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Phone prices are increasing rapidly. Buying a midrange away from the entry range easily exceeds 300 euros, betting on a mid-high range can jump over 500 euros, and
Phone prices are increasing rapidly. Buying a midrange away from the entry range easily exceeds 300 euros, betting on a mid-high range can jump over 500 euros, and the highest range is already around 1,400 euros.
Considering the numbers, this more than makes sense Consider buying a phone from a few years agoespecially if it is a high-end product. The question that arises here is until when is it a good idea to buy an old phone? Will you lose support? Will you still be able to access the main apps?
An iPhone 11 is an attractive purchase today
When we talk about Apple, the answer is quite simple: buy an iPhone as long as there is update support. Apple typically offers around six years of updates. Therefore, if we buy a three or four year old iPhone, not only will it have a life ahead of it, but curiously, It will be updated even more than the 2023 mid-range model.
A clear example of this is the iPhone 11. It has at least two more years of updates left and can be purchased renewed for around 300 Euros and with 100% of its battery capacity. Despite being a phone with a lifespan of more than three years, it is noticeably superior to Qualcomm’s best mid-range SoC, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, in terms of power.
The power of the iPhone has an inevitable consequence: as long as the software allows it, phones age much better than its competition. One thing to consider is that developers are generally not as lax about making apps compatible as they are on the Play Store. Even if you buy an older iPhone, it will be updated on the same day as the new iPhone. This means that the adoption rate of the latest version is around 90%, which encourages developers to always optimize their applications for the latest versions.
If you’re one of those people who hates updating for whatever reason, keep in mind that most new apps won’t work. However, when browsing through the App Store, most of the applications They don’t work as of iOS 14. This means phones like the iPhone 6S, which is eight years old, can still run basic features like WhatsApp.
In recent years, Android manufacturers have been coming out with updates. Both Xiaomi and Samsung offer five years of system updates (OS versions, not just security patches) so it’s ahead of Google. This paves the way for good scenarios for buying high-end 2023 phones a few years from now, but things are changing for older phones currently on sale.
Saving Samsung, the absolute leader in support in the Android region, phones older than three years, including Pixels, They are already unsupported. That doesn’t mean they won’t get security patches to fix vulnerabilities, but relying on a flagship that doesn’t have much of a lifecycle may not be the best idea.
When it comes to app support, things are a little simpler on Android. Part of the responsibility for whether apps are supported rests with Google’s own service framework. This is currently compatible up to Android 4.4 KitKat (2014 release). However, applications such as WhatsApp set minimum version 5.0 Lollipop So phones over six years old are still technically useful.
Recommendation here is a little more subjective because no matter what you choose, you probably won’t get support. Generally, three years is a relatively acceptable number. We are talking about 2020, the year of the Samsung Galaxy S20, Google Pixel 5 or Xiaomi Mi 10. Any of these phones (barring the odd case of the Pixel 5, which is a phone with a mid-range SoC) competes smoothly with the current average range; It easily surpasses them in features such as coating, screen and, in most cases, camera.
Why three years? Because after the mandatory two-year updates rolled out by Google, it is quite common. follow relatively frequent security patches for at least a year (As phones get older, packages tend to be three months or six months old). This support will depend on the manufacturer, but two to three years is generally pretty good territory for buying a high-end phone at the current mid-range price.
Image | xataka
in Xataka | Buying a second-hand mobile phone makes more sense than ever. I’ve been doing it this way for years
Source: Xataka
Emma Ortiz is a gadget expert and author at Div Bracket. She provides in-depth coverage of the latest and greatest in consumer technology, offering readers an inside look at the latest trends and innovations in the world of gadgets.
