Weekly poll: How much will you spend on your next phone?

Understandably, people are quite price sensitive right now. It doesn’t help that certain smartphone makers decided that $1,000 is a good starting point for flagships rather than being the absolute ceiling.

And we’re not talking about exotic devices like the foldable phones. The Galaxy S20+ 5G originally started at $1,200. The iPhone 11 Pro is about that much if you want more than 64GB storage. Even Oppo isn’t shy about going over a thousand for its top of the line models. Also, historically affordable brands have now crept up the pricing charts (e.g. OnePlus and more recently, Poco).

Yes, Apple has the $400/€500 iPhone SE, the Galaxy A51 is selling like hotcakes and Realme will give you a lot of bang for your buck. But if you want the latest and greatest tech, you have to pay through the nose or find a way to import a phone from China.

We’re not here to argue for or against $1,000+ smartphones – a valid point can be made that a device that does so many things and you use all the time is totally worth it. What we wanted to ask is how much will you spend on your next phone?

Of course, the price is only one dimension of the problem. You might buy mid-rangers every year or two or buy a flagship and keep it for 3-4 years, both approaches end up costing about the same. But that’s a question for another time.

You probably know about it already, but our buyer’s guide has several price categories and an easy to browse list of the best phones in each. We’re always working to keep the guide fresh, so if you haven’t peeked at it lately, maybe now’s a good time to see what’s out there for your budget.