Old Flagship Vs New Mid-Range Smartphone? The Ultimate Showdown

Cheap Smartphones are getting Good and Good Smartphones are getting Cheap. This is what MKBHD, the famous Youtuber says.

The Mid-range smartphones of today are comparable to last year’s Flagship and Budget smartphones of this year are comparable to Mid-range smartphones of last year.

With Mid-range smartphones like Mi 9T Pro or K20 Pro, is there even a reason to consider Flagship smartphones from the same year, let alone from the previous year.

We are going to compare every feature, gimmick, and specifications of the one-year-old Flagship Smartphone with a new Mid-Range Smartphone. Specifically, Flagship Smartphones From 2018 Vs Mid-Range Smartphones from 2019.

The reason being, All the smartphones from 2019 have had their full reviews taken and small bugs and minor fixes should be patched by now.

I am going to cover the following aspects of smartphones:

1. Processor Performance
2. Graphics Performance
3. Memory Performance
4. Storage Performance
5. Display Comparison
6. Comms Performance
7. Camera Comparison
8. Battery and Charging Comparison
9. Audio Quality
10. Extra Features

Smartphone We Chose:

I tried to pick every Mid Range smartphone around 500 dollars. I did not pick any smartphone around 300 dollars because they can not compete with Flagships from even last year. For example, Huawei Honor 9X has HiSilicon Kirin 710F which can not even compete with Snapdragon 730, let alone Snapdragon 845. I am just talking about processor here, if I talk about the camera, things get even more sketchy.

We picked Flagship (Top of the line) smartphones from 2018. Some of them have Snapdragon 845, some have HiSilicon Kirin 980 and in the case of Apple iPhones, SOC is A11 Bionic.

Not all of the Mid-range smartphones have the same chipset, some have Snapdragon 855, some have Snapdragon 730, some have HiSilicon Kirin 980, and iPhone XR has A12 bionic.

The Apple iPhone case is peculiar. I chose the Flagship iPhone (iPhone X) from 2017, and Mid-range iPhone (iPhone XR) from 2018. This is because of the higher prices compared to other smartphones on the list. You can buy iPhone XR for 600 dollars right now on the official Apple Website.

Ranking System?

We have mentioned 10 categories that we would use to compare the Flagship and Mid-range smartphones. I would mention them here again.

1. Processor Performance
2. Graphics Performance
3. Memory Performance
4. Storage Performance
5. Display Comparison
6. Comms Performance
7. Camera Comparison
8. Battery and Charging Comparison
9. Audio Quality
10. Extra Features

Each of these categories has a value of 10 points. I would be comparing the Mid-Range with the Flagship in each of these categories.

Each smartphone from both sides would be compared to every smartphone. For example, OnePlus 7 (Mid-range) would be compared with every Flagship smartphone in each category. For each category, a smartphone holds one point and ten points in total for ten categories. If I compare the processor of OnePlus 7 with all the Flagship smartphone processors, it would get 1 whole point only if it beats every flagship smartphone in the processor category. Whereas, if we compare Huawei Honor 20 processor performance, Honor 20 would get 0.8 points in the processor category because it is beating 8 flagship smartphones.

To get 10 points in each category, we would compare each Flagship smartphone with a mid-range smartphone in the order they are written in the table. We would write smartphones from Mid-range and Flagship in Descending order and we would compare the smartphones written against one another in the table.

Processor Performance:

The processing performance is one of the most important specifications that everyone looks at when buying a smartphone.

The Flagship smartphones always come with the top of the line processor each year. But the Mid-Range smartphones do not always include the top of the line processor. Some Mid-range smartphones like Mi 9T Pro have a high-end Snapdragon 855 but the Google Pixel 3a has Snapdragon 670 which is a mid-range processor.

Therefore, Different Mid-range smartphones come with different processor chips, unlike the Flagship smartphones that have only high-end processor chips.

Let’s first have a look at the processors of different Flagship and Mid-range Smartphones.

Mid Range	Processor	GeekBench Single/Multi	Flagship	Processor	GeekBench Single/Multi
OnePlus 7	SD 855	723/2628	iPhone X	A11 Bionic	919/2372
iPhone XR	A12 Bionic	1108/2575	Huawei Mate 20 Pro	Kirin 980	680/2328
Mi 9T Pro	SD 855	680/2571	Nokia 9 PureView	SD 845	510/2196
Huawei Nova 5T	Kirin 980	686/2456	Razer Phone 2	SD 845	504/2185
Asus Zenfone 6	SD 855	718/2436	Asus ROG Phone	SD 845	506/2127
Realme X2 Pro	SD 855+	662/2429	Sony Xperia XZ2	SD 845	499/2086
Huawei Honor 20	Kirin 980	685/2306	HTC U12+	SD 845	507/2082
Xiaomi Mi Note 10	SD 730G	530/1676	Samsung Note 9	SD 845	481/2011
Samsung A70	SD 675	478/1524	Pixel 3XL	SD 845	491/2007
Google Pixel 3a XL	SD 670	348/1321	LG V40	SD 845	431/1874

We would now compare each smartphone from one side with every smartphone from other to determine scores for each smartphone in the table.

Mid-Range Smartphone	Points	Flagship Smartphone	Points
OnePlus 7	1	iPhone X	0.4
iPhone XR	1	Huawei Mate 20 Pro	0.4
Mi 9T Pro	1	Nokia 9 PureView	0.3
Huawei Nova 5T	1	Razer Phone 2	0.3
Asus Zenfone 6	1	Asus ROG Phone	0.3
Realme X2 Pro	1	Sony Xperia XZ2	0.3
Huawei Honor 20	0.8	HTC U12+	0.3
Xiaomi Mi Note 10	0	Samsung Note 9	0.3
Samsung A70	0	Pixel 3XL	0.3
Google Pixel 3a XL	0	LG V40	0.3
	Total = 6.8		Total = 3.2

The Mid-Range smartphones have beaten the Flagship smartphones by 6.8-3.2= 3.6 points in processor performance. It is mainly due to the fact that more and more Mid-Range smartphones are coming with the Flagship smartphone processors.

But Processor is one factor that determines a smartphone performance and there are a ton of other factors. So do not think if a Mid-Range smartphone can beat a Flagship in processor performance, that the Mid-range is a superior device.

There is also one more concern that I could not cover in this category which I wanted to but could not due to the limited resources. The thing is the sustained performance of Mid-Range smartphones is not as good as the Flagship smartphones. If you still do not know about the sustained performance of the processor, I recommend reading this article.

Smartphones with the Same Processor have Different Performance, WHY?

There is a reason I have picked 10 categories to compare these devices and not just one. So, winning in the processor performance does not mean the Mid-range smartphones would win every category.

Graphics Performance

To measure the graphics in points is a really difficult task because unlike Geekbench, there is no one accurate application that can determine the 3D or Graphics performance of a smartphone.

To combat this, we will take an average of scores of different GPU tests from the 3DMark application for each smartphone and then compare them with each other.

There are six different tests for GPU performance in 3DMark application named as:

• Sling Shot Extreme (OpenGL ES 3.1)
• Sling Shot Extreme (Vulkan)
• Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited
• Sling Shot
• Sling Shot Unlimited
• Ice Storm Unlimited

All of these tests measure Physics Score which determines CPU performance and Graphics Score which determines GPU performance. I will only take the average GPU performance scores. But there is another problem, not all of the smartphones support these six tests.

There are only three tests in 3DBench that are supported by all the smartphones whether Android or iOS, Samsung or Huawei. These three tests are:

• Sling Shot Extreme (OpenGL ES 3.1)
• Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited
• Sling Shot

So, I will take the average of the scores of these three tests. These scores will be added to the average of 2D and 3D from Passmark Scores (For Android, For iPhones).

For a detailed article on 3D performance:

GPU Performance on Smartphones

If it is confusing, I will explain by taking one smartphone as an example. I will take Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro for this example.

To get 3DMark benchmarks for Mi 9T Pro, I will go to benchmarks.ul.com. Just search ‘Mi 9T Pro ul benchmark’ and click the first link in Google results. The link to Mi 9T Pro Ul benchmark is this. Here I will just add the results of Sling Shot Extreme, Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited and Sling Shot and divide the result by 3 to get the average. Let me show the results that I got, 6269 + 6789 + 9598 = 22656. Let’s divide this result by 3 to get the average. The result of the 3DMark score is 22656/3 = 7552.

The second step is to get PassMark scores. Go to Android Benchmark and search for the smartphone by using ‘CTRL+F’. In our example, the PassMark link for Mi 9T Pro is this. Add the 2D and 3D scores from this link of Mi 9T Pro and divide the result by 2 to get the average. The results that I got here are 12775 + 4769 = ‬17544. Let’s divide this result by 2 to get the average, 17544/2 = 8772.‬

The final 3D or GPU score for Mi 9T Pro is 7552+8772=16324.

This how I got the 3D Scores of all the smartphones. Let’s write the data in the table below to compare them.

Mid-Range	GPU	Score	Flagship	GPU	Score
Realme X2 Pro	Adreno 640	18526	Razer Phone 2	Adreno 630	15510
OnePlus 7	Adreno 640	17244	Asus ROG Phone	Adreno 630	14083
Asus Zenfone 6	Adreno 640	17211	Nokia 9 PureView	Adreno 630	14071
Mi 9t Pro	Adreno 640	16324	Sony Xperia XZ2	Adreno 630	14037
iPhone XR	4-core Graphics	15402	Huawei Mate 20 Pro	Mali-G76 MP10	13645
Huawei Nova 5T	Mali-G76 MP10	12376	Pixel 3XL	Adreno 630	13369
Huawei Honor 20	Mali-G76 MP10	12017	Samsung Note 9	Adreno 630	13350
Xiaomi Mi Note 10	Adreno 618	9598	HTC U12+	Adreno 630	12199
Samsung A70	Adreno 612	6927	LG V40	Adreno 630	11894
Google Pixel 3a XL	Adreno 615	7560	iPhone X	4-core Graphics	9439

Let’s compare the GPU scores and award points to each smartphone according to their scores.

Mid-Range Smartphone	Points	Flagship Smartphone	Points
Realme X2 Pro	1.0	Razer Phone 2	0.6
OnePlus 7	1.0	Asus ROG Phone	0.5
Asus Zenfone 6	1.0	Nokia 9 PureView	0.5
Mi 9t Pro	1.0	Sony Xperia XZ2	0.5
iPhone XR	0.9	Huawei Mate 20 Pro	0.5
Huawei Nova 5T	0.3	Pixel 3XL	0.5
Huawei Honor 20	0.2	Samsung Note 9	0.5
Xiaomi Mi Note 10	0.1	HTC U12+	0.4
Samsung A70	0	LG V40	0.3
Google Pixel 3a XL	0	iPhone X	0.2
	Total=5.5		Total=4.5

Realme X2 Pro beats every Flagship smartphone in GPU score, so it earns a whole point. Google Pixel 3a XL does not beat even one Flagship smartphone in the 3D score which is why it earns zero scores. Asus ROG Phone beats five Mid-Range smartphones in 3D Scores which is why it got 0.5 points.

The results of the 3D scores conclude that Mid-Range smartphones can outperform a Flagship smartphone in 3D or Graphics performance. This again does not mean that the Mid-Range smartphones can beat the Flagships in every 3D task.

Memory Performance

Memory or Ram Performance is not important but is overlooked by most people and even reviewers. Most reviewers and content creators do not even look at the Ram speeds and only look at the Ram capacity which is unfortunate, to say the least. We are not going to make the same mistake.

Since there is not a lot of data on Ram’s performance. I could only find one reliable source that benchmarks Ram speeds i.e. Passmark.

Mid-Range Smartphones	Ram Score	Flagship Smartphones	Ram Score
iPhone XR	30,231,952	iPhone X	25,815,152
Realme X2	31,257	Mate 20 Pro	30,134
OnePlus 7	30,784	Asus ROG Phone	12,698
Huawei Nova 5T	29,818	Razer Phone 2	12,361
Honor 20	29,563	HTC U12+	12,280
Asus zenfone 6	29,023	Sony Xperia XZ2	12,278
Mi 9T Pro	28,115	Nokia 9 Pureview	12,078
Mi Note 10	23,129	Pixel 3XL	11,733
Samsung A70	23,127	LG V40	11,251
Pixel 3a XL	9,392	Samsung Note 9	8,609

Now that all the values are on the table, let’s assign performance by comparing scores.

Mid-Range Smartphones	Points	Flagship Smartphones	Points
iPhone XR	1.0	iPhone X	0.9
Realme X2 Pro	0.9	Mate 20 Pro	0.7
OnePlus 7	0.9	Asus ROG Phone	0.1
Huawei Nova 5T	0.8	Razer Phone 2	0.1
Honor 20	0.8	HTC U12+	0.1
Asus zenfone 6	0.8	Sony Xperia XZ2	0.1
Mi 9T Pro	0.8	Nokia 9 Pureview	0.1
Mi Note 10	0.8	Pixel 3XL	0.1
Samsung A70	0.8	LG V40	0.1
Pixel 3a XL	0.1	Samsung Note 9	0
	Total=7.7		Total=2.3

This round is a clear winner for Mid-Range Smartphones, no comparison here.

Storage Performance

Storage is also known as internal storage or ROM. It holds all of the media files as well as the operating system. If you are an average consumer who does not want to look at all the specifications of a smartphone. Just look at the storage performance because better storage performance means better overall performance in all the areas. I am saying this because storage is the bottleneck in most of the budget and Mid-Range smartphones.

I will be comparing the storage of smartphones by comparing their Passmark Disk Mark scores and UL Benchmarks storage scores. Basically, I am going to add the scores of ‘PCMark Storage’ and PassMark ‘Disk Mark’.

Mid-Range	Storage	Scores	Flagship	Storage	Scores
iPhone XR	NVMe	117,885	iPhone X	NVMe	96,816
Mi Note 10	UFS 2.0	82873	Asus ROG Phone	UFS 2.1	87810
Mi 9T Pro	UFS 2.1	79570	Pixel 3XL	UFS 2.1	85789
OnePlus 7	UFS 3.0	77370	Nokia 9 Pureview	UFS 2.1	75716
Asus zenfone 6	UFS 2.1	74683	Mate 20 Pro	UFS 2.1	75540
Pixel 3a XL	eMMC 5.1	74267	Razer Phone 2	UFS 2.1	74765
Huawei Nova 5t	UFS 2.1	69921	HTC U12+	UFS 2.1	70721
Realme X2 Pro	UFS 2.1	69211	Samsung Note 9	UFS 2.1	65482
Samsung A70	UFS 2.0	61902	Sony Xperia XZ2	UFS 2.1	64177
Honor 20	UFS 2.1	48151	LG V40	UFS 2.1	61258

Even if these numbers seem insignificant to you. There is one thing that you must understand by now that not all storages are the same. Almost all of the Flagship smartphones have UFS 2.1 and the speed of storage is entirely different. ASUS ROG Phone is 30% faster than the LG V40 storage.

Another important point is that an eMMC 5.1 storage can outperform a UFS 2.1 storages as shown in the table above. The eMMC 5.1 storage of the Google Pixel 3a XL is faster than the UFS 2.1 storage of Honor 20 or Nova 5T.

Let’s compare and assign the points to each smartphone now.

Mid-Range Smartphone	Points	Flagship Smartphone	Points
iPhone XR	1.0	iPhone X	0.9
Mi Note 10	0.7	Asus ROG Phone	0.9
Mi 9T Pro	0.7	Google Pixel 3XL	0.9
OnePlus 7	0.7	Nokia 9 Pureview	0.6
Asus zenfone 6	0.4	Mate 20 Pro	0.6
Pixel 3a XL	0.4	Razer Phone 2	0.6
Huawei Nova 5t	0.3	HTC U12+	0.4
Realme X2 Pro	0.3	Samsung Note 9	0.2
Samsung  A70	0.1	Sony Xperia XZ2	0.2
Huawei Honor 20	0	LG V40	0.1
	Total=4.6		Total=5.4

The Flagship Smartphones have finally won a round but with only a small margin.

Display Comparison

The display or screen comparison is the toughest item on the list. I would have to compare different aspects of a display.

These are the aspects that will determine the display quality of a smartphone:

1 ) Maximum Brightness: The maximum brightness a smartphone display can achieve in cd/m2 or nits. The higher the better.

2) Color Gamut: A range of colors that are achievable by a display. The larger variety of colors a display can produce, the better would be the dynamic range of the display. Higher is Better.

3) Color Accuracy: Color Accuracy is measured by the difference between the color produced by the display and the color requested by the source. The difference is measured by the distance which is also known as Delta-E or ΔE. You can read more about Color Accuracy here.

The color dots should be inside in the squares to achieve perfect Color Accuracy. Further, the more closer the dots are to the squares, the better the Color Accuracy.

4) Screen Response Time: It represents how fast the display is able to change from one color to the next. Fast response times are really important for fast-paced gamers. It is divided into two categories; one is Response Time from black to white and second is Response Time from 50% Grey to 80% Grey. I will show the added times of both of these categories in the table below. Less Response time is better.

5) Brightness Distribution: The brightness is not the same in every area of the screen. Some displays have more brightness in the center and less in the corners. The less the brightness distribution of a display, the better.

Mid-Range	Max Brightness (nits) Higher is Better	Color Gamut (sRGB) Higher is Better	Color Accuracy (ΔE) Lower is Better	Response Time (ms) Lower is Better	Brightness Distribution Higher is Better
Mi Note 10	607	138%	4.38	18	89%
Honor 20	493	98.6%	1.1	70.8	95%
Samsung A70	557	98%	3.3	8	98%
Zenfone 6	593	98.7%	3.5	69.6	79%
Nova 5T	542	99.9%	6.6	72.8	86%
Pixel 3A XL	418	100%	1.3	6.4	96%
Realme X2 Pro	700	125%	5.2	38	91%
OnePlus 7	621	99.7%	3.5	14	94%
Mi 9T Pro	639	142.2%	1.51	13	91%
iPhone XR	672	100%	1.3	65.6	92%

Flagship	Max Brightness (nits) Higher is Better	Color Gamut (sRGB) Higher is Better	Color Accuracy (ΔE) Lower is Better	Response Time (ms) Lower is Better	Brightness Distribution Higher is Better
Pixel 3XL	419	100%	3.16	30	97%
Samsung Note 9	521	144.6%	4.62	16	96%
Mate 20 Pro	620	99.1%	1.3	8	90%
Asus ROG Phone	720	114.9%	5.12	7	83%
Razer Phone 2	601	97.7%	3.43	30	92%
iPhone X	629	99.3%	1.2	4.5	94%
Xperia XZ2	646	99.8%	1.5	60	96%
HTC U12+	429	97.3%	1.6	72	90%
LG V40	580	96.5%	3.3	8.4	89%
Nokia 9	675	92.5%	2.3	6.4	92%

There are five categories here, each of these categories(max brightness, color gamut, etc) now holds 0.2 points. If a Mid-Range smartphone could beat all Flagship smartphones in one category, it would win 0.2 points. To get a whole 1 point, a smartphone would have to beat every other smartphone on the other list in all the categories.

Mid-Range Smartphones	Points	Flagship Smartphones	Points
Mi Note 10	0.1+0.18+0.04+0.08+0.02=0.42	Pixel 3XL	0.02+0.14+0.12+0.1+0.18=0.56
Honor 20	0.04+0.08+0.2+0.02+0.03=0.37	Samsung Note 9	0.04+0.2+0.04+0.12+0.17=0.57
Samsung A70	0.06+0.08+0.07+0.13+0.2=0.54	Mate 20 Pro	0.12+0.06+0.16+0.17+0.06=0.57
Zenfone 6	0.08+0.08+0.04+0.04+0=0.24	Asus ROG Phone	0.2+0.14+0.04+0.18+0.02=0.58
Nova 5T	0.06+0.14+0+0+0.02=0.22	Razer Phone 2	0.1+0+0.06+0.05+0.11=0.32
Pixel 3A XL	0+0.15+0.17+0.17+0.16=0.65	iPhone X	0.14+0.06+0.18+0.2+0.13=0.71
Realme X2 Pro	0.18+0.18+0+0.04+0.08=0.48	Xperia XZ2	0.16+0.08+0.14+0.08+0.17=0.63
OnePlus 7	0.12+0.12+0.04+0.1+0.13=0.51	HTC U12+	0.02+0+0.12+0.02+0.06=0.22
Mi 9T Pro	0.14+0.18+0.14+0.1+0.08=0.64	LG V40	0.08+0+0.11+0.16+0.05=0.4
iPhone XR	0.16+0.15+0.17+0+0.1=0.58	Nokia 9	0.18+0+0.12+0.19+0.09=0.58
	Total=4.65		Total=5.35

A close victory for flagship smartphones. But man it took me two whole days to complete display comparison.

Comms Performance

In this category, We are going to compare the Wifi performance of all the smartphones on the list. We are going to test the transmission and reception speeds of Wifi which can also be visualized as upload and download speeds.

Mid-Range	iperf3 Client (receive) Mbit/s	iperf3 Client (transmit) Mbit/s	Flagship	iperf3 Client (receive) Mbit/s	iperf3 Client (transmit) Mbit/s
Pixel 3A XL	668	580	Mate 20 Pro	1001	696
iPhone XR	517	644	iPhone X	939	456
Zenfone 6	447	523	Xperia XZ2	669	663
Realme X2 Pro	410	407	LG V40	677	554
Mi 9T Pro	383	389	Nokia 9	638	523
OnePlus 7	388	330	HTC U12+	579	573
Mi Note 10	331	327	Pixel 3XL	635	456
Nova 5T	317	315	Razer Phone 2	604	388
Samsung A70	338	264	Samsung Note 9	485	485
Honor 20	302	294	Asus ROG Phone	116	96.7

We will compare the score of reception and transmission separately and combine the points to get the results.

Mid-Range	Points	Flagship	Points
Pixel 3A XL	0.3+0.4=0.7	Mate 20 Pro	0.5+0.5=1
iPhone XR	0.1+0.4=0.5	iPhone X	0.5+0.35=0.85
Zenfone 6	0.05+0.275=0.325	Xperia XZ2	0.5+0.5=1
Realme X2 Pro	0.05+0.1=0.15	LG V40	0.5+0.4=0.9
Mi 9T Pro	0.05+0.1=0.15	Nokia 9	0.45+0.375=0.825
OnePlus 7	0.05+0.05=0.1	HTC U12+	0.45+0.4=0.85
Mi Note 10	0.05+0.05=0.1	Pixel 3XL	0.45+0.35=0.8
Nova 5T	0.05+0.05=0.1	Razer Phone 2	0.45+0.25=0.7
Samsung A70	0.05+0.05=0.1	Samsung Note 9	0.4+0.35=0.75
Honor 20	0.05+0.05=0.1	Asus ROG Phone	0+0=0
	Total=2.325		Total=7.675

A clear victory for Flagship smartphones. No one really benchmarks the WIFI speeds. This is why Mid-range smartphones have mediocre wifi modem and no one knows about it.

Camera Comparison

I will be using DXOMark to quantify the scores of Camera of each smartphone.

Mi-Range Smartphone	DXOMark	Flagship Smartphone	DXOMark
Mi Note 10	124	Huawei Mate 20 Pro	112
OnePlus 7	114	Samsung Note 9	103
Honor 20	113	HTC U12+	103
Asus Zenfone 6	104	Pixel 3XL	102
Mi 9T Pro	102	iPhone X	97
Nova 5T	102	LG V40	97
Pixel 3a XL	101	Xperia XZ2	90
iPhone XR	101	Nokia 9	85
Realme X2 Pro	98	Asus Rog Phone	84
Samsung A70	85	Razer Phone 2	82

Mid-Range	Points	Flagship	Points
Mi Note 10	1	Huawei Mate 20 Pro	0.7
OnePlus 7	1	Samsung Note 9	0.6
Honor 20	1	HTC U12+	0.6
Asus Zenfone 6	0.9	Pixel 3XL	0.5
Mi 9T Pro	0.65	iPhone X	0.1
Nova 5T	0.65	LG V40	0.1
Pixel 3a XL	0.6	Xperia XZ2	0.1
iPhone XR	0.6	Nokia 9	0.05
Realme X2 Pro	0.6	Asus Rog Phone	0
Samsung A70	0.25	Razer Phone 2	0
	Total=7.25		Total=2.75

To be honest, I do not agree with the results in this category. Most of the Flagships in the list could outperform all the Mid-Range smartphones on the list. Camera quality depends on various factors, just look at it yourself.

Camera Smartphone on Budget

But I don’t have any other system to quantify the camera quality. We have relied on DXOMark results for the time being. We will come up with another way in the future to compare camera quality.

Battery and Charging Comparison

We will look at the battery endurance, charging speed and USB port type.

Mid-Range Smartphones	Battery Endurance (Higher is Better)	Charging Speed (Lower is Better)	USB Port Type
OnePlus 7	102h	91 min	3.1 type-c
Mi 9T Pro	103h	80min	2.0 type-c
Samsung A70	103h	95 min	2.0 type-c
Realme X2 Pro	94h	32 min	2.0 type-c
Xiaomi Mi Note 10	95h	66 min	2.0 type-c
Google Pixel 3A XL	98h	94 min	2.0 type-c
Huawei Honor 20	89h	90 min	2.0 type-c
Huawei Nova 5T	88h	92 min	2.0 type-c
Asus Zenfone 6	112h	152 min	2.0 type-c
iPhone XR	78h	148 min	2.0

Flagship Smartphones	Battery Endurance (Higher is Better)	Charging Speed (Lower is Better)	USB Port Type
Huawei Mate 20 Pro	85h	70 min	3.1 type-c
Samsung Note 9	97h	101 min	3.1 type-c
Asus ROG Phone	78h	87 min	3.1 type-c
Razer Phone 2	70h	75 min	2.0 type-c
Google Pixel 3XL	80h	100 min	3.1 type-c
Nokia 9 PureView	79h	120 min	3.1 type-c
Sony Xperia XZ2	88h	145 min	3.1 type-c
HTC U12+	64h	105 min	3.1 type-c
LG V40	64h	113 min	2.0 type-c
Apple iPhone X	74h	135 min	2.0

Battery endurance holds 0.4 points in total, charging time holds 0.4 points too and USB port type holds 0.2 points. 0.4+0.4+0.2=1.

If you to learn about the various charging standards, try this:

Smartphone Chargers Complete Guide

Mid-Range Smartphones	Points	Flagship Smartphones	Points
OnePlus 7	0.4+0.28+0.13=0.81	Huawei Mate 20 Pro	0.04+0.32+0.19=0.55
Mi 9T Pro	0.4+0.32+0.03=0.75	Samsung Note 9	0.2+0.08+0.19=0.47
Samsung A70	0.4+0.28+0.03=0.71	Asus ROG Phone	0.02+0.28+0.19=0.49
Realme X2 Pro	0.36+0.4+ 0.03=0.79	Razer Phone 2	0+0.32+0.09=0.41
Xiaomi Mi Note 10	0.36+0.4+ 0.03=0.79	Google Pixel 3XL	0.04+0.08+0.19=0.31
Google Pixel 3A XL	0.4+0.28+ 0.03 =0.71	Nokia 9 PureView	0.04+0.08+0.19=0.31
Huawei Honor 20	0.36+0.28+ 0.03 =0.67	Sony Xperia XZ2	0.06+0.08+0.19=0.33
Huawei Nova 5T	0.34+0.28+ 0.03 =0.65	HTC U12+	0+0.08+0.19=0.27
Asus Zenfone 6	0.4+0+ 0.03 =0.43	LG V40	0+0.08+0.09=0.17
iPhone XR	0.18+0+ 0.03 =0.21	Apple iPhone X	0+0.08+0.09=0.17
	Total= 6.52		Total= 3,48

Audio Quality

For the Audio, We will look only at the audio quality through headphones. Most people use headphones with their smartphones and only a small portion use speaker on the smartphone. Even in the people who use speakers on their smartphones, they still use headphones with their smartphones. So, we think headphone jack is more important than speaker sound.

I will be looking at the followings thing in the audio.

1) Frequency Response: The frequency response is used to describe the audible frequency range that a device can reproduce. Frequency response is also used to indicate the accuracy of amplifiers and speakers in reproducing audio and is a measurement of how much sound deviates (in decibels dB) at a given frequency (in Hertz Hz). We will look at this deviation from the specified frequency response of a device. Frequency response is given in two numbers (positive and negative). But we will take the difference between positive and negative numbers to quantify and compare the results. For example, the frequency response of the iPhone X is +0.02, -0.07. But we will write it as [0.02-(-0.07)] = 0.09. The lower the number, the better the frequency response of the device.

2) Signal to Noise Ratio: This represents the signal strength with respect to noise. If a speaker has 60dB, it means that the level of signal is 60dB higher than the level of noise. The higher the SNR, the better. SNR can be either positive and negative value if you represent it on the dB scale. Negative SNR means that Signal power is lower than the noise power.

3) Dynamic Range: It is the ratio of the loudest sounds to quietest sounds. It is measured in decibels or dB. In simple words, it represents how much variety of sounds can be played by a device simultaneously.
Dynamic range determines how well a device is able to play both loud and quiet sounds at the same time. The higher the dynamic range, the better.

4) Stereo Crosstalk: Stereo Crosstalk basically means how much sound bleed there is between the left and right channels. If there’s lots of cross-talk then that means that you are more likely to hear some of the sound destined for the left speaker sneak out of the right speaker as well (and vice versa). You always get a bit of cross-talk, even in high-end gear, but the more cross talk there is the less ‘stereo’ the music will sound. The larger the value of cross-talk is (the further away from zero), the better the quality of the sound coming from each channel.

Mid-Range	Frequency Response (dB) (Lower is Better)	Signal to Noise Ratio (dB) (Away from zero is better)	Dynamic Range (dB) (Higher is Better)	Stereo Crosstalk (Away from zero is better)
Mi 9T Pro	0.63	-92.7	92.9	-49.1
Mi Note 10	0.1	-91.5	89.9	-74.4
OnePlus 7	0.04	-90.5	91.4	-70.6
Zenfone 6	0.06	-81.1	82.7	-52
Honor 20	0.43	-97.7	96.3	-64.7
Nova 5T	0.09	-92.8	92.6	-74.5
Realme X2 Pro	0.55	-90.3	91.4	-51.5
Samsung A70	0.44	-88.1	89.0	-56.6
Pixel 3A XL	0.15	-94.1	94	-50.6
iPhone XR	0.9	-93.7	93.4	-76.3

Flagship	Frequency Response (dB) (Lower is Better)	Signal to Noise Ratio (dB) (Away from zero is better)	Dynamic Range (dB) (Higher is Better)	Stereo Crosstalk (Away from zero is better)
iPhone X	0.9	-93.7	93.4	-76.3
LG V40	0.06	-92.3	91.4	-69.8
HTC U12+	0.31	-93.7	93.6	-52.7
Mate 20 Pro	0.22	-92.1	92	-82.2
Samsung Note 9	0.05	-93.6	93.5	-93.2
Xperia XZ2	0.3	-89.4	91.9	-60.7
Nokia 9	0.1	-93.6	93.5	-54.8
Asus ROG Phone	7.02	-93.8	93.7	-91.3
Razer phone 2	0.3	-92.8	92.8	-68.3
Pixel 3 XL	0.3	-68.4	80.2	-61.1

Mid-Range	Points	Flagship	Points
Mi 9T Pro	0.05+0.1+0.125+0=0.275	iPhone X	0.0125+0.1625+0.1875+0.2375=0.6
Mi Note 10	0.1875+0.05+0.025+0.15=0.4125	LG V40	0.2375+0.125+0.1+0.15=0.6125
OnePlus 7	0.25+0.05+0.0375+0.15=0.475	HTC U12+	0.125+0.1875+0.2+0.1=0.6125
Zenfone 6	0.2125+0.025+0.025+0=0.2625	Mate 20 Pro	0.125+0.125+0.125+0.25=0.625
Honor 20	0.05+0.25+0.25+0.1=0.65	Samsung Note 9	0.225+0.175+0.2+0.25=0.85
Nova 5T	0.05+0.1125+0.1+0.15=0.4125	Xperia XZ2	0.125+0.05+0.125+0.125=0.425
Realme X2 Pro	0.05+0.05+0.0375+0=0.1375	Nokia 9	0.1625+0.175+0.2+0.1=0.6375
Samsung A70	0.05+0.025+0.025+0.05=0.15	Asus ROG Phone	0+0.2+0.2+0.25=0.65
Pixel 3A XL	0.175+0.25+0.25+0=0.675	Razer phone 2	0.125+0.1625+0.15+0.15=0.5875
iPhone XR	0.0125+0.2+0.1375+0.1625=0.5125	Pixel 3 XL	0.125+0+0+0.125=0.25
	Total= 3.96		Total= 6.04

Audio output from headphone jack or audio port is superior on Flagship Smartphones.

Extra Features:

This section would include any special or extra features a smartphone might have. We would compare the unique features, some are popular like Screen to Body ratio, some are rare like Headphone Jack.

Mid-Range	Water Proof	Memory Card	Headphone Jack	Screen To Body Ratio (Higher is Better)
Mi Note 10	No	No	Yes	87.8%
Mi 9T Pro	No	No	Yes	86.1%
Pixel 3A XL	No	No	Yes	76.3%
Honor 20	No	No	No	84.2%
Nova 5T	No	No	No	84.2%
Realme X2 Pro	No	No	Yes	84.9%
iPhone XR	IP 67	No	No	79%
Samsung A70	No	Yes	Yes	86%
Zenfone 6	No	Yes	Yes	83.8%
OnePlus 7	No	No	No	85.5%

Flagship	Water Proof	Memory Card	Headphone Jack	Screen To Body Ratio (Higher is Better)
Mate 20 Pro	IP 68	Yes	No	87.9%
Samsung Note 9	IP 68	Yes	Yes	83.4%
iPhone X	IP 67	No	No	82.9%
Pixel 3 XL	IP 68	No	No	82.8%
Xperia XZ2	IP 68	Yes	No	76.1%
Asus ROG Phone	No	No	Yes	76.8%
Razer Phone 2	IP 67	Yes	No	72%
LG V40	IP 68	Yes	Yes	83.6%
Nokia 9	IP 67	No	No	79.7%
HTC U12+	IP 68	Yes	No	80.3%

Mid-Range	Points	Flagship	Points
Mi Note 10	0+0+0.25+0.225=0.475	Mate 20 Pro	0.25+0.25+0+0.25=0.75
Mi 9T Pro	0+0+0.25+0.225=0.475	Samsung Note 9	0.25+0.25+0.25+0.05=0.80
Pixel 3A XL	0+0+0.25+0.05=0.3	iPhone X	0.25+0+0+0.05=0.30
Honor 20	0+0+0+0.225=0.225	Pixel 3 XL	0.25+0+0+0.05=0.30
Nova 5T	0+0+0+0.225=0.225	Xperia XZ2	0.25+0.25+0+0=0.5
Realme X2 Pro	0+ 0+0.25+0.225=0.475	Asus ROG Phone	0+0+0.25+0.025=0.275
iPhone XR	0.25+0+ 0+0.075=0.325	Razer Phone 2	0.25+0.25+0+0=0.50
Samsung A70	0+0.25+0.25+0.225=0.725	LG V40	0.25+0.25+0.25+0.05=0.80
Zenfone 6	0+0.25+0.25+0.225=0.725	Nokia 9	0.25+0+0+0.05=0.30
OnePlus 7	0+0+0+0.225=0.225	HTC U12+	0.25+0.25+0+0.05=0.55
	Total = 4.175		Total = 5.075

The categories in this section were independent except the Screen to Body Ratios one.

Winner!

Let’s add the points of all the categories and get our final result.

Categories	Mid-Range Smartphones	Flagship Smartphones
Processor	6.8	3.2
Graphics	5.5	4.5
Memory or Ram	7.7	2.3
Storage	4.6	5.4
Display	4.65	5.35
Comms	2.325	7.675
Camera	7.25	2.75
Battery and Charging	6.52	3.48
Audio	3.96	6.04
Extra Features	4.175	5.075
	Total = 53.48/100	Total = 45.72/100

The Mid-Range Smartphones are the clear winner holding 7.76 more points than the Flaghsip Smartphones.

So it is true, the Mid-Range Smartphones are getting better. Mid-Range Smartphones are even better than Flagship from the same year if you consider Performance/dollar.

Hope this helped, Share to Spread Awareness.
Cheers.

Sources:

The sources or websites I used to make this article are listed below.

• NoteBook Check
• GSMArena
• GeekBench
• PassMark
• Benchmarks.ul
• DXOMark