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Again, not everyone cares about the same things you do. The upgrades of the iPhone 11 will be significant over the older models for many people.

You'll be surprised how many "dumb users" actually understand that 5G wireless standard is quickly gaining momentum and 5G-incompatible phones will be mostly obsolete in 2-3 years.
 
if those users haven’t upgraded by now then why would they for 2019? They’re either content or not willing to pay double the price.
Even if they were interested they’d know to wait til 2020. Look for iPhone sales to take a dive this year.

Because he 8 hasn’t been out 2 years yet, I’m going to upgrade this year having an 8+ myself.
 
You'll be surprised how many "dumb users" actually understand that 5G wireless standard is quickly gaining momentum and 5G-incompatible phones will be mostly obsolete in 2-3 years.
2 years? Please give me a break. You’re essentially saying the iPhone 11 will be obsolete in under 2 years. Just stop.
 
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You'll be surprised how many "dumb users" actually understand that 5G wireless standard is quickly gaining momentum and 5G-incompatible phones will be mostly obsolete in 2-3 years.

They are finally shutting CDMA down now. I think 4G/LTE is going to be fine for a while.

Plus, how much do you think the 5G network is going to be built out this year? Or next year?

5G phones aren't expected to outsell 4G ones until 2023. Upgrading in 2019 isn't a waste of money. Plus, phones older than a 6S won't run iOS 13, so there will be people upgrading from those older phones.
 
You'll be surprised how many "dumb users" actually understand that 5G wireless standard is quickly gaining momentum and 5G-incompatible phones will be mostly obsolete in 2-3 years.

You will be surprised how many”dumb posters” don’t understand this is a global market.
 
Or this is when their phone dies, or they got fed up with their Android phone, or they're handing their existing phone off to a kid and getting a new one, or... thousands of other possibilities. It feels like your list of scenarios doesn't extend much beyond what applies to you, your friends/coworkers, or others that hang out on MacRumors. With millions of new phones selling every week, people are coming to that purchase from all sorts of situations.
This may come as a shock, but not everyone spends their time hanging out on Apple rumor sites. Not everyone can wait over a year, and not everyone cares to - say your phone breaks, would you wait over a year to replace it, and just go without a phone until then?
[doublepost=1564431727][/doublepost]Part of the reason that has faded was Apple taking an interest in curbing the lines outside the stores (I recall a report of someone, perhaps Angela Ahrendts, feeling that wasn't a good look). A lot of the phones are sold online these days. If you look at "there used to be long lines the first day and now there aren't" and come away with "nobody buys iPhones any more", you're misreading the data.

The 2019 iphone sales may indeed be better than last year (although I doubt it). But pointing out there's lots of users of 5/6/7/8 waiting to upgrade isn't a stellar reason to think this. This reason existed the last two years or so. Instead I would tend to think these users don't see an upgrade path. That's on Apple. XR, the less expensive option is simply too big for many. XS Max isn't even a consideration. XS is simply too expensive. Let's remember these 5/6/7/8 users didn't pay anywhere near a 1000.

I've had people laugh at me when they ask how much a newer phone like mine costs. Sure, they're ready to upgrade from an iphone 6 or 7 but to what? Yep, when it comes down to it, their only real option is buying ANOTHER iphone 7 or perhaps an iphone 8? That's not upgrading..that's replacing. Hey, if Apple threw in an XR mini or SE, then this is a different story and you can have at it with your vast numbers of old users ready to upgrade.

The iphone X of course had its buyers. The XS introduced a bigger size as well as a less expensive XR. In 2019, these are your primary buyers of the iphone 11 (because these 5/6/7/8 buyers dying to upgrade have proven they're not interested in the X series). Are you willing to bet iphone x/xs customers are ready to pay another 1000 so soon for basically the same phone with slightly better camera?
 
Bet you’d notice zero difference in modems in a blind test. It just doesn’t matter in the real world.
I tried 2 different Maxes last fall - 6 weeks apart and they were both unusable for me connectivity wise - talk, data, WiFi and Bluetooth were all terrible. Literally would swap the SIM back and forth from my 6S Plus to the Max and like night and day. The 6S Plus worked where neither Max did. I had promised the Plus to someone else, so after returning the Maxes, I got an X, which works perfectly fine. I have no idea why the Maxes were so poor for me. They both had the Intel modem, whereas the Plus and X are Qualcomm. Maybe it had nothing to do with the connectivity issues and just coincidence.
 
While the 5G is at the door and will be available with the 2020 iPhones, I wouldn't even upgrade from iPhone 6s/7/8. It is highly probable this year will be the most boring iPhone launch.

Even so, I am upgrading from an iPhone 6 (so it's really just time). I cannot wait to have a modern phone. And yes, next year's iPhone will probably have 5G. Since I am purchasing it myself, I think I will just be careful with my new iPhone the coming year and then sell it next year (as iPhones retain a high resale value, I suspect same will go for that one). And then I can purchase another new phone next year. I don't see why in the world I wouldn't upgrade, as it will be an enormous step forward for me!
 
I tried 2 different Maxes last fall - 6 weeks apart and they were both unusable for me connectivity wise - talk, data, WiFi and Bluetooth were all terrible. Literally would swap the SIM back and forth from my 6S Plus to the Max and like night and day. The 6S Plus worked where neither Max did. I had promised the Plus to someone else, so after returning the Maxes, I got an X, which works perfectly fine. I have no idea why the Maxes were so poor for me. They both had the Intel modem, whereas the Plus and X are Qualcomm. Maybe it had nothing to do with the connectivity issues and just coincidence.

I find the same thing with my 10max... really poor connectivity compared to the 7 I used to have.
 
I tried 2 different Maxes last fall - 6 weeks apart and they were both unusable for me connectivity wise - talk, data, WiFi and Bluetooth were all terrible. Literally would swap the SIM back and forth from my 6S Plus to the Max and like night and day. The 6S Plus worked where neither Max did. I had promised the Plus to someone else, so after returning the Maxes, I got an X, which works perfectly fine. I have no idea why the Maxes were so poor for me. They both had the Intel modem, whereas the Plus and X are Qualcomm. Maybe it had nothing to do with the connectivity issues and just coincidence.
You might have had hardware isssues, but there is not a big difference in modems or the Intels would have never made it to the iPhone.
 
I don't think that many people will be upgrading their iPhones this year. The day when people were standing outside the apple store for days waiting for the doors to be open are gone.

People say this every year...
 
My 7+ is starting to die. I’m not waiting for 2020 to upgrade but I Think I can wait for this one.

You really should the Qualcomm chips are better, imo plus the 5g, true most networks wont be able to take advantage, but if you ever travel overseas, they are ahead of us in 5g implementation. The camera could be a good reason, but my XS Max takes good enough pics especially with all the helpful camera apps out there. I agree this will probably be a light sales cycle in my forecast, Apple will still sell their iconic iphone, however alot of intelligent people who don't have to upgrade will wait this cycle out and upgrade in 2020!!!
 
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