Let’s Talk About Smartphone Pricing (Premium)

Samsung's Galaxy S8 is a true smartphone flagship, with an innovative edge-to-edge display and high-end specs. But it also costs over $750, putting it out of the reach of many consumers. Is there a better value to be had in the smartphone market?

Why, yes. Yes, there is.

That we're even having this discussion is evidence of a problem that I've been grappling with for years. But it's gotten worse recently, I think.

For example, in PCs, the emphasis has turned to premium PCs and gaming rigs---the markets for which actual grew during the PC downturn---and away from the affordable HP Stream-type PCs from just three or four years ago.

Smartphones are equally problematic. Thanks to the popularity of the iPhone, flagship-class handsets like the Google Pixel XL and Samsung Galaxy S8 get all the press these days while lower-cost but still compelling---perhaps even more compelling---devices are largely ignored.

Looking around my home office, I see several premium PCs waiting to be reviewed. And I will get to them, dutifully, as I should. But I also know that most of the people reading this site---myself include---either couldn't afford to pay the prices that these PCs command or simply never would do so regardless. For most people, a less expensive PC would do very nicely.

For me as well, as it turns out. You may recall that when Paul spent his own money on a PC for his own use last year, it was for an inexpensive Intel NUC. And while I did build a gaming PC for my son at great expense, that was a graduation present and a machine that I hope will get him through four years of college. I would never have spent that much on myself.

In fact, I pretty much harp about pricing all the time. To the point where I suspect some people, becoming immune to what is increasing the New Normal in consumer electronics hardware, are probably curious what I'm getting on about. This is just what these things cost.

No. It isn't.

Or, at least it doesn't have to be. And while I am separately writing a longer piece about making good decisions when it comes to personal technology products and services, here I'd like to more briefly consider the smartphone market specifically.

As you know, there are only two smartphone platforms that matter today: iPhone and Android. And as with the PC market, this market is split between a high-quality but curated option designed entirely by Apple on one side, while on the other, Google and its many partners have given us a glorious mess of choices at every level, with the resulting pros and cons that come from such a strategy.

Apple makes it easy. Each year, they release a new generation of iPhones in normal and plus sizes, and last year they brought back their older tiny phone form factor via the less expensive iPhone SE. But you don't need to get a small iPhone to save money: Apple also sells last year's iPhone models for about $100 less, respectively, than the newer models. So pricing varies from about $...