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Question to those who upgrade every year.

I like to be honest with myself. I'm a slave to consumerism, I want to break out of this habit, but it's hard.

Going from a base model to an "S" revision is never worth it for the average user. The jump in tech is rarely life changing. I still have my 5S and I use it more than my 6 Plus. It's still plenty fast, two years later.

I grabbed the 6S and I'm already regretting it. Just more of the same. Not taking shots at Apple, it's like that with most gadgets nowadays. Time to stop buying stuff for a few years, I'm beyond jaded at this point :(
 
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maflynn said:
For those people who order a new phone every year. What's the motivation of getting the 6s?

I'm not being critical and I know different strokes for different folks but here's what I'm looking at.
View attachment 580898
932 dollars for a phone that will replace my current phone that is not even a year old yet.

The 6s has some nice features like force touch, and the camera was improved but dropping close to a 1,000 on a phone is shockingly expensive. I know I would offset the cost by selling my current one, but I'm wondering what's the basic motivation for those who do this often.
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The performance of the 6 Plus is the main motivation. The freezes, the stuttering, and almost total lack of any ability to keep apps and webpages in memory without refreshing can be excruciating at times. I've even had Google Maps refresh and erase my route while driving because I switched over to the Music app to change songs. It's clearly underpowered and the 6S Plus looks like it has the specs that the 6 Plus deserved. If it performs like I expect then I might skip the iPhone 7.

I should be able to get around $550 out of my current phone so I'm only out of pocket ~$300 to upgrade. That's fine with me.
 
maflynn said:
For those people who order a new phone every year. What's the motivation of getting the 6s?

I'm not being critical and I know different strokes for different folks but here's what I'm looking at.
View attachment 580898
932 dollars for a phone that will replace my current phone that is not even a year old yet.

The 6s has some nice features like force touch, and the camera was improved but dropping close to a 1,000 on a phone is shockingly expensive. I know I would offset the cost by selling my current one, but I'm wondering what's the basic motivation for those who do this often.
Click to expand...

For me, I have two lines so I can upgrade via 2 year contract w ATT every year..... So, the motivation is, I get a decent amount of money when I sell my 1 year old phone, which pays for my new phone.

If I waited for the 7 to come out and just kept my 6, I would get far less money for my 6 when I went to sell it, and it would cost me MORE money to buy the 7.. So for me, It just makes financial sense to upgrade every year
 
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mdx001 said:
At one time you could do pretty well selling the old phone on Ebay or Craigslist but in the past couple of years the demand hasn't been as strong on a used iphone. Sites that resale the phones are buying up a lot of the old phones and driving the used prices down. So now paying over $900 for the 128gb 6s and selling the old 128gb 6 in many cases will only bring a little over $300 for the used phone so it still makes you put out about $600. I use to make money selling the old phone and buying the new phone and that's why I did it. Now it cost me money so I don't upgrade as much.
Click to expand...
There is literally nowhere that a used iPhone 6 128GB is selling for only $300 unless it's a total ripoff site. Generally if you buy the 64gb version then selling it to upgrade will require you to put out about $300, the 128 might require $350-400. Your numbers are totally off. Have you looked at eBay/Swappa/Amazon lately?
 
mdx001 said:
At one time you could do pretty well selling the old phone on Ebay or Craigslist but in the past couple of years the demand hasn't been as strong on a used iphone. Sites that resale the phones are buying up a lot of the old phones and driving the used prices down. So now paying over $900 for the 128gb 6s and selling the old 128gb 6 in many cases will only bring a little over $300 for the used phone so it still makes you put out about $600. I use to make money selling the old phone and buying the new phone and that's why I did it. Now it cost me money so I don't upgrade as much.
Click to expand...

Ur numbers are skewed. But if u want to sell me ur 128g 6 for "a little over $300" I will buy it today.
 
Kendo said:
Actually I'm grandfathered in the unlimited plan so I pay $40 for voice, $30 for data, and $10 for unlimited text for a total of $80 (I do get a $17.60 discount from work that brings it down to around $62 a month). There's no other charge of $15 or $25 since that only applies to newer plans.
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I'm not too familiar with AT&T, so I guess with unlimited plans, you don't get the $15-$25 discount that you get on newer plans. Verizon is similar in that they charge you a $40 line fee, but then give you a $15 discount if you have a non-subsidized phone but then they came out with a new plan where they just flat dropped the $40 fee to $20 and no option of subsidized. I calculated last year when I bought my 6 that it was cheaper on Verizon to go with the unsubsidized phone so that is the route I went.
 
I can afford it, I like having the latest and greatest, so it's an easy equation for me. I don't "need" an iPhone, period; I get it because I can. Honestly, nothing more or less complicated than that.

Getting only one new phone for me a year is actually an improvement; when I used to use Android also I would buy a new phone almost every three months. Used to drive my wife crazy because she never knew if she could iMessage me or not. Definitely happier on a yearly cycle now.
 
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New phone, new battery, a bonus new Apple cable, plus some new features.

Why does anyone upgrade anything...?
 
It's pink!! Pssh rose gold. It looks outright pink. . Not gonna lie. 1 of my biggest reason for upgrading.

I had a lot of trouble with 6plus. The screen shattered 2x. So hopefully this new version will be better. Very happy to get a new camera too. My old phone will be passed Down to my mom who will be enjoying reading on a bigger screen.

I do upgrade every year (for now) because I want to latest tech and trend. Yes the resell value is pretty good too.
 
I love new gadgets but I never fell for the S models. Not much of a change to upgrade either times. besides, I do a 2yr contract (iP7 will be on att next).
 
The gadget whore reason as well. Add me to the list.

But this version has a little more meaning as my wife is still on an IP5 as she is anti gadget and will be getting my 6 and I wanted to go back to the plus.
 
We lived on shoestring budgets until about 15 years ago. Even so, we are living an odd mix of affluence and frugality. For instance our furniture is partly hand me downs and the stuff we bought ourselves is 10-18 years old and falling apart. I drive the same car I bought on my first salary out of college 24 years ago. We splurge on experiences. Travel, meals, adventures and the tech to better record and facilitate these things.

Anyway, when it comes to iPhone, it's all about the camera. Since it's the only device always on me or near me the camera captures all our family moments. I always want the best iPhone camera I can get. I have a Nikon DSLR but keeping it ready to go all the time just doesn't happen. The new live photo feature is a huge draw. I so badly wish I had this when all the kids in the family, my own, my nieces and nephews and my great nieces and great nephews were babies.
 
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Cnasty said:
The gadget whore reason as well. Add me to the list.

But this version has a little more meaning as my wife is still on an IP5 as she is anti gadget and will be getting my 6 and I wanted to go back to the plus.
Click to expand...

Sort of a poll but how does everyone upgrade each year?

Buy outright and sell old phone, Next plan or new 2-yr contract??
 
It's my one materialistic splurge of the year. I'm not into clothes, shoes and cars. I don't have any expensive hobbies.

I just buy a new flagship phone once a year. And when you think about it, it's really not all that expensive if you sell your existing device.
 
appygirl82 said:
Sort of a poll but how does everyone upgrade each year?

Buy outright and sell old phone, Next plan or new 2-yr contract??
Click to expand...

I do NEXT for the flexibility. If I want to pay it off in a month, 6 months or right before the new one I have that flexibility to do so and if the timing and pricing is right I sell to recoup towards the new one.
 
appygirl82 said:
Sort of a poll but how does everyone upgrade each year?

Buy outright and sell old phone, Next plan or new 2-yr contract??
Click to expand...
Family plan with 4 lines so back on the old-style plans, we upgraded 2 phones every year (brother & me) and the other 2 (mom & dad) got the 1-year old iPhones. Last year, went with Next on the 6 & 6+ to get the lines with the 5s free from contract. Going forward, probably pay in full. I tend to keep the older phones for use overseas with local SIM after which I give them away to relatives.

Tech and books are my big splurge. Also, no cable TV. It's much easier to afford tech when you don't have $500 monthly car payments.
 
I had no intention of upgrading but the new Upgrade Plan lured me in so I'm giving my wife my 6+ and I'll be upgrading every year from now on:)
 
I'm an iPhone whore. So what I do is sell my device for $550-700 bucks before the announcement and pay the difference , like $300-$350 depending how many gigs I get for a new iPhone.
 
maflynn said:
For those people who order a new phone every year. What's the motivation of getting the 6s?

I'm not being critical and I know different strokes for different folks but here's what I'm looking at.
View attachment 580898
932 dollars for a phone that will replace my current phone that is not even a year old yet.

The 6s has some nice features like force touch, and the camera was improved but dropping close to a 1,000 on a phone is shockingly expensive. I know I would offset the cost by selling my current one, but I'm wondering what's the basic motivation for those who do this often.
Click to expand...
My phone is by business. I have had every iPhone on launch day since original in 2007. My company pays for mine - and with this upgrade (128GB 6+ to 128GB 6s+) I only have to give my phone back to ATT and get the new one and continue the next payments. It's the one thing in my life that I change out every year like clockwork.

I always find it amusing when people are like, "I'm waiting for the next iPhone" (this happens every year), to which I reply, "me too"! :D
 
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