Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 13 Pro Max From Older iPhone to 13 Experience?

H

Hexley

Suspended
Original poster
Jun 10, 2009
1,641
505
Anyone make the jump from a 2017 iPhone 8 Plus on iOS 15.x to a 2021 iPhone 13 Pro Max on iOS 15.x?

How is it like?

Incidentally if you're the type to only upgrade after the last security update was issued your replacement path would look like this
Will iPhone 13 have its last security update as early as 2029 or as late as the early 2030s? If we were to base the support life of Windows & macOS there is a possibility that iPadOS & iOS may lengthen to a full decade. I say this as these have been lengthening after each generation and the iPad Pro's now using a M1 chip from a Mac.

For those curious the replacement cycle in the US lengthened from the long standard 24 month to 36 months or longer as late as 2017. Even Apple's most current customer use data shows it at every 3 years.

24 month replacement cycle has its origins from 1990s telco plans where in Nokia 2G feature phones get subsidized/installment payment over a 24 month period.

Apple figured that the $399-$1,599 Apple device could be "pushed" to users every 24 months and the telco will finance it on their behalf. This made it an affordable $16.63-45.80/month + service fees over a 2 year period.

Lengthening the plan to 3 years spreads out the cost to $11.09-30.53/month + service fees.

I may be mistaken but are their countries with 4 year smartphone contracts?
 
Last edited:
I purchased a 13 pro max and returned it and purchased a refurbished iPhone 8 Plus instead.
Zero remorse, zero regret. For me (and likely not many others) the 8 Plus is a superior phone compared to the 13 Pro Max for a few reasons.
If the 13PM cost less than the 8+ (which it certainly doesn’t) I’d still choose the 8+ without question.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: StoneJack
I just traded my 8+ for a new 13 Pro Max.... I did it specifically for the camera which is miles better than the camera on my 8+ . The 13 Pro Max is also a LOT faster than the 8+. But mainly it was for the camera.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Adarna and Hexley
hassiman said:
I just traded my 8+ for a new 13 Pro Max.... I did it specifically for the camera which is miles better than the camera on my 8+ . The 13 Pro Max is also a LOT faster than the 8+. But mainly it was for the camera.
Click to expand...
In your opinion was 4 years worth the wait or would you have been able to stretch it out a few more years until your iPhone cannot update to the newest iOS?
 
Hexley said:
In your opinion was 4 years worth the wait or would you have been able to stretch it out a few more years until your iPhone cannot update to the newest iOS?
Click to expand...
I’m not a rabid proponent of keeping my iPhone running the latest version of iOS. If I’m going to update it, it’ll be just once in August when it’s finished.
I’d never buy a new iPhone in the Fall specifically for that reason- it ships with beta software (all new iOS software that’s released to the public IS beta software- they just don’t call it that).

I came from an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 9 for 5 years. I never updated it because I knew the newer versions of iOS would kill it - make it too slow.
So by the timeI purchased my 8 Plus, Safari pretty much didn’t work properly on most websites and no new apps could be installed (which I don’t care about since I don’t download new apps).

After I got my 8 Plus, now running and staying on iOS 14, I decided to update the iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 12 since that’s as far as it can go and I don’t care about that phone anymore.

So how does the iPhone 6 Plus run on iOS 12? It ruined the phone (as I suspected it would - which is why I never updated it).

The 6 Plus now is so clunky and slow and laggy doing everything that it’s unbearable to use. Yes it works but it’s absolute torture now to use. Way way slower doing everything compared to iOS 9.

I also have an old iPhone 7 (that was running iOS 14 just fine) that’s a backup phone I don’t care about — so I thought I’d upgrade it to iOS 15.3 to see how that goes. iOS 15 wrecked that phone too. Lots of weird behavior now with the battery status and auto brightness and other stuff. Phone is a wreck.

So those two examples are more than enough to learn from.

For my 8 Plus on iOS 14, it’s now running perfect and fast.
And (like the 6 Plus) I’ll never update it again. It’s staying on iOS 14 for the next 4 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zkap, winxmac, tedley and 1 other person
now i see it said:
I’m not a rabid proponent of keeping my iPhone running the latest version of iOS. If I’m going to update it, it’ll be just once in August when it’s finished.
I’d never buy a new iPhone in the Fall specifically for that reason- it ships with beta software (all new iOS software that’s released to the public IS beta software- they just don’t call it that).

I came from an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 9 for 5 years. I never updated it because I knew the newer versions of iOS would kill it - make it too slow.
So by the timeI purchased my 8 Plus, Safari pretty much didn’t work properly on most websites and no new apps could be installed (which I don’t care about since I don’t download new apps).

After I got my 8 Plus, now running and staying on iOS 14, I decided to update the iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 12 since that’s as far as it can go and I don’t care about that phone anymore.

So how does the iPhone 6 Plus run on iOS 12? It ruined the phone (as I suspected it would - which is why I never updated it).

The 6 Plus now is so clunky and slow and laggy doing everything that it’s unbearable to use. Yes it works but it’s absolute torture now to use. Way way slower doing everything compared to iOS 9.

I also have an old iPhone 7 (that was running iOS 14 just fine) that’s a backup phone I don’t care about — so I thought I’d upgrade it to iOS 15.3 to see how that goes. iOS 15 wrecked that phone too. Lots of weird behavior now with the battery status and auto brightness and other stuff. Phone is a wreck.

So those two examples are more than enough to learn from.

For my 8 Plus on iOS 14, it’s now running perfect and fast.
And (like the 6 Plus) I’ll never update it again. It’s staying on iOS 14 for the next 4 years.
Click to expand...
I share your sentiment. I have an 8+ running ios14. It's a little laggy but not too bad. I WILL NOT load 15 for the reasons you stated. I had a family member that updated her 6plus to ios12 and it did ruin her phone. My concern is security updates. I use banking apps and apple pay and the security issue does concern me. This is one sign to me that it's time to update phones.
 
now i see it said:
I’m not a rabid proponent of keeping my iPhone running the latest version of iOS. If I’m going to update it, it’ll be just once in August when it’s finished.
I’d never buy a new iPhone in the Fall specifically for that reason- it ships with beta software (all new iOS software that’s released to the public IS beta software- they just don’t call it that).

I came from an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 9 for 5 years. I never updated it because I knew the newer versions of iOS would kill it - make it too slow.
So by the timeI purchased my 8 Plus, Safari pretty much didn’t work properly on most websites and no new apps could be installed (which I don’t care about since I don’t download new apps).

After I got my 8 Plus, now running and staying on iOS 14, I decided to update the iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 12 since that’s as far as it can go and I don’t care about that phone anymore.

So how does the iPhone 6 Plus run on iOS 12? It ruined the phone (as I suspected it would - which is why I never updated it).

The 6 Plus now is so clunky and slow and laggy doing everything that it’s unbearable to use. Yes it works but it’s absolute torture now to use. Way way slower doing everything compared to iOS 9.

I also have an old iPhone 7 (that was running iOS 14 just fine) that’s a backup phone I don’t care about — so I thought I’d upgrade it to iOS 15.3 to see how that goes. iOS 15 wrecked that phone too. Lots of weird behavior now with the battery status and auto brightness and other stuff. Phone is a wreck.

So those two examples are more than enough to learn from.

For my 8 Plus on iOS 14, it’s now running perfect and fast.
And (like the 6 Plus) I’ll never update it again. It’s staying on iOS 14 for the next 4 years.
Click to expand...
I'm surprised how your iPhone 6 Plus turned out after updating to iOS 12.x

I guess you should have updated it to iOS 10.3.3 and left it there... iOS 12.x was supposed to be a stability and a performance tune up to iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 series but it did not in your experience...

I have an iPod touch 5 and iPod touch 6 that I wish I can downgrade both to iOS 8.4.1 since iOS 9.3.5 made the 5 very slow and I think the same can be said for iOS 12.4 on 6
 
now i see it said:
I purchased a 13 pro max and returned it and purchased a refurbished iPhone 8 Plus instead.
Zero remorse, zero regret. For me (and likely not many others) the 8 Plus is a superior phone compared to the 13 Pro Max for a few reasons.
If the 13PM cost less than the 8+ (which it certainly doesn’t) I’d still choose the 8+ without question.
Click to expand...
Why? Having had an 8plus and now a 13pm, I would not go back to the 8+. What did you like more about it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Adarna
Do those of you who have made the change notice the weight difference? I doubt I'll notice, but I've read a lot of 'complaints' about it.
 
now i see it said:
I’m not a rabid proponent of keeping my iPhone running the latest version of iOS. If I’m going to update it, it’ll be just once in August when it’s finished.
I’d never buy a new iPhone in the Fall specifically for that reason- it ships with beta software (all new iOS software that’s released to the public IS beta software- they just don’t call it that).

I came from an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 9 for 5 years. I never updated it because I knew the newer versions of iOS would kill it - make it too slow.
So by the timeI purchased my 8 Plus, Safari pretty much didn’t work properly on most websites and no new apps could be installed (which I don’t care about since I don’t download new apps).

After I got my 8 Plus, now running and staying on iOS 14, I decided to update the iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 12 since that’s as far as it can go and I don’t care about that phone anymore.

So how does the iPhone 6 Plus run on iOS 12? It ruined the phone (as I suspected it would - which is why I never updated it).

The 6 Plus now is so clunky and slow and laggy doing everything that it’s unbearable to use. Yes it works but it’s absolute torture now to use. Way way slower doing everything compared to iOS 9.

I also have an old iPhone 7 (that was running iOS 14 just fine) that’s a backup phone I don’t care about — so I thought I’d upgrade it to iOS 15.3 to see how that goes. iOS 15 wrecked that phone too. Lots of weird behavior now with the battery status and auto brightness and other stuff. Phone is a wreck.

So those two examples are more than enough to learn from.

For my 8 Plus on iOS 14, it’s now running perfect and fast.
And (like the 6 Plus) I’ll never update it again. It’s staying on iOS 14 for the next 4 years.
Click to expand...

These are my take aways from your post
  • You dont download any apps
  • You update iOS once all the patches are applied in August
  • You are one iOS version before its last version
  • You have the 6 Plus, 7 & 8 Plus & bought another 8 Plus because 13 Pro Max is wrong for you.
Are these points accurate to your use case?
 
now i see it said:
Primarily the screen.
• The 8 Plus super sharp 401 ppi LCD screen has no PWM flicker unlike all the OLED screens. OLED screens give me eye strain and a headache and the flickering really bugs me.
• The 8+ screen doesn’t have off axis color shift unlike the OLED iPhones
• The 8+ screen scrolls text smoother
• 8+ screen doesn’t have a top notch
• 8+ screen shows the battery percentage
• 8+ screen doesn’t have annoying rounded corners.
So for display quality, the 8 Plus wins hands down (in my book).

Home button:
I may be a holdout but I prefer using a home button vs swiping.

Touch ID:
I much prefer it to Face ID even with its shortcomings.

Yeah the 13 series are faster and have better cameras, but the camera on the 8 Plus is plenty good enough for me for how I use the iPhone- snapshots.
And the 8 Plus is PLENTY fast enough (compared to my old 6+) running on iOS 14 that I don’t want or need a faster phone.

Until Apple gets its act together and produces a non flickering large screen iPhone, the 8 Plus will be with me for a long long time. If they unveiled a SE Plus with a big LCD screen like the 8 Plus - I’d buy that one for sure.
Click to expand...
Is the smaller screen size of the 2020 iPhone SE preventing from upgrading from the 2017 iPhone 8 Plus?
 
Are there not enough reviews at this stage already? What exactly would you like to know?
 
Any iPhone from the 8 onwards is a HUGE upgrade from the 6. You can’t go wrong getting any of them.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Hexley
Hexley said:
Anyone make the jump from a 2011 iPhone 4s on iOS 9.3.6 to a 2019 iPhone 11 Pro Max on iOS 15.x?

How is it like?
Click to expand...
I have several devices, one of which is a 4s. But, no. I went from a 6s+ from 2015 to 2019 to a Google Pixel for a year and a half and from there to my 11 Pro Max (February 2021). But my 6s+ was on iOS 9.0.2 until December 2020 so there is that (I wanted to keep my jailbreak).

I've had a 6th gen iPad since 2018 that's always been updated though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hexley
I would say it's like going from a 1080P tv to a 4K tv. Once you get use to 4K you can't go back to 1080P. I can notice the lag on my 13 mini when I use it versus my main 13 PM.
 
eyoungren said:
I have several devices, one of which is a 4s. But, no. I went from a 6s+ from 2015 to 2019 to a Google Pixel for a year and a half and from there to my 11 Pro Max (February 2021). But my 6s+ was on iOS 9.0.2 until December 2020 so there is that (I wanted to keep my jailbreak).

I've had a 6th gen iPad since 2018 that's always been updated though.
Click to expand...
I decided to recharge my 4s today and noticed it was still using 7.1. Will it suck if I got 9.3.6?
 
Hexley said:
I decided to recharge my 4s today and noticed it was still using 7.1. Will it suck if I got 9.3.6?
Click to expand...
iOS 9 killed the iPhone 4S. Don’t do it. Might as well toss it in the trash instead of installing iOS 9.
Nothing is available for iOS 9 anymore anyway. No new apps. Safari barely works.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back