My poor old iPhone 5S...

[Dr. McKay]

I bought a 13" Macbook Pro Retina early November 2015, and an iPhone 5S 32Gb to go with it (got the 32Gb model for the price of the 16Gb, so I guess it was a good deal, bought it from an official apple retailer here in Belgium).

Now however, with the release of the iPhone SE, I wonder if I shouldn't have waited. Of course, at the time when I bought my 5S, there were only rumours about a new cheaper and smaller iPhone, so there was no way of knowing for sure, but I was kind of expecting it to be just a souped up 5S.

But now, as the SE is so similar in specs to the 6S (A9 processor, 2Gb of RAM, which makes it more powerful than the iPhone 6, should I be worried about future update support for my 5S, now that is has been removed completely from Apple's line up ?
I'm not too worried about the performance, because the 5S with its A7 processor is certainly no slouch, AND it is 64-bit ; my only worry is that I might get into trouble quite soon with that 1Gb of RAM...

Are my fears justified or is there nothing to worry about ?

 

[Quicklite]

I bought a 13" Macbook Pro Retina early November 2015, and an iPhone 5S 32Gb to go with it (got the 32Gb model for the price of the 16Gb, so I guess it was a good deal, bought it from an official apple retailer here in Belgium).

Now however, with the release of the iPhone SE, I wonder if I shouldn't have waited. Of course, at the time when I bought my 5S, there were only rumours about a new cheaper and smaller iPhone, so there was no way of knowing for sure, but I was kind of expecting it to be just a souped up 5S.

But now, as the SE is so similar in specs as the 6S (A9 processor, 2Gb of RAM, which makes it more powerful than the iPhone 6, should I be worried about future update support for my 5S, now that is has been removed completely from Apple's line up ?
I'm not too worried about the performance, because the 5S with its A7 processor is certainly no slough, AND it is 64-bit ; my only worry is that I might get into trouble quite soon with that 1Gb of RAM...

Are my fears justified or is there nothing to worry about ?

Better things always around the corner. If the device works - let it be; if you really want SE - help yourself; issue with jumping onto anything, is that the next version will always be better, faster, etc.

 

[maflynn]

Are my fears justified or is there nothing to worry about ?

If you are not incurring issues with your phone, then keep it. If you really want something better then sell it on Swappa and order the SE.

 

[Dr. McKay]

Don't get me wrong, I love the 5S, and have no intention of selling it. It's just the 1Gb of RAM that worries me a bit, but then I guess all owners of the regular 6 should be worried as well, right ?

 

[Christoffee]

The 5S, in my opinion, is still an extremely capable phone. My wife still has a 5 and my mother-in-law a 5C, and for everyday use its still good. Yours is a generation newer.

And the good news is that now the SE is out developers will continue to properly support the screen size.

Enjoy your phone!

 

[Q-Dog]

Until a couple of days ago Apple was still selling the 5s, and it is a very good device. I would expect at least a couple of years of updates from Apple.

 

[Dr. McKay]

@Christoffee @Q-Dog :
I am enjoying my phone because I think it's plenty fast. And it's a perfect fit for my hand, even more so than my previous 4S.
Perhaps I was worrying a bit too early about it, but then that's me.
Still, I wonder how the regular iPhone 6 and 6+ now fit in the whole line-up. They're both slower than the cheaper SE, but on the other hand they have a bigger display, especially the 6+. Maybe it'll fit a niche market for people who don't want a screaming fast phone but do want a bigger screen and find the 6S(+) too expensive ?
Don't know, bit of a weird animal now, the 6...

 

[Casfin]

I bought a 13" Macbook Pro Retina early November 2015, and an iPhone 5S 32Gb to go with it (got the 32Gb model for the price of the 16Gb, so I guess it was a good deal, bought it from an official apple retailer here in Belgium).

Now however, with the release of the iPhone SE, I wonder if I shouldn't have waited. Of course, at the time when I bought my 5S, there were only rumours about a new cheaper and smaller iPhone, so there was no way of knowing for sure, but I was kind of expecting it to be just a souped up 5S.

But now, as the SE is so similar in specs to the 6S (A9 processor, 2Gb of RAM, which makes it more powerful than the iPhone 6, should I be worried about future update support for my 5S, now that is has been removed completely from Apple's line up ?
I'm not too worried about the performance, because the 5S with its A7 processor is certainly no slouch, AND it is 64-bit ; my only worry is that I might get into trouble quite soon with that 1Gb of RAM...

Are my fears justified or is there nothing to worry about ?

I'm still on a iphone 5, ios 9.3 and it runs lag free.
Like or hate Apple, if you want a device that lasts across several software upgrades they are hard to beat.

 

[chino-rican]

The overwhelming opinion is that the 5S is one of Apple's "greatest hits." I would hold onto it.

 

[aneftp]

5S owners who purchased it after Sept 2015 really get screwed with the 5SE model.

6 months.

Usually whatever iPhone u buy u know u are good for at least 12 months. But not this time.

Cause 5S owners paid the same price for a product that replaced it 6 months later with much better tech.

 

[Shirasaki]

1GB memory would hit you very soon when browsing the web. Otherwise it is a very good device, plus it has A7, which is a 64-bit processor. You can also enjoy night shift if you like. But if you find using 5s is not feeling well, then sell it and buy SE.

 

[12vElectronics]

I wouldn't worry much about it. It should hold you over till your next upgrade (1-2 years).

 

[dbagg]

5S owners who purchased it after Sept 2015 really get screwed with the 5SE model.

6 months.

Usually whatever iPhone u buy u know u are good for at least 12 months. But not this time.

Cause 5S owners paid the same price for a product that replaced it 6 months later with much better tech.

This comment makes no sense, you're only "good for at least 12 months" if you buy when the new phone is first released. An iPhone 5s in Sept 2015 was already 2 years old, of course there was going to be a new model that would replace it with better tech sooner rather than later.

 

[Vanilla35]

Don't get me wrong, I love the 5S, and have no intention of selling it. It's just the 1Gb of RAM that worries me a bit, but then I guess all owners of the regular 6 should be worried as well, right ?

I have a 5S in my possession. It worked buttery smooth up on iOS 7, very quick iOS 8, but starting with iOS9 it has begun to have lots of dropped frames. I can't confirm if that is strictly the 1GB ram, but from what I can tell memory management is similar if not better in iOS 9 than it was in iOS 8 (I think it's noticeably better, I just haven't tested it enough). So based on that experience, one would assume iOS 10 is going to be fairly weak/moderate (depending on how picky you are) performance on the 5S.

That's just my opinion, and I have an eye for changes in performance, so I notice these changes.

If any other argument would be made aside from OS upgrades impacting the phone, then I would say if you stick with the default OS it comes with, even years down the line the phone should still be fast.

TLDR; I would be concerned (if it were me, but not necessarily the average user), but not really because of RAM.

 

[aneftp]

This comment makes no sense, you're only "good for at least 12 months" if you buy when the new phone is first released. An iPhone 5s in Sept 2015 was already 2 years old, of course there was going to be a new model that would replace it with better tech sooner rather than later.

I am talking about life cycles.

The 6S became the flagship in Sept 2015. The 6 got bumped down and the 5S became the budget phone.

It's been this way since the iPhone 3GS/4/4s.

U knew if u brought the bottom spec model for the year. It would remain the current for 12 month not replaced 6 months into the cycle.