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How futureproof are the new iPhones?

B

Benjobox

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 2, 2014
9
0
Hi all

I'm seriously contemplating purchasing my first iPhone. I live in the UK, and I'll be buying outright, so my options are:-

5S: £459 / £499 (16 / 32)
6: £539 / £619 (16 / 64)

I'm not considering the 5C or the 6+ at present.

Now, I'm going to need multiple years of use of my device to justify the kind of purchase costs we're talking about here.

I've done some research, and it seems that 1gb of RAM (which the current models are equipped with) may become problematic in the near future.

So what kind of lifespan do you envisage the 5S and 6 as having?

Many thanks in advance
 
With the technical beast as the 5s was, the 6 series trumps it. That's how good it is.

Hands down 5s is the best S series and 6/6 plus made it even better, so yea pretty future proof
 
Would it be delusional to expect 5-6 years of use from, say an iPhone 6?
 
Benjobox said:
Would it be delusional to expect 5-6 years of use from, say an iPhone 6?
Click to expand...

Depends on your expectations. I met someone who was using a Droid (original) the other day. He bought a Droid Incredible from me that had been sitting in our box of miscellany for two years.

I think you could easily get that many years of use out of the phone, so long as you don't expect it to be doing all of the things the phones current to that generation are doing. You should also expect to have to replace the battery, at least once.
 
Last edited:
Depends on what features come with the 6s or 7 and how bad you want them. The phone will still work in 3-4 years. The OS just might feel "gimped" because you won't be able to run certain features.
 
jpeg42 said:
Depends on what features come with the 6s or 7 and how bad you want them. The phone will still work in 3-4 years. The OS just might feel "gimped" because you won't be able to run certain features.
Click to expand...

You just need to look at the iPad Air 2 in order to see where Apple is heading with the future of iOS. While the Air 1 and 5S were fairly close in spec, the Air 2 destroys the 6/6+. This has me very doubtful about the lifespan of these "new" phones.
 
The i6 isn't future proof at all. It is crippled by a paltry 1GB of RAM, the same as the old iPhone 5 had over two years ago!
 
It depends on your view of the future.
If we enter a dystopian nightmare where electricity is scarce, the 6+ will be your best bet given the battery life and Apple's cash position.

I know people who are still happy with their 4. Texting, email, listening to music and an occasional phone call is all they need.
 
cababah said:
You just need to look at the iPad Air 2 in order to see where Apple is heading with the future of iOS. While the Air 1 and 5S were fairly close in spec, the Air 2 destroys the 6/6+. This has me very doubtful about the lifespan of these "new" phones.
Click to expand...

Yup. Multitasking being the main thing.
 
I met a guy who was using his original iPhone like it was cool when the iPhone 5 came out....the irony was that his reception in buildings was pretty bad because AT&T has slowly been taking down the EDGE/GSM network for 3G! You definitely can continue to use it for a long time.....I kept using my iPhone 4 and felt no need to upgrade until the home button got less responsive and I clicked on the iPhone section here on MR and the technology bug hit me again!
 
Judging by my 4s which had paltry ram as well in relation to when it released you'll get about 2 years of fairly solid use and 3 if you don't mind the phone running like crap.

The ram issue really hit me a little before 2 years or so id say, mostly after ios7, I don't dare update to ios8 either.
 
smartphone technology moves at a rapid pace in today's age. Can a phone last 3 or 4 or even 5 years, sure. For me 2 years max is about how far I go with a phone.
 
My 4s is still chugging. I've only had it 2 years not 3 but I could probably make it last another year if necessary. I think 6 years would be pushing it though because I highly doubt the battery would last that long. If you want the 5s you should not upgrade the OS I think. The 6 at this point is probably the better option.
 
I have family members using 3GS from 2009 today. It does everything they want and have no reasons to upgrade whatsoever.

So, you need to assess what your requirements are, how much money you have and who pays for your phones - that determines your expected lifespan.
 
Honestly not very future proof. Barly better then a 5S. It's just a 5S with a bigger screen. I only got it because it had band 41 for sprint which my iPhone 5 did not.
 
Benjobox said:
Would it be delusional to expect 5-6 years of use from, say an iPhone 6?
Click to expand...
Not really I see plenty people with iPhone 4 that's 2010. My sister in law still has the iPhone 3g I guess it depends if your happy to just keep it working how it does now or want to play the latest games etc.
 
Much depends on what you want on a phone. I do not think 3 years would be a problem and I know people who are using 6 and 7 year old iPhones. The problem is, in time, it will slow down with more complicated apps and some it may not be able to use at all.

The RAM might become a problem but not to the point you phone will not work in the next 3 or so years. I highly suggest you get the 6. To me the 6 is what the 5 should have been.
 
Five years from now someone rummaging through a junk box at Goodwill will pull out an old bent 6+ and say "How did we ever put up with this postage stamp back then?".
 
I don't care - I upgrade yearly, I also have done since owning a mobile phone. I love the latest and best even if I have to pay a premium.
 
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