Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Conventional wisdom has it that smartphone specifications don’t really matter all that much anymore. Whether you’re looking at the very best flagships or a plucky mid-ranger, they’re all more than capable of daily tasks, playing the latest mobile games, and even taking stonkingly good snaps. It’s quite difficult to find outright bad mobile hardware unless you’re scraping the absolute budget end of the market.
Case in point, consumers and pundits alike are enamored with the Pixel 8 series, even though it benchmarks well behind the iPhone 15 and other Android rivals. Similarly, Apple’s and Samsung’s latest flagships barely move the needle on camera hardware yet continue to be highly regarded for photography.