The so-called middle class in the smartphone market is usually characterized by the fact that their equipment corresponds to what was two years earlier high-end - just upper class. But at the Ifa in Berlin this year, some devices are being redefined that redefine the term middle class.
The Motorola One Zoom, for example, features a 6.4-inch OLED display, a 48-megapixel quadruple camera with depth sensor, ultra-wide-angle and telephoto lens, plus a 25-megapixel selfie camera, a 4000 milliamp hours of up to two days until it has to be charged - and as always a pure Android operating system. All these are - at least on paper - features that should meet the highest standards. Above all, the camera system could, in pure numbers, also stuck in a current top model.
A sophisticated glass finish, fingerprint sensor integrated into the display, and the quick charge function (15 minutes are expected to last up to two hours) complete the impression that Motorola wants to give the impression of upper class. The zoom is now available for 429 euros.
That can Nokia 7.2
Even cheaper it is at Nokia. For 299 or 349 euros - depending on memory equipment - you get the new Nokia 7.2 . Like the Motorola device, it has a 48 megapixel main camera that combines four pixels into a single pixel in the final image. This is not a waste, but should allow better photos, especially in bad light. Photo quality is also expected to be enhanced by Zeiss-developed lenses.
The photographic possibilities are extended - as with Motorola - by a depth sensor. This should help to make the background of a subject appear blurred. It also makes it possible to select which image area you want to focus even after you have taken it.
Sam Robinson / HMG Global
Looks like an older Motorola on the back, but is the Nokia 7.2
At least in the photography sector, the Nokia 7.2 is so well prepared to do more than just mid-range photos. The fact that Nokia is following an exemplary update policy for the Android operating system is added as a bonus.
In fact, the rest of the hardware is actually only mediocre. The resolution of the 6.3-inch display, for example, is not very high with Full HD +. For the device dominates the HDR10 standard, which should provide good contrast when watching movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
When trying out the LTE smartphone, the plastic frame, which Nokia uses instead of metal, also made a positive impression. It would have made even more sense to make the whole back of this material: Instead, Nokia has built them, just like the screen, but from so-called third-generation Gorilla glass. Although this is quite scratch-resistant, it will take much more damage in the event of a fall than a plastic housing.
Samsung relies on 5G
The contrast program comes from Samsung. Its new A90 is also marketed as a mid-range device, but costs 749 euros. There is a theoretically comparable with the other two devices camera module with 48 megapixels and a selfie camera with 32 megapixels.
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Samsung's A90: middle class for 749 euros
As a bonus, however, you get a 5G modem, which is the absolute exception in the middle class so far. In addition, the other features of the 6.7-inch smartphone, including Qualcomm's currently strongest chip, the Snapdragon 855, six gigabytes of memory and a battery with generous 4500 milliamp hours clearly the current upper class.
It seems as if the price jump in the high-end range, which Apple has ushered in with the more than 1000 Euro expensive iPhone X two years ago, has a certain influence on the level below. Mid-range can now mean that at least partially the best of the best in a device.
However, mid-range can also mean prices that were not so long ago only for the best of the best smartphones due.
