I’ve been buying mid-range devices since mid 2010s (Nexus 5, Xiaomi Mi A1); mid-range devices were fine then and even more so now. The one drawback was camera quality, but IMO this has been resolved. These days I stick to the Samsung A series. I bought my A73 in mid 2022 and I see no reason to upgrade (although battery charge is starting to become an issue, although it’s manageable). It’s too bad Samsung sunset the A7X series.
I can’t imagine spending more than $500 - $600 on a smartphone (and even that is pushing it past the optimal spot on the price to performance curve).
The only problem with Samsung A series is that the phones are huge. Phones the size of base S model are rare. Beyond Samsung S series there is only Pixel (which has its own issues) and some Chinese models.
My last two phones were around $250 and have done everything I need. They have SD card slots, headphone jacks and physical sim cards which the higher end phones are lacking. I don’t care about camera quality. I have a nice DSLR if I need good pictures.
I’ve been buying mid-range devices since mid 2010s (Nexus 5, Xiaomi Mi A1); mid-range devices were fine then and even more so now. The one drawback was camera quality, but IMO this has been resolved. These days I stick to the Samsung A series. I bought my A73 in mid 2022 and I see no reason to upgrade (although battery charge is starting to become an issue, although it’s manageable). It’s too bad Samsung sunset the A7X series.
I can’t imagine spending more than $500 - $600 on a smartphone (and even that is pushing it past the optimal spot on the price to performance curve).
The only problem with Samsung A series is that the phones are huge. Phones the size of base S model are rare. Beyond Samsung S series there is only Pixel (which has its own issues) and some Chinese models.
I am one of those people who likes huge phones, even back when they were called Phablets (I also had company provided Note 3 and aNexus 6P).
My last two phones were around $250 and have done everything I need. They have SD card slots, headphone jacks and physical sim cards which the higher end phones are lacking. I don’t care about camera quality. I have a nice DSLR if I need good pictures.