$500 and won MKBHD's blind camera test two years in a row. With all the nice pixel features and no OEM bloatware, it's a standout for sure!
As much as you can afford. When it comes to technology you can't go for the budget options without truly feeling the consequences.
That was true when the modern smartphone was a new concept. Since then, cheap models (a little above the bare minimum) have steadily become better and these days, aside from photography, will do anything the more expensive ones can. Which have also gotten much more expensive than they used to be. Unless you need specialty features like folding or S-Pen, it's not worth it.