Budget, Mid-range and Flagship Phones, Which One Should You Buy?
Smartphones have gotten way better over the years, but it’s also gotten way more expensive. Because of this, smartphone companies now have 2–5 categories of offerings. The most popular 3 categories, however, are budget, mid-range, and flagship. So which of these categories should you buy?
Budget Phones
Budget phones are the ones with the entry-level chipset and the very cheap ones. Some examples are the OnePlus N100, Moto G Power, and iPhone SE. People who buy budget phones are usually very sensitive to price bumps. So over the years, the price of phones in this specific category has remained fairly consistent. Although these phone prices have not raised a lot, the phones themselves have improved. They don’t have AMOLED displays or 108MP cameras, but they still improved a lot. Some of them have 5G, some of them have a stylus, some of them even have all-day battery life. Although this isn’t a super popular category, it’s one to consider.
Mid-Range Phones
Mid-range phones have exploded in popularity in recent years. Mid Range phones are not as limited by the price tag, but the main idea of these phones is still bang for the buck. The phone of these goals is different from the budget phone though. The main idea of a mid-range phone is to get as close to a flagship as possible while keeping a lower price. OnePlus is famous for its mid ranges. Get very close to a flagship with the specs, but skip wireless charging and an official IP rating. Some examples of these phones are OnePlus Nord, Google pixel 4a, and Samsung A71. Companies use all kinds of tricks to keep the price low while keeping it almost indistinguishable from an actual flagship. The Poco X3 NFC is a really good example of this. They used every trick in the book to get the price to 199$. Get this, it’s a 120Hz, HDR10 display. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G with 6GB of RAM for only 199$. They did everything they can to artificially lower the price of the phone. From an early bird sale to baking ads right into the software.
Flagship Phones
Flagship phones are the ones you see that get all the media coverage. They are the ones with all the bells and whistles. People who buy the flagship phones are usually tech enthusiast, they are willing to spend 2 thousand dollars on a phone. These Flagships don’t compete on giving you the most value, they compete on having the best features, the latest and greatest. Usually, a flagship phone has something to define itself from the others. For the Galaxy Note, it’s the S pen; For the iPhone, it’s being an iPhone; For the Huawei Mate X, it’s the fact that it can fold. Point is, every flagship has something to define itself from the other flagship, to justify you spending that 2 thousand dollars.
Recap & Conclusion
So a quick recap for you. A budget phone’s main goal is to keep the price very low while keeping the most crucial function of a smartphone. A mid-range phone’s main goal is to keep the price as low as possible while being as close to a flagship as possible. A flagship phone’s goal is to have the latest and greatest while having some unique characteristic to define itself.
So, this is what you came here for. Which type of phone should you buy? I don’t speak for everybody, and everybody is in different financial situations, but I’ll try to give a suggestion for most people. For the majority of people, I would say that a high-end mid-range would suffice. It would have the same specs as a flagship, giving you top-tier performance, but no extra features that would make the phone cost more. For students or people who don’t have as much money to spend, I would say a normal to low-tier mid range or an old flagship like the Galaxy S9+ would be good. It might not have as much as you want, but it would have enough power for simple games and slight multitasking.
