Renew mid-range mobile every year, or high-end mobile every three years?

If you are a user who only buys basic range mobiles, you may not be interested in this post. But it is likely that you are a user who is fond of technology, and in that case, you are also likely to be interested in changing your mobile to get new features. If that is your case, you have two options, either buy a mid-range mobile and change it every year for a new one, or buy a high-end mobile every three years.

High end every three years

There are users who prefer to buy a high-end mobile, and not buy a new one for three years. This is the case for many iPhone users. I know users who have gone from iPhone 4 to iPhone 6, and that means changing the mobile every four years. There are those who have gone from iPhone 5 to iPhone 6s. But it is not only a case of iPhone users. Actually, it is a classic. Buy a high-end mobile and use it for two, three or four years. Of course, it is logical, because to change high-end every year it would be necessary to spend 800 euros a year on a new smartphone. If the mobile is obtained by contracting with an operator, the contracts are for two years, so many users do not change the mobile until after the end of said contract, and it is normal that they carry out a portability or renew contract to get a new mobile when the one they want is launched, which sometimes means letting almost another year go by.

Buying a high-end every three years has a clear advantage, and that is that we are buying a high-quality mobile, with the technological innovations of the moment. With technologies that are not present in other smartphones on the market. In addition, as it is of quality, in general, it is possible to use this mobile for three years without malfunctioning.

The clear disadvantage is that a year later it is no longer a high-end, it is more of a mid-range, and with each passing year it is a worse mobile. It won't update to newer firmware versions, and your battery will start to give problems.

Average range every year

If we say that the high-end has prices between 600 and 900 euros, we can also say that the mid-range has prices between 150 and 300 euros. That means that for each high-end mobile we can buy about three mid-range mobiles. It also means that instead of buying a high-end mobile every three years, we can buy a new mid-range mobile every year.

It is also a great option, and more so now that many mid-range mobiles are actually high-end mobiles. Right now, high-end mobiles differ from the mid-range mainly in less relevant aspects. For example, a Quad HD screen is not very relevant, since the difference with respect to Full HD screens is not very big. They also have better cameras, and with higher level designs, in metal, glass, or wood, for example. In addition, and this is the most relevant, they usually have a better processor and RAM. However, right now mid-range mobiles already look a lot like high-end mobiles in these respects.

Now you can buy a Meizu Metal for around 200 euros with a 5,5-inch Full HD screen, a 13-megapixel camera, an eight-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor, a 3 GB RAM, and a metallic design. Features that a few months ago I would have said were high-end. Next year you will be able to invest another 200 euros in another mobile of a similar level, but with the news of 2016.

In my opinion, today it is better to buy a mid-range mobile, and have a new mobile every year, than to buy a high-end mobile. In addition, that has some more advantages, such as that we can sell the mobile without it having lost so much value a year later, or that it could be a great solution in case the mobile breaks. If we buy a mobile and it breaks after six months, we can buy a new mid-range, and have it for a year and a half, instead of having to spend money to repair a mobile that we should use for three years.