We talked about software degradation and why your devices slow down over time. You can find out more about that here.
The gist of it is software quality deteriorates over time because of stuff like code complexity. Changes such as new hardware, operating systems, or libraries, can break compatibility and cause problems. Lack of device maintenance also contributing significantly to the problem.
While this is a problem for all devices, the problem is much worse in budget devices, especially Android devices.
When you first unwrap your budget phone, you will be surprised at how well it runs. You’ll scoff at flagship buyers, “Ha, those fools wasted their money.” Then just a few months later you’re asking if those spammy cleaner apps can really speed up a phone (they can’t).
Your S23 Ultra will slow down in a few years or so but your $89 Itel will be noticeably slower within a year.
Let us explore why that’s the case.
There are several key reasons why budget smartphones tend to slow down more than flagships over time:
Hardware Limitations:
Processing Power:
Budget phones typically have less powerful processors and fewer cores compared to flagships. This translates to slower overall performance, especially as software gets more demanding over time.
See, you would think if phones in 2011 could run WhatsApp then even budget phones in 2024 should have no trouble with the app. You’d be wrong.
Here are a few features that were not available in WhatsApp in 2011; voice calls, video calls, voice notes, read receipts (blue ticks), document sharing, reactions, channels and more.
If we zero in on one feature, say voice calls, you will realise it started with calls between two individuals but now group calls are a thing and 256 people can be on the same call.
As you would imagine, the app in 2011 demanded much fewer resources than the current version. In fact, in just the span of a year, some apps can become 20%+ more demanding, which spells trouble for budget phones with weaker processors.
RAM:
Budget phones often have less RAM, which leads to multitasking limitations. When juggling multiple apps or tasks, the phone needs to rely on swapping data to and from slower storage, causing noticeable slowdowns.
Not only do they have less, they usually have slower RAM as well. The DDR5 RAM that flagships offers 3x the clock speeds and 4x the bandwidth of DDR3 in raw speed. In practice, the advantage may be less, depending on the workload but in simple terms, this just means the RAM in budget phones is much slower.
Storage:
Many budget phones use slower eMMC storage compared to the faster UFS storage found in flagships. This can significantly impact app loading times and overall responsiveness.
It’s simple to understand, really. If an app has to access files in storage, the faster it can do that, the faster it will respond. If you’ve tried sending files to a slow storage device, you know how frustrating that can be. That’s what apps go through when dealing with the slower storage in budget phones.
Software Optimization:
Flagships generally receive better software optimization from manufacturers. This includes tweaks and adjustments to make the software run smoothly on the specific hardware. Budget phones often receive less attention in this area, leading to less efficient resource usage and potential slowdowns.
It makes sense, manufacturers make very little from budget phones, especially when compared to what they make per device with the flagships. So, they divert more attention to making sure software is optimised on their flagships. A smaller proportion of engineer hours is dedicated to budget phones.
Software updates: Budget phones might receive software updates less frequently or for a shorter period compared to flagships. This can mean they miss out on performance improvements and bug fixes that could address slowdowns.
You may not know this but most budget phones receive zero software updates their whole lifetime. Not even security patches. So, they are pretty much guaranteed to slow down quickly, unlike flagships which sometimes reverse that trend with nifty updates.
App Compatibility:
Apps are often developed and optimized for flagship-level hardware. On budget phones with weaker specs, these apps might not run as smoothly and can contribute to performance issues.
This is why you often hear that apps run better on iPhone, they do receive special treatment from app developers. It also helps that they only have a few models to work with.
On Android, you do hear of exclusive partnerships between Samsung and Instagram for example. So, apps will run faster and more efficiently on the flagships, leaving the budget phones in the dust.
It really is an advantage that can’t be understated that when app developers use your device as the reference device, you’re pretty much guaranteed the best performance.
Bloatware: Many budget phones come pre-loaded with numerous unnecessary apps (bloatware) that consume resources and can slow down the phone. I’m glad to note that some budget phones now come with Android Go, the lighter version of Android and without bloatware.
User Habits:
Budget phone users tend to have more storage limitations. This can lead to them keeping fewer apps and games installed, which can be an advantage. However, constantly installing and uninstalling apps can fragment storage, further contributing to slowdowns. You can refer back to this article here on what fragmentation is all about.
Flagship users might also be more likely to maintain their devices. When a phone sets you back $1000, you are incentivised to treat it with kid gloves.
To budget or not to budget?
So yeah, budget phones have it all against them. The combination of weaker hardware, less optimised software, limited resources, and potentially different user habits all contribute to budget smartphones experiencing more and faster slowdowns over time compared to flagships.
This is why the smart play is to go for an older, second hand flagship than for the brand new budget phone. In many cases, a 5 year old flagship will have better internals in some respects over the latest budget phones.
That’s especially the case now that flagships are getting long software support. The latest Pixel will be supported for 7 good years. So five years from now, getting a Pixel 8 would mean getting a phone with 2 years of software support left. Something the future budget phones won’t be able to offer.
Anyway, I hope we now all understand why budget phones seem to slow down much quicker than falgships.-techzim