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 $400 for an entry-level iPhone SE to almost $1000 for a decked-out iPhone 7 Plus. (You could also check out Apple’s Refurbished Store. I have had a lot of success there.)

The Android market is bigger in every way. There are many, many companies that sell Android-based handsets around the world, and each sells a variety of different models, and at a variety of price points. This range of choice is amazing, and while there are obviously flagship Android devices like the Galaxy S8 that can stand toe-to-toe with the iPhone on pricing and capability, Android has many options around or under that $400 iPhone starting price.

And I have been ignoring them. Not entirely, of course. And not without good reason, to be fair. For example, it’s important for me to keep up on what Google is doing with its own platform, so me owning a Pixel XL, regardless of price or my opinions of the device, makes sense.

But there’s that nagging feeling stuck in the back of my mind, telling me that something is wrong. And it’s finally occurred to me that my central issue with the Pixel, when it comes down to it, is that it violates the central excellent nature of the Nexus 6P and 5X handsets that preceded it, which was to provide modern specs and functionality at reasonable prices. Pixel pricing isn’t reasonable, at all. It’s the same as a new iPhone.

Put another way, given the quality issues with Android, a phone needs to be pretty damned special to warrant flagship pricing, with high-end specs, a great design, and a superb camera. And there just aren’t too many that fall into that category. The Samsung Galaxy S8 may be one of those handsets, we’ll see. But regardless, the sweet spot of the Android market is at a lower price tag. And since Google is ignoring this part of the market now, I need to turn my attention elsewhere.

And when I think of the market for sub-flagship Android handsets, I think of two companies, Motorola (part of Lenovo) and OnePlus. Indeed, when people have asked me about getting a less expensive Android phone, these are the firms I recommend.

I even have specific phone models for you to consider.

On the low-end, Motorola just started selling the fifth-generation Moto G Plus here in the US. It costs just $230 for a version with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage (yes, with microSD expansion), or $300 for a more future proof version with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. I’ve actually owned two older Moto G devices, but this year’s revision takes a big step up in quality—it utilizes a professional-looking aluminum body and has some truly compelling features—and I’ve ordered one for myself. (If you want to save even more money and don’t mind Kindle-style lock screen advertising, you can save even more at Amazon.com: The 32 GB version is only $185 and the 64 GB version is just $240. Incredible.)

The OnePlus 3T occupies a neat middle ground between the entry-level Moto and true flagships like the Galaxy S8. And it is thus an interesting alternative to the Nexus handsets I still mourn. Available at a starting price of $440—for a version with 64 GB of non-expandable storage—the OnePlus 3T never gets all that expensive: A version with 128 GB of storage is just $480. When you consider the specs—a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, 6 GB of RAM, and a 5.5-inch Full HD display—this is quite the bargain. I haven’t ordered one … yet. I may.

(That you could buy a Moto G Plus and a OnePlus 3T for the same price as an iPhone 7 and a Galaxy S8 is interesting.)

These handsets—and, yes, I know there are others out there and that everyone has their preferences—are far more interesting to me, personally, than the high-end devices in most ways. In fact, if the camera quality was in-line with what we see on high-end phones, I don’t think I’d ever bother with the latest iPhone, or Samsung, or Pixel, or whatever.

And that’s the thing. Like anyone who does what I do, I’m happy to accept a review unit from a hardware maker, put it through its paces, and then issue some kind of verdict. But there’s often a big gap between something I can absolutely recommend, based on experience, and something I’d actually spend my own money on. That’s the next level, isn’t it? Sure he recommended it. But did he buy it?

This doesn’t happen all that often. Most reviewers are firmly middle class, if that, and could never afford the expensive devices that they use regularly. I certainly can’t. And … It’s starting to bother me.

Anyway, I’ve started asking PC makers for more pedestrian PCs to review, and I’ll start looking at lower-end smartphones as well, starting with the Moto G Plus. We’ll see how it goes. But I think this reset is pretty important.

Let me know what your thoughts are on the Android pricing tiers, and where you fall when it comes to spending money on devices like this. I’m thinking this is a much bigger topic than smartphones. But this is also an obvious place to start.