In the last two years or so, one word has become increasingly popular in the mobile industry: flagship.
New flagship from Samsung. Which best flagship 2015? Is this the new flagship of company X?
It is used everywhere, and almost every new high-quality smartphone is called a flagship. But what is a flagship smartphone really? What does this term actually mean? Are we using it correctly?
By Wikipedia, the flagship is the best on this moment a model, most importantly, produced in a specific organization.
From this it can be understood that specifications They don’t determine whether they belong to the flagships in any way. Suppose we take the most good model from explay (Explay AIR) and with its meager characteristics, it is still a flagship, although it was not close to the same Samsung Galaxy S6.
The roots of this term go back to the navy. The word flagship originated as a naval term, used to describe the most important ship in a fleet - or the ship that carries the commander. This also explains why, especially in the mobile industry, the term has become so popular, and... abused.
If the flagship is the best and most revered vessel in the fleet at the moment, then it is natural that the company's highest-end smartphone is considered its flagship, right? In most cases, absolutely. But the term is losing its meaning, and not just because of the media.
About a month ago, everyone was expecting the release of Lumia 730 and Lumia 830. And none of them even claimed to be the flagship. If Microsoft hadn’t blurted out the slogan: “830 is the first affordable flagship.”
What does this even mean, sorry Bill, but the Lumia 935 is more like a flagship, and does it cost no less than the flagships of other companies? 
Speaking in mobile phone terms, or even more specifically from Samsung's point of view, which model can we call a flagship?
Samsung releases dozens of phone models every year. Of course, only a few stand out in the endless list Samsung smartphones: Galaxy S5 and S6, Galaxy Note 4, and currently the Galaxy Alpha series of smartphones. Of these Galaxy, Alpha is definitely not a flagship brand.
The other two are regularly called flagships, but that can't be true, can it? There is only one flagship.
The flagship has become almost synonymous with “high class” or “premium”, it is not correct.
So how to determine such a smartphone - by specification, price, or sales volume. I think the flagship shouldn't even be absolute best phone in the company's lineup. I would say that a flagship smartphone is the one that brings the best profit and sells better than others.
Most smartphone manufacturers highlight the top devices in their product line, on which they pin their hopes. Such devices are usually called flagships. A flagship is a smartphone that is distinguished by advanced functionality and is superior in equipment to other models of the manufacturer. The term migrated from the navy, where the flagship is the most powerful ship in the squadron, on board which the command is located.
A flagship doesn't necessarily have the best of the mobile world. If a manufacturer produces budget handsets (like many Chinese companies), then the flagship may also correspond to the middle class. This state of affairs can be observed, for example, in Philips or Fly. Their tops can only compete with the “average” Samsung or LG. However, these are full-fledged flagships against the backdrop of the most popular inexpensive smartphones for 100-300 dollars.
In their advanced smartphones, manufacturers strive to embody all the achievements and new technologies that are ready for practical use. If a company has its own powerful research base, then the latest developments are used. Companies that use components from third party developers, do not have access to them. In this case, use the best parts that are freely available. Processor suppliers are companies such as Qualcomm or MediaTek, memory is purchased from Samsung, Hynix or Elpida, and displays are purchased from Sharp, Samsung, JDI or LG.
Samsung flagship series
Samsung is the main flagship manufacturer in the smartphone world. The company's top-end devices are such not only in the manufacturer's model range, but also in the market as a whole. This is possible thanks to the concentration of enormous resources, the presence of our own divisions for the development and production of components, as well as large-scale financing.
Samsung installs the fastest RAM and permanent memory in its flagships, latest processors Exynos Octa, Super AMOLED screens ultra-high (2.5K) resolution and high-quality cameras. All these smartphone parts are made by Samsung independently and are not available to other companies until the jackpot is hit on sales of new products.
Samsung flagship series from Galaxy S (2010) to Galaxy S6 (2015)
Samsung's flagship line is Galaxy smartphones S. Top phablets belong to the Galaxy Note series. It is in these smartphones that the main achievements are concentrated.
Apple flagships
Apple has a different approach when it comes to releasing flagships. Unlike Samsung, the company does not have its own production facilities. The components are supplied by third party contractors, and they also do the assembly. As a result, Apple does not have the opportunity to install the most advanced parts. Yes and the lineup, compared to competitors, looks more modest. Therefore, there are no obvious flagships among the iPhone. Almost every iPhone (with the exception of models positioned as budget ones, like the 5C or SE) can be called a flagship.
Not having the opportunity (and even the particular desire) to be “in the forefront” of implementing new technologies, Apple prefers to work on the quality of implementation. The company's policy is that it is better to thoughtfully implement proven technology than to experiment with a new one and “catch” bugs in it. Therefore, the iPhone is a flagship, despite the fact that “on paper” its characteristics can be attributed to the middle class at most.
Other flagship smartphones
LG produces flagship smartphones in the G line, where it also implements advanced developments in the field of screens and cameras. Sony promoted the Xperia Z series until 2016, which also included best displays(up to 4K) and cameras (up to 22 MP) of our own production. Now the Xperia X series has become the flagship.
Other companies do not have such a powerful production and research base, so they are forced to use third-party developments. The only exception is Huawei, which makes Kirin processors themselves. Until 2016, HTC released top-end smartphones in the One M series, but the latest flagship of 2016 bears the name HTC 10, without additional letters.
The most difficult thing is to determine the flagships of the Chinese. While Xiaomi and Meizu have it easy with this (Mi and MX series, respectively), Lenovo, ZTE, Huawei, Oppo do not produce special series, which include only distinct flagships. And the wide range of models does not allow us to clearly identify the “best” smartphone from the company.
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Features of flagship devices
- A flagship smartphone is a kind of presentation of all the innovative developments of a particular company.
- That is why the device becomes a kind of display of all the most fashionable new products and the latest technologies, including a clear, expressive design.
- However, it is worth boldly noting that the most profitable and necessary developments are then necessarily transferred to all other smartphones from the company’s line.
- Every lover of modern gadgets will be happy to discover the so-called flagship smartphone. The current market offers several such models, of which special attention is drawn Apple iPhone 5S.
- Exactly this device For the first time in the history of development of this field, it was equipped with a processor whose power is equivalent to 64 bits.
- Samsung Galaxy S4 is a different flagship smartphone model, the advantages of which are an incredibly wide variety of games and programs, even compared to the same iPhone.
- In addition, this device is complemented by a powerful camera. However, it’s fair to say that this smartphone can hardly be called ideal, even for its fabulous price.
- The plastic body of the model does not fit into the frame of an elite telephone device.
Examples of flagship models
- It is worth mentioning one more model as an example. This Sony Xperia. Great screen in sensitivity, and decent parameters random access memory, reaching 3GB, do this smartphone in fact, not just fashionable, but also practical and easy to use.
Perhaps the combination of such characteristics is not something definitely innovative in the mobile phone market, however this company released this kind of smartphone for the first time.
- Flagships are offered in different versions. They are all different, but they claim to be unique presentations of the advantages of a particular company, such as the LG G2.
- Among devices operating on the basis of OS Window, it is worth highlighting Nokia Lumia 925. However, despite the fact that the company itself presents it as a flagship phone, one can doubt this.
Even the previous 920 model was designed for 32 GB of memory. The new product allows you to work with only 16 GB. That is why, having heard a sonorous advertising name, you should not immediately purchase a new product without analyzing the main characteristics.
Users mobile devices people often wonder what a flagship is. This term is quite often used for various consumer electronics. We often hear phrases like “flagship device,” “flagship smartphone,” and “flagship features,” but we have little understanding of what it all means. In fact, these terms do not have a clear definition, since each person may have their own understanding of the word “flagship”.
Meaning of the term
If we look at history, we can come to the conclusion that this word has nothing to do with smartphones. Initially, the flagship was the name given to the ship carrying the commander of the navy. As a rule, such a ship was marked with an officer's flag. From this we can conclude that the word “flagship” is in some sense a synonym for the word “main”. That's why flagships are usually called the most advanced mobile devices in a particular manufacturer's lineup.
If you want to better understand the meaning of a word, the first step is to turn to dictionaries to find out its official definition. It turns out that the flagship is not only a naval ship. This word can have another meaning - “the best and most important item from a system or group.”
It seems that mobile device developers have used an alternative meaning of the word to refer to their best smartphones. But the question arises whether the devices that are called flagships are really the best on the market. The problem is that mobile devices become obsolete very quickly. What is currently considered a flagship product may become obsolete in just a few months.
Most often, a manufacturing company uses this word to refer to a smartphone that it considers its best product at the moment. Thanks to this approach, everything immediately becomes clear. As a result, it becomes very easy to distinguish flagships from regular phones. Flagship status is automatically assigned to the company's best all-round phone and is not dependent on features or specifications. The flagship is considered the most popular device that is in demand regardless of whether it has the most advanced features. Even manufacturers of relatively cheap mobile devices have their own smartphones that also fall under this definition.
Typically, Flagship represents everything that a single company can offer within 1 phone. At the same time, the manufacturing company itself decides which device is considered the main one, effectively depriving its customers of this right. Typically, Flagship has all or most of the features that the company has developed at the time of its release. For example, samsung device The Galaxy, which has 4GB of RAM, is considered to be the main one, even though the OnePlus 3 has 6GB of RAM. The new flagship must have best characteristics compared to its predecessor.
Such mobile phone will always be compared with other devices. The company is trying to make its Flagship as impressive as possible so that it looks decent against its competitors. But contrary to popular belief, the main phone may not always be the most expensive in the line. Recently, there has been an interesting trend where manufacturers are increasingly leaning towards so-called budget flagships. Such devices are compared not with expensive competitors’ phones, but with those devices that are in the same price range.
Since all smartphone manufacturers designate certain devices flagships, buyers will first of all pay attention to them. If a phone is assigned this status, it automatically falls into a certain category, which distinguishes it from a huge variety of less popular devices. But what are the defining characteristics that earn a phone flagship status?
It can be assumed that such a smartphone must have functions that are considered standard among competitors. For example, a device with a 1080 pixel display cannot achieve Flagship status because all companies are already moving to the Quad HD standard.
Usually this is a device that is noticeably superior in its capabilities to other models of the manufacturer. Every company has its own flagships, but the greatest interest, of course, is in devices created by recognized market leaders. They are the ones people talk about most, and they are the ones that other, less well-known companies focus on.
At the same time, a flagship smartphone, by definition, cannot be cheap. But even the high price does not stop those who want to own top-end devices. Today we will tell you why you should choose such devices.
Advanced Solutions
All the most interesting and unusual things appear first in flagship smartphones. Dual cameras, screens with incredible high resolution, support for NFC and 4G/LTE networks, extremely powerful processors, a solid amount of RAM, wireless charger- this list can be continued. Everything we listed could initially be seen only on top-end devices. And only after some time these features begin to be found in devices belonging to other price categories.
Unique Features
Although many solutions are gradually moving from the flagship segment to the middle class and even to the budget category, top-end devices can often boast that they have truly unique functions. Such that they are almost, if not not, found in other smartphones. Examples? Please! A screen optimized for the use of a stylus or distinguishes between pressures made with different strengths. Camera with optical zoom. Display resolution compliant with 4K standard.
Stylish design
Not only powerful filling, but also stylish design, as well as carefully thought out ergonomics. Such a device cannot help but look attractive. Therefore, it impresses even those who are poorly versed in the world of modern mobile devices. You can immediately see from it: this is a thing that is worthy of attention. Most modern flagships are made from carefully crafted metal and tempered glass, and developers come up with interesting colors for them.
High quality
A flagship smartphone is made with the expectation that you will use it for a long time. This means that it is simply impossible to find fault with the build quality. This device is pleasant to hold in your hand, nothing creaks in it, and all functions work perfectly. The same applies to optimization; after all, the top device is considered the face of the company, and they work on it with special diligence. Yes, minor troubles and real incidents do happen, but much less frequently than with models in other price categories.
Doesn't get old for a long time
Any top-end device is ahead of its time. This means that it will not become outdated for a long time. Even if you don’t have the opportunity to purchase a new device every six months or a year, the capabilities of your flagship will allow it to compete on equal terms with new middle-class models for several years and even surpass them. First of all, this concerns computing abilities: top-end devices released several years ago can easily handle the launch modern applications and games. It is not surprising that there are people who are happy to purchase last year’s flagships, which have fallen in price due to the appearance of fresh, top-end devices that have just gone on sale.
Long-term support
The reason mentioned above is related to another one - long-term support. Manufacturers pay special attention to their flagship devices and do not forget to update them OS and branded shells. It is the top models that receive updates first, and in some cases they are the only ones that are updated. Therefore, despite the fact that 2-3 years have passed since its release, a smartphone belonging to this category does not look outdated.
Simple repairs at the service center
Separately, it is worth noting that spare parts for a flagship smartphone are easier to find than for a nameless budget phone from a little-known manufacturer. In addition, leading companies have a wide network of authorized service centers staffed by specialists who know their business well. And repairing a top-end device is really profitable.
Versatility
Flagship device – universal device, with which you can solve a variety of problems. Using it, you understand that the definition of a smartphone is mobile computer, which you can call, is completely true. You can watch videos on the screen with excellent detail, play the latest games, surf the Internet at high speed, make video calls, take photos, and each function works without compromising the others. It's not that easy to get that kind of experience with a budget device or even a mid-range device.
