According to Tom’s Guide figures, people are now holding their smartphones for up to three years. So, if you’re in the market for a new phone, you should think about what you’ll need in a few years, not just today.
The good news is that, at least for many people, the days of a smartphone becoming depressingly obsolete just a few months after it hits store shelves are over. Here are a few reasons why a smartphone purchased today could serve you well in the long run.
A smartphone is now effectively a small computer.
You may even argue that it is superior to one. You’re probably used to updating a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet on your phone while riding on the train – and the increased size of smartphone screens in recent years has undoubtedly aided this.
Consider Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold3, which was launched in August 2021 and has a 7.6-inch internal display that can be folded out. Furthermore, the Fold3 is available with 256GB or 512GB of storage, providing you enough room to put business papers on the device.
You might not know it, but cellphones have progressed so much in the previous decade that they now routinely outperform PCs and laptops in terms of performance and speed.
According to Samsung, today’s smartphones are even faster than the microprocessor that powers NASA’s Perseverance rover.
There’s a lot of memory to work with.
While the Fold3 has 12GB of RAM, the original Galaxy S smartphone was released in 2010 with only 512GB of RAM – or, as the word implies, ‘Random Access Memory.’
“In general, more RAM is preferable, and having more RAM doesn’t hinder speed,” software developer Primate Labs’ John Poole told Digital Trends. “But is it really necessary?” he added, despite this.
He points out that a phone’s battery could be drained unnecessarily if RAM is left inactive. So, even if you buy one of the low-cost smartphones available online, the amount of RAM will most likely be sufficient for your basic needs.
Is it 5G or not 5G? That isn’t as much of a question as it used to be.
Because 5G is still gaining traction as the successor to 4G in mobile communication, now is an exceptionally opportune time to pick up a 5G-ready phone.
Thankfully, most flagship phones now come with 5G compatibility as standard, and the technology is increasingly making its way down to ‘cheap’ handsets like the OnePlus Nord.
According to Ben Wood of CCS Insight, a tech analysis group, “it increasingly makes sense to acquire a 5G-capable device,” adding, “A nice example is with TVs.” Even if you didn’t have access to HD material a decade ago, it would have been crazy to buy a TV that wasn’t HD-Ready. The same argument, we believe, applies to 5G.”
