Remember when in 2016 when Xiaomi released their almost bezel-less phone and Samsung and Apple followed up the next year with their attempts at making the bezels smaller?
It felt like basically every company (except Apple lol) was fighting for having the smallest bezels, good cameras and displays, big (and/or long-lasting) batteries, and good software.
Nowadays, when I’m looking at phones costing <€200, they have minimal bezels (not even a chin!), decent cameras (especially for the price and definitely better than flagships from 5 years ago), 120Hz OLED displays (some even with LTPO technology), BIG batteries (thanks to the new Silicon Carbon tech, WITH insanely fast charging), and all-around good software.
It feels like it doesn’t really matter anymore what phone you get, except when you have specific needs. But at the midrange and even lower top-range, phones are incredible and should last you a couple of years.
I feel like everyone got so used to the flagships having all the good features that midrange and even budget phones don’t amaze people anymore with the features they inherit from their competitors, etc.
I recently tried a Realme GT 7 Pro, which is marginally cheaper in my country than, for example, the OnePlus 13, Oppo Find X8 (Pro), Samsung Galaxy S24+ or Ultra (or S25+ and Ultra), etc. While the software experience (as compared to my S24 Ultra) looked and felt way smoother, faster, and more responsive.
Anyways, thanks for reading this long paragraph. I’m wondering what your opinion is on this. What phones are y’all using, and how has your experience been over the years?