Do You Really Need a Flagship Phone?

Flagship smartphones are known to be the best of the best that smartphone brands have to offer. When buying a flagship phone, you can expect a lot of attention and care put into these products. They get all the latest and even outright gimmicky features manufacturers want to push out and pass off as innovation. But for all that “premium” care, these products also get some eye-popping price tags.

And hey, who are we kidding? It usually works out as the latest features plus premium marketing equals premium price tag. Majority of consumers who purchase flagship devices like the idea of spending a lot of money on a smartphone that just works. Some like to purchase devices with the “best” blank. And truth be told, others purchase these devices as status symbols.

Nonetheless, we still can’t deny that these flagship devices pioneer big features which then trickle down to the rest of the budget categories—or at least, that’s the idea.

But with the steady improvement of mid-range devices, flagship killers, and budget flagships out in the market today turning heads and blurring the price to the performance you get with flagship devices; people are now focusing on the practicality side.

Most smartphone manufacturers have realized a lot of people feel this way now and they’ve even gone as far as adding features to mid-rangers that aren’t found in their flagships. Probably to safely test how the market feels about it.

A good example of this is the idea of a bezel-less display. It all came from the idea of having an all-screen phone. Samsung’s first solution was to curve the display into their phone’s edges and get rid of as much forehead and chin bezels.

Eventually we got a notch with the iPhone X, a pinhole with the S10, pop-up cameras everywhere, and don’t get me started with displays that curves to almost all sides.

And now look at the market, we have a good number of more budget-friendly phones with pop-up selfie cameras. This isn’t to say that companies don’t cut corners with these more budget-friendly devices. There are some features on flagships that you simply don’t get on cheaper phones.

A lot of mid-range devices use plastic instead of glass backs, and if they are made of glass, there’s a huge chance that it’s not Gorilla Glass.

Another big example is the display. Flagship smartphones nowadays have great panels and they do play a big factor in cost. Above-average brightness levels, contrast, resolution, colors, and even refresh rates are flagship staples that you won’t easily find on other price brackets. And the list goes on for these other premium features.

But the thing is, why should you pay forty to ninety thousand pesos or more for a smartphone if you don’t need to? I mean, if all you plan to do with your phone is to access social media, calls, messages, and basic photography, you’re probably better off saving money and not getting a flagship.

But then again, it all depends on what you want from your device. If you’re the type who gets a flagship because you just want peace of mind, or if it’s a status symbol to you, there’s honestly nothing wrong with that, and nobody is stopping you. At the end of the day, the best purchases are the ones that put a smile on your face and don’t leave you with a ton of regret.

And that wraps it up. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, it’s always nice to see some friendly discussion.

This piece was originally written by Miguel Ty. Additional inputs and editing by Justine Basco.