A decade ago, Apple released the first smartphone as we know it today. The iPhone was revolutionary in its own way, merging the “dumb” phones and pocket PCs of the day into one handy product, appealing to the general public. Since then, we’ve seen generations of smartphones come and go, with an ever-increasing performance, and innovative features added to them year after year. And last year something interesting happened: flagship phones stopped being sexy. Did smartphones reach the apogee of their evolution? Or did we, the users, become more critical of the “innovations” smartphone makers are adding to their products?

The average user

What does the average smartphone user do with a smartphone? Browse the web, check Royal Vegas casino Bericht, play casual games, keep up with friends and family on social networks, chat, text, take pictures, and talk. Actually, the last one is the least widespread – people spend more time playing Royal Vegas games and browsing social networks on their phone than actually communicating with each other. And the games they play aren’t the most hardware-intensive either: the majority of games at the Royal Vegas, or even in the various app marketplaces, would run perfectly on a two-year-old smartphone, and it wouldn’t even have to be a flagship.

For the average user, playing casual games at the Royal Vegas and beyond, checking Instagram and Facebook, listening to music, and sending an occasional text message, an affordable smartphone will do just fine.

Affordable doesn’t mean low power

Today’s “affordable” handsets often have a better price – performance ratio than flagship models. The Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016), for example, is the perfect choice for a “first” smartphone, with a decent System-on-a-Chip, a decent camera, a fast internet connection, and a limited (but sufficient) storage space hidden under its plastic case. And when it comes to price, it has the definitive advantage: it has a price tag of $160, at least three times cheaper than even a “Certified Pre-owned” flagship. And it can do quite well for everyday use – it handles all the general tasks like playing videos (even 4K ones) and music, browsing social networks, keeping in touch, and running games.

The J3 is an entry-level smartphone. There are, in turn, many that are not: Samsung alone has smartphone ranges marked with J and A with different price and performance ranges that are attractive for any category of users. And they are all at least $100 – $200 cheaper than flagship smartphone models. As such, their price – performance ratio is better, making them the smarter choice for any user.

Did smartphone users become smarter?

Did we become smarter at choosing our handsets? Or did flagships lose their edge over a more affordable, high-performance range of handsets? Maybe flagships have nothing spectacular to show anymore. It remains to be seen this year, when the Samsung Galaxy range gets its new flagship model.