What makes you decide to upgrade phones?

[rui no onna]

You can't compare cars to phones. Different price category all-together.

Exactly the point. Phones aren't much of a status symbol at least in the US.

And really, the richest of my coworkers (the ones for whom annual stock market swings are more than their annual salary) show absolutely no trappings of wealth. They drive really old cars and have no personal cellphones. Just a company-provided flip phone.

 

[epca12]

I upgrade based on my contract but would be looking to change that if Apples upgrade program proves to work well this time. If this wasn't the case then I would compare and see whether it's a worthy upgrade for the money. I think I would've gone to the 6s but waited for the 8 to justify the upgrade cost.

 

[theramod]

I upgrade when my bank account tells me it's okay to do so

 

[mctrials23]

Usually when my old phone gets really slow but that doesn't seem to have happened for a while. Still using a 6+ and its really quick. Honestly my mates 7+ is a bit quicker but not enough to drop ~£900 on. I think if the iPhone 8 is a really different phone to the 7 and comes with some cool features it will be time to upgrade. If not, the 6+ will last me another year. By that point it will be nearly 4 years old come the iPhone 8s/9 which is really impressive.

 

[Denmac1]

Gonna finally pull the trigger and get an SE. Don't care about 3D Touch and I prefer the smaller form factor. My 5s has been good, however I feel that iOS 11 will be the last upgrade for the series and I don't think I'll be able to utilize all or some of the features of 11. Plus, the case I have for my 5s will fit the SE and not sure about the future of the SE, which if upgraded, probably won't happen until next year.
Until the subsidies quit, I would normally trade up every 'S' upgrade, as I could get a good price for my old phone. My last upgrade was from 4s to 5s as Apple had a sweet deal on trade-ins. I think those days are gone and will just use the ATT Next plan. I just modified my existing plan as I switched from unlimited to shared as my wife uses very little data on her phone and was able to drop my monthly cost by about $35.

 

[valinda]

I upgrade when I want a new iPhone, which seems to be every year now. I keep or give away
my old phones. I have an iPhone 7 plus and want to keep it for 2 years or longer this time.

 

[Ralfi]

First iPhone was a 3GS, & upgraded every 3 models since - 5, then 6s.

Since I work for a telco & am now able to upgrade phones easily & cheaply + the bezel-less & compact design of the upcoming 8, I'll be upgrading 2 models from the last for the first time.

 

[Eggtastic]

I have zero self control when it comes to technology so every time. Just kidding, as interested as I am in it, I still rock an iPhone 6+, a 5 year old LED HDTV, and a two year old xbox one, and don't own any wearable tech (yet). The only updated tech would be my rMB m5 (2016) coming from my 2011 MBA.

I am now itching for a new phone and almost went with the s8+ but will be holding out for the iPhone 8+. Only reason I held out from the 7+ was because the design barely changed and I felt that I would not appreciate the internal upgrades as much. Looking back I could have used them I guess. My 6+ is still rocking though so in the end I saved some money not upgrading.

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Gonna finally pull the trigger and get an SE. Don't care about 3D Touch and I prefer the smaller form factor. My 5s has been good, however I feel that iOS 11 will be the last upgrade for the series and I don't think I'll be able to utilize all or some of the features of 11. Plus, the case I have for my 5s will fit the SE and not sure about the future of the SE, which if upgraded, probably won't happen until next year.
Until the subsidies quit, I would normally trade up every 'S' upgrade, as I could get a good price for my old phone. My last upgrade was from 4s to 5s as Apple had a sweet deal on trade-ins. I think those days are gone and will just use the ATT Next plan. I just modified my existing plan as I switched from unlimited to shared as my wife uses very little data on her phone and was able to drop my monthly cost by about $35.

Hello I believe it's already updated (iPhone SE). I think they added a 128gb version of the SE a few months ago. I had an SE once and I loved it, I just upgraded to the iPhone 7+ because I was ready for something a little bigger. If it had the SE form factor I believe this would be one of my favorite phones (iPhone7+).

 

[marty1980]

Reason I ask is I have a 4 year old iPhone 5s and it's honestly perfectly quick as day I got it. Since contracts are gone it's hard to want to pay for the phobe unsubsodized. If I had too I'd get a 5se today, but by time my phone dies I'm hoping a 5se 2 will be out.

Do you upgrade because of wants or needs? Do you lose money upgrading routinely and if so, what's your justification?

I did the 2yr contract thing for a few cycles; meaning I was willing to put out the $60 or so it would cost every 2 years to pay for the taxes on a new phone.

My current phone I am in my 3rd year of ownership and purchased it under the AT&T Next program.

I am looking to upgrade my phone for a few reasons:

• The most important feature for me is the camera. My 6+ takes some great photos, but the improvements made in 6S and 7 combine to make me want a better camera. The 2017 models will hopefully further improve the camera and so 3 generations of improvement is very enticing.
• Performance on my 6+ is good, but it hiccups a lot; especially when multitasking. I would like to get away from these quirks with better performance.
• The headphone jack stopped working on my 6+
• Battery life on my 6+ is still ok, but it's noticeably getting worse.
• I am hoping for an updated design that fits a Plus-sized screen in my pocket more easily
• I like mobile games to look and run at optimal performance. I don't game much, but even Pokemon Go could benefit from updated performance.
• I want to be able to use the latest iOS features

Our home could also use another iDevice and so when I upgrade my 6+ will be used as a large iPod or mini iPad mini (whatever). This allows the entire family to Pokehunt together.

The down payment for the taxes on a new phone don't bother me, but the fall is a challenging time of the year to come up with another expendable $60+. The monthly cost are between $20-40 for each of my devices, so there is a caution to make sure I have enough paycheck left to live on. Hasn't been a problem yet.

With 2yr contracts I was paying a lot more over time for the phone than with AT&T Next. Next seems to spread the actual cost of the phone across billing periods and ends up about the same as paying outright - with a convenience charge of not having to pay it all up-front. Either way has really worked out about the same for me. The best deal is probably to buy the phone, but then you have to have the money to do that. It's a balancing of priorities.

 

[rui no onna]

With 2yr contracts I was paying a lot more over time for the phone than with AT&T Next. Next seems to spread the actual cost of the phone across billing periods and ends up about the same as paying outright - with a convenience charge of not having to pay it all up-front.

One of the reasons I was updating every year at one point is because you paid for the subsidy via monthly fees regardless of whether you upgraded to a new device or not. What happened then was a trickle down with me getting the brand new iPhone, parents getting my 1-year old phone, and the 2-year old phone either used as backup, traded in or given away to cousins, etc.

With the installment plans, the longer you keep your older device, the more money you save so we haven't been upgrading phones as often. We did upgrade to the iPhone 7 last year. The $650 credit for trade-in of a 2-year old device was just too good a deal to pass up and battery life was getting pretty poor.

 

[Denmac1]

Hello I believe it's already updated (iPhone SE). I think they added a 128gb version of the SE a few months ago. I had an SE once and I loved it, I just upgraded to the iPhone 7+ because I was ready for something a little bigger. If it had the SE form factor I believe this would be one of my favorite phones (iPhone7+).

Thanks for the input. Yes, I noticed that when I went to order my phone. All of my prior phones have been 16gb as I have my iPad for consumption. So I was able to go with the 32gb, as I use my iPod shuffle for car music.
I pick up my new phone tomorrow. Always fun & exciting to get a 'new' toy.