The iPhone 17 and Pixel 10 prove premium phones are no longer needed
And having a 120Hz screen in 2025 isn’t exactly a spoiled feature; it’s not a luxury anymore. It’s the standard that pretty much all other phones have moved to years ago.
Ironically, it’s the Pixel 10 that’s pretty much the last holdout with a 60 Hz screen. I know, I didn’t believe my eyes when I first gazed at the preliminary spec sheets that Google sent us before the announcement.
Yes, you can’t really zoom to 100X like on the premium Pixels, but you don’t really need to anyway. Unlike Chinese phones from brands like Oppo and Vivo, Google doesn’t actually do 100X zoom very well, so apart from a party trick, this one has little real-world repercussions, at least on the Pixels.
The bottom line is, both Google and Apple are starting to make their base devices finally viable alternatives to the pro models, and for the first time in years, I don’t really feel like I have to go with an iPhone Pro Max or a Pixel Pro XL.
But wait, there has to be a compact flagship phone that combines a telephoto camera with a high-refresh screen.
The base Galaxy has been doing all that for ages
It’s actually the base Galaxy that has combined a high-refresh screen with a telephoto camera for years.
Living in the thick shade that the Galaxy S Ultra casts, this one doesn’t really get a lot of time under the spotlight apart from the buzz around its initial launch, usually in February each year.
It actually does a lot of things right, with a great AMOLED that’s a joy to use, no-frills performance (unlike the Pixel), and a camera that’s a bit more versatile than the one on the iPhone, despite probably not being as good in some scenarios (video comes to mind). It’s also fairly compact, a rarity these days.
When you throw in the immense customizability that Samsung’s Good Lock modules offer, Samsung’s phones right now offer an unprecedented mix of top features and deep customization, rivaled by no other Android manufacturer.
Flagships running in place doesn’t help their case
At the same time, those Pro models that all of us usually covet are kind of in a rut in 2025.
The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max didn’t score any major new features either; sure, a slightly higher-res telephoto is nice, but not a groundbreaking improvement in any way.
Point is, in 2025, base flagship phones tightened the gap to their more exclusive peers significantly, and while it’s still true that you get a little more of everything from a more expensive phone, you aren’t “losing” as much if you use a regular flagship these days.
It’s the more financially sensible thing to do in late 2025.
#golden #age #nonPro #phones
