In the same week, we had two big news items making the splash in the mobile world. One, Samsung unveiled its best ever smartphone, the Galaxy Note 9. The other is Xiaomi’s Poco F1, making waves as a flagship killer. It seems we are headed for Goliath versus David fight in the mobile smartphone arena with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 versus Xiaomi Poco F1 bout.
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Samsung – The Goliath
Samsung was the first company to break trends by introducing the Galaxy line of smartphone that all came with screen sizes greater than 5.3 inches. While the first Galaxy Note drew skepticism and wrath of industry experts, Samsung was proved right given the amazing success of Galaxy line of phones. By 2016, Samsung had shipped 1.2 billion smartphones to users worldwide.
Now with the launch of its Galaxy Note 9, Samsung has released its first $1000 smartphone. A company which once cut through industry leaders like Nokia and Motorola is now teasing users with its costliest ever phone. The S Pen, the 4000 mAh battery and the overload of features will, however, burn a hole through your pocket.
Xiaomi – The Giant Killer
the other hand, Xiaomi has been doing what Samsung had achieved with erstwhile industry leaders. It has been packing more and more features into its smartphones and cutting prices every few months. It has been doing this by carving our sub-brands like Redmi and Poco. The latest in the line is Poco F1 – an INR 20,000 (USD 285) phone that boasts of features present in One Plus 6. One review even went on to say this
Xiaomi has priced the Poco F1 so aggressively that it makes the OnePlus 6 look expensive
https://tinyurl.com/y774bnwn
What should you buy? – Samsung Galaxy Note 9 or Xiaomi Poco F1
My simple opinion at all times is to go with a flagship killer. For two key reasons.
- One, no one stays with the same smartphone for more than 36 months. Why spend 70,000 rupees on a single phone and be stuck with it when you can change your phone every year by spending 20,000 rupees.
- Two, the smartphone market is still a volatile one with new features added by the day and new releases every week. Today’s Poco F1 has almost 80% of features of Galaxy Note 9. 12 months down, another mobile will have 105% of features of Galaxy Note 9 for still about 20,000 rupees.
