Have iPhones plateaued?
Discussion
I used to upgrade my phone every two years. I’ve had iPhones for the last decade and always found that after 2 years my old phone was slow and had seriously compromised battery performance. Also, the newest phone always seemed to offer some meaningful upgrade (e.g. Siri, Touch ID, Face ID etc.).
I got my current iPhone XS Max in Dec 2018. I went SIM only at the end of my contract in Jan 2021. My phone still performs perfectly and has 88% battery capacity. I can’t see any reason to upgrade. The iPhone 12 series seem almost indistinguishable from my current device.
Given this phone cost £1099, I’m minded to run it into the ground and only upgrade when I have to.
Does anyone else feel that way? Are we at the point where there’s nothing more new iPhones can offer other than improved specs that look better on paper but make no practical difference to the user experience?
I got my current iPhone XS Max in Dec 2018. I went SIM only at the end of my contract in Jan 2021. My phone still performs perfectly and has 88% battery capacity. I can’t see any reason to upgrade. The iPhone 12 series seem almost indistinguishable from my current device.
Given this phone cost £1099, I’m minded to run it into the ground and only upgrade when I have to.
Does anyone else feel that way? Are we at the point where there’s nothing more new iPhones can offer other than improved specs that look better on paper but make no practical difference to the user experience?
I run a 6S, I don't need anything more than that, I can't think of anything else I'd want from a phone, not even sure what the latest gen iPhones offer above what I have on the 6S, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.
Battery life isn't great, but it's adequate, and is cheap to replace if it gets too bad.
Battery life isn't great, but it's adequate, and is cheap to replace if it gets too bad.
I have an XR and it’s more than capable. The new phones only seem to upgrade the camera and then the chip which allegedly make it quicker, but not sure that I’d see any real difference?
My battery health is at 87% and apparently the phone needs replacing once it gets under 80%, but i’ll see about that when it gets there!
My battery health is at 87% and apparently the phone needs replacing once it gets under 80%, but i’ll see about that when it gets there!
I have an iPhone 8 and currently feel no need to upgrade - the phone does what I need it to sufficiently well. Batter is at 88% still. I'll upgrade to whatever the flagship model is next year I'm sure, as we'll hopefully be able to get our honeymoon in South America - having the latest/better camera on the phone is the only driver for this so that I don't need to take my clunky dslr.
Still on my iPhone SE1, as is my wife. Batteries are done for but still going to swap new batteries in for £50 with Apple originals.
The new 'small' iPhone (bit bigger than an SE1) is appealing until you realise you can't charge it and wear headphones. You need to buy those £150 headphones, that also might be flat and need charging.
So £750 for the phone with decent storage, and then £150 for headphones. £900! And it'd be more annoying when stuff isn't charged. They still don't have a piece of software to back them up (encrypted dump to a file)... you still have to use iTunes, and fudge a link so it puts quarter of a terabyte of backups (wife and mine) to not the C drive. Why they can't have a stub backup tool to run on a server is beyond me.
And the caring Apple that cares about green/sustainability, don't want you to fix them and fit new batteries, so it'll still be a worthless brick in 3-4 years... while my 20 year old Nokia can swap to a new battery in about 20 seconds.
Their whole ecosystem is getting tiring, but between them and Google, Apple still win.
If Samsung would create their own fork of Android with all the junk stripped out and then sell their hardware that'd have me buy their hardware.
So yes, smart phones are now just built to become obsolete in obscure ways so you have to keep paying money. And Google spying on you is just the icing on the cake.
The new 'small' iPhone (bit bigger than an SE1) is appealing until you realise you can't charge it and wear headphones. You need to buy those £150 headphones, that also might be flat and need charging.
So £750 for the phone with decent storage, and then £150 for headphones. £900! And it'd be more annoying when stuff isn't charged. They still don't have a piece of software to back them up (encrypted dump to a file)... you still have to use iTunes, and fudge a link so it puts quarter of a terabyte of backups (wife and mine) to not the C drive. Why they can't have a stub backup tool to run on a server is beyond me.
And the caring Apple that cares about green/sustainability, don't want you to fix them and fit new batteries, so it'll still be a worthless brick in 3-4 years... while my 20 year old Nokia can swap to a new battery in about 20 seconds.
Their whole ecosystem is getting tiring, but between them and Google, Apple still win.
If Samsung would create their own fork of Android with all the junk stripped out and then sell their hardware that'd have me buy their hardware.
So yes, smart phones are now just built to become obsolete in obscure ways so you have to keep paying money. And Google spying on you is just the icing on the cake.
Mr Whippy said:
Still on my iPhone SE1, as is my wife. Batteries are done for but still going to swap new batteries in for £50 with Apple originals.
Same as me. Until January when I got a 12 mini. You’re right to say you can get by with a 5yr old phone, but in particular the camera is so much better and one of those things you don’t ‘need’ improved until you compare the two, that the 5 years progress is obvious.I've recently purchased a 12 pro and given my XS to my wife, I didn't intend to upgrade as I just don't feel there were/are huge gains from my XS to the Pro. However the wife batters phones, never listens to getting the most out of your battery and manages to break screens, cover them in nail varnish etc etc.
I don't think phone tech has moved along that much in 5 years now, just slightly faster processors and better cameras, but there has been no real leap in functionality. I probably won't upgrade again for some time now, fingers crossed my old XS lasts too.
I don't think phone tech has moved along that much in 5 years now, just slightly faster processors and better cameras, but there has been no real leap in functionality. I probably won't upgrade again for some time now, fingers crossed my old XS lasts too.
Not just iPhones, quite a few of the "flag ship" Androids also just seem to be pushing into more cameras and a slightly different chipsetup to run them
Why people spend upwards of £1000 on a phone I just cannot get my head around
I outright bought a gen 1 Pixel XL a couple years ago as a personal phone which is still going really strong now and I still use it now as my work phone. Was tempted into a Pixel 4 last year by a cheap HotUKDeals bargain but honestly can't tell much difference between the two apart from the older one is Android 10 and the new one is Android 11 & the newer one has Rapid Charge support
Why people spend upwards of £1000 on a phone I just cannot get my head around
I outright bought a gen 1 Pixel XL a couple years ago as a personal phone which is still going really strong now and I still use it now as my work phone. Was tempted into a Pixel 4 last year by a cheap HotUKDeals bargain but honestly can't tell much difference between the two apart from the older one is Android 10 and the new one is Android 11 & the newer one has Rapid Charge support
Used to upgrade every 2 years, but will get 3 or more from the XR I have now. Performance with the A12 is still really good, it has faceID, it's waterproof, it does wireless charging, the camera is decent, it does 4K video, the battery is big so even if it degrades a bit it'll be fine (still on 91% though).
Nothing compelling on the more recent ones for me.
Nothing compelling on the more recent ones for me.
XR for me, in my 3rd year with it. Battery is at 90% and still fine for my use, always have a charger near me when working and if out for the day just stick it in battery saved mode if required.
Will probably keep it for another year or two, and then replace it with the equivalent. Handset only, been sim-only contract for years now.
I can only really see the next game changer being a folding phone, but then it's probably always going to be too thick to be really usable. I find the XR good thickness for pockets etc.
Will probably keep it for another year or two, and then replace it with the equivalent. Handset only, been sim-only contract for years now.
I can only really see the next game changer being a folding phone, but then it's probably always going to be too thick to be really usable. I find the XR good thickness for pockets etc.
joshleb said:
I can only really see the next game changer being a folding phone, but then it's probably always going to be too thick to be really usable. I find the XR good thickness for pockets etc.
Check how Slim the Surface Duo is for a folding mobile ReallyReallyGood said:
Mr Whippy said:
Still on my iPhone SE1, as is my wife. Batteries are done for but still going to swap new batteries in for £50 with Apple originals.
Same as me. Until January when I got a 12 mini. You’re right to say you can get by with a 5yr old phone, but in particular the camera is so much better and one of those things you don’t ‘need’ improved until you compare the two, that the 5 years progress is obvious.But £900 ish would get us a decent SLR body. But then we wouldn't take it out and capture as many moments.
It's an oddity because you buy the phone for the camera... but there are arguably better cameras haha.
The best camera is the one you have on you! I didn't buy an SLR or other separate camera because I knew that I wouldn't take it anywhere, or I would forget.
I didn't think I'd buy a phone costing over a grand but recently did buy an s21 ultra, mainly for the camera but I had previously upgraded from a pixel 2 xl to a pixel 5 and it was very underwhelming upgrade so I got this instead at considerably greater cost, but I use it for hours every day so in a way it is worth it to me.
A bit like what I found with the pixels, I think iPhones tend to be underwhelming upgrades because they all feel and look exactly the same so sometimes it's difficult to see where your money went on improvements.
I considered an iPhone 12 Pro Max myself but am more of an android type of fella, but also in my opinion the galaxy was much more tempting for me because android is far more customisable, and some of the features make iphones look old hat, things like the HDR10 ready 120Hz display and the flexible camera system with its insane zoom, super high res sensor, macro abilities and so on. The thing that sealed the deal for me was the free wireless buds and smart tag thrown in, all for the same price as an iPhone of similar spec but without those things included (though granted it was a pre-order perk).
Sorry, this turned into a bit of a ramble but yes OP I do see where you're coming from. I think the point of my post is sometimes you just want a change but going from iPhone to iPhone just doesn't feel like a change, apart from the shrinking bank balance anyway!
I didn't think I'd buy a phone costing over a grand but recently did buy an s21 ultra, mainly for the camera but I had previously upgraded from a pixel 2 xl to a pixel 5 and it was very underwhelming upgrade so I got this instead at considerably greater cost, but I use it for hours every day so in a way it is worth it to me.
A bit like what I found with the pixels, I think iPhones tend to be underwhelming upgrades because they all feel and look exactly the same so sometimes it's difficult to see where your money went on improvements.
I considered an iPhone 12 Pro Max myself but am more of an android type of fella, but also in my opinion the galaxy was much more tempting for me because android is far more customisable, and some of the features make iphones look old hat, things like the HDR10 ready 120Hz display and the flexible camera system with its insane zoom, super high res sensor, macro abilities and so on. The thing that sealed the deal for me was the free wireless buds and smart tag thrown in, all for the same price as an iPhone of similar spec but without those things included (though granted it was a pre-order perk).
Sorry, this turned into a bit of a ramble but yes OP I do see where you're coming from. I think the point of my post is sometimes you just want a change but going from iPhone to iPhone just doesn't feel like a change, apart from the shrinking bank balance anyway!
I've had an iPhone 6 since October 2014.
Bought it outright and put it on a SIM only deal (Giffgaff), as I intended keeping it for more than a couple of years. Physically it's in perfect condition as I put it in a waterproof case as soon as I bought it.
Battery has only recently dipped under 80% health, so it now says it needs changing, but it still lasts me all day, so I'll continue to use it and may get a replacement battery if the battery capacity becomes an issue.
Processor speed doesn't seem to be a problem, and I mainly use it for phone calls/video calls, email, calendar, Sonos controller, hotspot for my Macbook Pro (also bought in October 2014 and still in daily use), sat nav with Google maps, and taking photos.
As has been said, about the only thing that would get me to consider changing it to a more recent model would be improved camera performance, although if I'm wanting a high quality picture, I tend to break out the full frame DSLR, or if not wanting to carry that, will take a Canon EOS-M and pancake lens which gives very good photos yet is small enough to put in your pocket.
Bought it outright and put it on a SIM only deal (Giffgaff), as I intended keeping it for more than a couple of years. Physically it's in perfect condition as I put it in a waterproof case as soon as I bought it.
Battery has only recently dipped under 80% health, so it now says it needs changing, but it still lasts me all day, so I'll continue to use it and may get a replacement battery if the battery capacity becomes an issue.
Processor speed doesn't seem to be a problem, and I mainly use it for phone calls/video calls, email, calendar, Sonos controller, hotspot for my Macbook Pro (also bought in October 2014 and still in daily use), sat nav with Google maps, and taking photos.
As has been said, about the only thing that would get me to consider changing it to a more recent model would be improved camera performance, although if I'm wanting a high quality picture, I tend to break out the full frame DSLR, or if not wanting to carry that, will take a Canon EOS-M and pancake lens which gives very good photos yet is small enough to put in your pocket.
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