<story><title>Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+</title><url>http://www.samsung.com/in/smartphones/galaxy-s9/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>greenhouse_gas</author><text>&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.samsung.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;smartphones&amp;#x2F;galaxy-s9&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.samsung.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;smartphones&amp;#x2F;galaxy-s9&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; for US site.&lt;p&gt;Small question: Do people still buy $800 phones, and why? If you care about security, these probably won&amp;#x27;t receive security upgrades for more than a few years (S3 went from ICS to Kitkat. S4 went from Jelly-Bean to Lollipop, S5 went from KitKat to Marshmallow, S6 went from Lollipop to Nougat, so I don&amp;#x27;t expect this to make it past Android Q[1] (which should come out in two and a half years)), and unlike older models, custom ROM support is quite bad for modern Samsung models (S6 Lineageos just came out. S8 isn&amp;#x27;t supported yet).&lt;p&gt;Wouldn&amp;#x27;t it make more sense to get a slightly worse quality phone, but upgrade it every two years or so?&lt;p&gt;[1]. Unless Treble will make it so much easier to port to S9.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>scarface74</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Do people still buy $800 phones, and why? &lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;There must be a term for this kind of question. To answer it, yes. Look at Apple’s average selling price and people are buying maxed out iPhone 8s and X’s.&lt;p&gt;But that question is like the old internet trope - “I haven’t had a television in 10 years. Do people still watch TV?”</text></comment>
<story><title>Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+</title><url>http://www.samsung.com/in/smartphones/galaxy-s9/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>greenhouse_gas</author><text>&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.samsung.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;smartphones&amp;#x2F;galaxy-s9&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.samsung.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;smartphones&amp;#x2F;galaxy-s9&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; for US site.&lt;p&gt;Small question: Do people still buy $800 phones, and why? If you care about security, these probably won&amp;#x27;t receive security upgrades for more than a few years (S3 went from ICS to Kitkat. S4 went from Jelly-Bean to Lollipop, S5 went from KitKat to Marshmallow, S6 went from Lollipop to Nougat, so I don&amp;#x27;t expect this to make it past Android Q[1] (which should come out in two and a half years)), and unlike older models, custom ROM support is quite bad for modern Samsung models (S6 Lineageos just came out. S8 isn&amp;#x27;t supported yet).&lt;p&gt;Wouldn&amp;#x27;t it make more sense to get a slightly worse quality phone, but upgrade it every two years or so?&lt;p&gt;[1]. Unless Treble will make it so much easier to port to S9.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>leetcrew</author><text>I bought a pixel 2 (for $650), and I would have bought a pixel xl if it weren&amp;#x27;t for the inferior screen.&lt;p&gt;something to consider: if I had had a 32GB og pixel at the launch of the pixel 2, I could have sold it for ~$400. if that trend continues, I would be happy to pay about $250 a year to always have a current flagship phone with monthly security updates. that&amp;#x27;s only 20% more expensive than just buying a ~$400 phone (nexus 5x launch price) every two years. of course you could also sell the cheaper phone, but the non-google phones seem to lose their value faster.&lt;p&gt;the real question is, why spend flagship money on anything other than a pixel?</text></comment>