Our Methodology

List pricing in the catalog

Each device stores a US MSRP band (priceMin–priceMax) tied to official manufacturer or Google/Apple announcement pages linked on the phone detail screen. Promotions, trade-in, tax, and non-US pricing are not modeled. See DATA_SOURCES.md in the repository for refresh guidance.

Five Scoring Categories

Every phone is evaluated on a 1-10 scale across five dimensions:

Base Score

The base score (out of 100) is a weighted combination of all five categories. It reflects how strong the device looks on our rubric—not whether it's universally a good buy for every person.

On the phone grid and the overview badge, we map that score to a catalog-relative label using quartiles: we compare each phone to every other phone we list, so you see whether it's in the top quarter, middle bands, or bottom quarter of the catalog. That keeps labels meaningful even when raw scores cluster in a narrow range.

Personalization

When you use the personalization widget, three inputs adjust the score:

• Budget: Compared against the phone's validated MSRP band; if your budget is far below the entry MSRP, the score drops. If it comfortably covers the top of the band, price fit scores higher.
• Priority: Your chosen priority (camera, battery, performance, display, or value) changes the weight distribution. For example, choosing "camera" gives 40% weight to camera and reduces others.
• Usage Profile: Your usage type (casual, student, creator, gamer, business) applies small modifiers. For example, "gamer" slightly boosts performance and battery importance.
• Profile + priority “sanity caps”: For each combination of usage profile and top priority, we require a minimum raw score (1–10, before modifiers) on the category you said matters most. If the phone is weaker there, we cap the personalized score so it can't land in "Worth it" just because other dimensions scored high. For example: creator with camera-first expects 8/10 camera; gamer with performance-first expects 8/10 performance; student with value-first expects 8/10 value; business with battery-first expects 8/10 battery; casual uses a 7/10 bar on whichever priority you pick. See PROFILE_PRIORITY_GUARDS in the codebase for the full matrix.

Default catalog badge (quartiles)

Cutoffs use the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of base scores across all phones in our catalog (updated when the catalog changes).

Personalized verdict bands

After you set budget, priority, and usage, we compute a personal score (0–100) and map it to the labels below. These are absolute bands on that personalized score—not quartiles.

Important Note

WorthScanner provides guidance, not absolute truth. Our scores are based on aggregated data and a transparent formula. Individual experience may vary. We encourage you to use our verdicts as one input in your decision, not the only one.