Buying a flagship is not only a fashion pursuit or, as some say, show-offs, but also a move a few steps forward. Buying an expensive device, a person provides himself with a power reserve for years to come: his smartphone will be relevant for a long time, while budget models will become obsolete in a year. And if you take this phone in installments, then completely different numbers are obtained here: just some two thousand rubles a month for owning a premium device. However, another question arises: what smartphone to choose in 2018?
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Apple or Samsung
To begin with, the choice of phone is primarily determined by affordable brands. And here we have two main players in the market: Apple and Samsung. You will say that there are a lot of other interesting devices, but they can not boast of the demand that is on the flagships from the above-mentioned manufacturers. Accordingly, the level of availability and terms of loans will always be higher and better with these devices.
Android or iOS
So what should you keep in mind when choosing a flagship? First of all, you need to clearly understand that Android and iOS are two completely different worlds. Android is more flexible: here you have complete freedom of action, see what you want, download any files you like, connect flash drives and so on.
But iOS, by contrast, is a more closed system. Each has its own pros and cons, but to say that one is better than the other is impossible. From any of these systems, you can safely switch to another by copying all the necessary data. However, today you can even transfer saved progress from one game to another.
New Apple: iPhone 8 and iPhone X
Today, the top devices from Apple are iPhone 8 and iPhone X (review). The latter came out very unusual in comparison with previous iPhones, and it costs an order of magnitude higher, so not everyone dares to buy it. However, the choice of the usual eight also does not have a special meaning, since there is nothing in it that would fundamentally distinguish it from the same seven. The only thing here is that we have a glass back, which in my opinion is a minus, since this made the smartphone more fragile.
Yes, in the seventh generation iPhone you will not find wireless charging, but if you face it, most Apple users do not really need it, because somehow all these years they lived without it, when on Android this technology was soon one hundred years at lunch.
However, in terms of positioning itself as a fashion device, the iPhone is all right. The company has long taken the place of the deceased Nokia and in Russia to wear a device with the apple logo on the back is considered something cool. Often people are even ready to close their eyes to certain shortcomings in order to please the status that gives them the possession of this gadget.
It’s not necessary to go far for examples. Let's take a look at the company's latest flagship. We will see that the ten was not created in order to be convenient. No, it was made in order to stand out. This becomes clear not only because of the size of the device, but also by the monobrow that appeared in the new iPhone.
Because of this cutout, I had to sacrifice the lion's share of the notification icons and remove the percentage of battery power. And often you have to use the side key to activate Face ID. But it’s unusual - everything is as it should be for Apple fans.
And if before the iPhone could boast of appearance, now everything looks different. But the same Samsung can be very easily recognized, thanks to its curved screen. Another minus of dozens is that there is a screen on the OLED matrix, but the AlwaysOn display, like on the eighth “galaxy”, is not there. In general, I must admit that the main audience of the iPhone X is people who live in the Apple ecosystem and buy their new phones from year to year.
So, what are the pros of the iPhone 8 Plus:
- larger screen area;
- IPS matrix - for some, this can be an advantage;
- works more on a single charge;
- identical cameras and shooting modes in quality;
- there is a fingerprint scanner.
True, there were some cons.
- quieter speaker;
- not as vivid and bright picture as in OLED;
- there is no image feature in the form of Face ID (image, because the unlock speed is lower than that of the fingerprint scanner).
Chinese, Japanese, Korean and European brands
What about Samsung, you ask. In fact, if you compare both devices, then in iPhone X there is not a single technology that before that was not in one form or another in Android smartphones. In many aspects, the iPhone X is lagging behind in terms of technology. For example, the guys from Apple use the screens of the old generation and so on. In terms of the image of a dozen, is undoubtedly the most powerful of Apple phones. However, in terms of specific capabilities, there is nothing in it that could bribe you with something.
There are, of course, other devices, but if the iPhone gives you an image, and Samsung gives you advanced technologies, then other manufacturers will surprise you at the price. Take, for example, the same Huawei Mate 10. The dual camera takes good pictures, while it costs less than many flagships. Here you can recall other brands like Sony, HTC, Motorola and so on. Each of these manufacturers has their own flagships with their own chipsets.
Conclusions
When choosing a smartphone in 2018, one should not forget about the cost of repairs. For example, replacing a broken screen or fixing a case. In the case of the iPhone 8, it is slightly higher than that of Samsung phones, but a dozen is several times more expensive - almost half the cost of a new device will have to be paid for replacing the case. For the rest, focus on what you need. The fact that, from a technical point of view, Samsung smartphones are ahead of the iPhone in reliability, has long been known. However, someone is more comfortable with the good old iOS and ... prestige.
