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Budget Android (€99) vs. Expensive iPhone (€1000) (2018)

johndoe0815 2y ago
This article was written in 2018... Android one is long dead, now the owners of inexpensive Android phones again have to guarantee that they will ever receive security fixes or updates.
- jerlam 2y ago
  A lot of Android phones in the past two years (mainly from Google and Samsung) have very long update promises. These will slowly trickle onto the budget/used market and get updates longer than their expected lifespan.
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    These new update policies don't apply to older models. When Samsung went to 7 years support with the S24, I never got that with my S23. It remained at 4. And that's a flagship class model.
    - jorvi 2y ago
      I agree with you that its a little ridiculous they don't retroactively apply the decision to at least the flagship models of yesteryear. So, 2024 - 7 = Galaxy S8 should still be getting security updates until end of year, 2024 - 4 = Galaxy S20 should have its final OS version upgrade this year.
      - wkat4242 2y ago
        Yeah I wish I could still use my S8. It was my best phone ever. I like my S23 but it misses so much. The notification LED, the pressure sensitive display, the edge screen (rounded edges), the iris scanner, the 3.5mm jack, the beautiful orchid grey back pattern. It even had a heart rate and SpO2 sensor. But being stuck on android 9 without security updates is just too much of a problem. The notification LED was so great to notice a missed call etc. An always on display is not as useful because it's so dim. You can't see it from a distance. It's more like an almost off display :) The LED you would easily notice across the room.
- getwiththeprog 2y ago
  I still get Android One security updates from Google on a Nokia 1.4
  - pxoe 2y ago
    no way something that old gets security updates still...aaand it stopped getting security updates earlier this year. nokia's update promises are not great, often just about 2 to 3 years of updates. (combined with phones getting released on older android versions, like android 13, and having only two os upgrades which pretty much comes down to just one...just none with android 15 just about to drop, it's really not great.) which is maybe fair for phones that cheap, but samsung with quite competitive specs at the same price ranges offers longer update promises (something like A series, like A15 apparently promising 5 years of updates)
- stavros 2y ago
  For the price of an iPhone, you can get a new Android phone every eight months.
  - tonyedgecombe 2y ago
    That's a lot of e-waste.
    - stavros 2y ago
      You don't have to buy the phones.
    - hulitu 2y ago
      > That's a lot of e-waste. Tell that to Google. They release almost every year a "new" Android version.
  - _yb2s 2y ago
    iPhones don't need to be expensive, you can get new iPhones quite cheap. I paid about $100 for a brand new iPhone SE2 through a budget prepaid carrier with a projected support life of 8 years from when I bought it 2 years ago- a fairly common discount offer you can still find for new SE3s now. I don't think you can buy any usable Android phone for the $12 or so I'd have every 8 months instead of buying a base model iPhone. And Apple uses their top end CPUs and hardware in their cheap base model phones.
    - stavros 2y ago
      I don't understand how the down-payment on the loan you bought your phone on is relevant in this discussion.
      - _yb2s 2y ago
        What loan? That was a cash price for the phone connected to the month-to-month prepaid carrier I already used anyways because they had a very low monthly price with no contracts... and after just 60 days it is unlocked and can be used on any network. Indeed, after a few months I did switch to another prepaid carrier that had free data. If you take Tracfone for example, they have plans that are as cheap as about $8-15 a month depending on the term, so I don't think being locked in for 2 months on whatever carrier you already want to use is a "loan." Presumably you're using some carrier or wouldn't have a phone. Worst case scenario add $30 to the total price to use it as an unlocked phone. This is also generally the cheapest way to buy an Android phone. However, the cheap carrier versions of flagship Android phones are often banned from getting security updates for some reason.
- hagbard_c 2y ago
  That phone is now running LineageOS and with that will receive updates until the hardware is no longer capable of running a recent version of Android. While I do not know whether this the case for the specific phone mentioned in the (2018) article but it is true for my (2014) Samsung Galaxy SIIIneo, the (2013) Galaxy Tab 3, the two (2018) Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro devices, my daughter's (2015) Galaxy S6 Edge+, etc. Many if not most Android devices are more like PCs in that you're not stuck with whatever the vendor installed on them, instead you have the freedom to install your own OS distribution.
- burgerrito 2y ago
  My Samsung Galaxy A13, a budget phone. IIRC will get 4 years of security updates. Pretty good tbh
UmYeahNo 2y ago
(2018)
- pxoe 2y ago
  yeah, that's seriously old, and perhaps even for 2018 that's a pretty awful choice lol. nowadays (for past several years really, since about 2020-2021, when huge notched/cutout screens really hit the lowest segments) you'd be able to get a pretty damn good phone at that price, with a huge screen and a huge battery (and maybe even quite a lot of storage, like 128gb options). it'd actually be interesting to see a comparison with a modern $100 phone.
  - RaftPeople 2y ago
    It's probably time for me to upgrade. I bought my budget Samsung phone in about 2018 (a J145 for about $150). It has 16gb and struggles a bit these days performance wise. Edit: We use my wife's iPhone for photos and stuff like that, mine just for texting and so I can receive spam calls (wouldn't want to miss those).
esperent 2y ago
This article is 6 years old. I wonder how much smaller the difference between a $100 Android and a $1300 iPhone (or Android flagship) is now? Especially if you were to choose a Chinese brand like Oppo instead. I guess the $100 display and camera will be massively better than 6 years ago, while the top end will have had only incremental changes.
- safety1st 2y ago
  One interesting point he made in there was that with his phone costing only €99, he doesn't feel like he needs a case. Who cares if it gets damaged? Just buy another €99 phone. Any phone that requires a case is going to be bulkier than one that doesn't so this automatically means that the iPhone will be bulkier in the pocket than his budget Android. If you go the budget phone route you'll probably buy a new phone more often because why not. They're cheap. If next year's model is a decent upgrade you'll probably get it. I run into people with iPhones that look like they've been through hell despite the case, glass cracked in three places, edges scuffed, outdated model... because frankly they can't afford a new phone all the time so they have to live with this one. But they'll say they just HAVE to have an iPhone and would never consider Android. Personally I'm somewhere in the middle of the two extremes with a Samsung A5 that costs a couple hundred bucks. Maybe I should ditch the case.
  - HKH2 2y ago
    I have a Samsung that was less than $100 USD new. The only things that bother me are that it only has 2.5G WiFi, the camera is average, and it is slow to boot up. It still costs more than a screen replacement, but at least if I buy a new one, I know I'm not getting a dodgy screen.
  - eertami 2y ago
    I use an old cheap android but do choose to use a case, not because of the cost of a replacement, but because I don't want to spend time and effort in finding and setting up a new phone. And personally, I find it better ergonomically with a little more thickness. One auxiliary benefit is that I can throw it around without caring.
nkko 2y ago
I skimmed it without even realizing the date of the article. It's remarkable how even content on dated tech like this still feels fresh due to the same underlying problems.
kjrfghslkdjfl 2y ago
Feels like the phone capabilities didn't change much since 2018. What would be the android phone nowadays that we could write this article about?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Levitating 2y ago
I am typing this on a €100 that I use daily. Whenever I need a phone I typically buy whatever Xiaomi released in my price range the previous months. I mostly end up with a Poco (I loved the Poco X3). Currently using a budget Redmi device.
_yb2s 2y ago
Why not just a $100 iPhone? That's about what I paid for my brand new iPhone SE2 from a budget pre-paid carrier a few years ago... right now you can get a brand new SE3 on the TracFone website for $189. Spec wise it's basically an iPhone 13 and is still a fast modern phone that is sold new and is expected to get updates for about 9 more years. Personally the cost isn't an issue but I prefer the SE2/SE3 design to the flagship phones- you get nearly all of the performance but in a smaller, lighter, more durable body, and with a physical button and a fingerprint sensor.
- Kye 2y ago
  My newish flagship iPhone will stop getting updates by the time the SE4 or 5 is out. I expect to move that way. 3D scans were fun for about a week, but the size and weight quickly became a nuisance on something I mainly use for photos, note taking, looking stuff up, and navigating. I've followed Android since dropping it for a 3 year old 6s Plus in 2018 and the things I disliked about it seem to still be there based on reviews and the issues Android-using friends run into.
  - _yb2s 2y ago
    If they told me the SE was the premium phone and cost more, I would still consider it- I just like the design a lot more, however I wish they would bring back the even smaller SE1 form factor. I'm not watching movies or playing games- I don't care how big the screen is. I just want it to be small, rugged, and light but still secure and work with modern apps for things like 2FA and remote entry systems.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  There's no such thing as a new $100 iPhone. You can't compare an unsubsidized price with a subsidized one -- it's not a fair comparison. I love the SE2 as well but it doesn't cost $100 and it doesn't cost $189. You're still paying ~$429, the remainder is just hidden among the monthly payments.
  - _yb2s 2y ago
rldjbpin 2y ago
while someone writes an updated version of this, my observations for the past 6 years on both fronts: - the superficial feature gaps are lower than ever, and some aspects being better for the budget side (e.g. iphone 16 still with 60Hz display vs 90hz on a redmi a3) - the flexibility with ios is reaching a tipping point (usb-c, altstore in the EU, etc.). meanwhile android ad revenue approaches are getting more egregious by the quarter. - the repair ecosystem for iphones are (arguably) consistently better than budget android phones now. components would still cost a new budget android to change, however. - iphones maintain their resale values, although refurbished marketplace is partially to blame for the continued success recently. for basic use, now more than ever phones can last you for several years, provided the one you use serves your needs today. obviously, a 10x more expensive phone will not last you proportionally longer.

This article was written in 2018... Android one is long dead, now the owners of inexpensive Android phones again have to guarantee that they will ever receive security fixes or updates.

jerlam 2y ago
A lot of Android phones in the past two years (mainly from Google and Samsung) have very long update promises. These will slowly trickle onto the budget/used market and get updates longer than their expected lifespan.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  These new update policies don't apply to older models. When Samsung went to 7 years support with the S24, I never got that with my S23. It remained at 4. And that's a flagship class model.
  - jorvi 2y ago
    I agree with you that its a little ridiculous they don't retroactively apply the decision to at least the flagship models of yesteryear. So, 2024 - 7 = Galaxy S8 should still be getting security updates until end of year, 2024 - 4 = Galaxy S20 should have its final OS version upgrade this year.
    - wkat4242 2y ago
      Yeah I wish I could still use my S8. It was my best phone ever. I like my S23 but it misses so much. The notification LED, the pressure sensitive display, the edge screen (rounded edges), the iris scanner, the 3.5mm jack, the beautiful orchid grey back pattern. It even had a heart rate and SpO2 sensor. But being stuck on android 9 without security updates is just too much of a problem. The notification LED was so great to notice a missed call etc. An always on display is not as useful because it's so dim. You can't see it from a distance. It's more like an almost off display :) The LED you would easily notice across the room.
getwiththeprog 2y ago
I still get Android One security updates from Google on a Nokia 1.4
- pxoe 2y ago
  no way something that old gets security updates still...aaand it stopped getting security updates earlier this year. nokia's update promises are not great, often just about 2 to 3 years of updates. (combined with phones getting released on older android versions, like android 13, and having only two os upgrades which pretty much comes down to just one...just none with android 15 just about to drop, it's really not great.) which is maybe fair for phones that cheap, but samsung with quite competitive specs at the same price ranges offers longer update promises (something like A series, like A15 apparently promising 5 years of updates)
stavros 2y ago
For the price of an iPhone, you can get a new Android phone every eight months.
- tonyedgecombe 2y ago
  That's a lot of e-waste.
  - stavros 2y ago
    You don't have to buy the phones.
  - hulitu 2y ago
    > That's a lot of e-waste. Tell that to Google. They release almost every year a "new" Android version.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  iPhones don't need to be expensive, you can get new iPhones quite cheap. I paid about $100 for a brand new iPhone SE2 through a budget prepaid carrier with a projected support life of 8 years from when I bought it 2 years ago- a fairly common discount offer you can still find for new SE3s now. I don't think you can buy any usable Android phone for the $12 or so I'd have every 8 months instead of buying a base model iPhone. And Apple uses their top end CPUs and hardware in their cheap base model phones.
  - stavros 2y ago
    I don't understand how the down-payment on the loan you bought your phone on is relevant in this discussion.
    - _yb2s 2y ago
      What loan? That was a cash price for the phone connected to the month-to-month prepaid carrier I already used anyways because they had a very low monthly price with no contracts... and after just 60 days it is unlocked and can be used on any network. Indeed, after a few months I did switch to another prepaid carrier that had free data. If you take Tracfone for example, they have plans that are as cheap as about $8-15 a month depending on the term, so I don't think being locked in for 2 months on whatever carrier you already want to use is a "loan." Presumably you're using some carrier or wouldn't have a phone. Worst case scenario add $30 to the total price to use it as an unlocked phone. This is also generally the cheapest way to buy an Android phone. However, the cheap carrier versions of flagship Android phones are often banned from getting security updates for some reason.
hagbard_c 2y ago
That phone is now running LineageOS and with that will receive updates until the hardware is no longer capable of running a recent version of Android. While I do not know whether this the case for the specific phone mentioned in the (2018) article but it is true for my (2014) Samsung Galaxy SIIIneo, the (2013) Galaxy Tab 3, the two (2018) Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro devices, my daughter's (2015) Galaxy S6 Edge+, etc. Many if not most Android devices are more like PCs in that you're not stuck with whatever the vendor installed on them, instead you have the freedom to install your own OS distribution.
burgerrito 2y ago
My Samsung Galaxy A13, a budget phone. IIRC will get 4 years of security updates. Pretty good tbh

UmYeahNo 2y ago

(2018)

pxoe 2y ago
yeah, that's seriously old, and perhaps even for 2018 that's a pretty awful choice lol. nowadays (for past several years really, since about 2020-2021, when huge notched/cutout screens really hit the lowest segments) you'd be able to get a pretty damn good phone at that price, with a huge screen and a huge battery (and maybe even quite a lot of storage, like 128gb options). it'd actually be interesting to see a comparison with a modern $100 phone.
- RaftPeople 2y ago
  It's probably time for me to upgrade. I bought my budget Samsung phone in about 2018 (a J145 for about $150). It has 16gb and struggles a bit these days performance wise. Edit: We use my wife's iPhone for photos and stuff like that, mine just for texting and so I can receive spam calls (wouldn't want to miss those).

esperent 2y ago

This article is 6 years old. I wonder how much smaller the difference between a $100 Android and a $1300 iPhone (or Android flagship) is now? Especially if you were to choose a Chinese brand like Oppo instead. I guess the $100 display and camera will be massively better than 6 years ago, while the top end will have had only incremental changes.

safety1st 2y ago
One interesting point he made in there was that with his phone costing only €99, he doesn't feel like he needs a case. Who cares if it gets damaged? Just buy another €99 phone. Any phone that requires a case is going to be bulkier than one that doesn't so this automatically means that the iPhone will be bulkier in the pocket than his budget Android. If you go the budget phone route you'll probably buy a new phone more often because why not. They're cheap. If next year's model is a decent upgrade you'll probably get it. I run into people with iPhones that look like they've been through hell despite the case, glass cracked in three places, edges scuffed, outdated model... because frankly they can't afford a new phone all the time so they have to live with this one. But they'll say they just HAVE to have an iPhone and would never consider Android. Personally I'm somewhere in the middle of the two extremes with a Samsung A5 that costs a couple hundred bucks. Maybe I should ditch the case.
- HKH2 2y ago
  I have a Samsung that was less than $100 USD new. The only things that bother me are that it only has 2.5G WiFi, the camera is average, and it is slow to boot up. It still costs more than a screen replacement, but at least if I buy a new one, I know I'm not getting a dodgy screen.
- eertami 2y ago
  I use an old cheap android but do choose to use a case, not because of the cost of a replacement, but because I don't want to spend time and effort in finding and setting up a new phone. And personally, I find it better ergonomically with a little more thickness. One auxiliary benefit is that I can throw it around without caring.

nkko 2y ago

I skimmed it without even realizing the date of the article. It's remarkable how even content on dated tech like this still feels fresh due to the same underlying problems.

kjrfghslkdjfl 2y ago

Feels like the phone capabilities didn't change much since 2018. What would be the android phone nowadays that we could write this article about?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Levitating 2y ago

I am typing this on a €100 that I use daily. Whenever I need a phone I typically buy whatever Xiaomi released in my price range the previous months. I mostly end up with a Poco (I loved the Poco X3). Currently using a budget Redmi device.

_yb2s 2y ago

Why not just a $100 iPhone? That's about what I paid for my brand new iPhone SE2 from a budget pre-paid carrier a few years ago... right now you can get a brand new SE3 on the TracFone website for $189. Spec wise it's basically an iPhone 13 and is still a fast modern phone that is sold new and is expected to get updates for about 9 more years. Personally the cost isn't an issue but I prefer the SE2/SE3 design to the flagship phones- you get nearly all of the performance but in a smaller, lighter, more durable body, and with a physical button and a fingerprint sensor.

Kye 2y ago
My newish flagship iPhone will stop getting updates by the time the SE4 or 5 is out. I expect to move that way. 3D scans were fun for about a week, but the size and weight quickly became a nuisance on something I mainly use for photos, note taking, looking stuff up, and navigating. I've followed Android since dropping it for a 3 year old 6s Plus in 2018 and the things I disliked about it seem to still be there based on reviews and the issues Android-using friends run into.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  If they told me the SE was the premium phone and cost more, I would still consider it- I just like the design a lot more, however I wish they would bring back the even smaller SE1 form factor. I'm not watching movies or playing games- I don't care how big the screen is. I just want it to be small, rugged, and light but still secure and work with modern apps for things like 2FA and remote entry systems.
crazygringo 2y ago
There's no such thing as a new $100 iPhone. You can't compare an unsubsidized price with a subsidized one -- it's not a fair comparison. I love the SE2 as well but it doesn't cost $100 and it doesn't cost $189. You're still paying ~$429, the remainder is just hidden among the monthly payments.
- _yb2s 2y ago

rldjbpin 2y ago

while someone writes an updated version of this, my observations for the past 6 years on both fronts: - the superficial feature gaps are lower than ever, and some aspects being better for the budget side (e.g. iphone 16 still with 60Hz display vs 90hz on a redmi a3) - the flexibility with ios is reaching a tipping point (usb-c, altstore in the EU, etc.). meanwhile android ad revenue approaches are getting more egregious by the quarter. - the repair ecosystem for iphones are (arguably) consistently better than budget android phones now. components would still cost a new budget android to change, however. - iphones maintain their resale values, although refurbished marketplace is partially to blame for the continued success recently. for basic use, now more than ever phones can last you for several years, provided the one you use serves your needs today. obviously, a 10x more expensive phone will not last you proportionally longer.