Mid-range phones, even the much-hyped flagship killers, are great buys, but there are always riders to that statement, with some lacking design finesse, others with less than stellar cameras and most lacking the hygiene elements that make for a flagship smartphone experience.
To be fair, most of these flaws can be overlooked when you consider their pricing, but if you stop for a moment and think – do you know which phones don’t have these issues and are still affordable? Last year’s flagships!
They’ll still feature premium glass-metal designs, high resolution displays and will support wireless charging. Their cameras and chips, while not the latest and greatest, will still outperform mid-rangers on the whole; in particular, year-on-year chip upgrades aren’t discernable to any but the most power/pro users.
Also read: Should you invest in a flagship phone?
As the festive season sales start kicking in, last year’s flagships see deep discounts, and you can swing yourself a good deal on top-shelf phones from a year or two ago without breaking the bank.
Apple iPhone 12 and 12 mini
Apple's iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini are selling at deeply discounted prices during Flipkart's Big Billion Days 2021 sale from 3rd to 10th Oct, with the iPhone 12 base 64GB variant going down to Rs. 49,999 and the iPhone 12 mini even lower at Rs. 38,999. Couple these with exchange offers, and you'll be taking home last year's flagships for the price of most mid-range flagships! Little wonder they're flying off the shelves, and over 2 lakh iPhone 12 units sold in one day during the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale!
Samsung Galaxy Note 20
The last of Samsung's iconic Note series may have been replaced by this years' flagships supporting the S Pen stylus, but last year's Note flagships are still excellent devices for the money. Especially when the money is an enticing Rs. 44,990 for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (Amazon) and Rs. 69,999 for the Note 20 Ultra which launched mid last year at Rs. 1,04,999! One for the Note fans.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
Rocking the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip that was the toast of premium Android flagships last year, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G is down to an all-time low price of Rs. 36,990 (launch price Rs. 74,999), with exchange offers further sweetening the deal.
Tushar Kanwar is a tech columnist and commentator and tweets @2shar.
Also read: Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: The ‘S’ year iPhone without the S