[mmaniac]

The first smartphone I owned was a ZTE Blade 13 years ago. As a budget phone, that definitely had compromised performance.

It's been years and years since I ever felt like my phone's performance was holding back its usefulness to me. I have only ever replaced my phone because the battery could no longer hold a charge or the charging port was damaged beyond use.

It has a camera, web browser, chat apps, and receives emails. It also makes calls and texts. It doesn't lag while doing these things. That's plenty.

[spurgu]

Indeed. I'm using a $150 Moto since three years back when the charger port broke on my previous phone.

I can't imagine what people "need" high-performance phones for, other than gaming, and for that as well there are much better alternatives.

If I could hook it up to a docking station and use it as a full-fledged computer that would change things I suppose.