Buy the phone that you think you want now and don’t look back
With the rapid pace of phone releases in the past few months, we’ve been seeing a lot of people regretting their smartphone purchase because of the specter of something better coming along in the future. Buyers of OnePlus 5’s for example, are having major cases of buyer remorse, thinking that money that they spent on their new phones were wasted since there’s a better, more “perfect” phone for them in the wings.
Well, as someone who reviews phones for a living, I can tell you right now there is no perfect phone. There’s always a better one coming in the next few months (sometimes next few weeks), with a brand-new killer feature that you *think* you need (but not really).
Instead of waiting, or regretting, your phone purchase today, you need to make peace with the fact that the phone you bought a few weeks or months before reflects your needs as it was then. Unless you’re talking about really budget phones (in the sub 10K category) it’s really difficult to find a crappy phone nowadays because of how far tech has improved.
Let’s take the OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T. If you bought the newest version of the flagship killer back when it was released in the middle of the year, you shouldn’t feel bad about your purchase even with the 5T dropped. Sure, the 5T has an 18:9 display and face unlock, but it’s essentially the same as the OP5 internally. Incremental improvements don’t necessarily mean better phone, so you shouldn’t feel bad if you bought the earlier model even though there’s a better one in the wings.
Because there will always be a better model a few months down the road. There will always be some new feature that you narrowly missed out on when you went to the store and picked your new pride and joy. The secret is to be content about your purchase and realize that you don’t always need the latest and greatest. Upgrade your phone when it’s more than a year old, look at the models that have the features that appeal to you and don’t ever feel bad about your purchase.
