Sure, you can always wait another year for the next big thing. It's not so much whether this year's models are a 'meh' upgrade from the previous year. It's a matter of what you have now, whether you're happy with it, and whether it'll last long enough to bridge the gap to the Next Big Thing. If there's no voice inside your head shouting, "I gotta have it now," then by all means, wait. If your current phone won't last that long... well you gotta do what you gotta do.
I have an X. It's served me very well, but I figured the battery would need replacement after about 2.5 - 3 years. That would have been a good time to upgrade to the next model (I'd replace the battery anyway and hand it down to a family member, as I usually do). So before they came out, I was thinking I'd get a 12-series by early 2021, around my X's Third Anniversary.
But then the 12s were announced. I really preferred the cameras in the 12 Pro Max to the 12 Pro, but I've never liked phablets, I much prefer the "classic" X-sized phones. So I sat on the fence, "Let's see what happens with my X." Well, what's happened is that the battery is still hanging in there - 84%, Peak Performance Capability after 3.5 years. Overall, it's still running great on iOS 15, and I still have plenty of Available Storage.
(How you like them apples, you 'Apple's not serious about extending battery life' and 'Apple software upgrades are designed to kill old phones' people?)
Now, the 13 Pro has me salivating. Much better cameras than I could have ever expected, I can get those cameras in the iPhone size I prefer, and the battery test reports are very impressive. Yet I don't have to be in a hurry to buy a new phone. It'll be sooner if something unexpected happens to the X or if I end up going on a trip where I'd like the upgraded cameras, or later for the sake of boasting, "My iPhone X is four years old and going strong!"
Of course I'm not in the "owns an Xs or later" category, but the principle still applies. Buy what you want, when you need it. You're under no obligation to buy a new model simply because there's a new model. But speaking as a photographer for whom a macro lens has always been part of his lens kit... The 13 Pros would be a temptation for people like me regardless of what model iPhone they currently own. From my (extreme close-up) perspective, 13 is not meh at all.
