Hey.

The scourge for Android has become the perception that these are slow smartphones that have many innate problems, for example, applications run poorly on them, the interface slows down and it is almost impossible to use them comfortably. Throwing away the stories of storytellers who find problems in the flagships and cannot use them, because everything slows down, let us dwell on the essence of the phenomenon. I often hear reviews about Android, which characterize well the meaning of the claims – there is little memory, everything works slowly, usually the model and manufacturer are not specified. Moreover, those worried about their favorite team often spread Yaroslavna’s cry to all Android smartphones, without exception: that it is impossible to use them, they are shamelessly slowing down. For some time I even met with such people so that they could demonstrate to me in my life how you can achieve brakes on normal models. And every time he cursed himself for his gullibility and that he agreed to the experiment, in practice it turned out that the brakes are only in the eyes of the beholders.

But the problem still has prerequisites, since budget Android smartphones were often created to achieve a certain cost, saving on memory was an obvious solution, this is one of the most expensive components after the display. Often, small Chinese factories did not think at all about how the smartphone would ultimately work in the user’s hands, they needed to sell it, and what would happen next, they didn’t care much. At the stage of sales growth, this was also of little concern to Google, they release different smartphones, and it’s good, the main thing is that Android is conquering the market and is growing so rapidly. But then budget smartphones turned into a constant, never-ending headache. Despite their low cost, users complained that such models did not correspond to their ideas of beauty. As a result, in 2017, Google is creating Android Go, a stripped-down version of Android with lightweight apps. It was supposed to be the answer to this problem, to replace the usual Android in budget solutions. Formally, we can say that there is a regular Android 10 and a Go version for devices with a small amount of memory. In the current version, you can install Go on smartphones with 1 GB of memory, on models with 2 GB you can install both Go and Android 10. For obvious reasons, manufacturers avoid Go, as there is an association with budget solutions, and for models with 2 GB of RAM is chosen by regular Android without any restrictions.

In the second half of 2019 – early 2020, budget Android smartphones massively acquired 2 GB of memory, these are the most popular models. Less is possible, but the difference in cost is not so great, and the perception of buyers is different. They are ready to pay 500 – 1 rubles more, but to get more memory, it becomes important for them. And if we put aside those who simply fly into the store out of breath and demand the cheapest smartphone, then the rest choose models with 000 GB of memory; in good stores, sellers are also advised to choose them. Such devices are not a benchmark for performance, but they are quite nimble, and during normal use you will not notice any flaws. They are not flagships, but no one expects such performance from them (I’m lying, someone is waiting, outraged that a smartphone for 2 thousand rubles works slower than a model for 4 thousand).

What is Google doing today? New technical requirements for manufacturers begin to work from November 2020. Until that moment, you can certify and receive GMS (a set of applications and services from Google) for Android 10/11 and smartphones with 2 GB or more memory. Starting in November, such certification is closed, the memory capacity is 2 GB only for the Go version, and full Android is available on devices with 3 GB of RAM and higher.

How much will this affect the performance of budget Android smartphones? I will not say that this is a brain explosion, but the speed of the devices will definitely increase, and we will see an increase by at least a third (this is not a linear process, but a third is the minimum that systems with such memory will receive). The overall level of budget Android smartphones, and others on the planet, will grow. What will happen at the end of 2021? Google will revise its requirements again, and budget models on full-fledged Android from that time will only be able to come out with 4 GB of memory and above. This is an annual process, and there is nothing surprising in it, it is customary.

On the market you can find all sorts of rarities, models from the past. In order not to travel to different sites, I chose Svyaznoy as a starting point. For 1 rubles, you can buy the most affordable smartphone with 350 MB of memory and Android 512. Hello from the past, and the speed of its work for 8.1 leaves much to be desired.

Throwing away individual models for the promotion, we will get several dozen devices with 2 GB of RAM, prices start at 5 rubles.

I wonder at what price point models with 3 GB of memory start, this is an average of 7-9 thousand rubles. And there are a lot of such devices.

At the end of the year, the outgoing models will become cheaper, the discounts will not be huge, but they will drop in price a little. But the most important thing is that the transition to large amounts of memory will begin, a kind of race for manufacturers, and these are dozens of different companies. Ultimately, by the summer of 2021, the 3GB models will cost, plus or minus, the same as they are today. There will not be a sharp rise in value, as it is predicted in the moment due to the change in the value of memory.

Google is aware of this, since they actually work in conjunction with memory manufacturers, and it turns out that the rise in prices is short-term, it is leveled by a subsequent decline. Therefore, there is no explosive growth in the cost of budgetary devices.

But there is another secret of the Madrid court, which is little known or not discussed at all. Inside, Google is not very happy to have first-price smartphones under $ 100 on the shelf. The reason is that this segment is quite massive all over the world, on the other hand, revenues from the sale of applications and services in it tend to zero (exaggerating, but this is the worst segment of those that exist). And the reason is in the hardware – why buy a toy that won’t work well on a budget smartphone. The logic seems a little flawed, as if switching to devices with a price of $ XNUMX or more would dramatically change the situation and people will start buying more services and applications. But, in my opinion, this will actually happen, and the reason that Google is pushing manufacturers in this direction, after such an explanation, becomes obvious.

I have no doubt that budget devices have done a lot for the market, for many buyers it was the budget smartphone that became the first smartphone. Until now, the operator statistics show that about half of the subscribers use push-button telephones! Yes, push-button phones, not smartphones. And the transitions to smartphones are happening more and more often, conservatism is surrendering under the pressure of reality. But what can be seen in the sales statistics well describes the budget segment, it has stopped and is not growing. The reason is that sales of devices have grown significantly from 10 to 20 thousand rubles. Here you can find interesting, productive models, they have a lot of memory, cool and large screens, including AMOLED. But the most important thing is that many users of budget devices have realized that they need a little more, a certain margin of safety that will allow them not to change the device for several years. And here it is really better to pay more, but you can comfortably use your smartphone for at least a couple of years.

Whether we like it or not, first-price devices temporarily reduce their impact on the market. They will be in demand, but no one will discuss their problems, as it becomes obvious that they are because of the economy. I can also share an interesting observation, six or seven years ago, when they talked about how Android is slow, they did not argue with this, the broad masses believed that this was really so. Today, when the discussion of mythical Android brakes begins, real users of these models immediately appear and ask to show what and how can slow down in them. The performance of the devices has changed dramatically, and the middle segment has become the same as the flagships 5-6 years ago. These are productive devices that are convenient and comfortable to use, even if they cost 10-20 thousand rubles. But they have no shortcomings in the speed of work, which can be somehow noticed and appreciated. But I think that this is a subject for a separate material, in which we will try to evaluate this moment instrumentally and show what “brakes” are and why people’s perception is so different.

Do you admit that you used budget devices? Or did they pass you by? If someone has bought such devices in recent years, then how satisfied or dissatisfied they are. Tell us about it.

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