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I disagree because the rubric in which one measures a phone as being the same of different varies by person.
With that said you don’t get to tell someone what to do with their paycheck.
anyone can do whatever they want with their paycheck. my telling them that it's stupid woudn't change that.
 
No it's not that simple, and you are wrong. The average selling price of a OP's 11 Pro Max on Swappa is $875, and right around $900 on eBay. Those are actual selling prices, not "estimates."

Whether you would pay $875 or $900 is a different matter.

Is that after fees? And what are chances of being scammed?
 
I'm sorry but what carrier is offering $800 for a Xs??? My 11 Pro is only trading in at $450 at Apple, maybe a little higher from a carrier.

They are talking carrier credits which isn’t same thing and ties you to a carrier.

I rather be free to leave when I want to.
 
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Everybody’s priorities are different and everybody’s financial state is different.

I know some people who are older and sitting in C-suite jobs that use old iPhone 8’s because they have other priorities e.g. some are more into car modifications which cost far more than a new iPhone, some are into building gaming PCs and simply see a phone as a grudge purchase that they have to upgrade every 2-3 years, heck a good mate of mine is a lawyer for a huge firm and that dude used an old Samsung Galaxy Note3 to the point where it was falling apart yet him and his wife regularly do luxurious overseas trips, he was so happy with his Note 3 but had to eventually let it go and upgrade to something newer, he did so begrudgingly.

I’m personally in the market for a new house, looking to take advantage of lower interest rates, so I’m putting a lot of my disposable income into savings so I can put down a large deposit and pay off the house quicker.

Some people spend more on their iPhones than anything else in their lives, some people will have the latest iPhone but live in a commune and not really own anything at the same time there are people who will walk into an Apple Store buy a iPhone Pro Max, buy an iPad Pro, buy the top spec Apple Mac Pro for $52000 plus $4999 Pro Display XDR and pay cash for everything and not bat an eyelid or feel it in their bank account.

Also given the pandemic is now getting worse with the second wave, don’t be surprised if some of the people who upgrade yearly around here begin to go quiet or completely disappear, it’s going to be a terrible late 2020 and 2021 for many. I’ve already noticed some folks have gone quiet or are not as active as they used to be.

Wow, this post will truthfully make you sit back and re-think and re-evaluate. On top of that it’s so spot on it crazy. I’ve literally been in an Apple Store and seen almost the scenario you said.

It’s crazy honestly, but this post is 100% truth.
 
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I know I may be in the minority here, but having upgraded my handset every year, I have now decided to stick with my 11 Pro Max for at least another year, maybe two......

I also used to sell my current handset and then buy the latest every year, but I no longer 'feel' the upgrade by doing so. I mean, I get a couple of new features, most of which I play with for a while then never use again, but in essence it just feels like more of the same. So why should I spend that $500 extra every year? Hence I want to wait a couple of years now so that the upgrade 'feels' like a proper upgrade. Theres just not enough in it for me with the iPhone 12 this year, and its probably the first year where I've just not had any interest in the new handset. I wasn't in there with the hype at all. Didn't even watch the keynote either.

Maybe next year......
 
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I did every 2 years for a while. Then I went to every year.

Now? Now I've had my X for 3 years and I'm still not sure I'm going to upgrade. Nothing beats a free phone!

Maybe I'm getting old....
 
Agreed. It seems like this has gotten worse in the last few years.
I am dealing with paypal right now about a facebook purchase, which was a total scam for 90.00 and they had me fill out a report with the US dept for fraud, and I am like really? Ebay stuff is just as bad as well. I have had items show up not as posted on ebay. Right now I am liking my prepaid ATT, however, I am in the upgrade program, and I really want to get out due to I get better deals though some carries at the moment, but I have 375 left and I am like ugh. lol
 
BTW: I don't think anyone needs to "justify" what they do with their cash. If you like having the newest phone - go for it!
Normally I’d agree. But if you’re in a thread discussing why it’s not dumb to upgrade every year...
 
It's not "dumb" if that's how you want to spend your money. But, let's not pretend it's cost-efficient. Even keeping it two years makes the whole thing a lot cheaper. For example, you can trade in an Xs this year for about $800 (details depend on carrier).

Yah, it’s up to each person.

There are several ways to optimize. Cost efficiency vs time efficiency vs other factors.

With automobiles, it’s the same thing on a bigger scale.

I justify my own yearly iPhone upgrades in a lot of ways - usually not to optimize for hundreds of dollars, but optimized for performance type factors.

A couple great photos makes me forget about the money I could have saved, to share an example of why I upgrade as soon as I can.

look at your 50,000 photos or 100,000 photos. Would you pay to have precious photos from an older iPhone upgraded to what could have been a better photo? It’s not possible to go back in time to do that. That’s why I push my siblings to upgrade - it’s those photos. If they have an iPhone 6 in 2020, they are missing out in terms of quality photos.
 
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Some people spend £1,000 a year on smoking, holidays, football whatever they enjoy nobody says anything about that.

So why can't I spend £1,000 on a new phone knowing that I will enjoy every minute for the year with it?

By the time I sell my "old" year old phone its actually only about £500 a year so pretty good value i think!
 
Ok people the deed is done. I am happy to report that I sold my iPhone 11 Pro Max 256gb, which I purchased in October 2019, for 900$ to a gentleman in his early 50s inside the lobby of my local police station. Lol. There were no eBay or swappa fees of course. So 400$ more than what Apple is offering. I’ll be ready to preorder my iPhone 12 pro max, probably in graphite, 128gb, on November 6. The cost of that will be 1099$ plus tax. I’ll be returning the 12 pro regular in gold, 128, sometime before the preorder day. Anyone have any questions? i Just wanted to test the waters and I put it up for sale and I said to myself I would only justify this annual refresh and get the 12 if I least got 900 or really close to it. Mission accomplished


edit: the offer was made on Facebook Marketplace
 
This is what I have done the past few years, ever since the iPhone 6 Plus. And it worked fine! I keep my losses small this way. The only trick is to keep it in pristine condition. Which I do!
 
There's no way you can mathematically call it a "wash" or "close to the same" in terms of cost to upgrade yearly vs every 2-3 years. The longer you hold onto an iPhone, the less you are paying on average per year on phone hardware. The only exception is this year with the carriers' special trade-in deals, which are not at all typical. I'm kind of an expert on this topic because I upgraded my iPhone and my wife's every year since the iPhone 3G (second gen iPhone), until last year when we finally skipped a year and kept our Xs and Xs Max. I usually sold old phones on eBay, then switched to the AT&T Next plan, but like many suffered major hassles with the mail in of the old devices coming up "missing" (AT&T mistake). Eventually resolved it, but this just proves that trade-ins can have downsides.

We just upgraded to the 12 Pro and of course got the unbelievable trade-in deal. That one is a no-brainer. Now AT&T allows us to bring the old devices to the store, which we will definitely be doing.

But upgrading annually is a splurge and a luxury. That said, I do not judge anyone that does this as I did it for a long time as well. The iPhone is so many things (phone, camera, computer, etc.) that you are getting a lot of improvements each time you upgrade. But the phones are getting great enough now that the differences each year are shrinking. That's why I ended our annual upgrade habit and decided to save a little dough.
 
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You have no right to tell someone they are stupid. What do you spend your paycheck on?
Every person has every right to express what they want.

Including the right to not express anything. For example, what I spend my money on is... NONE of your business.

Whoever exposes themselves in a public forum, is liable to criticism by that public. It's pretty straight forward logic.
 
Every person has every right to express what they want.

Including the right to not express anything. For example, what I spend my money on is... NONE of your business.

Whoever exposes themselves in a public forum, is liable to criticism by that public. It's pretty straight forward logic.
I bet a moderator would say otherwise depending on what your saying. I'm going to leave this conversation alone before I end up having to bring one in.
 
I bet a moderator would say otherwise depending on what your saying. I'm going to leave this conversation alone before I end up having to bring one in.
First you claim that people don't have right to certain opinions. Then you make threats of bringing in the suppression.

Your understanding of social contracts is terribly poor. It's almost as dumb as someone needing to justify to other people why they flip cell phones every year.
 
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Is that expensive for you? because 900$ Canadian equal about 675$ US. 675$ would be cheap for an 11 pro max
No its cheap here too. Got it today. Its still sealed lol. Thinking of selling it higher and get pro max 12 . Difference would be roughly $400 USD 🤔 if am able to sell 11pm at good price. Decisions
 
No its cheap here too. Got it today. Its still sealed lol. Thinking of selling it higher and get pro max 12 . Difference would be roughly $400 USD 🤔 if am able to sell 11pm at good price. Decisions
I sold my 11PM equivalent to 1197$ Canadian . Good luck 🍀 :)
 
The reasons I upgrade every year (I am on the Apple upgrade program).
  • AppleCare+ is added on, I use my phones without a case. Also I don’t use screen protectors.
  • I charge my phone wirelessly overnight, so I actually aim to reduce the battery capacity for fun. 100%... who cares, Apple can deal with it once I trade it in.
  • I get a brand new battery to try and kill off.
  • Feels great to have the latest phone, even if it is minor updates.
  • I don’t have to worry about re-sale value.
  • I don’t have to worry about being scammed (eBay is a magnet for scammers).
 
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