Anyone else considering a mid range phone for their next purchase?

[BlackZeppelin]

Hi all. My first flagship was the Galaxy S5 and my next and current one is the Note 9. But even I am starting to become disillusioned with flagship phones.

It's a number of things. It's not just the price, but the price vs value. My note 9 cost me $1500 here in Australia and whilst it was a lot of money, I didn't baulk at getting it as it was a huge jump over the S5.

The S20 Ultra, the only S20 I would consider getting, is now $2000 and the Z flip is even more. The only feature I really like about the S20 Ultra I can't get in any other phone is the zoom camera system. That alone for me doesn't justify the huge price and upgrading from my Note 9.

And being totally honest, I'm really put off by all the issues of the S20 Ultra including that Exynos processor.

For the first time in almost 6 years since owning flagship smartphones, I'm considering switching to a mid-range one for my next purchase. Looking at the specs of the Galaxy A71, it is more than adequate for my needs for half the price of an S20+.

Anyone else in a similar mind frame?

 

[tuckertje01]

I went from Galaxy S2 to S5, then S8+. Since I keep my phones for 3 years, the logical choice would now be S20+ or Ultra. But since prices are way too high for me now. I've now purchased the S10 Lite and I don't regret it. It has flat screen which I like better, super fast processor, 128gb and a battery that lasts 2 days most of the time. I'm very happy with my choice. The only negative for me is that there are fewer cases to choose from.

 

[BlackZeppelin]

I went from Galaxy S2 to S5, then S8+. Since I keep my phones for 3 years, the logical choice would now be S20+ or Ultra. But since prices are way too high for me now. I've now purchased the S10 Lite and I don't regret it. It has flat screen which I like better, super fast processor, 128gb and a battery that lasts 2 days most of the time. I'm very happy with my choice. The only negative for me is that there are fewer cases to choose from.

Your progression of phone choices sounds like good ones, ensuring new features each time. Unfortunately for me, the only things about the S20 Ultra over my Note 9 I really like are the 25W charging and the zoom camera system. And I don't have to get a flagship Samsung to get 25W charging. An A series Galaxy can give me that.

Initially after all the generally poor reviews of the S20 Ultra, I thought I'd wait it out for the S21, especially after learning that Exynos would adopt Arm cores instead of Mongoose and introduce 5nm manufacturing on their next chipset.

But looking at the early rumours of the S21 aren't encouraging. It looks like Samsung are developing frivolous features that a 20 yr old would like. Such as a large sensor front selfie camera with OIS. Crap like that interests me absolutely nothing.

What would I like that make convince me to splurge $2000 plus?

Class leading battery life. Even with the 5000 mAh battery of the S20 Ultra, it's below many competitors with smaller batteries.

Matching at least the 10x optical zoom of the Huawei P40 Pro plus.

45W at least wired charging straight out of the box. And not just 45W when the battery is below 50% as the current optimal 45W charger is.

Matching the OnePlus 8 Pro wireless charging of 30W. I'd happily pay for the additional specialised wireless charging dock.

Things like that would convince me to upgrade to an S21.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

Your progression of phone choices sounds like good ones, ensuring new features each time. Unfortunately for me, the only things about the S20 Ultra over my Note 9 I really like are the 25W charging and the zoom camera system. And I don't have to get a flagship Samsung to get 25W charging. An A series Galaxy can give me that.

Initially after all the generally poor reviews of the S20 Ultra, I thought I'd wait it out for the S21, especially after learning that Exynos would adopt Arm cores instead of Mongoose and introduce 5nm manufacturing on their next chipset.

But looking at the early rumours of the S21 aren't encouraging. It looks like Samsung are developing frivolous features that a 20 yr old would like. Such as a large sensor front selfie camera with OIS. Crap like that interests me absolutely nothing.

What would I like that make convince me to splurge $2000 plus?

Class leading battery life. Even with the 5000 mAh battery of the S20 Ultra, it's below many competitors with smaller batteries.

Matching at least the 10x optical zoom of the Huawei P40 Pro plus.

45W at least wired charging straight out of the box. And not just 45W when the battery is below 50% as the current optimal 45W charger is.

Matching the OnePlus 8 Pro wireless charging of 30W. I'd happily pay for the additional specialised wireless charging dock.

Things like that would convince me to upgrade to an S21.

I have the 20 ultra and none of that would move me to splurge on the S21

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

The Exynos version of the S20 ultra has overheating issues and autofocus issues and a terrible battery life. Mr Whosetheboss did a video saying that the difference between the snapdragon and the exynos versions of the same phone were like two different phones and the exynos is completely inferior.

I bought an S10+ with an Exynos chip for £700 in January. It has been a brilliant phone and I am glad I didn't pay £1200 for it last year. It is ceramic 512GB version. But I wouldn't even consider the S20 ultra.

I think you can get a great deal on the S10 series right now and the phone has a lot of the S20 upgrades with OneUI 2.1

The zoom on the ultra doesn't even look that good to me. It is certainly not worth £1300. That is a month's wages for my husband.

The A series is also a good buy but I would rather have last year's flagship phone over a mid range phone. But that is just me.

 

[ThrottleJohnny]

For me I'd rather buy pre generation flagship phones.

The best buys out there right now are the S10, iPhone XS, One Plus 7t and Pixel 4. And you have to make very few compromises when you go for those. Plus, they've already had plenty of software updates so often they're running in peak condition.

 

[blackhawkhot]

I'm wuving my Note 10+.
Samsung makes the most trick customizable phones with Samsung customization apps/icon packs/themes.
Short of rooting Samsung makes the most customizable phone of any manufacturer.
You can really customize these units easily to make them look like and behave you want them too. I wuv that to death.

The 10's short comings; no headphone jack, doesn't have the latest bluetooth chipset and only a 60 HZ display.
Otherwise for a phone with half a tb of internal memory plus up to a gb of SD card memory, Apple doesn't come close.
For the large memory and RAM on the 500 gb model, the price isn't so bad... it runs like a champ too on Pie.

No clue what Q will do to it although it kills overlay apks which I do use and like.

 

[criminal_bg]

very good question, and with price being a factor for alot of people i think the new Mid range phones that Samsung has in the A series and M series, they offer alot of good features for less than the flagship price. now with that being said, the flagships do give certain features you will not get on a mid range. so it still comes down to what the user wants from the phone. i think a compromise would be getting the previous years flagship, the price wouldnt be so high and you get amazing features. so for example, Samsung made a major change with the 10 series up, thats when they introduced punch hole cam, under screen fingerprint reader etc. so for me if you currently hav any 8 models, its worth it to move to a 10 series, having a Note 9 some might find it hard to move up jus 1 step. even with those changes.

 

[blackhawkhot]

very good question, and with price being a factor for alot of people i think the new Mid range phones that Samsung has in the A series and M series, they offer alot of good features for less than the flagship price. now with that being said, the flagships do give certain features you will not get on a mid range. so it still comes down to what the user wants from the phone. i think a compromise would be getting the previous years flagship, the price wouldnt be so high and you get amazing features. so for example, Samsung made a major change with the 10 series up, thats when they introduced punch hole cam, under screen fingerprint reader etc. so for me if you currently hav any 8 models, its worth it to move to a 10 series, having a Note 9 some might find it hard to move up jus 1 step. even with those changes.

The Note 9 with 512gb, about $650 or less. Not too shabby at all... 4000 mah battery, 3.5 mm jack too.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note9-ampp-9163.php

 

[BlackZeppelin]

I read a few of you saying it's better to get a former flagship than a current midrange. I currently have a Note 9, as one of you suggested, and you are forgetting one major thing-software support.

Samsung only gives you 2 years of software updates. So if I was buying a phone now and for a Note 9, I would only have less than a year left of software updates. If I got the Note 10, it still costs a lot and I only get a years worth of software updates.

Again, if I was buying today, the Galaxy A71 has everything I need. Literally nothing from the S20, Note 10 or S20 I particularly want apart from the zoom camera on the S20 Ultra. I simply would not pay $2000 vs $750 here in Australia, just to get that feature.

 

[ThrottleJohnny]

I read a few of you saying it's better to get a former flagship than a current midrange. I currently have a Note 8, as one of you suggested, and you are forgetting one major thing-software support.

Samsung only gives you 2 years of software updates. So if I was buying a phone now and for a Note 9, I would only have less than a year left of software updates. If I got the Note 10, it still costs a lot and I only get a years worth of software updates.

Again, if I was buying today, the Galaxy A71 has everything I need. Literally nothing from the S20, Note 10 or S20 I particularly want apart from the zoom camera on the S20 Ultra. I simply would not pay $2000 vs $750 here in Australia, just to get that feature.

Well yeah, if long term software updates are important, no Samsung should be your first choice, as even a brand new Samsung will only give you one extra year.

But if you upgrade every 1-2 years, it won't matter as much.

 

[anon(50597)]

Well yeah, if long term software updates are important, no Samsung should be your first choice, as even a brand new Samsung will only give you one extra year.

But if you upgrade every 1-2 years, it won't matter as much.

I believe, and I could be wrong, a lot of people who buy midrange also don’t want to upgrade every year. It’s about saving money for many.

 

[bxrider117]

My last 2 upgrades were top tier phones but I brought them from the secondary market. I currently have the S20+ Verizon version and I got it from Swappa.com. I purchased it for $720 plus tax. I sold my S10+ 1tb for $600. So my investment was $120 and tax.
I no longer have to be original or 1st owner of a phone. Using PayPal protects you as a consumer if something is wrong with the purchase.

This ensures I will have the newest phone.

 

[BlackZeppelin]

I believe, and I could be wrong, a lot of people who buy midrange also don’t want to upgrade every year. It’s about saving money for many.

A typo in my previous post. I have a Note 9, not the Note 8. I definately don't upgrade every year or 2, but with a quality midrange device, it's much more affordable to do so.

I notice Samsung in America I believe is offering a 2 yr guaranteed buy back program. That is definately something they should be doing everywhere. If that was offered here in Australia, I'd happily upgrade every 2 years.

Samsung are not Apple who are die hard loyalists who cannot choose another device to continue with IOS. I think Samsung has to offer universally incentives like buy back programs if they want to continue to produce ultra, (pun originally not intended) expensive flagships.

 

[customshopkv1]

I believe, and I could be wrong, a lot of people who buy midrange also don’t want to upgrade every year. It’s about saving money for many.

I use to do flagship models every other year (iPhones) until the X came out. So I went from the 7+ to that, then came the XS Max so I got that. No desire for the 11 Pro Max and the S20U was calling my name. So here I am

I'd like to make it 2 years but we will see. That all being said, the wife is on the 4 year plan. She went from the 6S to the 11 Pro.

 

[mustang7757]

I definitely look at all phones on the market , had the pixel 3a thought that was really good phone .

 

[BlackZeppelin]

Here in Australia we get only the Exynos version and I am especially disappointed with all the battery comparison tests that line up the S20 Ultra with Exynos against 4 or 5 other phones.

YouTube has a bunch of them where every phone is charged to 100%, screen brightness set to the same and the same apps all run at once. And every video is the same. The S20 Ultra comes in either last or almost last. Very disappointing for a device with a whopping 5000 mAh battery.

No way here in Australia would I spend 2 grand on something where I can't get the much superior Qualcomm processor and suffer problems with overheating, average battery life, focus hunting and now greenish tints. A really unsorted device. I'll wait for the S21 and see what Sammy brings.

I've noticed too other forum users post comments saying how they love their S20 Ultra and it seems to me that a lot of them are coming from either considerably older Samsung devices or others phone makes. For me, coming from my highly reliable S5 and current Note 9, it's a different matter.

 

[Peter Scooze]

Here in Australia we get only the Exynos version and I am especially disappointed with all the battery comparison tests that line up the S20 Ultra with Exynos against 4 or 5 other phones.

YouTube has a bunch of them where every phone is charged to 100%, screen brightness set to the same and the same apps all run at once. And every video is the same. The S20 Ultra comes in either last or almost last. Very disappointing for a device with a whopping 5000 mAh battery.

No way here in Australia would I spend 2 grand on something where I can't get the much superior Qualcomm processor and suffer problems with overheating, average battery life, focus hunting and now greenish tints. A really unsorted device. I'll wait for the S21 and see what Sammy brings.

I've noticed too other forum users post comments saying how they love their S20 Ultra and it seems to me that a lot of them are coming from either considerably older Samsung devices or others phone makes. For me, coming from my highly reliable S5 and current Note 9, it's a different matter.

No we just have snapdragon version. Has nothing to do with how old are previous phone was and Most of us upgrade frequently. Also cant go buy youtube battery tests. Real world use is much different. But yes id probably not get the phone if i couldn't get the snapdragon given all the issues with the exynos model.

 

[me just saying]

I almost always figure getting a mid range phone at the times I usually get new phones would not really be much of an upgrade - if any.

 

[BlackZeppelin]

Anyway I'm just talking semantics as I'm not upgrading yet. As I said in my case, I'm waiting for the S21. I do have to admit that I just took a pic on my Note 9 to send to sometime else, and when I pinch zoomed I immediately remember playing with the S20 Ultra in the carrier store and doing the same. And being blown away by the incredible detail in the 108 MP mode and how much I could pinch zoom and still retain fine detail. It's likely too the S21 to get the new 144 MP sensor also.