Slightly Older Phones FTW!
We live in times when everybody is evolving almost constantly in nearly everything, but even more so in technology and digitalization. And that’s why we all want the best-performing, latest and the newest electronic gadget we can get our hands-on, especially when it comes to smartphones. A no-brainer solution for this would be flagship phones, but that brings us to a crucial downside while buying a flagship phone; flagships are not very pocket-friendly.
So, how do you buy one of the top-performing devices without feeling like you’re selling your kidney?
We’ve got an answer for you: Slightly older flagship phones.
As a leading mobile skin and screen guard brand, we get the opportunity to see and use many devices, even more so flagship smartphones. Any older flagship device works as great as the latest flagship as long as it’s receiving updates. Sure, the newest flagship assures that you get updates and security patches from the moment you buy it in 2022 for even further. But certain phones that are maybe a year or two older are still receiving updates and will continue to do so for the next two or three years.
It’s a pretty great deal if you ask us.
After what you’ve read before this sentence, we’re sure that you’ll head off to Google to research about what are your options, but no worries! Because we’ve got a list of top five phones that are slightly old but function pretty well and are available at a much cheaper rate!
We’ve listed the phones in order from the most expensive to the least.
iPhone 12 mini (2020)
If you are an Apple fan and looking for an option in an ultra-premium flagship range at a fair price, iPhone 12 mini is a great pick. It’s the least expensive one in the iPhone 12 series but works just as fine as the other phones in the series.
If you go to sites like Flipkart or Croma, you can find this phone for a price starting from ₹50,000; almost ₹20,000 less than the current iPhone 13 mini’s starting price.
It has very similar features to the iPhone 13 mini. There are just two exceptions: the iPhone 13 mini has a Cinematic vision in 1080p, and then there’s just the evident processor difference. Both are good features to have, but it’s not something that will bring in a wide variation in phone performance and updates.
The OS is the same, the battery level variation is between 100-200 mAh, and the rest of the specs are just along the same line. What’s to lose?!
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G (2021)
This phone was launched over a year ago and became a hit because of its features at comparatively cheaper pricing. This year, Samsung launched another FE version; Samsung Galaxy S21 FE.
If you’re thinking about the difference between these phones, you need to know something. Except for the design, dimension and weight, there’s a negligible difference between the latest Samsung Galaxy S21 FE & the mentioned phone!
There’s evidently no difference between these two phones, but here’s an interesting fact: Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has external memory support of up to 1TB! This feature is not available for S21 FE!
Pretty cool, right?
About the price point, S20 FE is available for a mid-range price starting from ₹35,000 if you buy from e-stores like Flipkart, whereas S21 FE is available for ₹50,000 if you are buying from an e-store.
You know what to do!
iPhone SE 2nd Gen (2020)
Even though not available at the official Apple e-store, you can still find this phone at authorised resellers/e-stores like Flipkart and Croma for prices starting from ₹30,000 instead of ₹40,000 for an iPhone SE 3rd gen.
Even though this phone is considered a ‘budget’ phone by Apple, we all know that it isn’t. So why not buy at a price you’d pay for a mid-range phone?
Other than the processor & data connectivity compatibility, there is no difference between these phones, not even the Touch ID.
Processors impact the performance of a phone, but again, between an A13 Bionic Chip & an A15 Bionic processor, the difference is not super huge as the clock speeds are close enough. For the moment, a 4G phone will also do just as fine in India as we still don’t have a 5G network here. Moreover, this phone supports the latest OS update, iOS 15.5. Pretty nice, right?
However, there is one downside; like every other iPhone SE, it has no wireless charging support.
OnePlus 8T 5G (2020)
The OnePlus 8T you all know about is a pretty old phone but is definitely one of the first 5G flagship phones. However, it is still a pretty great phone. In fact, some of the tech gurus and collectives even say that the OnePlus 8 series is the best OnePlus flagship collection so far in terms of performance.
Sadly enough, most of the phones in the collection are now discontinued, except the OnePlus 8T. It’s even available on OnePlus’ official website.
At the time of launch, this phone was around ₹43,000, and now you can get the same for ₹29,000 only on their official site! And if you have any OnePlus device that you would want to exchange to buy this, you can get it for a price worth a budget range phone!
If you’re questioning whether this phone can be upgraded to Oxygen OS 12 based on Android 12, we have a two-word answer: YOU CAN! But yes, it will be the final major update of the OnePlus 8 series collection.
In conclusion, for obvious reasons, the phones listed here are only the most recommended options for buying slightly older flagship phones as there is practically no end to the list of phones as such. But yes, this list is to provide a pre-requisite of what you should look for while buying a slightly older phone.
Moreover, no matter which phone you buy, you can always upgrade how your phone looks and… you can even make it scratch-free! Only with our mobile skins, screen guards and full-body invisible protectors!
