Do I really need a flagship smartphone?

I have been struggling with this for quite a while now. I have always had the the latest flagship phones. From the heyday of Nokia, through the Blackberry phase right up to where we are today. I am almost willing to admit that having the latest phones is somewhat of an obsession for me. Currently I have two Samsung Galaxy S8+ phones that I use, and the first one is due for upgrade in less than a month. So the question now is, do I need to fork out R20 000 or more for the latest phone?

What do I use my phone for?

I believe that the best technology is that which satisfies your specific needs. Before I can answer whether or not I really need a flagship phone, it may be worth while to determine exactly what I use my phones for.

By now you would know that I am an engineer, and I travel extensively for business. Because of this, the first major function I need from a phone (apart from actually using it as a phone), is a productivity tool. I have to be able to reply to emails, open spreadsheets, documents and even the occasional drawing. Now this may seem like a trivial requirement. All smartphones can do this to some extent, but things like screen size do play a significant role here. There is nothing worse than trying to type a long winded email to a client on a tiny screen.

My travels also force me to use my phone as a media device. I have spent many nights in guest houses where I lie in bed and watch Netflix on my phone. So again screen size is important, as is quality of sound, and even the quality of the headphones that usually come with the phones.

Other things to consider are the quality of the camera, the battery life and health tracking capabilities. I need a phone that can take beautiful pictures, a battery that can last more than a few hours and be able to track my activities for the day.

Finally I use my phone to play games on. I spend at least 12 hours a week playing games on my phone, and its become my primary gaming platform. The games I currently play aren’t extremely resource heavy, but it’s not Candy Crush either. Thus I need a phone that does have a bit of processing power and the RAM to back it up. Also, although I don’t play resource heavy games at the moment, I would still like the option to be able to play PUBG mobile without any issues.

Why not a flagship?

The obvious answer is the price. Flagship phones are becoming painfully expensive. At the time of writing this, the price for the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S10+ was about R18 899. The Samsung A50 on the other hand was selling at R6 999. If like me you get your phones on contract, this equates to R899 for the S10+ and R399 for the A50 on a MTN Made For Me Small contract. That is a considerable saving. On top of the price of the phone, you also need to add the cost of insurance. More expensive phone equates to more expensive insurance costs.

In terms of specs, below is a comparison of the two phones (just the highlights).

	Samsung Galaxy S10+	Samsung Galaxy A50
Display Type	Dynamic AMOLED capacitivetouchscreen, 16M colors	Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours
Display Size	6.4″	6.4″
Chipset	Exynos 9820 (8nm)	Exynos 9610 (10nm)
CPU	Octa-core (2 x 2.73 GHz Mongoose M4 & 2 x 2.31GHz Cortex-A75 & 4 x 1.95GHz Cortex-A55)	Octa-core (4 x 2.3GHz Cortex-A73 & 4 x 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU	Mali-G76 MP12	Mali-G72 MP3
RAM	8Gb	4Gb
ROM	128Gb	128Gb
Camera Resolution (Rear)	12.0MP + 12.0MP + 16.0MP	25.0MP + 5.0MP + 8.0MP
Camera Resolution (Front)	10.0MP + 8.0MP	25.0MP
Battery Size	4100mAh	4000mAh
Sensors	Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2	Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

You can have a look at a full comparison at GSM Arena.

I know that specs on paper doesn’t really portray the actual performance of the phone, but it is a good way to do a quick comparison. It is worth noting that the A50 also has a in-screen fingerprint reader, which is one of the wow-factor selling points of the S10 range. So all things considered, the A50 doesn’t look to bad.

Yes, the A50 may not give you the street cred of a S10+, but it does seem like a rather attractive alternative. In fact, I think one of the primary reasons these days to spend this amount of money on a smartphone is purely to impress other people.

Will my next phone be a flagship?

Hell yes! Off course it will. Financially it doesn’t make sense, but I can’t help it. Like I said, it is a bit of an obsession for me. Will my other phones be flagships as well? No. I will definitely downscale my secondary contracts and try to save a bit of money.

The lines between top-end and mid-tier phones are starting to blur a bit. If you are a better person than me and you do take a cheaper mid-tier phone, I’m sure you wont regret it. In fact, I know a lot of people that went that route and never looked back.

For some more good reading on the cost of cell phones, head on over to Tigers On A Golden Leash. Very interesting read.

I hope you enjoyed this. Hopefully after this you will make smarter decisions than I have.

We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like

Edward Norton – Fight Club