[etad putta]

So I see people asking about buying budget and midrange phones for as much or more than a 2 year old flagship phone. Doesn't it make more sense to buy the older beast phone than the lower spec new device? There are many great used phones out there.

[mustang7757]

The only issue is that couple year old flagship might be getting close or done with software support and possible security, depending the manufacturer and a new mid range will be current.

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Also some of the newer midrange CPU chips may be as good or better than the older flagship. For instance if you got a pixel 2, then the Pixel 4a 5G would be more powerful. Certainly it has better battery life and longer updates.

[swebb]

A new midrange will certainly last 2 or more years with updates and out of the box battery life. A 2 year old flagship? Maybe, depending on how the battery was used or abused. You won't know the history so it's a roll of the dice and you may have to replace it sooner than planned.

[Morty2264]

Your point does have a lot of validity. However, sometimes even mid-range devices will have more up-to-date specs than a flagship phone that is about two years old. There are a ton of variables when it comes to mid-range versus flagship devices.

The mid-range market is getting very competitive and those companies *want* you to buy those mid-range products, so they certainly make them more appealing, especially over their flagship counterparts. For instance, the LG Velvet is mid-range but has really awesome specs, like wireless charging and a huge battery, and it's water resistant. And since it is newer, folks may want to snag that over, say, my S10 (used or not), which is an older flagship that won't have a lot of software updates left. LG will give the Velvet updates for at least two years.

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I love my Pixel 4a 5G. It runs like a flagship with its 765G chip and stock Android. It feels more fluid than my flagship top of the range S10+ ceramic with an Exynos chip.

[TechnoMax]

Sometimes the old ones offer more than the new ones: I found out that the best (and cheapest) phone for me as a music capabla backup for my main phone is not a cheapy new phone a quite old LG G7: It had NCF, a microSD-Card slot, a fingerprint sensor and good Bluetooth-codecs, even a very good DAC. This combination is hard to find these days. You should therefore carefully look what you really need and how much you are willing to pay. Some older phones rapidly lost their value and are a cheap buy these days.

[bkdodger2]

I think both options are good.. I can also recommend a phone like the 4a 5G which I got for $399..also like certified pre-owned cars if you looking for a flagship phone pick one from a year or so at least you get some updates left and battery is still solid...