3 ms·
New cheap android phones are just as slow as old cheap android phones. The bottom of the market has been stuck in performance limbo for years, and modern web de
by Joeri 4mo ago
New cheap android phones are just as slow as old cheap android phones. The bottom of the market has been stuck in performance limbo for years, and modern web dev frameworks are ill designed to meet them where they are at.
- inigyou 4mo agoMy cheap phone has 6 cores and 8GB I think. My first cheap phone had 1 core and 256MB. Both ran Android. I think you're mistaken.
- arcanemachiner 4mo agoold != oldest They are referring to this: https://us-east-1-shared-usea1-02.graphassets.com/cluuijofv0d2h07lc4mylgq98/cm6tbw97l3olh07k2cozwkoi3 https://us-east-1-shared-usea1-02.graphassets.com/cluuijofv0...
- aquariusDue 4mo agoOh, I know it's not the point but I find it a bit disingenuous going from iPhone base model to the Pro in the last 3 years and still comparing to the base model Samsung S series. Though maybe I'm missing something non obvious. But yeah, generally I've seen a better experience buying used phones (in good condition) instead of budget/cheap new ones.
- slightlyoff 4mo agoThe data is from my blog series, the latest installment of which is here: https://infrequently.org/2025/11/performance-inequality-gap-2026/#mobile https://infrequently.org/2025/11/performance-inequality-gap-... The top two lines are the fastest devices available in the iOS and Android ecosystems each year, and when using Samsung S-series devices, I have made sure to pick the faster of the Qualcomm vs. Samsung Semi parts (both are used historically, but Qualcomm is most prevalent in the US). As explained in the piece, the bottom two lines are taken from representative devices in the mid-range and low-end price categories. There's wild variation in those market segments due to short-run discounting, and the most meaningful uplift in CPU speeds has coincided with 5G radios (for obvious signal-processing reasons). Because the lowest-priced segment doesn't yet feature 5G, those processors have remained stubbornly slow, even if they get cheaper every year.
- aquariusDue 4mo agoThank you for clarifying and sharing the full blog post! It was actually an error on my part because until now I didn't realize that the S-series base model and the Ultra model actually share the same CPU. I should've checked my assumptions first. I also saw you addressed in your blog post the growing market for refurbished phones and in the last year or so I've noticed a similar thing in Romania where a e-commerce giant is involved with a company that refurbishes and resells old user devices to try and corner a big piece of the pre-owned (second-hand) market where previously you'd be stuck hunting for good deals on the national Craigslist equivalent or searching for small-ish repair shops that sold refurbished devices.
- inigyou 4mo ago> single-core scores > only goes back to 2015
- arcanemachiner 4mo agoAre you saying a phone from 2015 isn't old?
- slightlyoff 4mo agoThis data is from a series I publish; the latest update is here and includes multi-core scores: https://infrequently.org/2025/11/performance-inequality-gap-2026/#mobile https://infrequently.org/2025/11/performance-inequality-gap-... Mobile devices rarely last beyond the 5 year mark, although the age span has been increasing in the past several years and the resale market is booming thanks to inflation, geopolitical instability, and a global cost-of-living crisis.
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