In my opinion, if you’re eager to have a newer, better device, and you are going to use Apple Intelligence, then this year is a really good one to upgrade.
Again, from my experience, same way as the A12 and the A15 were chips that Apple used across the board and they are receiving a lot of support (proof is, the A12 is again the minimum requirement for iOS 18), I have the feeling that the A18 is going to be a well supported SoC and will mark the beginning of a new era, especially regarding ML, AI and graphics.
I think this is a really good year to upgrade your iPhone to either the iPhone 16 or 16 Pro (both are going to come with the A18, likely with a binned version for the non-pro model).
However. You say your current iPhone 12 Pro Max still holds 88% after 4 years. That’s a lot. And batteries used nowadays degrade much faster. You say you don’t really need to replace your iPhone yet. If that’s true, my advice is: hold on, maybe one more year, or maybe a couple of years to ensure you get the A20 SoC built at 2nm (20A) on the iPhone 18 in 2026. I think that’s going to be another big jump but, who knows, maybe the 2nm process gets delayed again and we don’t have a proper 2nm SoC until the A21.
So my advice is: if you really want to replace your iPhone, this is a good year to do so. A more powerful SoC, bigger batteries, better thermal solutions, all the AI stuff will work flawlessly, and a 3nm process (N3E) which will be much more power efficient than the used on the iPhone 15 Pro.
On the other hand, if you don’t feel compelled by their features, or want to postpone the purchase to have a fresher battery access device in the future, then waiting a couple of years could be another great idea. You’ll probably keep receiving iOS updates on your iPhone 12 Pro, at least until iOS 20, right on time to purchase the iPhone 20 and drive right into the 2nm era.
Your money, your preferences, your choice.
