Money Well Spent: Why Buying Last Year’s Flagship Phone Makes a Lot of Sense

Image Credit: Pawel Czerwinski via Unsplash

Let’s paint a picture of a scenario. You are in search of a new phone, and you don’t consider yourself a phone nerd but you’re also not clueless. In your research, you see that the new Samsung and Apple phones start at $1000. You’ve heard things about OnePlus, so you look into them. The OnePlus 8 Pro looks great but even it is $900. Everywhere that you look, phones are in the general ballpark of $1000. You don’t want to be cheap, but as someone looking for a good everyday device, this feels excessive. You now have to make a decision. To bite the bullet and buy the flagship, or to save some money and perhaps some quality by going with a mid-range device. But there is a third option that many of us do not consider: the previous generation’s flagship phone. These are often sold at a steep discount once the new phone is released and has most of the same features, which at this point in the product life cycle of the smartphone is enough for most people.

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