While picking up a new midrange device, a thought that often bothers the users is to
go with an old flagship device instead.
For the price of a new mid-range device, you can find an older flagship device.
This can get a bit tricky at times, so today, I decided to compare an old flagship device
with the latest mid-range device.
For this, I chose the Galaxy Note 9 from 2018 and the Samsung A72 from 2021.
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The Note 9 was one of the most popular note devices for several reasons.
This device, at least in my hands, runs very well minus the cracked display.
I have some really good memories with this device, this very phone appeared in my very
first unboxing video on my YouTube channel.
Let’s compare its design to the A72 first.
Midrange devices have come a long way over the course of the past 2 years.
The Midrange devices today look cooler.
No outdated, old-school feel.
Old flagship devices might give you an old-school feel because of their slightly old design.
But at the same time, the build of old flagship phones, especially of the Note 9 in this case
is premium.
A72, the premium midrange from Samsung still doesn’t have a glass build and aluminum
frame, the Note 9 in 2018 brought a glass build sandwiched inside an aluminum frame.
Note 9 takes the leverage from Glass build to add features like wireless charging.
The introduction of IP rating on the midrange phones 2021 has brought them 1 step closer
to the old flagships, that is to say, both the A72 and Note 9 are IP67 rated phones.
Equally big screens on both sides, in terms of overall technology both screens are good,
but the A72 has a more modern display, has 90-hertz refresh rate too, and a better aspect
ratio.
The Note 9’s display to me looks brighter, but it’s a 60-hertz screen with and you
wouldn’t want this display design now in 2021, but to be honest, it's not that bad.
But wait, the Note 9 takes the lead when it comes to the resolution.
We are talking about a Quad HD+ screen here.
Even if it’s a 60 Hertz screen, the resolution makes the elements look richer on this one,
and in case you don’t know, the newest iPhones still use a 60 Hertz refresh rate on their
screens.
There is a clear difference in the display performance.
The A72 has a more responsive screen with fluid animations because of its higher refresh
rate, it’s got the double-tap to wake feature, but I’d like to ask you guys if you would
like a display with higher resolution or a display with a modern look and higher refresh
rate?
I’ll wait for your answers in the comments.
Software – Well, in terms of features, the 2018 flagship is still ahead.
It’s got features like the wireless dex, its camera app is more powerful with a RAW
feature in the pro mode, video option of up to 4K @ 60FPS.
The Note 9 has a better haptic feedback engine, and so on.
If you don’t know, Samsung has always added more features in its flagship devices and
it provides a midrange software experience on the midrange devices.
But something has changed that makes the A72 my pick over the Note 9 in 2021.
The A72 and a whole lot of other midrange devices are eligible for 3 years of big software
updates and 4 years of security updates, the Note 9 on the other hand won’t be getting
any new Android versions.
It's software lifecycle ended at Android 10.
Between more software updates and more software features, I’d pick a device with more software
updates.
The A72 is going to run well for the next 3 years.
Processing power on the Midrange phones like A72 is now catching up the old flagship phones,
the overall performance difference between the Note 9 and A72 is almost negligible, the
Note 9 for some games offers more advanced graphics settings, for instance, you can play
PUBG Mobile on the Note 9 in a smooth extreme configuration which means it will also unlock
60FPS, the A72 can’t do this.
At the same time, the Note 9 heats up and the A72 doesn’t.
If the processing speed of a 2018 flagship and 2021 midrange is the same, the heat dissipation
isn’t.
This is where the new midrange takes the lead again unless a slight increase in performance
is your absolute concern.
I also found the Internet performance better on the A72, the Wi-Fi module on the Note 9
might be old and it’s not processing the internet stuff that fast.
In terms of storage and RAM, both categories from the present and past are at the same
level today, we normally get 8 gigs of RAM and 128 gigs of internal storage in midrange
devices today and this is what the flagships offered in 2018.
The microSD card was present back then and it is present today, but the MicroSD card
slot is being taken away from new flagship devices so I wonder how a midrange device
from 2023 with a card slot will stand next to a flagship from 2021 without a card slot,
only if Samsung doesn’t remove the microSD card slot from its entire phone lineup.
Flagships back in the day were not advanced enough to carry an under-display fingerprint
scanner.
The tech has advanced so much in the last 2 years that not only the upper midrange devices,
but the lower midrange devices are also getting the under-display fingerprint scanners these
days and this also puts the A72 ahead again.
But yeah, the rear optical readers of old flagship devices are still a whole lot faster
than today’s midrange in-display scanner.
Speaker performance on both phones remains the same, dual stereo speakers had made their
way to the flagship phones in 2018, and just this year we have the same speakers on midrange
devices too.
Both phones also carry a headphone jack.
The camera department is not so easy to take on.
In terms of the number of cameras, the A72 is ahead, the Note 9 has a main camera and
a telephoto camera, the A72 has a main, ultrawide, telephoto, and macro camera.
Back in the day, pixel-binning cameras were not a thing, so phones had cameras of 16 or
12Megapixels at max.
Nowadays, Samsung flagships come with top-of-the-line 108 megapixels cameras, and midrange phones
come with up to 64 megapixels cameras.
Even if we look at the photos side by side, today’s midrange phones easily beat the
old flagships, the Note 9 doesn’t live up to the expectations anymore.
A72 produces more colorful, vibrant, well saturated, and well-detailed images.
You need to choose whether you want a phone with 1 main good camera, better video options,
and stability, and a powerful pro mode or you want a midrange device with 4 good cameras,
mediocre video options, and stability.
Let me know your answer in
the comments.
In the battery department, we have the 2021’s midrange phones as clear winners.
Be it the new A52 or this new A72, both outperform the old flagship devices, they will even outperform
2019’s flagship devices.
At first, the new phones come with bigger 4500 or 5000 mAh batteries as compared to
the 4000 or 4200 mAh batteries.
The new phones also bring up to 25W fast charging support as compared to the 15W charging support
back in the day.
This is not just it, the old batteries tend to depreciate over time and their performance
keeps dropping, and the software does not help those batteries either.
The new phones, with better software optimization, tend to give a better battery output.
And with this, we reach the conclusion.
In the end, I want to list a few points to ease this decision.
If you buy a new mid-range device, you get 1.
Upgraded and new design.
2.
Battery software support and more software updates.
3.
Better services and warranty coverage.
4.
Better resale value.
5.
Better and bigger batteries with powerful chargers.
6.
More camera lenses.
7.
And a few more things.
If you buy an old flagship device, for example, the Note 9, you get
1.
Better build with wireless charging.
2.
Better main camera sensor with more camera options like RAW Mode and 4K 60FPS video,
better stabilization.
3.
Say no to warranty, software updates, resale value, and aftersales services.
And now, the ball is in your court.
If you’re wondering why I did not bring the Note 9’s S Pen into the discussion,
that is because this video was supposed to give you an idea about a 2018’s flagship
vs a new midrange, not exactly the Note 9 vs the A72.
Let me know which device makes more sense to you today, which one would you be willing
to buy if you had $400 in your pocket.
Also, drop your feedback about this format of videos, would you like to see a Xiaomi,
OnePlus, Flagship vs Midrange comparison too?
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With that being said, I will sign off, and see you all, in the next one.