5G has already become popular. Is it cost-effective to buy a 4G mobile phone now?

At the beginning, I actually don’t recommend anyone to buy 4G mobile phones.

The reason is simple. As 5G mobile phones become more and more popular and the entire industry is embracing the 5G era as the main theme, it seems that there is really no need to buy 4G mobile phones anymore.

But my colleague said: You are wrong. You are a person who changes your mobile phone every week, so you are not interested in some old machines. It is natural for you to "buy new instead of old".

However, many "working people" do not change their mobile phones very often, and the price-performance ratio is actually the first factor they need to consider when buying a mobile phone. For them, buying a 4G mobile phone now is very cost-effective.

I think he is right.

“Spend little money to achieve great things”

The first question we must figure out is: It’s almost 2021, who are the people who buy 4G phones?

You will find that 5G mobile phones have accounted for an absolute proportion of the new models launched in 2020 (at least in the Chinese smartphone market, according to data from relevant institutions, the proportion of 5G terminals is already above).

The rapid popularization of 5G on terminals is mainly due to two reasons: First, my country attaches great importance to 5G. The vigorous development of the entire market, policy guidance, and full support from operators have created a good environment for the deployment of 5G terminal equipment.

Secondly, upstream chip companies such as Qualcomm, MediaTek, and HiSilicon are vigorously promoting the coverage of 5G products. Currently, most of the newly released mid-range processors have achieved 5G support.

Then, conversely, what kind of devices are the 4G mobile phones on sale? They can be roughly divided into two categories: one is the affordable market for entry-level user groups. This market belongs to the "low-lying area" of the smartphone market, and feature phones from the 2G era still occupy a considerable share; the second is some of the remaining stock models on the market, such as old models from last year or even earlier.

Of course, there is an exception, such as Xiaomi and Transsion, which have a large share in the overseas market. The development speed of 5G overseas is far slower than that in China, so they still need to maintain a part of the 4G product scale.

What do the users who choose the above two models have in common? They must be users with limited purchasing budgets.

Students and the middle-aged and elderly groups are the main users of entry-level phones or even feature phones. These users do not have high requirements for mobile network and function support. They only need mobile phones for daily communication and support for social platforms such as WeChat.

For them, 5G may not be as practical as a "large memory" that can store more photos and a "large battery" that can last longer.

A typical representative of this type of model is the Redmi Note9 4G version that was just released some time ago. It is very obvious that this phone is designed with a large screen, long battery life, and large storage, which is very suitable for the needs of entry-level users. In addition, this model is actually aimed at the overseas market to a large extent.

It is actually easier to understand why people choose older devices, because they just want to "do big things with little money."

According to the new product releases of various mid-range manufacturers throughout 2020, there is no need to say much about the flagship market. The mid-range market of domestic mainstream brands can also achieve a large range of 5G coverage. Under such circumstances, non-entry-level users can choose from fewer 4G models, which are basically some mid- and high-end models from previous years.

Typical models for this group are the iPhone 11 and the new iPhone SE released in the first half of the year. They have gone through a period of product cycles and their channel prices are very favorable. In terms of overall experience, except for not supporting 5G, they still have high product competitiveness.

For users, being able to buy the former flagship at a very favorable price is actually not a loss. This is actually supported by data. The best-selling model in the world in 2020 is the iPhone 11 released last year.

Even after upgrading, there may still be "no network available"

In fact, these two types of users have relatively pragmatic considerations in choosing 4G models at the moment.

In addition, we must also recognize a reality: many of the current 5G mobile phones actually do not have 5G networks available.

The core reason is the coverage of 5G network. The latest data shows that China Mobile has opened more than 385,000 5G base stations, providing 5G services to all prefecture-level cities and some key county towns across the country, and developing more than 90 million 5G terminal users; as of October this year, China Telecom and China Unicom have jointly built and shared 5G networks, with a total of about 330,000 5G base stations opened. In addition, the two companies have also built a small number of self-built base stations. The three major operators have opened more than 700,000 5G base stations in total.

In fact, the network coverage speed is one of the best in the world. But after all, we are a big country with a vast territory, and the number of base stations is far from enough.

According to the 5G network coverage plan, the three major operators will basically achieve good 5G coverage in cities, county towns and some key towns across the country by 2021. In other words, 5G network coverage in many cities and towns will not be achieved until the end of next year. As for some rural and remote areas, it may take longer.

The two groups of people we mentioned above happen to be mostly concentrated in these geographical areas. Before operators achieve 5G network coverage, even if you buy a 5G phone, you can only use it as a 4G phone.

On the application side, the experience advantages of 5G mobile phones are even less obvious.

Take ourselves as an example. As technology media practitioners, we should be the first group of people in the country to use 5G terminals and networks. But in terms of daily experience, 5G still lacks sufficiently unique usage scenarios at present. In the past year or so, the real 5G application we have used is the network speed test APP. Whether it is Bilibili, Tencent, or applications such as Douyin and Kuaishou, the current 4G network can fully meet daily needs.

Before the application scenarios developed specifically for 5G with absolute experience advantages are implemented, the experience of 5G network for most people may be just "a little faster network speed". But the price paid is higher power consumption.

In fact, even top manufacturers like Apple have added a "smart switching" function to the iPhone's network mode to take care of battery life. So in a sense, the current 5G may really just "increase power consumption" in the minds of many people.

Questions about usage costs

Another factor that needs to be considered is the cost of use, which is related to the tariff.

Although the current 4G packages are also "compatible" with 5G networks, their speed is strictly limited to less than 300Mbps. If you want to break through the operational 5G speed limit, you must upgrade to a 5G package.

At present, there are not many types of 5G network packages of the three major operators, and the monthly charges are generally over 100 yuan. For example, China Mobile's 5G Smart Enjoy package has a minimum monthly charge of 128 yuan, China Unicom's Enjoy Ice Cream 5G package has a minimum monthly charge of 129 yuan, and China Telecom's 5G Enjoy package also has a minimum monthly charge of 129 yuan.

Although operators around the world have offered certain discounts and offers for these packages in order to promote 5G, or have launched some special 5G traffic packages, the overall cost of using 5G network packages is still around RMB 100. This is actually a considerable cost for the entry-level market group we mentioned above.

Relatively speaking, the current 4G package not only has a variety of options, but also has cheaper rates. For the same communication and network needs, the monthly fee can be about half of that of the 5G package.

Since "they all work about the same" and 5G is even more expensive, why upgrade?

So my conclusion is that if you are interested in a 4G phone now, and your budget and needs just meet it, please feel free to buy it, and don't consider 5G at all. If your budget is not particularly limited, I actually recommend that you consider some mid-to-high-end 4G flagship products in 2019. At the same price, these products are more worthy of choice in terms of design, workmanship, and quality. And considering the factors of system support in the later stage of each brand, these flagship models also do better.

Of course, we need to pay attention to the purchase channel. After all, there is a certain probability that the old models are refurbished. This issue is another article in detail. I can only remind you here not to choose some too old models as much as possible. In addition, when purchasing, look for some reliable and guaranteed large platforms and channels.

In terms of tariffs, the current 4G packages, especially some new network packages, are very affordable. You can consider it according to your needs. We understand that major operators now also recommend 5G packages to 4G mobile phone users. It is not a special discount, so you don’t need to consider it for the time being. The existing 4G packages are completely sufficient. If your phone replacement cycle is more than 2 years or even longer, it is not too late for you to enter the 5G era around 2022. By then, both the terminal and the tariff price will be more advantageous than the current one, and there will be more choices.

Before this, you don't have to care about what people around you say. Only what suits you is the best.