iPhone 4S needs two repairs, should I do them or get used 5 in December for bday?

[JerTheGeek]

Hello all,
I am looking for some extra opinion on what to do about my iPhone 4S. It needs two repairs. The battery needs to be replaced, and the screen has yellow spots on it, so it also needs to be replaced. Should I pay an approximate total of $160, or wait till my birthday in December and get a used/refurb iPhone 5/5c. I am sure the prices on these models will go down when the 6 comes out so I am sure I can score one for around $300 or less. What do you guys think? Should I just wait and get the 5 for my bday?

 

[BrettApple]

You can get a 5c for pretty cheap these days. I'm trying to sell my 32GB White one (unlocked) myself. The prices have been dropping like a rock and I'm thinking if I don't sell it I may just reactivate it and try and get my moneys worth.

I've replaced the screen and battery myself in various iPhone 4/4s models. It can be tricky but if you think you can handle it you can easily replace the screen and battery for under $55 using quality parts. If not, you're paying somewhere around $100 for labor.

The iPhone 4s still has some life left in it with it still supporting iOS 8 (thanks to it's dual core A5 vs the iPhone 4's A4, along with a better GPU). The A5 is getting old and may not see another update past iOS 8, but that doesn't mean it won't still work perfectly. I've got iPods on iOS 3 that run just fine for what they're used for.

That being said, the iPhone 5/5c and up are faster in terms of having more RAM, better GPU, faster CPU, and more noticeably, LTE. I had a 4s before my 5 and 5c and when I put them next to each other all the stock apps and third party apps I used opened and navigated at about the same speed. And pages loaded close to the same on the same WiFi network, but as soon as it came to mobile data, 3G vs 4G was a huge difference.

In the end though, it's up to what you want to spend your money on. I've seen whole used 4s's going for under $160 on Swappa. So it may not be worth it, but if you DIY, it would be.

 

[JerTheGeek]

I just got the battery replaced, and the place said that the yellow spots are pressure spots where possibly the battery swelled and messed up the display. But they said a display replacement might not fix the issue. After gettin the new battery, the yellow spots are still there. Do you guys think a display replacement would actually help? I am thinking the display might have been damaged from the battery swelling and now it needs to be replaced to get rid of the issue. Do you guys think I should replace the display?