For the vast majority of you out there, as much as it is interesting for you to see what new phones come out, you will always stick with a certain make, usually the successor from the smartphone you already have. For example, someone with an Apple iPhone 7 is likely to get the iPhone 8 and so on. For the majority, this is fine for them. However, if you really want the best smartphone to suit your needs, taking some tips when it comes to purchasing a smartphone might actually make you realize that there are better alternatives out there. Here are some tips to purchasing a smartphone in 2018.

Understand the Yearly Smartphone Cycle

The first step is to realize that smartphones are released on a yearly cycle from companies, following a structure similar to the one outlined:

• January – This is when CES (Consumer Electronics Show) happens and sees a whole bunch of mid range phones released.
• February – This is when MWC (Mobile World Congress) occurs, releasing phones for all tiers (upper, lower and middle tiers).
• March – April – During this time, Samsung release their Galaxy S line smartphone, LG with their G line, Huawei for their P line and Motorola for the Moto range.
• May – July – During this time, a release comes from OnePlus.
• August – September – A time of the year that can be deemed the busiest for smartphones, this is where the iPhone, Samsung Note range and Moto Z Force update are released.
• October – November – This is when the Google Pixel line is released, with the LG V series, another incremental OnePlus update and the Huawei Mate range is released.

Tip: Update your smartphone August onwards. This means the early smartphones are a little more discounted, whilst you can see new smartphones from the like of Apple, Samsung, OnePlus and Google.

Make a Decision Matrix

A decision matrix is a way of deciphering, with numbers, what you care about most. It can be done via table format where you:

1. For the far left column, list what you care about with a smartphone (e.g. screen size, battery, features, software, camera etc.).
2. In the next column, add a weighting scale from 1-10 as to how important each of the pointers from the list are to you (e.g. camera a 3/10, battery a 7/10 etc.)
3. For each of the remaining headings, you have a different smartphone (e.g. iPhone X, Google Pixel 2 etc.).
4. Rate each smartphone using the rating list you created. Multiply each value by the weighting.
5. Whatever smartphone gets the highest score in total wins and should be the one you should buy.

Ultimately, you should not purchase a smartphone because you like something about it. You should buy it because it fits the needs you have which you care about most. For example, if you like the curved screen on the S9, does that mean it is going to fit the needs you have the most? How does a curved screen fit your needs? If it does not, then the ‘likeness’ around it will ware off very quickly.