Should I buy an iPhone 4S now, or wait for the iPhone 5?

[Delighted]

So I just realized one of the lines on my account is now eligible for a full upgrade. Normally I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade but with a redesigned iPhone certain in 2012 and being an iPhone 4 owner, I'm on the fence. I'm not the type of person who always waits for whats next, but with the 4S being mid life cycle should I buy it now and use/lose my upgrade, or hold out for the redesign in October, and use my upgrade then? I'm really leaning towards using my upgrade because the sleep wake button on my iPhone 4 is broken and it's aggravating and almost impossible to press. But at the same time I hate to sign a 2 year contract now, and be stuck when the iPhone 5 is released Sorry to make such a typical post like this, but was hoping to get some insight from someone else that might be in my same position. Decisions, decisions...

When it comes to Apple products nothing is certain(it is very likely they will have a redesign, but it is not certain till it happens).

If you are still under warranty, you should see if the Genius Bar can help you fix your wake/sleep button.

I would wait. Yes there are indeed a lot of selling points on the iPhone 4s(siri, better camera, new carriers, processor etc. But it still works very similarly as the iPhone 4(besides siri). I would wait to see if the iPhone 5 has anything more to offer.

My Opinion.

 

[wineandcarbs]

I'd buy now unless you can get that sleep/wake thing fixed (you should be able to since you're under warranty).

 

[hakuna-matata]

BUY AN USED IPHONE 4.

No point in paying full price for a new iphone and then replacing it with another after 5-6 months at most.Also, if you can do without the novelty called "SIrI"

 

[whynotgotovegas]

I would go on Craigslist and look for iPhones that are cheap that will hold you off until October, or upgrade now. I know I will upgrade now, because I really don't see waiting all summer and into next fall just to wait for a redesign, which I might not even like. Put it this way, when I upgrade right now, I will get the 4s, and then in 20 months, (if apple releases a new redesign then a faster version of the same design like they normally do) I will get the faster version of the next redesign in November of that year.

 

[Moccasin]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm in the same boat and, despite my ihone4 seeming to have slowed down for some reason, I will wait until autumn or whenever the new phone is released. In the unlikely event that I don't like the new phone, I can still get the 4S.

I'll probably go to a sim-only contract when this one expires next month though, no point staying on this contract and continuing to pay the subsidy on a fully paid-for device.

PS if the Home button is faulty, take it to the Apple Store (especially if you've paid for Apple Care on it). I've had my phone replaced twice under warranty for the same problem. This one I'm using now has lasted longer than either of the other 2.

 

[ChrisTX]

Well chris, you never really said what you wanted in an upgrade or if the newer features in the 4s even mattered to you. Just that your sleep/wake button was acting wonky.

If the upgraded features matter to you, then it's important to think about. If you're on the fence and more or less "meh" about it and the only issue you have with your phone is the sleep wake button, then wait. I wouldn't buy an entirely new phone if i was still happy with my existing phone but it just had a faulty button. If you're happy with your 4, go to the apple store and have someone look at your button

HSPA+(I'm on AT&T), A5 chip, and better camera are important to me, but 2 more years of the same design and I'm likely to get bored with it. I wanted feedback on wether the upgrade was really worth it for an iPhone 4 user, and clearly it's not so I will wait it out. Sleep/Wake button is annoying, but tolerable. Thanks for the feedback.

PS if the Home button is faulty, take it to the Apple Store (especially if you've paid for Apple Care on it). I've had my phone replaced twice under warranty for the same problem. This one I'm using now has lasted longer than either of the other 2.

Actually it's the sleep wake button that is faulty. I've had my iPhone 4 replaced twice without AppleCare but that was all within the first year of ownership. I'm going to hold of until October and get the redesign. I just wanted peoples opinions on if it was really worth upgrading to the 4S from the 4.

 

[Dorde]

I just got the 4S and love it .

 

[Cod3rror]

I'd wait, 4S is a great phone but it should've had 1GB of RAM.

Hopefully iPhone 5 will have a gig of RAM and an even better camera.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

I'd wait for the 6.