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pachico

I still don't understand how to justify to spend almost 1000€ for a phone.

I personally never spend more than 170-200€.

Is it the quality of the camera? What am I not seeing?

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Camera.

I heard this on a podcast a while back "You'll never look back and remember the screen/battery/etc jump from X -> X+1 and those changes all run together in the end but your pictures are only as good as the camera they were taken with".

It's for that reason (and because I like playing with new tech) that I upgrade yearly (upgrade program, I'm just perpetually paying a monthly fee for my phone). I'm well aware that this is "wasteful" or not the best financial decision for most people but it's a cost that I am happy to pay because upgrading and playing with the "new hotness" is fun for me. Also I always know I'm getting the best picture I could be getting (I'll never carry a dedicated camera so it's my phone or nothing).

Hedonistic Adaptation. People love the photos of themselves from the 90s, 80s, 70s and every previous decade before that. You're definitely on the bleeding edge of that adaptation. For most people, phones from 5 years ago are already extremely goood.

I mean, that's what people claim is what sold them on a new phone, but I can't really tell the difference anymore. Looking back at my old pictures, I can't tell when I upgraded phones. Even pictures from 2016 look amazing.

I can definitely tell a big difference in colors and details (sometimes a tad too much) from a 2016 iphone 6 to a 2020 Pixel 4 eg. But the jump from the Pixel 4a 5G to the 6 Pro wasn't that big, maybe 10-20% subjective improvement. I expect the new generation's improvement to be even more marginal and won't update.

iPhone 6 launched in 2014

Correct, it was the iphone 7 that launched in 2016. Iphone X or thereabouts hits about the sweetspot for me.

A good photo has a lot more to do with lens, lighting, exposure, etc.

"Upgrading" a device can very easily be a regression...

It's also performance. Everyone in my life that's got a budget phone (I'd say less $400 MSRP) has always had major issues with that phone. My wife only streams videos on her phone, so we got a budget phone for her since even the cheapest phones should play Netflix right? Wrong. The video would lag to the point where it was unwatchable. It got so bad that we ended up getting her a Pixel 6 when they were on sale and it was a night and day difference. Between the camera and how much better the performance is, I think it is worth it, especially if you use it constantly.

Camera (and their camera software, which I think is only on google phones?), no carrier bloatware, 5 years of updates, no weird third party hardware tweaks. That's a pretty good package.

Growing up I would spend around $1000 every couple years to rebuild my PC. These phones are more powerful and useful by several orders of magnitude.

There’s a lot that goes into it. I’m mainly talking about iPhone, because I’ve personally only been disappointed in expensive Android phones.

Camera, as you mentioned. But also the build quality, the display, the longevity (software updates last for years, so you can wait 4 or 5 years to upgrade). Personally I much prefer the software experience of iOS vs Android. The speed of the device, where you’re never waiting for something to respond.

But I once you go to the high levels, and looking between the normal and ‘Pro’ versions of flagship phones, it’s just the camera that separates them.

Like most things, you get what you pay for.

Display is a lot better, last longer, better colour accuracy, higher refresh rate etc.

CPU performance, which in turns means overall system responsiveness as well as better web performance.

Memory, multiple App usage.

4G+ and 5G features. Their are differences, despite HN not knowing much about the subject.

Software update, do your 200 Euro phone get software update for 5+ years?

Camera, as others have mentioned already.

A lot, a lot of other minor details.

Camera.

If I buy a new iPhone every 3-4 years (I went from an iPhone 7S to an iPhone XR to an iPhone 13 Pro Max), I'm buying the camera upgrades, which are very noticeable. I have a kid, we travel a lot, so I take a lot of photos and videos... for me, it's a no-brainer.

Pixels tend to be pretty heavily discounted. I paid about €650 for 6, which was important argument comparing to other flagships.

In my experience cheaper ones tend to have performance and battery issues much more quickly, than high end, and in the end aren't cheaper.

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