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When is it worth upgrading your iPhone?

uknowiama

Super Pro Member
Perhaps for the Android boys and girls.. never? Get an Android phone!

With that addressed. Will set the seen. I have an iPhone 12 64GB unlocked. I had it from November of the release year of the phone. Was on a great unlimited data deal with EE for 24 months which was significantly chearper than same phone on 0% APR for 24 months from Apple and unlimited Data sim only from EE. The contract came to an end just after the iPhone 14 came out. I saw no justifable reason to jump to the 14 and another 24 month contract. Was on here doing 4G router things when heard about Lebara so switched to them. Another 12 months on and iPhone 15 has been out for a few months. And am still on my iPhone 12. Battery health is 84%. Not really noticed the phone lagging. The other half has upgraded to 14 (she always upgrades on EE once end of contract and start a new contract) and can't say I feel like I am missing out. I also like to avoid mid-contract price rises - especially given how much they jump up with inflation how it has been the last couple of months.

At present, use the 12. £15 a month 30 day contract for 30GB SIM from Lebara. Have a Huawei Wingle (Wireless Dongle) with £10 a month 30 day contract for 20GB SIM from Lebara. Mainly used in car for kids devices.

I saw a deal for an iPhone 14 on VF 24 month contract. £36 a month. 400GB of data. Which given my historic data usage is the same as unlimited data. That's cheaper than same phone from Apple on 0% APR for 24 months and a Lebara unlimited data sim (30GB is highest before unlimited). Looks a great deal. Things putting me off mid-contract price rises. No EU roaming unlike Lebara which is included.

So keep the 12 for another 12 months. Wait for the 16 to come out. Nab a 16 or a 15?

Any apple / iphone users - have all the bugs / launch glitches been fixed on the iPhone 15s now.

The other option is my Dad (80+) has paid of his 13 Pro Max. So might make him an offer for that, based on what Apple is offering him as a trade in.

So thoughts. I have an Android as a work phone - although it is really locked down - but seems really good for the price point - a Samsung A33 5G

While at it, my son is going to get his first mobile, prob going to be iPhone too, he'll be 11 shortly, so thinking a iPhone SE 2020? (v2). Good idea?

Thanks in advance for all input, opinions.
 
I'm not really sure anyone can succinctly answer this, given most new phones are released with new features. You haven't provided any view on features that are important to you, other than contract features which have little to do with the phone.

The only view I can think of when it is "worth upgrading" is when the device itself falls out of Apple support, i.e. no longer capable of running the latest version of iOS. You can view this here: https://support.apple.com/en-vn/guide/iphone/iphe3fa5df43/ios.
 
I agree with Matt Rowley: the best time to upgrade your iphone is when it is no longer eligible for newer iOS versions. I had an iphone 4s to begin with, then upgraded it to an iphone 6 [since the iphone 4 was stuck on 9.3.5 for so long] and after a year of being unable to update ios or apps beyond ios 12 on the iphone 6, i ditched it in favour of a financed iphone 14 pro, which will last me probably a decade. I won’t replace it until i’ve had a year of “sorry there are no software updates available” as there’s really no reason to do regular device swaps.
 
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Most iPhones these days get software updates for roughly 6 years, give or take a year. Keep this in mind when buying older models.

I agree with the others that the right time to upgrade is when it is no longer receiving iOS updates, as that is when it will stop getting security fixes. After that point it will become riskier over time trusting it with your personal information.
 
Battery life is another factor in any upgrade, at least it is for me, as I dislike having to carry around a power bank just to feed my mobile. Some mobiles have more durable batteries and capacities than others, while others make it easier to upgrade/replace batteries without downtime, but I prefer a phone that just lasts.

In that sense, I find that most mobiles start to really suffer (battery wise) after about the c.2-3 year mark. But if there were a better 'Right to Repair' and we had easily replaceable batteries at home (remember those?), then I might well keep my mobile until it more or less died. The caveat being whether, as Matt highlight above, the manufacturer gives a good level of long-lasting software/security support.

Otherwise, I generally don't see much benefit these days between modern Smartphones, which all do more or less the same thing and perfectly well.
 
With regards to the battery problem, Apple will happily perform battery replacements for most of their recent models (I think going back to the iPhone 7 right now) in Apple Stores for under £100, and will often be able to do so in under an hour or two.
 
I was recently weighing up whether to get the battery replaced on my 12 Mini, or whether to just get a newer model... in the end I just went with the battery replacement (£85 at the Apple Store) as the phone serves my needs perfectly well, and I also like the small size of it. I'll probably keep it for at least another couple of years now.
 
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iPhone 12 is still getting iOS updates from Apple. If you're happy with it, and you've already got a SIM-only deal from Lebara, you're good to go.

If you want to see the specs side-by-side, then macrumors.com is a good place.

But if I were you, I'd wait until the iPhone 12 is orphaned from updates, and then buy the oldest still-being-sold-by-Apple model at that time.

For example, right now the iPhone 13, 14 and 15 are being sold. But the iPhone 13 is being discounted by £50 (from CPW/Currys/Amazon), making it £250 cheaper than the iPhone 15, and there's otherwise precious little difference between them. The iPhone 14 has 6GB RAM instead of 4GB; the iPhone 15 has USB-C instead of Lightning, and the notch has been turned into an "island". Big deal.

iPhone SE 2020 (2nd gen) is a fine choice for a child's first phone, and it's still receiving updates - 1st gen isn't.
 
I agree with Matt Rowley: the best time to upgrade your iphone is when it is no longer eligible for newer iOS versions.
I disagree with this. First let's clarify, the best time to get rid of an iPhone is 6-12 months BEFORE it has no more security updates. People that buy second hand phones don't care about the latest iOS version. And phones stop receiving new iOS versions way before they stop receiving iOS updates. You want to ditch the phone around 6 months before the phone stops receiving security updates. This is because the phone will drop in residual value after that and also because it's really dangerous to have a phone (any phone, Android or iOS) without security updates. Unfortunatelly Apple doesn't tell customers in advance when they will stopto receive security updates for each iOS version. Sometimes they make exceptions and patch older iOS versions as the securoity hole is too bad, sometimes they stick to a plan. But in general if you buy a new iPhone on the release year you will get 6-7 of iOS version upgrades and 1-2 years of iOS security updates on the last iOS release you get, depending on the iOS release. So the range for security updayes is basically 7-9 years assuming you are always willing to move to the next iOS version and have storage for that. Personally I like to own the device from new when it's released for 1-3 years depending on the version/features. Then I can pass it down to my wife and she can use it on years 3-5. Likely I will do a battery refresh at the start of her cycle to feel as new as possible. Finally years 6-9 will go to my daughter which is more likely than not to destroy it/damage it/loose it/etc so always want to give her the phone that had the most amortisation and least residual value. These year periods are flexible, I may need to adjust then as needed if something happens. I also have mobile insurance from my bank accouunt which means that I am not forced to upgrade if a phone is slot, stolen or broken.

So my advice for you is get iPhone 14 for and give the 12 to your son. It's a similar age device than the iPhone SE 2020 but much better phone. You loose most of the money when you buy and sell, so by cascading down phones down the family pecking order you make the most savings. Buying a new or even used iPhone SE 2020 might look like a good deal but no one else will use that device hence why it's better to buy the 14 and cascade down the 12.
 
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