Other What will make you upgrade to a newer phone?

[ericwn]

As we change as humans inn the course of our lives our reasons to upgrade will probably change too. My 12PM has a shattered rear glass that costs a fortune to replace so I’ll probably upgrade this one sooner than my last one. On the other hand it also comes down to the new devices. If I don’t feel excited for a new model I might just get another silicone case to shield the broken back and call it a day.

 

[lyceumHQ]

I’ve decided to upgrade every year until I have a phone I love as much as I loved the blue XR.

I honestly loved that phone. It was my perfect phone. Colour. Size. Screen. Everything was amazing.

Kept it two years and only upgraded because I wanted portrait mode for pets. I got the 12 then the 13 and to be honest they’re okay. But I don’t like them as much as I did the XR (I know I could just buy an XR but I’m not downgrading my phone).

I’m going to try the pro max for the first time this year. Just fancy a change.

 

[splitpea]

I’ll upgrade when they make a form factor I can use one-handed again. Otherwise only when the current one becomes unusable and unrepairable.

 

[Lioness~]

None of the options above was mine.

It's so many Apple devices to spend our money on these days.

What I need and feel for most comes 1st in the upgrading hierarchy. As long as the devices fill my needs, they are good. And suddenly they feels like they are not, then time to upgrade.

I longed for an iPhone Mini, I’m not sure today. Size is pretty good on my XR….
Not the most important thing today.
I am busy with just enjoying my new Studio and Studio Dispaly immensely now.
After putting up with the old 2013 iMac until it came some good Mac that I wanted.

The rest of my Apple stuff works fine too.
Apple life is good 👍🏼 ♥️ 😇

 

[Abazigal]

Battery capacity seems to be a reason why people here would consider purchasing a new phone. Doesn't Apple offer a chargeable battery replacement service? That would likely be a lot cheaper than going for a new phone, if you're still happy with the functionality of what you've got and the iOS version is still supported on your phone.

Third-party services (like vendors in shopping malls) do offer battery replacement as well, but I wouldn't trust the quality of the generic batteries they use.

My 8+ was getting pretty poor battery life even with 90% battery health, so I suspect it was partly due to the "heaviness" of all the cumulative software updates it had received, and I doubt this is something a fresh battery can resolve. I went from having to charge it twice a day to ending the day at 60-70% with my 13 pro max, and it's refreshing to be able to be out on my feet for an entire day and not have battery anxiety.

I also initially hung on to my 8+ for touch-ID (during the masking wearing), and when iOS 14.5 allowed us to unlock our phones with our watches, that was one less reason not to upgrade.

The improvement in camera quality has also been fairly noticeable (especially the macro and wide-angle lens).

Everything's a little faster with the A15 chip. My area still doesn't have 5g, though I appreciate being able to sign on a second number.

The 13 pro max is definitely thicker and heavier and truth be told, the 8+ still feels perfect in my hand.

I guess for me, there wasn't any one "must have" feature that prompted me to upgrade. I just felt it was time after 4 years.

 

[MajorFubar]

i can recognize fingerprints just fine on my iPhone

Don't give up your day job, unless your day job is a comedian lol.

 

[decafjava]

I kept my 7 plus from early 2017 until last December 21 when I got the 13 Pro Max (I still have the 7 plus in a box will probably give it away to family or friends). So that is about 5 years. Previously upgraded every 2 years but no longer see the need.

 

[Alexander_im]

I tend to upgrade phones every 3 to 4 years. My beloved 5S has become painfully slow by the time X was released — to the point where it was virtually impossible to use Notes due to horrible lags.

I changed X to 12 Pro Max because of the size and new form factor. When I try to avoid my typical hunger for the shiny latest tech stuff I can clearly see that 4 years is a sweet spot in terms of “stacking up” all the features that justifies the name “new phone”. At least for myself.

 

[jeremysteele]

If my current one breaks are becomes unusable. Before getting my 13, my old 6s would no longer hold a charge more than a few hours. It wasn't "broken" exactly, but it became more of an annoyance than a help, especially since my job relied on entering 20-30 2fa codes every single day. I had to keep in plugged in or else I couldn't work. Still ran fine otherwise.

 

[jwolf6589]

I’m really feeling we are at peak smartphone. Take my S21. I really don’t see anything in the near future that would make me want to upgrade, especially since I have the 256GB model, so plenty of storage still. And I’m only planning to upgrade my iPhone 7 Plus mainly because Apple dropped it from ios16. Performance used to be a reason, but imo nowadays it’s only edge cases where people upgrade due to performance.

Seeing at lay consumers, most generally tend to upgrade when their battery life is getting too short and/or they’re running out of storage space. Some will upgrade when their phone breaks (regardless of length of time of ownership).

What about you guys? What would be your reason to upgrade to any newer phone from your current one?

I just upgraded to the 13 and am plenty happy. No reason to upgrade yet again.

 

[hungryghosty]

Gneerally a combination of a device no longer receiving OS/security updates, battery life degradation and performance no longer being sufficient if what convinces/forces me to upgrade these days though I tend to keep my phones around 5 years .

 

[anthony13]

USB-C alone would make me upgrade.

Other factors:
better blue tooth
screen technology such as pro motion
If they ever released a silver version. a real silver version. why they continue to release a white phone and call it silver baffles me every year.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

None of my reasons are here. The only way I'm upgrading to a new iPhone over my 13 Pro is if they ditch lightning and add a USB-C port, and/or they bring the headphone jack back.

 

[Danfango]

My answer is missing: when AppleCare runs out. I run my business of mine which is basically 24/7 availability. No phone no money. So when that's up I will buy another one to mitigate the risk of owning the old one.

 

[anthony13]

My answer is missing: when AppleCare runs out. I run my business of mine which is basically 24/7 availability. No phone no money. So when that's up I will buy another one to mitigate the risk of owning the old one.

Pretty sure they let you continue apple care on devices indefinitely now.

 

[MrPaperTrain]

Providing the 13PM lasts, I’ll resist the urge to upgrade until we’re in Foldable territory. The Z-Fold has always tempted me but having done the iPhone to Android move before, it’s not something I want to do again.

 

[eyoungren]

I’m really feeling we are at peak smartphone. Take my S21. I really don’t see anything in the near future that would make me want to upgrade, especially since I have the 256GB model, so plenty of storage still. And I’m only planning to upgrade my iPhone 7 Plus mainly because Apple dropped it from ios16. Performance used to be a reason, but imo nowadays it’s only edge cases where people upgrade due to performance.

Seeing at lay consumers, most generally tend to upgrade when their battery life is getting too short and/or they’re running out of storage space. Some will upgrade when their phone breaks (regardless of length of time of ownership).

What about you guys? What would be your reason to upgrade to any newer phone from your current one?

None of the above.

I upgrade either because I'm tired of my current phone or I decide I want a specific model of new iPhone.

No reason needed, I upgrade to the latest every year

No. Even if I wanted to do that, the money isn't there.

When my current phone breaks

I have a 3GS, a 4, a 4s, a 5, a 6s+ (which has an active line) and my primary an 11PM.

When was my iPhone supposed to break now?

I’m running out of local storage

Any time I upgrade, I buy the highest capacity offered. iPhone 5 is 64GB, iPhone 6s+ is 128GB and 11 Pro Max is 512GB. I am not going to run out of local storage.

My current phone is no longer supported

See above about how many iPhones I have.

When I give my phone to other family member

This happens AFTER I upgrade.

Cameras, I need that 8k pro res Dolby vision etc

Camera is a non issue. 99 percent of my photos are screencaps or shots of grocery store shelves so my wife can tell me what to bring home for her. I don't need any of that in a camera for that.

When my phone’s battery is no longer sufficient

Huh? I just replaced the battery on my 6s+ in November 2021. It's good. My iPhone 5 is on it's fourth replacement for battery swelling. It's good. The rest are plugged in and don't really have any battery issues. Plus I'm not using them on a daily basis.

Whenever there’s a new design/form factor

Just no. I skipped the 5s because Apple didn't offer Black/Slate. I owned a 6+ and own now a 6s+ due to circumstance, not because I liked the camera bump and antenna lines. I avoided everything after the 6s+ (until the 11PM) because of the freaking camera boil.

Maybe if it's a design I actually like.

My current phone is getting too slow for me

I use my phones as phones and leave all the media and computer stuff to TVs and computers. So…that's not anything to me.

 

[xxray]

When my current phone gets too slow, breaks, or there are enough new features or a change in form factor to get me to pull away. Considering my XS Max still felt like new 3 years after its release and my 13 Pro had a lot of the significant quality of life updates I wanted, I'm expecting to keep my 13 Pro for at least 4 years total. I don't expect it to slow down, and there are really no new features I can think that I'd really notice a difference with except no notch/punchhole (FaceID under display) and USB-C, but those still wouldn't be worth upgrading alone.

I do like a change in form factor every once in a while. My dream phone is an iPhone Mini with all the Pro features, but that doesn't seem likely anytime soon. I might want a bigger screen and battery in the future, but doubt it right now. I've never had a phone that was this good that I really can't see what will be significant enough for me to upgrade other than the phone slowing down or breaking.

 

[vseera]

USB-C

 

[SpotOnT]

I am mainly waiting for a phone with better or no PWM. I don’t care of it has an OLED or LCD screen.

Not enthused about the current SE, but if my current iPhone 8 were to die, that is what I would get stuck upgrading too. Hoping something better than the SE comes along before then.

 

[CraigJDuffy]

I’ll upgrade when they make a form factor I can use one-handed again. Otherwise only when the current one becomes unusable and unrepairable.

iPhone 13 Mini?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Been upgrading since 2008 nonstop without hesitating. Can't really give you a valid reason to upgrade every year.

It's the iPhone. Must upgrade!

 

[CraigJDuffy]

Pretty sure they let you continue apple care on devices indefinitely now.

they do. Within 30 days of it expiring (possibly 60) you can start paying monthly for it indefinitely.

 

[mr_jomo]

OMG - just realised that the 13 Pro Max (512GB) costs more than the M2 Air, 10 GPU version.

OK, I'm changing my vote to "F' off Tim: I'm keeping my iPhone 11" 🤣

 

[tagsaid]

Get me USB-C and a smaller camera bump, and I’ll upgrade today.

I don’t need to be able to shoot and edit Hollywood movies - random photos and QR codes is all I do. I’d MUCH rather have USB-C and better battery than the cameras that are being released with phones today.