Buy a new smartphone? You should pay attention to this

Smartphones have countless specs, marketing terms and nuances, so in this article we’ll help you buy a new smartphone.

Choosing a new smartphone is a huge task these days. There are so many factors that play a part in the selection that consumers can no longer see the wood for all the trees. In this article we try to pave your way in the pretty cluttered smartphone industry.

Before we begin: For more hardware-related tips when buying a new smartphone, we have written an additional article.

Tips for buying a new smartphone

Old but gold

In the article linked above, I stated that we cannot give any tips about the price; it’s a personal choice how much you want to spend and the ‘value’ of a smartphone is extremely difficult to determine.

That does not alter the fact that there is a golden tip that always applies: if you something If you choose an older device, you already save a lot of money. Take the new iPhones as an example. With the release of the iPhone 13, Apple made the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini a lot cheaper. For much less money, on the other hand, you have almost the exact same smartphone.

In short, if you keep an eye on the smartphone industry, you will know exactly when old devices (old usually means only 1 year ‘old’) become cheaper. Samsung will announce a new series at the beginning of the year, so it is the time to buy last year’s. Apple will do the same in the fall; now is your time!

Beware of marketing terms

This second segment is also mainly intended for people who are not that much into tech. It is very easy to be persuaded by marketing terms and technical jargon. Usually, on the other hand, it is simpler than it seems. Below are some common examples:

• OLED, AMOLED, Super Retina OLED, Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O, Super AMOLED
  They are all terms for the same fundamental technology. One uses an active matrix, the other a slightly higher pixels per inch density. Nevertheless, the differences are nuanced and therefore not applicable at all for most users. Don’t be fooled by an extra adjective for OLED! That in contrast to OLED and LCD, which are very different.
• Touch Sampling Rate vs Refresh Rate
  These terms can also cause confusion, especially because both are expressed in Hertz (Hz). In contrast, they are two significantly different things. Touch sampling rate describes how many times per second the screen checks to see if it is being touched. Refresh rate describes how often a new image appears. A high touch sampling rate means a touch-sensitive and responsive screen. Refresh rate means smooth movements while swiping and gaming.
• Androids: OxygenOS, EMUI, OneUI, ColorOS
  Finally, operating systems are available under many different names. No Android smartphones (except the Google Pixel series) have ‘real’ Android. They are all peels from the manufacturer over the standard Android operating system. It therefore differs per manufacturer whether you like the operating system or not, even if it is all based on Android.