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Apple upgrading iPhone 4 to iPhone 4S for a fee?

R

rogeliojeda

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 4, 2011
124
0
I was daydreaming today and came to this conclusion, would be possible that Apple upgrade our iPhone 4 to an iPhone 4S? be this I mean that we only take our iPhone 4 to an apple store and they for a fee upgrade the A4 chip to A5? And with a little luck maybe a little more RAM. Lately I’ve been thinking that theres no need to have a new iPhone and that if Apple is going just to release a minor update, why spend more than we have to? I know nobody will force us to buy the newest phone on the market, but that would be great.
Spending 100 bucks for a upgrade like that would be great.
*
And remember, Apple has already send to developers an iPhone 4 with the A5 chip, so its possible.
 
While your day dreaming, why can't Apple just upgrade the iPhone 3GS's screen to the same Retina Display that the iPhone 4 uses at the store for a small fee, I mean their both the same 3.5" screen right?

Or why can't they just convert my Black iPhone 4 to a White model, I mean why spend more money than I have to if all they can do is just swap the casing, simple right.

#fail


rogeliojeda said:
Why should it be that hard?
Click to expand...

You just joined and I already want to add you to my ignore list.
 
rogeliojeda said:
Why should it be that hard?
Click to expand...

Because even if they use the same type of logic board and the only upgrade is a faster processor. Doing that upgrade on old iPhones would involve desoldering and soldering a new chip on something that most people at the genius bar can't do. Plus there probably will be a lot more changes besides just the processor.
 
Have they done this in the past? No. It doesn't make sense business wise and is just a fantasy and unfortunately Apple doesn't go off customer fantasies or else my iPhone would be powered by unicorn blood and never need to be charged.
 
Paratel said:
That's what she said...

Sorry couldn't resist.
Click to expand...

I lol'd :)


OP, you must have never taken an iPhone apart. It is that hard and it's not going to happen. This isn't like you open a Mac and take out some memory and the CPU by opening some clips. They are soldered on in the iPhone.

Edit: Or just read mrkramers more eloquent version of the above. :)
 
Usually when I daydream I try not to mix it with meth or draino.... What possible motivation would Apple have for doing this? Thinking you're going to be able to purchase two phones for $300 is just....just....well, it's not happening.
 
Any money saved by replacing only the logic board in the iPhone 4 rather than the entire device would be lost to the cost of labour. Wages in developed countries are higher than where the iPhone is assembled (notice how it's often cheaper to just buy a new, let's say, washing machine, rather than get someone to fix it); the guy or girl who does the actual work to your phone behind the scenes in the Apple Store doesn't come cheap. Plus Apple has to put in place the resources to do this, which also costs.

Overall, you'd probably end up paying more than if you just bought a new iPhone.
 
Last edited:
rogeliojeda said:
I was daydreaming today and came to this conclusion, would be possible that Apple upgrade our iPhone 4 to an iPhone 4S? be this I mean that we only take our iPhone 4 to an apple store and they for a fee upgrade the A4 chip to A5? And with a little luck maybe a little more RAM. Lately I’ve been thinking that theres no need to have a new iPhone and that if Apple is going just to release a minor update, why spend more than we have to? I know nobody will force us to buy the newest phone on the market, but that would be great.
Spending 100 bucks for a upgrade like that would be great.
*
And remember, Apple has already send to developers an iPhone 4 with the A5 chip, so its possible.
Click to expand...

Dude, that's NEVER gonna happen. Apple will never be that generous lol. Keep dreamin'.
 
It'll never happen.

But perhaps someday – maybe when China decides to play hardball – upgrades will be offered to recover the rare elements from the old phones...
 
He, he,..... might be best to just go back to sleep. :(

Next time you wake up maybe you will be thinking a bit clearer.
 
You can rest assured the upgrade will cost something on the order of $600 off contract and $200 with renewal :D
 
The circuit boards are machine assembled; humans can't do work that fine.

Even 20 years ago IBM would not repair motherboards; they simply replaced them since it cost more to find out what was wrong with it than to replace it. It is not just the cost of finding out what's wrong with it, it is the cost of fixing it, which may not be possible if something is blown where it can't be fixed.

I can't picture anyone who works at an Apple store having the skill to take apart a circuit board and change something. This is not to be derogatory of the Apple store people. The Apple store people can do diagnostics and upgrade memory, but most repairs go out of the store anyway.

If they did offer upgrades, they would simply replace the whole thing with a new phone.

I doubt they repair iPhones in the apple store - it goes to a central place where they can do it.
 
It's not rude to be blunt about the situation. Also, why are you asking questions that defy common sense? Maybe you're trolling.
Daydream all you want, but understand that it's not going to happen. We have a better chance of seeing an 8" ipad than the unrealistic fantasy you dreamed up.
rogeliojeda said:
Dont have to be that rude
Have you seen on internet info or pics of an iphone 3gs upgraded with retina display? No right? Yet we know of iPhone 4 that had been seen to devs with the A5 chip, so its far more possible than your sarcastic comment.

An sorry for any bad use of english, I'm mexican.
Click to expand...
 
Its called sell your iphone 4 in craigslist for at least 300 dollars and buy the iphone 5 for 300 dollars.
 
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