Smartphones are the norm — it’s essentially not possible for me to spend a day without my smartphone. Smartphone companies would argue that we need to purchase their newest, latest, and greatest $1000+ smartphones to have an ideal experience. But let me tell you, they are often making the fools out of us to sell their products.
You never need the newest offering from a smartphone brand to experience the great things happening in the tech world, older flagships might be the way to go. Wondering how? Let me tell you.
They are cheaper:
Apple’s iPhones don’t come down in prices as much, but Android phones do. That’s why I’m only going to talk about Android smartphones in this article. Needless to say, smartphones start to come down in prices after a few months of their release. However, it’s after a year or two that they become the real value for money. Some $1000 Android flagships can even be purchased for as low as $500 after a year or so, of their release.
They perform well enough:
Modern flagships smartphones last at least for 4 to 5 years before they actually become “slow” for daily tasks. If you purchase a smartphone that’s less than 2 years old, you’d have an affordable device that’s fast enough to handle everything that you throw at it.
I purchased an Oneplus 6T, a 1.5-year-old smartphone, a month ago, and I’m surprised to see how well it performs. It handles everything that I do on a smartphone, calling, texting, navigating, taking photos, scrolling through social media, very well.
They take great photos:
No, I’m not saying an older flagship will take the best photos you possibly can, it just doesn’t. Newer smartphones are always coming up with better and better smartphone cameras and shaming the older ones. But that’s not to say older flagships take “bad” photos. They can still generate great photos with nice colors and detail levels. Especially, if you purchase an older Google Pixel, you might be able to compete with even the current-gen smartphone cameras with that thing.
Some recommendations for you:
Here are a few older flagship recommendations for you that are a great bang for your buck:
Google Pixel 3/Pixel 3 XL: Released in October of 2018, this older flagship still rocks some solid internals, a superb camera, and great software support. It has a fast CPU called the Snapdragon 845, which can easily handle all the everyday tasks you’re going to do. The camera is superb, as you’d expect from a Pixel device. It even runs on the latest Android software version and will be getting a couple of years more of software support from Google.
Oneplus 7t: Released in September of 2019, this phone is still a monster for the price it comes in. It has gotten cheaper by a good bit since the release, which makes it even more worth it. It’s got a super-fast Snapdragon 855 Plus CPU, which can blaze through everything you can possibly throw at it. It’s got a good camera, and great software support as well.
Samsung Galaxy S9: It was released in the first quarter of 2018, but still rocks as a solid performer with a fast CPU, i.e., Snapdragon 845. The camera takes great photos, and it runs on the latest version of Android, i.e., Android 10.
