I wanted to buy a mid-range from 2022. I ended up with a 2021 model that surpassed it in everything

The price of cell phones is out of control. Following the price of electricity, the recent increase in fuel costs and increases in food, the mobile phone sector has not managed to dodge the bullet of inflation. We are noticing it especially in the mid-rangein which it is increasingly difficult to get a great quality-price mobile, if we want it to be a new mobile, from 2022.

There has always been a dilemma between whether it is better to buy a more powerful model from last year or a current mid-range, but this 2022 the distance is greater than ever. Buy last year’s model, on multiple occasions, It is cheaper and, beyond the price, we get a better phone.

Power is taking a backseat in 2022

It seemed inevitable that the mobiles of 2022 were increasing in price, but the step back in power we did not see it coming. Almost across the board, this 22nd generation is less ambitious in hardware. Also, it’s not all about processor power: a less powerful platform comes from the hand of slower memoriessomething that is quite noticeable in daily use.

Here it is important to clarify something: power is not an obsession of gamers or performance lovers: is the key point for a phone to age well. Android is weighing more and more, apps are weighing more and more, and hardware (whether we think we need power or not), is essential so that the phone does not drag over the years, especially in the mid-range.

We have a clear example in Xiaomi, with a chaotic Redmi catalog and a POCO X4 Pro that It greatly improves multimedia and fast charging compared to the previous generation, but it takes a leap back in considerable power. For sample, a button. Unfortunately, it is not easy to get hold of a POCO X3 Pro, but it is still cheaper than its predecessor, and if you care about power, it is much better both in terms of processor and memory.

	POCO X4 Pro 5G	POCO X3 Pro
Screen	AMOLED 6.67″ FullHD+ 120Hz 360Hz touch response Gorilla Glass 5	LCD 6.67″ FullHD+ 120Hz Touch response 240 Hz Gorilla Glass 6
Dimensions and weight	164.19 x 76.1 x 8.12mm 205g	165.3 x 76.8 x 9.4mm 215g
Processor	Snapdragon 695	Snapdragon 860
RAM	6 / 8GB LPDDR4X	6 / 8GB LPDDR4X
Storage	128 / 256GB UFS 2.2 MicroSD up to 1TB	128 / 256GB UFS 3.1 MicroSD up to 1TB
Frontal camera	108MP f/1.9 8 MP f/2.2 UGA 2MP f/2.4 macro	48MP f/1.79 8 MP f/2.2 UGA 2 MP f/2.4 bokeh 2MP f/2.4 macro
Rear camera	16MP f/2.4	20MP f/2.2
Battery	5,000mAh Fast charge 67W	5,160mAh 33W fast charge
Operating system	MIUI 13 for POCO	MIUI 12 for POCO
Others	5G Fingerprint reader on the side stereo speakers NFC IP53	4G Fingerprint reader on the side stereo speakers NFC IP53
starting price	From 299 euros	From 249 euros

Although they arrive as “independent brands”, we have another clear example in The most expensive mid-range currently sold by Xiaomi against a real beast of 2021: the POCO F3. It has a brighter panel than any other mid-range Xiaomia spectacular processor, and high-end RAM and internal memory speed, with LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1 technologies. $1,000 phone hardware in one that costs less than $300.

If we delve into the catalog of other popular brands, such as Samsung, we also find curious cases. One of them is the Samsung Galaxy A52s facing the Galaxy A53. The A52s can be purchased for less than 300 euros on Amazon, and is noticeably more powerful than its older brother.

The A53 is practically a clone of the A52S, with a less powerful processor and with the only advantage of having an extra 500mAh battery. At the time we write this article, it has just dropped in price, but until a few days ago, the price difference was more than 100 euros between one and the other. Now they are more equal, although you can save a few euros by buying the previous model.

We could continue with multiple examples, such as a Realme GT 2 Neo with Snapdragon 870 and a 120 Hz AMOLED screen that is for just over 300 euros. Price currently asking for the 9 Pro Plus, slightly better in camera, noticeably inferior in everything else.

The question seems clear: it has never made so much sense to buy a “mid-range” of the previous generation. Betting on the new model can give us an extra year of updates (not in all cases, since not a few terminals are arriving out of date with Android 11), but making a bet on hardware is looking at the long termmaximizing the chances that the phone will age better.