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iPhone 13 Going from 13 to 15 is REALLY hard to justify...

jedimasterkyle

jedimasterkyle

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 27, 2014
607
914
Idaho
Just watched the keynote. I like the 15. 15 Pro is awesome as well but way outside of what I want to pay.

But I'm having a very hard time justifying that the 15 is worth it. My 13 is almost paid off through T-Mobile and I'd like to have an even smaller phone bill...

I will say that I was hoping they would have expanded the Satellite features to include two-way messaging with contacts instead of just contacting SOS (i.e. Garmin inReach).

I'll wait for MKBHD's review for now but it is tempting...
 
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I’m in the same boat. Have a 13PM and I really want to upgrade to the 15PM, but I’m finding it hard to justify whether its really worth the cost (I always buy outright and pass my handset down the family chain!)
 
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I was going to upgrade from 13PM to 15PM but the trade in from Verizon isn't as good. 800 vs 1000 and 24mons vs 36mons.
 
I just bought a 13 mini for the long haul (5ish years). While people seem to feel some sort of pressure to upgrade, it doesn’t make sense to me to upgrade even every 3 years unless your use case has been explicitly addressed by a hardware implementation in a newer generation.

I’m a tech guy through and through, but I really don’t understand the spec chasing part of the community. That may be because I long ago moved from a tinkerer (on personal computers, I love doing stuff with Raspberry Pi’s) to an administrator role, so I have very little desire to tweak things when I’m off the clock 🤷‍♂️
 
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A annual/bi-annual upgrade has been hard to justify since the X/XS based on a combination of the maturing tech curve and steep climb in price. I moved to a 3 year cycle myself but I am tempted by a 15 now. Purely based on the camera (I’m going to the Norwegian Fjords next year and I want a better camera 🤣).
 
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NT1440 said:
but I really don’t understand the spec chasing part of the community.
Click to expand...
Right now, the ONLY thing that would justify the upgrade for me is the camera spec bump. The 13's cameras are good but the 15's are better by a lot.

That being said...the 15's cameras dont stand a chance against my DSLR (and no smartphone camera will in that sense)

It's like splitting a hair only to try and split it again.
 
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They had to bring in Mother Earth to make the keynote exiting, but even that didn’t help. Man, they did a lot of paddling to convince you that this is next level stuff.

Titanium, USB-C and removal of ringer switch was the biggest news. Hardly worth upgrading for, unless you’re on iPhone 12 or older.

Kinda worked out for me, I don’t feel the need for an upgrade. So I get to keep my money 👍
 
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13PM here, your read my mind. Don't see a reason to upgrade this year. The only thing that will make me do it is a bigger screen, and if the rumors are true, 2024 will be it. 👍
 
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haydn! said:
A annual/bi-annual upgrade has been hard to justify since the X/XS based on a combination of the maturing tech curve and steep climb in price. I moved to a 3 year cycle myself but I am tempted by a 15 now. Purely based on the camera (I’m going to the Norwegian Fjords next year and I want a better camera 🤣).
Click to expand...
Can you fjord the cost of both the iPhone and the trip in the same calendar year?
 
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I won’t be upgrading from my iPhone 13 as, just like last year, we are talking about small iterative upgrades. I’ll be sticking with this phone until the iPhone 17 or 18. I want to feel like there is a noticeable improvement.
 
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igroeg said:
13PM here, your read my mind. Don't see a reason to upgrade this year. The only thing that will make me do it is a bigger screen, and if the rumors are true, 2024 will be it. 👍
Click to expand...
Whenever and iPhone has big hardware upgrades, the following year is usually an “S” update.
 
NT1440 said:
I just bought a 13 mini for the long haul (5ish years). While people seem to feel some sort of pressure to upgrade, it doesn’t make sense to me to upgrade even every 3 years unless your use case has been explicitly addressed by a hardware implementation in a newer generation.

I’m a tech guy through and through, but I really don’t understand the spec chasing part of the community. That may be because I long ago moved from a tinkerer (on personal computers, I love doing stuff with Raspberry Pi’s) to an administrator role, so I have very little desire to tweak things when I’m off the clock 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
I must be getting older (hopefully wiser). Same here. I realized my Pitaka carbon fiber case is 17 grams and ... I can just remove that to get the almost 19 grams difference with the new phone :D. Admin / manager here too.
 
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sp44 said:
If you get a $1000 trade-in I don't see why you wouldn't.
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Exactly. Trading in now might be worthwhile if you get a good offer - especially if you are likely to buy the Apple Vision Pro. Some of it’s compatibility with the iPhone will likely be specific to the 15.
 
I have the 11, and I'm also undecided. I may wait for the 16, but I may get the 15 if it's discounted in the next month or two.

I really like the action button on the 15 Pro, but that's the only Pro function that interests me so I won't pay the extra for it.
 
adrianlondon said:
I have the 11, and I'm also undecided. I may wait for the 16, but I may get the 15 if it's discounted in the next month or two.

I really like the action button on the 15 Pro, but that's the only Pro function that interests me so I won't pay the extra for it.
Click to expand...
There is nothing about the 15 Pro that makes the 11 obsolete for the average user. Gmail, Safari, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok etc will all still look and work the same on a 15 Pro as they do on much older iphone.
 
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Macalicious2011 said:
There is nothing about the 15 Pro that makes the 11 obsolete for the average user. Gmail, Safari, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok etc will all still look and work the same on a 15 Pro as they do on much older iphone.
Click to expand...
“will all still look and work the same” Wrong. The OLED screen and ProMotion are worth it alone to go from an 11 to a 15 Pro.
 
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adrianlondon said:
I tend to get excited about new camera tech though, even though my 11's photos look fine to me.
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Camera tech improvements have been incremental for years. This is unlikely to change unless iPhones become thicker or Apple release MagSafe accessories like a big sensor and lens that can rival a micro 3/4rds camera.
 
What are you using them for to justify the jump from 13 to 15? I think if you just like photos I’d be tempted to start investing in a DSLR for the money of the pro max
 
I have a 13 and I’m ready to upgrade to a 15.

Dynamic Island
48MP main camera
2x zoom
6gb RAM
USB-C
2000 nits peak brightness outside
Cinematic mode up to 4k 30 fps

I personally think it’s a great upgrade, especially for the camera and the extra RAM.
 
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