As I write this, I’ve been a flagship phone user for just over 10 years, starting with the LG G3 from 2014, which was my first taste of a high-end handset. Since then, I’ve had a Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note 10 Plus, Galaxy S21 Ultra, iPhone 11 Pro, Galaxy S22 Ultra, and, as of this moment, an iPhone 14 Pro.
That’s a new flagship phone every two years or so, but as my iPhone 14 Pro heads towards the end of its third year (and the battery hits 87% health), I find that I have no particular reason to upgrade it with my next contract renewal. Since the phone will likely be supported until 2029, as long as it works, I can’t foresee a situation where a new phone will do more than I currently need this handset to do. When it does meet its end, I’m not sure if I’d be interested in a flagship phone again at all—and here’s why I’m leaning that way.
The Flagship Plateau
No, I’m not talking about the “plateau” on the iPhone 17!
Ten years ago, when I bought that LG G3 (RIP LG phones), coming from a horrible Samsung Galaxy Ace of all things, there was still a huge gap between a mid-range and flagship phone. At the time, Forbes had nothing but good things to say about LG’s high-res, innovative phone. It wasn’t just higher-spec, but had rad functionality like a “knock” feature where you could tap on the screen when it was off to wake the phone up. That sounds quaint now because every phone has features like these now, or has moved beyond them with even more advanced ones.
That’s really the problem today. The difference between a flagship phone and a mid-range model from the same series isn’t about things the flagship can do that the cheaper phone can’t. They can both do exactly the same things, but the flagship can do them better. The question then is whether it can do them so much better that it’s worth the higher price. Over the last decade, the answer to that question, for me at least, has been “yes.”
Looking at the screens, performance, camera quality, and the other things that matter to me on a phone, there was no mistaking the mid-ranger model for the flagship. Today? I look at these things on the mid-range phones my friends and family use, and I don’t think the difference is worth the money.
In contrast, just look at this terrible blurry photo of my G3 I took the day I got it, using that awful cheap Samsung smartphone.
Today I can’t think of any mainstream mid-range phone that takes photos a reasonable person would find unacceptable. The same goes for screens. Mid-range phones are out there with AMOLED screens that would make flagships from five years ago weep. They’re not just good for midrange phones, these are objectively good displays. Any improvements to them amount to nitpicking.
The Diminishing Returns on Specs
You don’t have to worry whether your mid-range phone can run the apps you want. Some heavy apps like games might have to run at lower settings, but mobile hardware is now so powerful that the stuff I actually use my phone for on a day-to-day basis is functionally no different.
Adding more pixels to screens doesn’t make much sense anymore because our eyes aren’t that good, pushing screens above 120Hz isn’t nearly as impactful as going from 60Hz to 120Hz. More megapixels don’t make the photos noticeably better, and it’s all computational photography now anyway.
Price vs. Value
The other major sticking point for flagships these days is price. The $1,000 mark is effectively the starting point for the category, and it seems the sky’s the limit from there. But, the fact is that a $1,000 phone today does not provide twice the value of a $500 phone, and what additional value it does provide simply doesn’t seem like it would impact my daily experience much, if at all.
Mid-Range Devices Have Better Longevity Now
One rationalization I’ve used for buying flagships in the past has been software and hardware support. Companies give most of their support attention to their flagship phones, so you’d have some confidence that you could use the phone for much longer without having to replace it. Thus, you’d end up paying the same per year for the phone over its useful life compared to a mid-range phone that might have worse build quality and a shorter support cycle. Also, because of the better specs, you’d have some future-proofing against future app demands.
That’s not true anymore, and mid-range Android phones, in particular, are better than ever. Of course, software support cycles have been getting longer across the board and that includes flagships. That creates an interesting situation where mid-range phones are in competition with last year’s flagships. Flagship phones seem to lose value faster than a car the moment you sign the dealership papers, yet there’s basically no difference between a 2024 and 2025 flagship today, and I suspect the upgrades will only get more iterative as time goes by.
In either case, I’m ready to move past the upgrade cycle. My next phone will either be a mid-range value king, or the previous year’s flagship model at a heavy discount. The cutting edge is looking pretty dull these days, and if I keep paying for it, I’m probably not the sharpest tool in the shed myself.