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iPhone 14 Pro vs. Rumored iPhone 17 Air: Upgrade or Downgrade?

Allen_Wentz said:
That comment makes no sense. How does Apple building to “all day performance" year after year have anything to do with upgrading? Having all day performance means most buyers simply do not think about battery as an issue. Why would "you have more battery capacity you won’t upgrade as often?"
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I can’t help you understand what is true. “All day battery is true for 12 months for the average user. It degrades from there.

Most people upgrade every 3-4 years. Most people upgrade due to poor battery performance. If Apple gives you 2-3 capacity out of the box, the upgrade cycle will extend. It’s really simple. Really, really simple.

SellCell Key Findings:​

  • As of 2023, the global average replacement cycle length for a smartphone is 3.6 years.
  • 40.4% of people upgrade their smartphone every two to three years.
  • The majority of people (75.0%) upgrade their handset due to issues with their battery life shortening over time.
Hope this helps.
 
If you want a thinner iphone with only one lens and fewer features, get the 17 Air when it comes out. If you want to keep all the "pro" features with 3 camera lenses albeit in a thicker iphone, get the 17 Pro Max. Simple.

I usually upgrade my iPhone Pro Max every 2-3 yrs. Since I just bought the 16 Pro Max, I probably won'tbe upgrading until the 18 pro Max or later.

The iphone 17 Air is Apple's attempt to revitalize sales for the slumping iPhone Plus models. Although thin is nice, I doubt it will get too many people who normally go for the Pro Max to get it.
 
rchaser said:
You suspect? So you don’t know? Life is not populated with people on-line and on this board.

“SellCell Key Findings:​

  • As of 2023, the global average replacement cycle length for a smartphone is 3.6 years.
  • 40.4% of people upgrade their smartphone every two to three years.
  • The majority of people (75.0%) upgrade their handset due to issues with their battery life shortening over time.“
Click to expand...

Correct. I suspect. That wasn't clear?
 
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rchaser said:
You suspect? So you don’t know? Life is not populated with people on-line and on this board.

“SellCell Key Findings:​

  • As of 2023, the global average replacement cycle length for a smartphone is 3.6 years.
  • 40.4% of people upgrade their smartphone every two to three years.
  • The majority of people (75.0%) upgrade their handset due to issues with their battery life shortening over time.“
Click to expand...
I don’t fall into the above. I upgrade when my internal threshold says it’s time to.
 
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I'd be fine with the phone being as thin as the rumors suggest, as long as they can find a way for it to be durable at the same time. But, with that camera bump it's pretty much pointless.
 
citysnaps said:
Correct. I suspect. That wasn't clear?
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What you meant to say was “I don’t know”. Your personal experience doesn’t get extrapolated to the customer base as a whole. There is data for this kind of thing so, “suspecting” is not useful. A majority of people do not upgrade for the reasons you do or the reasons you suspect.
 
rchaser said:
What you meant to say was “I don’t know”. Your personal experience doesn’t get extrapolated to the customer base as a whole. There is data for this kind of thing so, “suspecting” is not useful. A majority of people do not upgrade for the reasons you do or the reasons you suspect.
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What I meant to say? Seriously? Absolutely not.

"I suspect" is clearly what I meant, and is correct. Otherwise I wouldn't have used those words. In other words, it's my opinion, based on *my* observation. You might not be aware people can have different opinions on a matter.

I'm OK with that not being useful to *you*.
 
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There is still the rumor it will incorporate the Apple cellular chip which, if true, is a big reason to wait until other buyers test it.
 
rchaser said:
You suspect? So you don’t know? Life is not populated with people on-line and on this board.

“SellCell Key Findings:​

  • As of 2023, the global average replacement cycle length for a smartphone is 3.6 years.
  • 40.4% of people upgrade their smartphone every two to three years.
  • The majority of people (75.0%) upgrade their handset due to issues with their battery life shortening over time.“
Click to expand...
Whoever SellCell is, they clearly are not reporting about iPhones, which are their own segment that is hella different than the cheapo Chinese junk that makes up the majority of the data SellCell is probably reporting. The difference is not just a little, it is huge. To the extent that you comment based on such junk data you are getting pure GI=GO.
 
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I need an iPhone with a SIM card slot. I don't know why Apple won't sell one in the USA when they do it for every other market including Canada.
 
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ifxf said:
There is still the rumor it will incorporate the Apple cellular chip which, if true, is a big reason to wait until other buyers test it.
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Nah. 2025 Apple is solid as can be. If they were to have an anomaly they would deal with it. I see no reason to wait to see if Apple fails.
 
rchaser said:
What you meant to say was “I don’t know”. Your personal experience doesn’t get extrapolated to the customer base as a whole. There is data for this kind of thing so, “suspecting” is not useful. A majority of people do not upgrade for the reasons you do or the reasons you suspect.
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Actually IMO you are the one misinterpreting "the customer base as a whole" because you apparently treat the whole world as customer base, and then extrapolate the whole world customer base to iPhone users. That is false. Facts are that iPhone users are very different in pretty much every way, starting with the facts that
A) they pay twice as much for their phones and
B) they are using iPhones, which are different hardware from the average smartphones on the market and
C) they buy iPhones that have real product support behind them.

My guess is that Citysnaps's suspicions are much more likely to be accurate than your idea that gross world smartphone data analysis equally applies to iPhones. And my personal n=1 indicates that none of my friends, ever since v1 iPhone, have ever told me they were upgrading for the battery. They have and I have always upgraded for the features.
 
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Allen_Wentz said:
IMO stating "Apple intelligence is absolutely worthless. It’s gimmicky and underwhelming" is exactly like saying "8 GB RAM is plenty." They are both statements about today and yesterday that almost assuredly will not be true in the future.

Expect AI to become a more and more important part of computing as time goes on. And do not be surprised if AI is like an iceberg, where the part you see is not what is most important.
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Same could have been said when Siri was in its infancy phases, look what Apple did with that. Not saying that AI in general is worthless, but forgive me if I don’t trust Apple with this type of product.
 
The square boxy design is one of the most stupid design I’ve ever used

I just got a 13 pro, which is thinner than the s20+ I come from, and yet, because of that stupid design, it feels roughly 70% thicker

Lol
 
Just bring back the Mini with a bigger all day battery. Apple getting too cute while taking L after L as of late.
 
The desperate attempt at trying to promote the single camera as being as good as the Pros in this article is hilarious. It is a fact the single lens camera will NOT be anywhere near as good as the triple lens with Lidar on the Pro. It will be a significant downgrade.

I'm also confused why you chose the standard Pro model and not the Max?
 
imma make this exact move if the air is sexy enough. if it's under 5.5mm, then i'm probably getting it, if not, gonna opt for the 17 pro.

the thing people on here keep not getting is that they have a distorted perception of what average people want the iphone to be and they talk about **** that is self-evident: more cameras better, bigger battery good, etc.

but what millions of people who get the iphone every year actually want is for it to be exciting and different. ultra slim, ultra light, large display, simple and capable camera system — its never been done, and unlikely to be done by anyone else in the way that apple's gonna pull it off
 
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H.E. Pennypacker said:
Same could have been said when Siri was in its infancy phases, look what Apple did with that. Not saying that AI in general is worthless, but forgive me if I don’t trust Apple with this type of product.
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Siri is still in a developmental state, but it has certainly been useful to me personally for years now despite still being in development. AI is also in a developmental state. Personally I am confident that AI also will become a useful component of our computing over time. And I will plan/configure my new hardware purchases accordingly.

Folks who plan/configure their new hardware purchases and choose to disregard coming AI are IMO making a mistake.
 
Corefile said:
Make it thicker so increase battery size. I don't know why they don't grasp this easy upgrade.
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That iPhone already exists. It's called the iPhone 16 Plus. And its being replaced because it didn't sell well.

The 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max seem to have bigger batteries, in tandem with more efficient chips. If what you care about is battery life, seems like those are the phones for you!

But can't the people who want a thin and light phone just have ONE model out of the lineup? That's the point of having multiple phones; appealing to a range of consumers. I see the Air as a good move to diversify the lineup. It's okay if the phone isn't for you, or if you 'don't get it', because there are plenty of people who do. And who knows, maybe it'll flop and they'll drop it next year. But for the people who like the Mini's of old (also cut because they didn't sell well), we hold out for these new models that offer a lightweight(ish) option.
 
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Rettun1 said:
That iPhone already exists. It's called the iPhone 16 Plus. And its being replaced because it didn't sell well.

The 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max seem to have bigger batteries, in tandem with more efficient chips. If what you care about is battery life, seems like those are the phones for you!

But can't the people who want a thin and light phone just have ONE model out of the lineup? That's the point of having multiple phones; appealing to a range of consumers. I see the Air as a good move to diversify the lineup. It's okay if the phone isn't for you, or if you 'don't get it', because there are plenty of people who do. And who knows, maybe it'll flop and they'll drop it next year. But for the people who like the Mini's of old (also cut because they didn't sell well), we hold out for these new models that offer a lightweight(ish) option.
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I guess that it is kind of like Apple found out the mini was more of a mini niche so they super sized it and it proved the Plus was big niche product so now we are going to the Air a thin niche
 
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