You should not purchase the very best Android telephone

Final week, I got here throughout a now-deleted Reddit thread from a Google Pixel person who mentioned their perceived satisfaction when utilizing a Google Pixel 9a versus the dearer Pixel 9 Professional. The unique poster detailed their expertise shopping for the costliest Pixel on the market, not being pleased with it, returning it, and shopping for the Pixel 9a as a substitute, and ending up way more content material with the cheaper telephone regardless of their (very tech-savvy) pals’ fixed taunting concerning the 9a’s decrease specs and cheaper construct high quality.

That thread hit a chord for me as a result of it’s one thing I’ve skilled repeatedly when shopping for or reviewing telephones for Android Authority, in addition to when speaking about telephone purchases with my family and friends. Everyone seems to be simply happier with the cheaper telephones; it’s anecdotal proof, certain, however on the lookout for the very best Android telephone is sure to finish in distress and dissatisfaction.

If I had $5000 in my pocket and determined to purchase the very best Android telephone on the market right this moment, I couldn’t. Not as a result of it prices extra, however as a result of that telephone simply doesn’t exist.

$2,000 might get me the productiveness beast that’s the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, however that telephone doesn’t have the very best digital camera setup, particularly for zoom, and the outer show side ratio stays too tall in comparison with different foldables and most smartphones. €1,500 might get me the Xiaomi 15 Extremely, a pictures, efficiency, and battery life champion, however I must cope with Xiaomi’s interface and restricted AI capabilities. Even paying round $2,500 for the upcoming tri-fold HUAWEI Mate XTs with its phone-and-tablet-in-one kind issue limits me to no matter HUAWEI’s present software program state of affairs is (learn: not splendid).

Happening a notch, the Galaxy S25 Extremely remains to be cumbersome and unwieldy, and wastes plenty of inner house for the S Pen, whereas the all-around good Pixel 10 Professional XL doesn’t actually excel at something — there are higher cameras, quicker charging, longer lasting, higher performing telephones on the market.

You get the thought, proper? The extra I’m keen to pay for “the very best,” the extra choosy I get, and the much less I’m keen to tolerate minor points. Bugs grow to be extra unbearable, {hardware} limitations extra irritating. Issues that I’d usually think about niggles and pointless in my on a regular basis use abruptly grow to be huge annoyances or downsides as a result of I wished the very best, and this isn’t the very best, darn it!

Worse but, if I miraculously handle to purchase “the very best” telephone on the market, odds are it is going to be outdated in a couple of months max. No matter glee and satisfaction I assumed I’d acquire by being on prime of the telephone pyramid is sure to break down ultimately, due to the incessant churn of newer, higher, quicker telephones. That’s why aiming for or arguing over the very best Android telephone is so futile.

All of this hit residence for me a few weeks in the past. I received my Google Pixel 10 Professional XL, and since I’ve been a Pixel person for years now, New-Pixel-Day is normally a momentous event for me yearly. Did I immediately unbox it? Sure. Did I set it up proper after? Uh… Kinda. I’m testing issues on it, however I nonetheless haven’t migrated my SIM card from the Pixel 9 Professional XL, not as a result of I don’t wish to, however as a result of I don’t really feel the necessity to simply but. In the meantime, my husband tells me no less than as soon as every week how blissful he’s that he’s saved his Pixel 7 Professional this lengthy. Lesson realized: Save your cash, don’t improve or purchase cheaper.

Let’s be sincere for a second: Most of us aren’t using half of the facility in our telephones. We take photographs, ship messages, browse the net, examine social media, watch some movies. Any $300 Android telephone can do this. Sure, it is perhaps a tad slower, however it’ll deal with all of it simply wonderful.

If I have been to quantify the performance that I acquire by shopping for a $600 telephone, a $900 telephone, or a $1200 telephone, it actually wouldn’t be double, triple, or quadruple what the price range $300 Android telephone can do. I’d say it’s extra according to an incremental acquire of 30%, 40%, and 50% by way of velocity, energy, and options. On paper, that’s not sufficient to justify the a lot greater enhance in worth, but most of us nonetheless make the financially flawed resolution and pay for the premium. Why? Standing image, peer stress, misleading provider offers, a misguided data of what low-cost telephones can do — you identify it.

Those that buck the development and purchase cheaper telephones, although, typically find yourself happier with their resolution as a result of they knew they have been compromising and so they received precisely what they paid for. Plus, on the charge that price range telephones are bettering now, they could’ve even gotten greater than what they anticipated.

I observed this quite a bit when a 6000% foreign money inflation hit my residence nation of Lebanon a few years in the past. Within the span of some months, individuals who have been shopping for luxurious gadgets and upgrading to flagship telephones yearly might barely afford to eat, which made any new phone-buying resolution a last-ditch resort if their telephones utterly died. All of a sudden, I wasn’t being requested concerning the newest Galaxy S or iPhone, however about probably the most price range Galaxy A telephones.

But everybody I really helpful a Galaxy A to (or another price range telephone, relying on necessities) was pleased with their selection. “It does all of it!” “It’s truly greater than what I would like.” “Yeah, I miss my Word, however that is nonetheless glorious.” I heard these feedback on a regular basis from pals, pals’ dad and mom, neighbors, and my family members. There have been fewer complaints and arguments, and far fewer cases of “Rita, I noticed [insert_feature] on my buddy’s telephone, why can’t mine do it?”

Look, I’m not going to faux that everybody ought to exit and purchase a price range Android telephone and let the flagships die. There’s a purpose why the typical worth of a telephone goes up; each service we use in our every day lives depends on these telephones, and individuals are keen to pay extra for a greater expertise.

What I’m saying is that there’s room for nuance and plenty of telephone patrons are making the error of chasing the very best when a) they don’t want it, b) can barely afford it, and c) a less expensive choice would definitely match the invoice and depart them feeling much less jaded or swindled out of their cash.

My private recommendation? Purchase the very best telephone for you. Solely you’ll know what that’s since you perceive your wants higher than anybody. A fantastic digital camera or any digital camera? Wonderful efficiency for gaming or no heavy gaming? Lengthy days out or restricted every day display time? Do you actually want 240W charging, a 7,000mAh battery, a Snapdragon 8 Elite, a 200MP digital camera, 100x zoom, an IP69 ranking, a larger-than-life and brighter-than-the-sun show, and built-in Qi2? Do you? Actually? Or are you simply scrolling Instagram and TikTok for 3 hours day-after-day?

There are folks for whom a $1000+ telephone will make sense. I take 1000’s of photographs yearly on my Pixel and I find it irresistible, so I do know I’m all the time going to pay extra for a greater digital camera. You would possibly pay extra for efficiency, battery life, or an S Pen. Others may not want any of those; they’d be higher served with final yr’s telephone on low cost, an FE or non-Professional, an A sequence, or another price range machine.

For almost all of individuals, I feel there’s a candy spot across the $300-500 mark, the place you get what you pay for, maybe much more, and you’re feeling you’ve made probably the greatest offers on this planet, which is the place the unique Redditor falls with their Pixel 9a. Android telephones on this vary can do all of it and do it nicely. Don’t dismiss them as a result of they’ve a polycarbonate again.

So earlier than you make up your thoughts as a result of a YouTuber really helpful this telephone, a drop check broke that telephone, or a benchmark consequence smoked that different telephone, cease and take into consideration your expectations versus the cash, and the worth you’ll get from this new buy. Do you want all of it? Do you want it now? If that’s the case, make that buy. You’ll be happier than if you happen to simply upgraded like clockwork as a result of the brand new successor simply dropped or your provider improve supply is up.