Before proceeding any further, let’s address the elephant in the room. Is the Apple iPhone 6s still worth buying in this day and age? The question is more relevant than ever after Apple admitted to throttling the CPU performance on older iPhones as a measure to increase battery life. The issue needs to be addressed…
Before proceeding any further, let’s address the elephant in the room. Is the Apple iPhone 6s still worth buying in this day and age? The question is more relevant than ever after Apple admitted to throttling the CPU performance on older iPhones as a measure to increase battery life. The issue needs to be addressed beforehand as people take the release of a new iPhone as an opportunity to buy older iPhone models which almost always get a price cut. Long story short, the answer is no, it is not worth buying a nearly three-year-old smartphone solely because its made by Apple. Instead, here are some similarly priced Android alternatives for the iPhone 6 Plus; the Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus and the Nokia 8. They’re guaranteed to give you a much better value for your money at a relatively lesser cost.
Apple stepped up their design game post the iPhone 5 and the new design technique is apparent in the iPhone 6S Plus. The all-metal aluminium body and the front/back glass make it sturdy and resistant to an occasional drop or two. It is also IP68 water and dust resistant, allowing it to survive the occasional dunk or two. We don’t know much about the exact nature of the Galaxy A8 2018 because it isn’t released yet. But we can be assured that the build quality will be premium, much like other similarly priced devices. The Nokia 8 has the best build quality of the three as its aluminium body feels sturdier and is frankly one of the best-built phones out there, at this moment.
The Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 is the only bezel-less device of the lot, with the Nokia 8 and the iPhone 6S Plus opting for a more traditional design. Along with a bezel-less design, the Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 also offers a 5.6-inch super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2260×1080 (18.5:9 aspect ratio, 441ppi pixel density). The Nokia 8 has a 5.3-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1440×2560 (16:9 aspect ratio, 554ppi pixel density). The iPhone 6S Plus albeit dated has a very respectable 5.5-inch panel with a resolution of 1920×1080. However, the Nokia 8 and the iPhone 6S Plus are no match for the Nokia 8 as Samsung’s Super AMOLED panels are one of the best in the market right now and we don’t see that changing anytime soon.
The iPhone 6S Plus, despite its age, still kills it when it comes to the primary camera performance. The 12-megapixel primary camera on it has all one needs for an unparalleled photography experience. Some of the features include Optical Image Stabilization, Phase Detection Autofocus, 4K recording at 30fps and 720p recording at 240fps. While the dual 13+13-megapixel primary camera on the Nokia 8 is capable of 4K 30fps recording and has OIS, it still falls short compared to the iPhone 6S Plus. Finally, the Galaxy A8 2018 is expected to use a 16-megapixel, f/1.7 aperture, primary camera. Not much more is known about the camera, but we can be certain that it’ll be more than capable of giving similarly priced devices’ cameras a run for their money. Moving on to the secondary camera, the Galaxy A8 Plus is rumoured to feature a dual 16+2-megapixel selfie shooter with a f/1.9 lens. The Nokia 8’s secondary camera is a respectable 13-megapixels, but won’t be able to stand up to the superior camera on the Galaxy A8 2018. The iPhone 6S Plus is miles behind the pack, with its 5-megapixel secondary shooter. For the moment, we’d recommend the Nokia 8, as we don’t know a whole lot about the Galaxy A8 2018, but we promise to keep you updated.
The Nokia 8 is ahead of the pack here, as it features Qualcomm’s fastest and best Snapdragon 835 chip (2.3Ghz base clock) paired with an Adreno 540 GPU. The Exynos 7885 (base clock 2.2GHz) isn’t underpowered by any means, it just doesn’t have what it takes to take on the Snapdragon 835. The A9 chip on the iPhone 6S Plus was a monster back in its day but is no match for more modern, better performing Qualcomm chips.
All three devices’ battery backup is around the 3,000mAh mark with the iPhone 6S Plus finishing last (again). The Nokia 8’s 3,090mAh Li-ion battery supports Quick Charge 4.0, which goes a long way in reducing the time required to charge the device. Other common features between the devices include a front-mounted fingerprint scanner, a 3.5mm headphone jack (RIP) and a native assistant app (Siri for the iPhone, Bixby for the Galaxy A8 and Google Assistant for the Nokia 8).
For the time being the Nokia 8, priced at Rs. 32m325 is the best of the lot. The Samsung Galaxy A8 might retail at around the Rs. 30,000 to 32,000 lot and we definitely look forward to its release. The iPhone 6S Plus is priced at Rs. 37,999 for the base 32GB model and isn’t frankly worth that much money, as there are better-priced options available for much less.
