Wherever you are in the world, in India or beyond, you will have likely noticed the accelerating prices of smartphones. These days, many of the most-anticipated releases, such as the OnePlus 8 Pro or the iPhone XR retail in excess of $1000, which economists and industry insiders have attributed to a record-streak of so-called ‘smartphone inflation‘.
A decade ago, even the best smartphones on the market rarely retailed higher than $250, and devices with four-figure price tags largely consisted of gimmicky limited releases such as gold-plated Motorola phones. However, it’s worth noting that, despite the more expensive devices hogging all of the headlines and generally generating the highest degree of consumer interest, you do not have to pay this much for a phone.
The vast majority of smartphones on the market right now retail for less than $500, while a substantial number of devices retail for less than $200. So, are you really getting that much extra when you pay $1000 for a phone? Here’s why you aren’t.
Work
A common justification for splashing out unnecessary amounts of cash on a phone is that it is needed for work. Granted, your phone is likely an indispensable part of your everyday workflow, especially when it comes to keeping in touch with colleagues, planning meetings, and checking emails.
However, all of these workplace functions can be done very effectively with the very cheapest smartphones on the market. There is, quite literally, nothing that a $1500 Samsung Galaxy S20 can do for your work that a $400 S10 cannot do equally effectively.
Play
Many people consider splashing out on high-end devices in the hope that their mobile gaming experiences can be enhanced. While this mode of thinking is true to an extent, the actual price to processing power ratio is not a very wide spectrum.
A $500 iPhone SE has the exact same processing chip as the $1000 iPhone XS, with literally zero difference in the ability to run quality mobile games. In addition, the majority of mobile games these days can be played on virtually any device, especially if you are playing online games.
One example is real-money online casino platforms, which offer hundreds of different casino games, including live roulette games, all in one place. If you wanted to discover roulette at Leovegas, an online casino provider, you would find that you could play all of their casino games on both a low-end and high-end smartphone, without any noticeable difference in quality.
Photography
This one is a little bit tricker to argue. Lots of people these days consider their phone as their professional camera, essential for both creating art and taking quality snaps to upload to their social media. Granted, high-end smartphones typically come equipped with the best cameras on the market. However, the rise of budget camera phones in recent years has undermined the argument that you need to pay top-dollar for a decent lens.
Take the Google Pixel 3a, which is Google’s flagship budget phone. The camera rivals anything you would find on its higher-end models, with a 12.2MP wide-angle lens, night mode, and a stellar portrait mode. Given that this model retails at a mere $399, it’s clear that price does not always correlate with decent camera hardware.
Although high-end phone releases keep getting more expensive, it is abundantly clear that they do not provide anything that most people would deem as necessary. Save your hard-earned cash and choose a cheaper phone instead.
