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Buying 3Gs - Anyone expect Xmas deals or price drop on 1/26?

E

eoren1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 17, 2007
431
53
As the title says, wife just decided she has to have an iPhone. I have the 3G and am patiently waiting til June. Wondering if Apple/AT&T have done price drops for Xmas or if anyone anticipates a price drop with the upcoming iTablet announcement.
If not, I'm leaning towards a refurb for 150 and don't want to wait too long and see these run out.
Thanks,
E
 
WAIT TIL' JUNE! Did you hear, 5 MP camera and since there probably wont be a 3.2 firmware update (since 2.2 was out way before now last year) that means Apple is holding all of their goodies until 4.0. I say wait, you wont be sorry but you will be sorry when you see the 4th generation and all it's cool stuff. You have to remember, Apple is actually being challenged with the iPhone. Yeah I know what you're thinking, so now Apple has to try extra specially hard to make consumers happy because if they pull a whole "we're building the same thing with a little bit a features and we're leaving out stuff that 5 year old phones have just to make you drool for ANOTHER year" it won't fly with a lot of people and they wont upgrade (3G to 3GS wasn't a big upgrade as people would have hoped for, get all the features just by jailbreaking it) But I dont think Apple will leave anything cool out this time.
 
Maverick1337 said:
WAIT TIL' JUNE! Did you hear, 5 MP camera and since there probably wont be a 3.2 firmware update (since 2.2 was out way before now last year) that means Apple is holding all of their goodies until 4.0. I say wait, you wont be sorry but you will be sorry when you see the 4th generation and all it's cool stuff. You have to remember, Apple is actually being challenged with the iPhone. Yeah I know what you're thinking, so now Apple has to try extra specially hard to make consumers happy because if they pull a whole "we're building the same thing with a little bit a features and we're leaving out stuff that 5 year old phones have just to make you drool for ANOTHER year" it won't fly with a lot of people and they wont upgrade (3G to 3GS wasn't a big upgrade as people would have hoped for, get all the features just by jailbreaking it) But I dont think Apple will leave anything cool out this time.
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I have to agree with this. Apple just can't afford to flake on the next upgrade. I predict a pretty exciting WWDC this year.

Having said that, I recommend waiting which is something I've never done before.
 
Thanks for the posts.
I am waiting...it's the wife who has to have one now
Think I'll wait to see what happens after Xmas and just pick up a refurb 3Gs for her.
 
eoren1 said:
Thanks for the posts.
I am waiting...it's the wife who has to have one now
Think I'll wait to see what happens after Xmas and just pick up a refurb 3Gs for her.
Click to expand...

Man in that case hopefully the 4th Gen. isn't too flashy or she'll make you trade :eek: lol
 
There will not be a price drop on the 3GS. The first year was unusual due to subsidies. The prices are set.
 
when the 4th gen comes out, the 3gs will drop. Apple has to compete with the other smart phones. People arent going to pay $500 with a contract for a new iphone. thus why the 3g droped to $100 when the 3gs came out. Just a cycle
 
Get a refurb. You'll save $50 for pretty much the same thing. I doubt there will be any iPhone hardware change until the summer. The event will probably be all about the tablet.
 
Thanks again everyone - wife thanks you too. Off to order the refurb....
E
 
Michael CM1 said:
Get a refurb. You'll save $50 for pretty much the same thing. I doubt there will be any iPhone hardware change until the summer. The event will probably be all about the tablet.
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and probably incremental upgrades to existing Macs.
Hope your wife likes the iPhone. And congratulations on your part in converting another!!
 
2000m said:
never wait , tomorrow you may wake up to find yourself dead!
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but if it just so happens that you're alive on the 26th, you might kick yourself when you hear the 3GS maximum capacity increases, and the prices go down... Who knows? It's unlikely but I'd wait.

And with a new unknown product on the agenda, I'd reserve money to decide
 
I don't know why everyone expects huge hardware changes this summer. Apple went two years without upgrading the hardware on the original iPhone, and they're still selling phones with that hardware.
 
because for 2 years it didnt have phones in its price range that could come close to it. Now not only does it have phones competiting with it, its got some phones outdoing it. If they want to remain on top they dont have a choice but to step up their game.
 
UnLiMiTeD558 said:
because for 2 years it didnt have phones in its price range that could come close to it. Now not only does it have phones competiting with it, its got some phones outdoing it. If they want to remain on top they dont have a choice but to step up their game.
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Really? You think the majority of people who buy the iPhone even read the specs?
 
thelatinist said:
Really? You think the majority of people who buy the iPhone even read the specs?
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You're probably right, but those people that didn't read the specs who got the iPhone 3G went "what no video? no personalized text tones? a 2 MP camera? my 5 year old <insert old nokia here> can do that no problem" but now people are looking at say the droids and the HTC's and seeing "WOW that's the iphone but 5x better" Apple is now being challenged because before they weren't, no one could even make a phone close to the iphone. Now with all the recent phones out now, just think in 5 or 6 months what new phones will come out. I dont think apple is just going to double the space and sit on their hands for the 4th gen.
 
The 3GS is an absolutely terrific phone. The speed of the processor took away the one big gripe I had about the 3g (lag) and added some frosting on top (video, autofocus, compass).

I'm sure they'll have another upgrade in June, probably not January, but in making your decision you can't just compare the specs of the 3GS with the rumored specs of the next iPhone. You also have to factor in 6 months of not having an iPhone into the equation. 6 months is a fairly long time in the smartphone world.

Getting a refurb or non-contract used iPhone on ebay might be best if you think it's likely that you'll want to upgrade in June.

The only time Apple discounts the iPhone is when a new model comes out (sometimes) or for refurbs. That's it.
 
I would be very surprised if they changed the CPU, GPU, or amount of RAM. They will have a 5MP camera sensor with the same lens, 64GB of flash memory, and will implement an FM radio with the 4.0 software. Anything else is speculative and, in my opinion, unlikely.
 
thelatinist said:
I would be very surprised if they changed the CPU, GPU, or amount of RAM. They will have a 5MP camera sensor with the same lens, 64GB of flash memory, and will implement an FM radio with the 4.0 software. Anything else is speculative and, in my opinion, unlikely.
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With tech products like phone parts within a years span components might improve and become cheaper so if they could why not upgrade the CPU, GPU and ram? Even though they seem to be fine and the 3GS could potentially handle multitasking without any probs there could still be room for improvement.
 
thelatinist said:
I would be very surprised if they changed the CPU, GPU, or amount of RAM. They will have a 5MP camera sensor with the same lens, 64GB of flash memory, and will implement an FM radio with the 4.0 software. Anything else is speculative and, in my opinion, unlikely.
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Considering they are quickly falling behing in CPU speed on mobile processors they will update the CPU and the GPU.

I keep on being tempted to purchase an iPhone 3GS out-of-contract but I know better. I could possibly see Apple announcing a new iPhone in January and releasing in June like the first but only if it's a major advancement.
 
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