Why mid-range smartphones are better than flagship phones in 2019?

Smartphones are available at various prices nowadays, and some of them are available at relatively higher prices and we call them the flagships. Most manufacturers manufacture only one or two flagships a year and they basically come with the latest SoC along with a great camera module, a super AMOLED display, decent battery, an extraordinary design, and the latest of everything. Well, those things basically sum up to be a flagship in 2019. Obviously, not everybody goes for flagships, basically because of the price, and most people do not even need those unnecessarily high specifications for their everyday uses. But still, thousands of units of some flagships by different manufacturers are sold.

Chances are there, you might have the funds to get a flagship today or in the coming year. But, should you go for a flagship or better go for a premium mid-range smartphone! That is a big question! Obviously, the final decision will be taken by you, but I am here with a few points about why you shouldn’t go for a flagship smartphone in 2019 and better go for a premium mid-range smartphone or simply a mid-range one for your everyday requirements. But if you have the habit of purchasing new smartphones and using the latest flagship is a kind of addiction for you, then don’t get me wrong for speaking out the truth.

Flagship smartphones don’t necessarily last longer

Most mid-range smartphones available today are available within the prices of around Rs. 10,000 to 20,000 and can be used by most users for a year or two, however, there are even some uses, who might look for a new one every year. Talking about flagships most of them are available at prices above Rs. 35,000, Except few like the latest Poco F1 by Xiaomi, but that doesn’t mean you can use it longer. I know, new flagship smartphones are snappy, just like the mid-range ones. But just like the mid-range smartphones, the flagships too get sluggish with time, and in the better case, not as early as the mid-rangers.

Most users do not ditch their old smartphones because of any hardware problem, but mainly because they start lagging with the latest applications, the latest games are no longer supported, and simply because those smartphones do not offer the same level of performance for everyday usage. The flagships, on the other hand, might keep offering better performance for one or two additional years, but don’t expect the latest games, and apps to run as smoothly as it used to be when you purchased it. So in short, if you need to look for a new smartphone after every 2 to 3 years of usage, why spend those extra pennies for a flagship!

Some specifications available at budget

If the looks and the best SoC is not important, but you are looking for a flagship-grade camera, which is basically something that most people look for in flagships, you can always go for a smartphone that comes with a great and flagship-grade camera, apart from a great performance which can be achieved using the latest SoC. Look at the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro, which offers a 48+5 MP dual rear camera setup at budget. But, there are a number of handsets, which offer great storage, flagship-level camera at budget.

So if you’re looking for or a decent camera, you don’t need to get a flagship. Well, I know, Megapixel isn’t the only thing that counts, when it comes to a camera, but the camera on flagships isn’t the best either.

If a great camera is something that you need the most, you can always go for a DSLR, which will always offer great optics, and more functionalities, at least better than a smartphone, which might be priced at around 50,000 or so. Well, I know a DSLR camera will not help you share the photos and videos on Facebook and Instagram with a single tap. But if you are a professional and is longing for some actually good photos, you can compromise on that luxury by spending less on a DSLR camera that offers better photos.

More storage is not always important

Well, don’t get me wrong! Most smartphones manufacturers are removing the memory card slots from the flagships, and at this situation, we might need additional internal storage as we stick to our smartphones in most parts of the day. However, there is a limit. The same edition of a flagship with extra gigabytes of storage is highly-priced, and it is not always worth paying the extra pennies for some extra gigabytes of storage.

When the internet has gone pocket-friendly in India, you can always use the cloud for storing your documents, photos, and other necessary files. Talking about apps and games you do not need a 256 GB storage for that unless you are just too addicted to gaming.

A smartphone with almost 128 Gigabytes of storage can be more than enough in 2019, unless you have the habit of capturing photos and videos back-to-back and do not use any of the cloud services like Google Photos, Google Drive, or anything else of that sort for privacy or whatever reasons.

Even if you are going for a flagship phone make sure you are not squandering your pennies for some internal storage which you will never use in the lifecycle of the phone. Moreover, if you are purchasing a flagship phone only for the storage then I bet that’s a wrong deal for you. Better get an external hard disk drive, and that will be the best bang for your buck if storage really matters.

No extra value for everyday usage

If you are the one who uses their smartphones for everyday usage, what you most need from a smartphone is to make calls, take some photographs, or selfies, scan documents to send them through email or any other service, browse social networks, and sometimes some casual gaming while commuting.

If this is the purpose of using your smartphone, going for a flagship phone isn’t it all a great deal for you. You will quickly regret spending those extra pennies for a flagship phone when you could have chosen a premium mid-range smartphone that offers the same functionalities with almost the same level of convenience.

Obviously, you don’t need pro-grade photography for taking selfies, scan documents for sending it. Talking about the games, you can easily play most of the popular titles on mid-range smartphones nowadays. Well, I know there are some titles like Fortnite for example, which is available only for flagships as of now, but paying extra pennies only for a single title and little more exclusivity from the developers hardly make any sense.

Modern mid-range smartphones offer great value today

Looking back at the beginning of the decade, the mid-range smartphones when not that powerful and the flagship phones that were available at that time were fancy little beasts. Most flagships in those times were available at around Rs. 20,000 To 25,000. Fast-forwarding to today, smartphones and the Android ecosystem has come a long way, and today, even mid-rangers are optimized greatly for everyday usage, kudos to Google and the manufacturers, and most people can even use their smartphones as a replacement for their computers in 2019, though not for every task that comes along the way.

Flagships are still not bad

Well, I am not saying you should never go for flagships. After all, when you are paying some extra pennies for getting a flagship, there are some privileges which you deserve. But that doesn’t mean you cannot live without those privileges. Let’s have a look at the privileges and the advantages of getting a flagship phone.

Exclusivity from the app developers

As I have mentioned earlier, there are some apps and games, which are exclusively available for some flagship phones and in most cases, it is because of the powerful processor they come with, and most mid-range handsets might not offer that level of performance required by those games. Besides that, there are some games which do not offer the best possible graphics and the best gameplay experience on a mid-range smartphone, obviously due to the lower specifications of a mid-ranger. But it isn’t great fun to play games on a smartphone, and thus it is better to build your own gaming PC, or get a gaming console instead of paying extra pennies for some exclusivity from the developers with a flagship phone.

Better service from the manufacturer

There are some manufacturers, which are notorious for not offering great customer service. However, if you go for a flagship phone, you might get a better service, but that is not always guaranteed. Besides customer service and after-sales support, software updates and security patches are also an important aspect today, when security is a big concern. In such a situation, most flagships get support for a longer time compared to that of the mid-range phones. But if you have the habit of changing your smartphone every 2-3 years, this might not be a big advantage for you.

Well, now I think you can take your decision on whether you should go for flagship or a mid-range smartphone. If you aren’t obsessed with the flagship phone that your friend or colleague is using, going for a mid-range smartphone to use it for two or three years and that can be the best deal for you.

Unless you play a lot of games and want to enjoy the best gameplay and best performance only for a few months before the next flagship is released, going for a flagship smartphone is simply a waste of money in most cases. If you’re looking for a great camera or want better gaming performance, going for the specific devices like a DSLR camera or a gaming console will be better than getting a flagship smartphone.

So that is all about why flagship smartphones are not worthy. Do you have anything to say? Feel free to comment on the same below.