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What Would you Give Up for a "Compact" Flagship? Nov 25, 2020

Red Bearded BA (Jason C.) , Nov 25, 2020 :

As soon as I heard about the new iPhone 12 Mini, I immediately began longing for a compact Android flagship. I remembered back to the days of yesteryear when the best Android phones on the market still fit comfortably into your pocket and could actually be used with one hand. I have small hands so these 6.5+ inch phones that have become the norm over the past couple of years are almost impossible for me to use with one hand, especially when they have crazy curved screens like the OnePlus 8 Pro, my current daily driver.

So the inevitable question is: if Apple did it, why can’t Android OEMs make a truly compact, high-end phone?

Android flagships are huge
What was the last truly compact Android flagship that came out? The Pixel 5? Samsung S10e? Something from Sony a couple years ago? There’s a strong argument that could be made that none of those are actual “flagships” anyway.

Obviously a smaller phone is easier to use one handed and is much more portable. That’s the entire point of a smartphone: to be a portable pocket computing machine. Something that can seamlessly fit into our daily lifestyle without becoming a burden.

I’m about as average as you can get size wise, but I have small hands and sadly, as phones have gotten bigger, my hands haven’t grown to keep up.

About 75% of the time I use my phone, I do so with one hand and I really don’t like being forced to use both hands to do even the simplest of things on my phone. I often get jealous of my wife when she pulls out her iPhone SE (2nd Gen) and does whatever she needs to do without having to put down her coffee or anything else she has in her hands.

It’s rather annoying to have to either delay responding to something (which often leads to forgetting to do it later) or to have to interrupt what I’m working on just to interact with my phone.

Let’s not forget that some people actually still talk on their phones from time to time. I know I know, but don’t judge me. Holding up a tablet to your ear to talk on the phone has never been, and will never be, comfortable lol.

Unfortunately, I honestly can’t remember a sub-6-inch Android phone that came out in the past few years that packed the same top shelf hardware as the bigger guys.

Why is that?

Sure, Apple has extremely talented engineers, but so does Samsung, and Google, and OnePlus, and Motorola, and all the other guys. So talent isn’t the problem.

The iPhone 12 Mini proved that the technology exists, so that’s not the problem.

Or is it?

We can’t have it all
As much as I would love a 5-6” smartphone with a snapdragon 875 with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage with the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s camera setup and 2-day battery life running Android 11, that just isn’t going to happen.

The simple truth is that for small phones to happen, there have to be compromises that most of us who clamor for them (myself included) don’t often stop to think about.

Let’s look at a few of the big ones.

1 - Battery life
One of the biggest compromises that may or may not be obvious is the battery. By definition, a smaller phone means a smaller battery.

Now hold on, since the display is smaller there’s less power needed from the battery right?

Yes, but the truth is that screen size and battery size are not directly proportional. The tl;dr version is that screens are 2 dimensional and batteries are 3 dimensional so a decrease in screen size means an exponentially larger decrease in battery size.

2 - Software
This one kinda ties into battery life but it’s also a potentially huge compromise.

iOS and Android are almost complete opposites when it comes to power efficiency. Apple has worked meticulously over the years to optimize power efficiency in iOS to allow for flagship-level processing with about half the RAM and battery draw required for Android.

Android is a notoriously power hungry software which gets even worse when OEMs pile crazy amounts of superfluous stuff on top of it (lookin at you Samsung).

All this means that a smaller device would still require the same amount of power as the larger flagships to be able to run as efficiently, but with less room for a battery and RAM means the software just can’t run as smoothly.

Fragmentation for the win.

3 - Display technology
You also have to take into account the screen itself. If we go back to 12 Mini, sure it’s smaller but it’s only at a 60 Hz refresh rate (which is a completely different rant entirely) instead of the 120 Hz displays on current gen Android flagships so that’s another compromise.

4 - Camera hardware
This one might be a little more obvious but a smaller phone means that there’s less space inside for larger camera hardware. 3 and 4 cameras have become commonplace on many Android phones and are almost certainly a requirement to land in flagship territory.

Reality is real
Ultimately, the reason a compact flagship can’t exist is because smartphone technology is getting so good that OEMs are having to stretch really far to find ways to differentiate themselves.

Trying to be at the forefront of mobile technology has forced phone sizes larger and larger and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Apple notoriously tightly controls the hardware and software in its phones so it can relentlessly tune and optimize its phones to enable things like the iPhone 12 Mini to happen.

Most Android OEMs don’t make their own chips or memory and Google has certain requirements companies have to meet in regards to the software.

All this adds up to the fact that it’s simply not possible to keep the same type of flagship quality experience on a smaller phone.

We forced phones to get bigger because we constantly demanded “bigger and better” specs and features.

What even is a “Flagship?”
Here’s a thought though: what if we redefined what a “flagship” phone is?

What if a “flagship” phone was really just a phone that did everything you need it to do really well?

For years, I always had to have the latest smartphone. I even carried about 2 phones for a long time because I needed to have the best of both iOS and Android.

But I’ve noticed recently that my perceptions have changed a bit (I suppose you could chalk it up to getting married and having a kid) and what I felt like I had to have, isn’t necessarily what I need in my smartphone anymore.

Essentially what I need is a phone that has fast, clean software, decent battery life, and a good camera. And by good I mean it doesn’t have to be the absolute best on the market or give me features that I’ll never use.

As far back as I can remember, every single photo I’ve taken on my smartphone has either ended up in a text message or on social media.

Every. Single. One.

The simple truth is that almost any smartphone you can buy today will give you pictures that are good enough for that.

And you know what, there are plenty of small phones that can do all those things quite well.

So what about you? What are you willing to give up to have a more compact phone? Or would you rather deal with a larger sized phone to have all the best specs? Let me know in the comments!