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For a good few years, we've been seeing a bunch of Android phones and iPhones get released every year, with manufacturers telling us that the phone we currently have is no longer trendy and we need to have the next big thing. Same features come out under different phone brands, making it difficult for a consumer to justify the necessity to part with hundreds of pounds. On top of that the current chip shortage which is threatening with delays in smartphone releases and subsequently higher prices for new phones begs the question do brand-new phones even make sense? Consumers pay a lot of money for a phone that isn’t that much different in specifications to the previous model. That’s not to say innovations are not worth paying for, sometimes they are, but it very much depends on whether the phone you get in the box is as good as the manufacturer's adverts promote or whether you're better off looking for a good deal on something else.
Generally, when something costs as much as £1000, it needs to offer the same amount of value. Recent releases have proven it’s not the case with modern high-end smartphones. Flagships from Apple, Samsung, OnePlus and Google are no longer offering what other smartphones don’t or even their previous generations. On the contrary, for a £500 you can get yourself a decent phone with good performance and battery life which isn’t going to differ from established flagships (and might be even better).
Just looking at last year’s iPhone 12 series, the depreciation rate after just one year on the market is record-breaking and that’s not a good thing. Since launch in October 2020, the iPhone 12 series have lost on average 41% of RRP. That’s more than any other iPhone lineup ever. The biggest loser is the 512GB iPhone 12 Pro Max model, dropping £50 a month. What a waste of money!
Have you noticed how manufacturers are creating the buzz around one particular feature to get everyone excited about the upcoming model? The high refresh rate and 100X camera zoom hype are examples of the latest craze, but once the phones hit the market and reviews start coming through, it turns out these features bring limitations and something that you pay extra for is just a gimmick. Additionally, brand-new features are never spot on, it takes a few follow up releases for it to be worth the attention and your money. So why not go one year older and save yourself a few hundred quid.
We talk a lot about refurbished phones, but we’ll say it again: if you want to save money on your next phone and you haven’t considered a refurbished smartphone, you should. They don’t have huge depreciation drops like brand-new phones as soon as you unbox it. They have all the modern features that an avid smartphone owner wishes to have. They function like brand-new and look similar, with the same warranties, but for cheaper. You won’t even notice the difference in daily use. On top of that, refurbished phones save carbon emissions as they weren’t produced from scratch.
Buying a refurbished iPhone 11 instead of a brand-new can save at least £149 off the cost (for example iPhone 11 64GB in Pristine condition £450 vs brand new £599), but you can save even more if you’re fine with it having a few superficial scratches.
Our mobile phone acts as a way of payment, communication and even the thing that makes sure we’re up on time in the morning. So when this fails us, everything becomes very limited which is why we’ve put together a list of mobile phones with the best battery life in 2024.
The cost of smartphones nowadays is quite extraordinary ranging anywhere from £300 to over £1600 for the flagship devices. So the big question is, how can we extend the lifespan of them and how can we begin to adopt sustainable smartphone use?
We’ve got all the do’s and don'ts when it comes to dealing with old phones on your hands. From understanding how you can check the value of your device, how you can figure out whether it has become obsolete and all the reasons why you should not bin it!
