Believe me, you've just spoken out mind... Who cares about system update, so far the applications are updating. Imagine comparing Samsung note 8 to Samsung a71. Flagship will always be Baba.

Stanl3y:
I'd personally go for an old flagship. provided it's not more than 2 years old.

Older flagships tend to come with superior camera sensor and bigger pixel size hence better image quality and Optical image stabilization. forget the megapixel counts on the mid-range phones. a 12mp on a Flagship will be far better than the 64mp on mid-range even in 2020.

Flagships comes with the best screen resolution. An example is S9 Plus (2018) came with Super AMOLED QHD Display that supports HDR 10 and even in 2020 no mid-range offers a QHD display. the most you can get is 1080p FHD with no HDR Support

Flagships come with solid build, Durable Glass body, a metal frame. You can't get any mid-range with a glass body and metal frame. the most you can get is a glass body and plastic frame which makes the build ugly and weird thanks to Xiaomi.

Flagship comes with water and dust resistant and wireless charging something no mid-range has offered till date.

Most old flagships record videos at 4K 30/60 fps. most mid-range can't do this.

Flagships Chipset was the absolute best of its time and will outclass most mid-range Soc for years to come. S9 Plus (2018) Snapdragon 845 or Exynos 9810 Soc is far more powerful than Galaxy A71 (2020) Snapdragon 720

A downside of older flagships are dated designs, not actually dated in my opinion but we're in an era of bezeless screens, old flagship like S9 Plus or iPhone X still contain little bezels. I personally love the little bezels on top and bottom though.

The major Downside of old flagship is software updates!! most major android smart phones support 2 years update except Google Pixel and Android one devices.

So for me, I'd prefer premium design (Glass build, metal frame), Water and dust resistant, Stereo Speakers, QHD screen, High performance, Superior cameras to Mid-range with new designs, new software updates. After all more than half the population of Nigerians using smartphones don't update the system software. I can live with that!; D

DesignAssasin:
Believe me, you've just spoken out mind... Who cares about system update, so far the applications are updating. Imagine comparing Samsung note 8 to Samsung a71. Flagship will always be Baba.

The problem with this is that you're comparing 2 devices from the same brand. What's to say that a Huawei midrange is not better than the Galaxy Note 8? A brand will not make a current gen device better than its last year flagship, or two years old flagship, and given the price of a new A71, just buy a Galaxy S10e.

typicalgamer:


Nah an old flagship like Poco f1 will still slap most mid-range ass nowadays

Poco was never a flagship device in the first place. Yes it has a top-tier chipset, but in terms of every other aspect, it was a mid ranger.

Norman4real:
Poco was never a flagship device in the first place. Yes it has a top-tier chipset, but in terms of every other aspect, it was a mid ranger.

I agree with this

festwiz:
New Midrange over old flagships... especially in the Android Ecosystem. We have midrange SoCs like the Dimensity 820 and 1000l which perform better than the SD845 which was a flagship SoC, and it's not just that.

Most OEMs on the Android Ecosystem offer at most 2 Android OS upgrades so why purchase a device at the end of its life over one that's just starting?

Take the Galaxy S8 for instance with the Snapdragon 835 SoC which is theoretically a better performer than the 720G in the Redmi Note 9s but then you realise that the S8 will not officially be getting Android 10 and unless you're going the custom ROM route, that's the Android version you'll be stuck with unlike the Redmi Note 9s that has the propensity to go up to Android 12.

Also, since these older flagships are discontinued by the OEMs you'll have extremely limited support. You won't get security patches, or at least not as often, and you're obviously a long way from any warranty claims if your device breaks (assuming you didn't buy a used device).

Now taking a step away from Android and into iOS is a different situation. iPhones receive up to 5 years of support from Apple, so even buying a 2 year old flagship like the iPhone X you'll still receive support for as much as 2-3 years. Apple devices have not been the best in terms of battery longevity but if you can afford maybe a replacement then you'll be good to go.


TL;DR? New midrange over Old flagship (within the Android ecosystem).


PS: The duration considered is 2 years as one year old flagships tend to still be more expensive than new midrange devices.


Forgot to mention this earlier. Newer midrange devices also benefit from better improved hardware and design like more efficient fabrication process, new radio (5G), WiFi 6, more versatile camera setups etc.

Please, I need recommendation. Which should I buy between Samsung Galaxy S8/S9(flagship) and Samsung Galaxy A14(midrange)? My budget is #95,000. Thanks

damble:



Please, I need recommendation. Which should I buy between Samsung Galaxy S8/S9(flagship) and Samsung Galaxy A14(midrange)? My budget is #95,000. Thanks

Buy s9plus. Flagships are very sweet

damble:



Please, I need recommendation. Which should I buy between Samsung Galaxy S8/S9(flagship) and Samsung Galaxy A14(midrange)? My budget is #95,000. Thanks

if you value durability, battery life and better software support go with the A14.
If you want batter display, better cameras go with the s9.

nonny1212:
Buy s9plus. Flagships are very sweet

Thanks for your response bro. I can only afford s9 and not s9+. What is your opinion of s9? Thanks