Every year for the past 5 years, whether I'm eligible for an upgrade or not, I buy the brand new iPhone. It's become kind of a personal Christmas-in-September for me. About 2 weeks before the new phones are unveiled, I jump over to an older phone so I can sell my current model. It was no different this year; I re-activated an old 5S and got my matte black 7 Plus boxed up and ready to sell. I love all of the hype beforehand, the Apple event, the pre-order, waiting on delivery, unboxing my new toy, and enjoying the "honeymoon phase" for the next two months. I live for this stuff.
Until this year. Everything was on pace to unfold like any other year. I followed along with the rumor mill and patiently awaited for the Apple event...but before I knew it, the event was over and I was left feeling completely underwhelmed. Of the lineup they announced, there is not one device that I'm yearning for.
Where should I begin? I guess I'll start with the price tag of the base model iPhone X: $1000. For that price, you can buy a MacBook! Maybe I could look past the price tag if it weren't for the ugly black notch at the top of the device, the lack of home button/Touch ID (which, in my opinion, is the most natural and efficient form of device security), and the lack of 128GB option. 64GB isn't enough for me, so I'd have to spend $1149 on 256GB. (Sidebar: this might be what aggravates me the most. It's a sales tactic that Apple has deployed for years: take away the middle-of-the-road storage option and force those buyers to either upgrade their storage or downgrade their storage. Most will choose to upgrade and spend the extra cash. Ironically, it hasn't really bothered me until this year - the year Apple priced their flagship phone at and above $1000.)
Having said all of the above, maybe I should just go for the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus. Well, not the 8 Plus...I really wanted to downsize this year. Okay - so the iPhone 8! What new features will I get?? A glass back...a faster chip...a slightly nicer screen...and wireless charging. Well, I'll get wireless charging if I want to spend the extra cash on a Qi charger. I won't get portrait mode since that's still only dedicated to the Plus model phones. And, lest we forget, in order for me to get the appropriate amount of storage, looks like I'll have to drop $849 on the 256GB model.
Although, I have kind of been enjoying the use of my old iPhone 5S. Speed aside, it's a great little phone (keyword: little). Man, if they offered this with an upgraded camera and some faster hardware, I might actually consider it. ***DING, DING, DING!*** The iPhone SE. I almost forgot about the iPhone SE. A souped up iPhone 5S! Feels great in the hand, fits right in my pocket, easy to handle, and...COMES IN 128GB?! Wait, am I about to go COMPLETELY rogue???
YUP. I went rogue. As of an hour ago, I ordered a 128GB Space Grey iPhone SE. It arrives tomorrow and I'm actually quite excited about it. While most of you may think that I took a major step back, I kind of feel the opposite. The iPhone SE feels like 'ol trusty. It's the last of what was a great breed of iPhone - the last sign of Steve Jobs. It's fast enough to compete with today's standards, it embodies the ergonomic form factor, it packs a 12MP camera, has Touch ID, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. As much as I didn't want to admit it, the annoyance of not being able to charge AND be plugged into a speaker or have wired headphones in posed an issue more than I had hoped. The iPhone SE will do exactly what I need it to do...and it'll do it for $449. I'm going back to the basics for a while and I'm hoping Apple will do the same.
