Why 2018 isn't the year of flagships
Planning to buy a flagship this year? Finally, you saved enough money by taking the buses instead of CNG and rickshaw? Or maybe you were able to save your Eid bonuses two years in a row. If you ask me, NO- I won't be buying any flagship handset this year.
Of course, one might wonder why, being the tech geek that I am, won't recommend anyone to buy a smartphone this year. Well, allow me to explain why I think this isn't the year you should sell your kidney or pay a queen's ransom to buy the top of the line smartphones in the market:
Undoubtedly this year we saw some great handsets. The battle of notches and bezels has heated up and I believe it's really not the high time to pick a side. I personally am not a big fan of the notches. To me, it's a distraction and obstructs my view. But many people might feel differently. But the notch isn't the only reason why I don't like the design. Rather I find the aspect ratio of these all-screen phones to be off-putting. iPhone X, for example, comes with a 19.5: 9 aspect ratio. Watching a video or binge-watching your favourite TV show on a phone with such an aspect ratio is certainly not pleasing. And speeding an obscenely high amount on a phone that hasn't been time tested- that's somewhere I won't be spending my money. I would rather wait for the rumoured iPhone X Plus!
Now, let's talk about the bezels. Almost all the flagship of most of the brands are going bezel-less. The pioneer in this front is Samsung's Galaxy S series. Since the Galaxy S6, we didn't see any radical change in the design. Design wise, S9 and S8 have only a few differences and it's not that easy for a normal eye to discern the differences. Except for a few rammed up the camera and a jacked up the processor, the phones aren't that different.
The underdogs like OnePlus or Xiaomi or LG or even Moto haven't been able to bring up jaw-dropping devices. Last year, we were quite excited to see a range of modular devices in the market. But that trend has died up pretty much as LG and Moto both have shifted their focus back to conventional smartphones. Pixel 2 created many waves initially but it's still not the phone that would turn heads when you fiddling with it amongst your friends & family.
So what can you do? If you are a budget conscious person who wants bang for the buck, there are plenty of fishes in the sea. If you are not, which is highly likely in this case as you have saved a substantial amount for a flagship device, then you have two things that you can do: buy a really good quality second-hand device which was barely or rarely used. Or you can put your money in back, earn a modest premium and pray to dear god that the smartphone brands do come up with something that's worth your money.