Difficulty justifying new iPhone prices--Android or older iPhone?

[Broadus]

Apologies at the outset for the long and meandering post

With Apple's price increases, I've been trying to decide what to do. I have a 6s, and my wife has the 4S that I bought when they were released in 2011. We obviously don't regularly buy the latest and greatest! We're both frugal, and while I love technology and drool over the latest and greatest, she couldn't care less.

I don't use my phone a lot because I'm usually using my 2012 rMBP or 10.5 iPad Pro. However, my aging eyes would enjoy a plus-sized iPhone, and I could give my wife the 6s, even though she says she's fine with the little 4S. I was looking forward to the release of what we know as the iPhone X, but the price (not to mention the notch) put a wet blanket on that.

I've considered the iPhone 8 Plus, but 64GB is tight and 256GB is serious overkill. However, to buy an 8 Plus with enough storage for my usage will put the total cost, including tax, at over $1000. That's approaching financial insanity for my usage.

And so I'm considering buying an Android, perhaps a mid-range model with at least a 5.5" screen. My basic pause is the integration I enjoy with my Apple devices, not to mention the security of OS updates.

I think I can go to Google calendar to provide the integration in that area, but I don't know what to do with music. I enjoy the integration that iTunes provides across my devices.

I wonder how well comparably-priced Android models stack up against an iPhone 6s Plus or 7 Plus in practical, day-to-day usage. A 128GB 6s Plus would be $649 plus tax, and a 128GB 7 Plus is $769 plus tax. My attraction to Android is motivated by price. If I can get a better Android for the price of a 6s Plus or 7 Plus or even a comparable Android (in day-to-day usage, thinking primarily about speed and camera) for less, then I may go that route. Otherwise, I could spend the extra $100 or so, get maybe an iPhone 7 Plus, and continue using my devices as I have.

I'm leaning towards the 6s Plus or 7 Plus, but I'm very open to Android. Any thoughts from those who've used both platforms are welcomed. Thanks.

 

[ozaz]

Google services would likely provide the integration you like. You can test this by using Google services instead of Apple services for a while on your existing devices and see if it works for you.

What integration do you require for your music? If you upload your music to Google Music (which is free) you can access this from all your devices. Is this all you need?

Where people sometimes struggle is if they are very dependent on imessage or Facetime for social reasons, which aren't available on Android. Or if they have heavily curated Apple Photo libraries leading to an unwillingness to switch to Google Photos.

 

[Puddled]

Buy a refurbished 6S+ and stay in IOS.

I don't think you want to be outside of your IOS comfort zone tbh.

 

[Broadus]

Buy a refurbished 6S+ and stay in IOS.

I don't think you want to be outside of your IOS comfort zone tbh.

You may be right. If I could get an Android that is better than a 6s Plus or 7 Plus, that would be really tempting. I am comfortable with iOS, but I've played around enough with Androids that I wouldn't have an issue with the phone itself. Ozaz's comment about Google services could be the way to go.

iMessage isn't a huge deal, and FaceTime is something I use only on my iPad and MBP.

I can't help but feel a transition to Android is something I'll do somewhere down the road if iPhone prices continue to rise.

 

[lazard]

just buy a galaxy 8 plus on ebay...it's like $630.

 

[Technarchy]

Get the S8.

 

[Puddled]

You may be right. If I could get an Android that is better than a 6s Plus or 7 Plus, that would be really tempting. I am comfortable with iOS, but I've played around enough with Androids that I wouldn't have an issue with the phone itself. Ozaz's comment about Google services could be the way to go.

iMessage isn't a huge deal, and FaceTime is something I use only on my iPad and MBP.

I can't help but feel a transition to Android is something I'll do somewhere down the road if iPhone prices continue to rise.

Modern androids are ( flagships mind) every bit as good if not better than Iphones. But they are not Iphones.

 

[Broadus]

Modern androids are ( flagships mind) every bit as good if not better than Iphones. But they are not Iphones.

Yep--and that's the whole conundrum. iPhones are great and premium products. Many people use one phone for years, have no idea what model they have and couldn't care less. It does what they want it to do and they'll replace it when it's lost or stolen or broken beyond reasonable repair.

Maybe it's the same with Android flagship phones. I don't know. I have friends who are perfectly content with the Moto G5. One brought hers to me because she was having trouble setting up her email. I did a little poking around the settings and saw what needed to be done, and then I played around with it for a few minutes. I have no idea what its camera is like, but I thought, "If I did not know any better phones existed, I could be content with this one."

The convenience and reliability that iOS/MacOS brings is probably what "traps" many of us in its pricier system. If my phone rings while I'm on my MBP, I can keep working while I talk to the caller through my laptop. I receive a message and type a response on my MBP keyboard.

And so I waffle.

 

[Puddled]

Yep--and that's the whole conundrum. iPhones are great and premium products. Many people use one phone for years, have no idea what model they have and couldn't care less. It does what they want it to do and they'll replace it when it's lost or stolen or broken beyond reasonable repair.

Maybe it's the same with Android flagship phones. I don't know. I have friends who are perfectly content with the Moto G5. One brought hers to me because she was having trouble setting up her email. I did a little poking around the settings and saw what needed to be done, and then I played around with it for a few minutes. I have no idea what its camera is like, but I thought, "If I did not know any better phones existed, I could be content with this one."

The convenience and reliability that iOS/MacOS brings is probably what "traps" many of us in its pricier system. If my phone rings while I'm on my MBP, I can keep working while I talk to the caller through my laptop. I receive a message and type a response on my MBP keyboard.

And so I waffle.

I've no idea why Apple mac/watch/tv users would choose anything other than an iphone tbh. If you are invested in the system, go all in. don't be this and that.

 

[nviz22]

Apologies at the outset for the long and meandering post

With Apple's price increases, I've been trying to decide what to do. I have a 6s, and my wife has the 4S that I bought when they were released in 2011. We obviously don't regularly buy the latest and greatest! We're both frugal, and while I love technology and drool over the latest and greatest, she couldn't care less.

I don't use my phone a lot because I'm usually using my 2012 rMBP or 10.5 iPad Pro. However, my aging eyes would enjoy a plus-sized iPhone, and I could give my wife the 6s, even though she says she's fine with the little 4S. I was looking forward to the release of what we know as the iPhone X, but the price (not to mention the notch) put a wet blanket on that.

I've considered the iPhone 8 Plus, but 64GB is tight and 256GB is serious overkill. However, to buy an 8 Plus with enough storage for my usage will put the total cost, including tax, at over $1000. That's approaching financial insanity for my usage.

And so I'm considering buying an Android, perhaps a mid-range model with at least a 5.5" screen. My basic pause is the integration I enjoy with my Apple devices, not to mention the security of OS updates.

I think I can go to Google calendar to provide the integration in that area, but I don't know what to do with music. I enjoy the integration that iTunes provides across my devices.

I wonder how well comparably-priced Android models stack up against an iPhone 6s Plus or 7 Plus in practical, day-to-day usage. A 128GB 6s Plus would be $649 plus tax, and a 128GB 7 Plus is $769 plus tax. My attraction to Android is motivated by price. If I can get a better Android for the price of a 6s Plus or 7 Plus or even a comparable Android (in day-to-day usage, thinking primarily about speed and camera) for less, then I may go that route. Otherwise, I could spend the extra $100 or so, get maybe an iPhone 7 Plus, and continue using my devices as I have.

I'm leaning towards the 6s Plus or 7 Plus, but I'm very open to Android. Any thoughts from those who've used both platforms are welcomed. Thanks.

If you want to continue being frugal, might want to consider the Moto G5 Plus since it has a 5.5" screen, a decent camera, solid processor, sufficient RAM, and Motorola's smart features. $650 is still quite a bit for a product you won't be using as much. iOS is overrated as well because it does very little to take advantage of a bigger screen. Security patch updates are nothing more than something people harp on about when they are like anti-virus definition update patches. Apple has training wheels to prevent people from falling off with their own user error. As long as you do not download anything unknown that isn't from the Play Store or a source you recognize, you should be fine. Android is agnostic with devices so you can still make them work together.

 

[Broadus]

I've no idea why Apple mac/watch/tv users would choose anything other than an iphone tbh. If you are invested in the system, go all in. don't be this and that.

That's why I waffle and, after a lot of thought, stay with iPhone. However, I think I'm done with buying the latest phone Apple offers. I'll probably suck it up and order a 128GB 7 Plus, almost $200 less than the 256GB 8 Plus (which has at least 128GB of storage I'll never use).

 

[nviz22]

That's why I waffle and, after a lot of thought, stay with iPhone. However, I think I'm done with buying the latest phone Apple offers. I'll probably suck it up and order a 128GB 7 Plus, almost $200 less than the 256GB 8 Plus (which has at least 128GB of storage I'll never use).

Go S8 at least so you can get an iPhone X caliber phone without paying Apple markups.

 

[Broadus]

If you want to continue being frugal, might want to consider the Moto G5 Plus since it has a 5.5" screen, a decent camera, solid processor, sufficient RAM, and Motorola's smart features. $650 is still quite a bit for a product you won't be using as much. iOS is overrated as well because it does very little to take advantage of a bigger screen. Security patch updates are nothing more than something people harp on about when they are like anti-virus definition update patches. Apple has training wheels to prevent people from falling off with their own user error. As long as you do not download anything unknown that isn't from the Play Store or a source you recognize, you should be fine. Android is agnostic with devices so you can still make them work together.

The Moto G5 Plus is an excellent phone. If Apple made something like that (the SE is solid but that little 4" screen is a deal breaker for me), with it functioning other Apple devices, it would sell like hotcakes.

 

[nviz22]

The Moto G5 Plus is an excellent phone. If Apple made something like that (the SE is solid but that little 4" screen is a deal breaker for me), with it functioning other Apple devices, it would sell like hotcakes.

Apple should do that, but they do not need to make a 5" SE driven on parity. As of now, I am leaning towards selling my SE, but I am also going to miss the little guy's iOS capabilities.

 

[Puddled]

That's why I waffle and, after a lot of thought, stay with iPhone. However, I think I'm done with buying the latest phone Apple offers. I'll probably suck it up and order a 128GB 7 Plus, almost $200 less than the 256GB 8 Plus (which has at least 128GB of storage I'll never use).

If you want to be frugal with money, then IOS and Apple is not the environment you want to be in. Apple isn't going to be getting any cheaper. I would think you get the Iphone 8 and suck it up, or migrate away from the apple environment.

Your Mac and Ipads are not going to last forever.

 

[Tig Bitties]

You may be right. If I could get an Android that is better than a 6s Plus or 7 Plus, that would be really tempting. I am comfortable with iOS, but I've played around enough with Androids that I wouldn't have an issue with the phone itself. Ozaz's comment about Google services could be the way to go.

iMessage isn't a huge deal, and FaceTime is something I use only on my iPad and MBP.

I can't help but feel a transition to Android is something I'll do somewhere down the road if iPhone prices continue to rise.

" If I could get an Android that is better than a 6s Plus or 7 Plus "

Uh that's very easy, pretty much any Android phone today is better than those phones. Unless you like the locked down, handcuffed limited iOS for some reason, and super dated looking design of those phones.

The Pixel 2 next month will be the best Android phone for 2017. Or on a budget the OnePlus 5 is good too. The LG V30 looks to be very nice as well

 

[Broadus]

If you want to be frugal with money, then IOS and Apple is not the environment you want to be in. Apple isn't going to be getting any cheaper. I would think you get the Iphone 8 and suck it up, or migrate away from the apple environment.

Your Mac and Ipads are not going to last forever.

I guess that frugality can come about in different ways. After 25 years of using Windows OS computers/laptops, I made the switch in 2013 to an Apple-refurbished 2012 rMBP and continue to use it with no thought of replacing. I'm on the laptop a good 40 hours a week. I was never able to use my Lenovo Thinkpad or HP whatever or Toshiba laptops this long. Frankly, I have little desire to return to the Windows environment.

My current 6s is running fine, but a Plus-sized phone would be easier to read. As I said above, my wife is using the 4S that I bought in 2011.

Apple does may quality products, its operating systems are stable, and its customer service is outstanding. I think what has me annoyed at present is offering the two levels of storage--64GB and 256GB, and upping the price $150 for the higher tier. Apple, of course, has always been clever about marketing their storage levels, thinking back to charging another $100 when increasing storage from 16GB to 32GB.

You may be right about the frustration of mixing environments. I went through this process a couple of years ago and decided to remain totally with Apple.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

If you have the money go for a 7+. Based on your posts, you'll be better off in the long run vs saving some money that you'll probably spend on perishables anyway.