Do we need a flagship for every year ?

aaroomalvs

Actually, why do we need a new flagship every year?

I’m not referring to Carl’s statement , I’ve already discussed that with my friends. We spend a lot of money on flagship devices for their powerful performance and premium features, so shouldn’t we fully utilize their potential?

Is one year really enough? A minimum two-year gap between flagship upgrades feels better , it allows us to use a phone to its maximum potential and makes the next upgrade truly worth it.

Carl 👏🏻

Nicouschulas

aaroomalvs
I agree, it’s not necessary to launch every year a new phone. On the other hand, you don’t need to buy one every year

TechhieGeek

aaroomalvs companies should focus on improving their line up with software updates rather then building trash every year and customers need to have full utilisation of their phone s atleast two years minimum to upgrade , and an upgrade should feel like an upgrade for loyal customers to upgrade ..

RicardoFerreira_R6e61QHWDD

I’m an iPhone user who just got a 3a yesterday. Coming from iPhone, I’ve noticed that companies mostly release flagships to drive sales rather than making massive improvements or focusing on bug-free software. I only upgrade when I really need to—sometimes after years without a new OS, as long as it’s still working fine, I stick with it.

I prefer a phone where the OS runs smoothly over one loaded with flashy new features that end up draining the battery every day while I barely use half of them.

When it comes to OS updates, new features might excite people at first and bring a burst of happiness, but an OS that’s smoother, more stable, and gives better battery life tends to make people go ‘why change?’ For me, a better, more reliable OS wins every time. In day-to-day life, it makes everything more pleasant than having a cool new feature today but dealing with slowdowns and frustration the rest of the time.

sean (1)

‘No’ is my answer. Look at Samsung’s Galaxy series – very small/insignificant hardware changes each year. I’d rather see Nothing use their resources elsewhere; in more software features and:

New colour variations, with the price of last season’s colours going down when overall production costs reduce. Although, the unprecedented issue we have now is RAM costs going up so steeply.
Instead of another flagship each year, try tapping into a new market with a standout, specialist phone. Perhaps a compact phone (please!), or one that’s music-centric (headphone jack and high-quality speakers).

This new way of thinking also needs to be supported by phone reviewers and I’d like to see the likes of MKBHD discuss it. Reviewers understandably publish reviews when a new phone comes out, and have ‘Phones of the Year’ awards, but they never/rarely compare new phones with last year’s flagships and answer the question: Are last year’s phones just as capable in most use cases, and provide far better value? Perhaps the problem is manufactures are quick to retire earlier phones when a new one comes out, but if Nothing promises there won’t be another ‘flagship’ level phone this year and the phone (3) will still be available well into 2027, perhaps most reviewers’ “Best Value Phone” at the end of the year will be Nothing phone (3).

sean (1)

I really don’t care that there’s no flagship-level phone this year. If there are no meaningful hardware upgrades to be had then it’s a waste of resources.

sean (1)

Look at Samsung’s Galaxy series – very small/insignificant hardware changes each year. I’d rather see Nothing use their resources elsewhere; in more software features and:

New colour variations, with the price of last season’s colours going down when overall production costs reduce. Although, the unprecedented issue we have now is RAM costs going up so steeply.
Instead of another flagship each year, try tapping into a new market with a standout, specialist phone. Perhaps a compact phone (please!), or one that’s music-centric (headphone jack and high-quality speakers).

This new way of thinking also needs to be supported by phone reviewers and I’d like to see the likes of MKBHD discuss it. Reviewers understandably publish reviews when a new phone comes out, and have ‘Phones of the Year’ awards, but they never/rarely compare new phones with last year’s flagships and answer the question: Are last year’s phones just as capable in most use cases, and provide far better value? Perhaps the problem is manufactures are quick to retire earlier phones when a new one comes out, but if Nothing promises there won’t be another ‘flagship’ level phone this year and the phone (3) will still be available well into 2027, perhaps most reviewers’ “Best Value Phone” at the end of the year will be Nothing phone (3).

Regarding the (4a) Series, I reckon the Pro version will be a repackaged phone (3) with a slight trim here-and-there. They’ll likely have spent a lot on developing the underperforming phone and have lots of leftover components, which I expect they’ll put into the (4a) Pro. Hence the ‘closer to flagship’ remark.

Coldpaw

Personally I absolutely don’t need a flagship phone every year, to be honest not even a none-flagship phone.

The trouble is: Everyone else is doing it. People will question in Q3 or Q4 2026 whether NP3 still is a good choice or should they just get a more modern “flagship” phone in the first place. On the other hand, that one-year cycle already pays it’s own toll, with people asking whether a flagship is still worth buying after 6-7 months or it would just be better to wait for the successor, pretty much dimishing the sales lifetime of a phone to just a few months only.