It’s been a long time since I used a mid-range mobile phone as a personal mobile phone. The last one was in April 2023, when I reviewed the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+. I can’t tell you which model I used because the analysis will be published on Xataka very soon. I can only tell you that every year I encounter four major limitations that significantly separate the top tier from the top tier.

I believe the mid range is more than enough for the vast majority of users, but I have also been and continue to be a strong advocate of the high range. Good, cheap cell phones are disappearing, and investing in a device we carry with us almost 24 hours a day is a smart move on my part. These are the points that continue to distinguish a mid-range model from a premium product, no matter how many years pass.

The brightness difference is starting to become very serious. Until a few years ago, the difference in maximum brightness between the mid-range and the high-end was not that noticeable. The reason was simple: None of them looked good in the sun. There has been a heated battle for nits since last year, resulting in almost the entire high range being over 2,000 nits. Meanwhile, some midranges don’t even reach 1000 nits in HBM (auto-brightness) mode.

In practical terms, this is very easy to explain: next to a high-end model, the screen of mid-range models is barely visible when we put them in the sun. This is something you’ll get used to if you’ve been using devices in this series for a while, but the difference is starting to increase.

Audio and microphone output quality. Call me weird: Sometimes I’d rather watch a TV series in bed and on my cell phone than lie on the couch and put that movie on the TV. Although I usually use headphones, if the phone’s sound is good enough, I use its own speakers. This is another point where there is often a gap between the mid-range and the high-end. The high range not only produces louder sound, but also often has bass that makes a difference.

Most mid-range devices sound tinny when we increase the volume above 70%. It’s something that makes sense when carrying cheap speakers, but it’s another one of those things you won’t notice until you notice the difference. The same goes for the quality of microphones. In the midrange they are much more sensitive to wind, sound more metallic, and if the environment is not good there will be some distortion.

Support years. The last major difference between the middle and upper levels comes in the years they receive support. Samsung has been updating for seven years, while Xiaomi has been updating its high-end mobile phones for four years. When it comes to the mid-tier, the policy is usually (hopefully) a mandatory two years imposed by Google.

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in Xataka | Best mid-range mobile phones: which to buy and recommended models