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Am I the only one not caring about new phones anymore?

A non-techie friend of mine just exchanged his 13 mini for a 16 pro and he told me that liked the mini more, because virtually nothing has changed in his phone experience. The 16 pro just feels bigger and heavier to him.

Sure, there are quite a few changes between those phones, and he knew about most of them, but in RL he just didn't care that much and was quite underwhelmed by the "upgrade".

I'm on a 13 mini now and I'll probably wait for the 18 air or maybe save money for a smaller Apple foldable if it's on the horizon by then. But it feels like when the game consoles and computer-cycle slowed down.

I still got a lot of lighting cables to die first.
 
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I have been more interested in improvements with the foldables, That's where my interest lies.. I update my iPhones every 3 years just so I can get good enough value on the trade-in deal. I'm very happy with the pixel 9 XL and the only phone I plan to upgrade when I see a good improvement will be the Samsung fold 6
 
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None of us should that interested in smartphones anymore. They've entered their 'washing machine' stage of life, a necessity for modern life but largely unexciting. Sure they can make them bend and fold but a folding spoon is still a spoon.
 
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It is all getting incremental at the moment. Yes, the new models are a bit better than the old ones, but only a bit...

Up until around 2018 I looked forward to the updates every year and would get a new phone every 2 years, because there were big speed differences and big new features. This time, my iPhone 13 Pro was doing fine and I thought that there wasn't anything about the 16 Pro that made me want to update, other than USB-C, but that wasn't worth over a grand!

My daughter's X finally died and she needed a new phone, but with a complete renovation of her house and 2 babies to look after, a new phone wasn't on the cards, so she got the 13 Pro and I was forced to buy a new phone by my wife... :p

The 16 Pro is a nice upgrade and I really like it, but there is nothing about it that makes it a must have over the 13 Pro that makes the cost worth it... I'd have held out for at least another year, if I hadn't be forced to upgrade.

It is the same at work, I have an MBA M1, it is just starting to get a little bit slow and I'm probably looking to upgrade it to an M4, when it is released. But I'm only using the M1 because my ThinkPad died when Intel was about to release Meteor Lake and I thought I'd hold off on upgrading and we had the M1 sitting in a cupboard gathering dust after it wasn't required for an MDM project. Meteor Lake was meh! But Snapdragon Elite was only 6 months away, not bad, but, hey the M1 is nice enough, what is with Lunar Lake and the new AMD AI chips? So another 3-4 month wait and, meh!, the M1 is still doing fine.

Sequoia is causing more beachballs these days, so 8GB is probably not enough any more, so I will be upgrading, because it is no longer up to the job. And that seems to sum up the tech for me at the moment as well, OS updates are interesting, but the hardware is good enough that I won't worry about upgrading until the current hardware is no longer capable, or it fails.
 
Back on December 2019 I got an iPhone 11 Pro Midnight Green with 512 GB.

Unfortunately after 5 years of rough and loyally use, the battery of my 11 Pro has been degraded to 74% and has been very hard to finish the day without charging at midday. Also the lightning charging port stop working 2 years ago so the only way I’m able to charge it is through a Qi “wireless” charging base…. what drive me nuts when I’m away from home or my office.

So last December I gifted myself a brand new iPhone 16 Pro White Titanium with 1 TB.

Being honest, I haven’t found too much differences between my new 16 Pro and my old 11 Pro. Ok, better camera, larger screen, but nothing very special that had justified the update beyond my issues with the battery and the lightning charging port which by their own were enough reasons to update.

In my experience the improvements has been just marginal but massive at all, and I’m not comparing year to year models, but 5 years model comparison (16 pro vs 11 pro) which feels almost the same…. And yes, as I said, better camera and larger screen are just incremental improvements, not massive nor impressive improvements.

I love when Apple really improves, although honestly, from 11 pro to 16 pro, I don’t see improvements which worth, nevertheless I bought a new 16 pro because of other reasons.

So I expect my new iPhone should last me at least 5 years more. The only way I would update before is, if Apple launches a flip or foldable iPhone which I would buy since day 1.
 
Generally I agree, for most phones. That is, after some bad experiences I will nowadays only buy a smartphone if it has (among other things) an easily replaceable battery - i.e. in a minute with no tools (I'm not here to argue pros and cons of this, it is just my choice). That is a small niche in the market, leaving very few new phone releases per year to bother investigating, much less getting excited about. There is a new rugged Samsung like that coming up, I am actually looking forward to that and google for rumors every now and then. Other phones are just background noise. The iPhone still holds some interest in the sense that it is a market leader and shows where things are going - or not going, as everything feels a bit stagnant right now. But I am unlikely to get an iPhone until maybe EU-regulations enforce a change in its battery design.
 
Tig Bitties said:
Not sure why, but I'm just having zero interest in new smartphones lately. I currently have the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and very happy and satisfied, but lately don't even care about the upcoming TSMC based Pixel 10 line. Even the Galaxy S25 Ultra, just looks like more of the same old same old. I had the 24 Ultra last year it was a nice enough phone but nothing special. iPhone 16 Pro or 17 Pro don't care just the same stuff.

In general my lust and want for new smartphones has been fading big lately, they don't excite me anymore, they're all the same now, a 2025 phone compared to a 2024 phone is like the same.

I guess as non tech people have been saying, smartphones are just another appliance, like your Refrigerator or microwave or TV. People don't change out there fridge every single year for a better one. Even nice OLED 4K TV's, you buy a nice one and keep that for several years, nobody changes out a high-end tv every year.

I'm actually more excited by OS software updates than [H]ardware updates nowadays.
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Why did you decide to use an Android phone? You're a 'macrumors 603', so a big Apple user, I assume.

Potentially, the iPhone 17 Air (or whatever is being rumoured) might sway you back 'home'.
 
I have been using a small SE3 since they came out but I am getting old and my eyesight is not what it used to be so I have just bought a cheap Samsung A55 because I needed a phone with a larger screen and I do not spend the kind of money Apple are asking for any of the large phones.
A phone, no matter who makes it is just a tool to me and so far I am liking OneUi.

The SE3 will get handed to someone in the family as an emergency phone if needed.
 
Unami said:
A non-techie friend of mine just exchanged his 13 mini for a 16 pro and he told me that liked the mini more, because virtually nothing has changed in his phone experience. The 16 pro just feels bigger and heavier to him.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience when upgrading my 12 mini to a 15 Pro. I noticed the smoother scrolling of 120Hz and the battery life was noticeably better, but overall I was disappointed about how little actually changed. As your friend noted, I basically spent a grand to get a bigger, heavier phone.
 
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Andrey84 said:
Why did you decide to use an Android phone? You're a 'macrumors 603', so a big Apple user, I assume.

Potentially, the iPhone 17 Air (or whatever is being rumoured) might sway you back 'home'.
Click to expand...

I've owned probably 20 to 25 different smartphones over the past 15+ years, mostly Android, some Blackberries and I think 3 or 4 were iPhone's.

Vast majority of my smartphones were Google Nexus phones and now Pixel phones.

I'm not a fan of iOS compared to vanilla Android, and I own ZERO Apple products, my PC's are custom built gaming rigs I build myself, and laptops are Windows based. Tablets are not my cup of tea. Smartwatch, the same zero desire or want for one.
 
Went into the Apple Store to purchase a 16 Pro Max and picked up a demo to see how it felt in hand. Much to my surprise I found the Camera Control button in an awkward location.

Until I actually tried the phone, the Camera Control seemed like a good idea, but once I tried to use it the reality of its location and button press gestures became apparent. Being a relatively large button and requiring a cutout on any case one selects, is annoying to the point where I decided against buying the phone.

Suddenly my two year old iPhone becomes quite valuable for the money it's saving me. I will use it until it's no longer supported while watching to see what Apple does going forward.

I will not buy an iPhone with a Camera Control button.
 
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zenmacx said:
Went into the Apple Store to purchase a 16 Pro Max and picked up a demo to see how it felt in hand. Much to my surprise I found the Camera Control button in an awkward location.

Until I actually tried the phone, the Camera Control seemed like a good idea, but once I tried to use it the reality of its location and button press gestures became apparent. Being a relatively large button and requiring a cutout on any case one selects, is annoying to the point where I decided against buying the phone.

Suddenly my two year old iPhone becomes quite valuable for the money it's saving me. I will use it until it's no longer supported while watching to see what Apple does going forward.
Click to expand...
I do wonder if they'll put it in a new spot for the 17 Pro Max. I don't think I've seen one positive comment about this button, lol.
 
mjschabow said:
I do wonder if they'll put it in a new spot for the 17 Pro Max. I don't think I've seen one positive comment about this button, lol.
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As a long time Apple customer, I too wonder. Often Apple will stubbornly cling to their ideas, thinking they know better than their customers. Perhaps this is one of those times.
 
Oh, I care about my phone, but not what phones Apple sells now.

I buy a new phone when it's something I like, and need.
I don't like the bigger phones, so I'll keep my 13 mini, as long as it serves my needs.
Hopefully it will come something smaller later, but maybe not until Tim left.

Otherwise, mabe a smaller Samsung will do? But my mini is great for now.
 
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"a 2025 phone compared to a 2024 phone is like the same."
Yeah that's why you're not supposed to upgrade every year. It's a mature product category now we're not gonna see huge jumps and gains every year.

I went from an iPhone 12 Pro to a 15 Pro last time I upgraded.
I got WiFi 6E ( I do have the router for it), 120Hz display, USB C, action button, dynamic island, 48 MP camera and much better battery life.
Is it mostly still the same though? Yeah, but using my phone everyday is objectively better on the new one.
 
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I have found myself in the same place when it comes to my laptop and desktop more so then my phone i have a Samsung 23 ultra but to be completely truthful i could go back to a dum phone as i dont use any of the features on my smart phone and as for my desktop and laptop there both 13th gen i9 with the laptop having 64gb ram and my desktop 192 gb ram both have a 4070 gpu and to be honest im happy with that



i know its over kill but it will last me a good long time and i got to the stage i rather over spec my machines and run them longer so when the time come to change it feels more justifiable and i soon rather fix my laptop or desktop quicker than my phone
 
zenmacx said:
Went into the Apple Store to purchase a 16 Pro Max and picked up a demo to see how it felt in hand. Much to my surprise I found the Camera Control button in an awkward location.

Until I actually tried the phone, the Camera Control seemed like a good idea, but once I tried to use it the reality of its location and button press gestures became apparent. Being a relatively large button and requiring a cutout on any case one selects, is annoying to the point where I decided against buying the phone.

Suddenly my two year old iPhone becomes quite valuable for the money it's saving me. I will use it until it's no longer supported while watching to see what Apple does going forward.

I will not buy an iPhone with a Camera Control button.
Click to expand...
It's a useless button for 99% of the people out there. Only anyone who cares about adjusting settings would care, but even those types don't necessarily use camera control. I remember back when the iPhone was first introduced, the keyboard and most other function keys were removed because the screen was an interface that could adapt to whatever context you were in. Now we're back to adding dedicated buttons.
 
zenmacx said:
Went into the Apple Store to purchase a 16 Pro Max and picked up a demo to see how it felt in hand. Much to my surprise I found the Camera Control button in an awkward location.

Until I actually tried the phone, the Camera Control seemed like a good idea, but once I tried to use it the reality of its location and button press gestures became apparent. Being a relatively large button and requiring a cutout on any case one selects, is annoying to the point where I decided against buying the phone.

Suddenly my two year old iPhone becomes quite valuable for the money it's saving me. I will use it until it's no longer supported while watching to see what Apple does going forward.

I will not buy an iPhone with a Camera Control button.
Click to expand...
I was excited by the possibilities of the Camera Control button, but like you I find the placement very awkward. I'm trying to build some muscle memory to use it more frequently, but with my smallish hands I can't get a proper hand alignment. I find myself defaulting to the screen controls more and more.
 
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