Don’t Buy a New Phone Until You Watch This

You might have recently seen this photo on social media, a photo of a man holding an old iPhone with a home button. I decided to dig deeper and find more photos of this man and I discovered that this is an iPhone 8 and he's had it for quite a long time. But why is this such a big deal? Why am I starting this video with a story like this? It's because this man is Evangelos Marinakis, a 57-year-old Greek businessman with a net worth and he still uses an iPhone 8 in a world where teenagers are so desperate to buy the latest iPhone 16 Pro Max or the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Evangelos Marinakis is the owner of Nottingham Forest Football Club and the owner of Olympiakos, the greatest and most popular football club in Greece. He could afford millions of the latest iPhones and millions of the latest Samsungs or Google Pixels but he chooses not to. But why? Because he knows exactly what he wants from a smartphone and now I'm going to use this example to tell you something very important about buying a new device. If you're thinking about buying a new phone right now, stop. Don't hit add to cart, don't walk into the store, don't fall for that sleek new commercial you just saw and most importantly, don't get controlled by your desire for the latest trends because what I'm about to tell you could save you hundreds of dollars and a ton of regret. Right now might be the worst possible time to buy a new phone. Phone companies are tricking you and sometimes you trick yourself or maybe your friends affect your choices. Now let me ask you something. Why do you want a new phone? Is your current phone slow? Is it crashing? Is it literally falling apart? Are you just bored or you're trying to fit in and follow the trend? Be honest because here's the truth. Most of us don't need new phones, we just think we do and that's not your fault. It's the result of years of marketing designed to make you feel like your phone is already outdated even if you just bought it a year ago. Think about it. Apple releases a new iPhone every September. Samsung drops flagships like clockwork in January or February but if you compare last year's model to the new one, you'll see this. The design is basically the same. The camera is slightly better, mostly in low light. The chip is a little faster but you'll barely notice and they slap on one or two AI features that they claim are game-changing but when it comes to day-to-day usage, you won't even feel the difference. Your Instagram still loads, your messages still send, your battery still gets you through the day. So why spend over $1,000 for a phone? It's because they've convinced you that new means better but in reality it often just means more expensive. Whenever a new phone gets released they try to throw specs at your face. Now with 200 megapixels, upgraded 4 nanometer chip, 240 hertz refresh rate. Yeah, all these sound impressive but ask yourself, do you actually need it? Remember this question, what do you want from a phone? 200 megapixel cameras? That's marketing fluff. The sensor is pixel binning those images down to 12 megapixels anyway. You're not printing billboards, you're just posting on Instagram and having a good time. You can just buy yourself a dedicated camera if you're into photography or video making. 240 hertz refresh rate? Gamers like me definitely care but 90% of people can't tell the difference beyond 120 hertz. That's why users of iPhones from iPhone 12 below are still very proud. They don't even notice the difference on their 60 hertz screens. It's mostly just a number and as a normal user there's definitely no need to spend extra hundreds of dollars just for a 240 hertz screen. This is what these companies are doing. They're flooding you with numbers and tech jargon to make you feel like you're missing out but in reality your current phone is probably 80 to 90% as capable as the newest flagship. You're just being sold a Mid-range phones are great. I'm talking about phones like the Google Pixel 8a, Samsung Galaxy A55, Nothing Phone 2a, OnePlus Nord 3, iPhone SE and others. These phones cost around $350 to $500 and guess what? They do 90% of what a $1,200 flagship does. The camera? Still great. Performance? Fast enough. Battery life? Sometimes even better than the flagship and the best part is that they often get the same software updates, the same security patches and in the case of Google, seven years of Android updates. So ask yourself this, why pay three times the price for 10% more performance? You're not paying for a better phone, you're paying for the illusion of premium. Now here's something most people don't think about. When you buy matters just as much as what you buy. If you're watching this and thinking about upgrading, here's the golden rule. Never buy a phone right before a major launch. For example, Apple announces new iPhones every September so buying in July or August is a bad idea. Samsung drops new Galaxies in January and foldables in August. Google Pixels usually drop in October. Why does this matter? Because when new phones drop, the previous gen models crash in price like clockwork. So if you wait just a few weeks or even buy last year's model, you can save hundreds without missing much at all. If you're not obsessed with having the latest device, buy phones three to six months after launch. You'll get discounts, bug fixes and the same hardware. Smartphones today are like laptops in 2015. They've gotten so powerful, so capable that most people don't need the newest version every year. We've hit diminishing returns and we're not getting massive leaps anymore. We're getting baby steps. And those steps come with hefty price tags. So before you spend $1,000 or more on a phone that barely improves your daily life, take a step back and ask yourself if this is an actual need or this is just marketing. Now, here's something you should always remember. If a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra gets released, it's not necessarily meant for those using the Galaxy S24 to upgrade. And if an iPhone 17 gets released, it's not necessarily meant for users of iPhone 16 to upgrade. You could upgrade if you're using a way older phone, maybe three or four years behind. But jumping to new phones every year just to stay relevant and seem up to date among your peers is a sign that you might be in the line of people who don't know what they need from a smartphone. That's it for this video. Thanks for watching and consider subscribing for more videos like this. I'll see you in the next one. Peace.