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Other Which iPhone You Bought That You had Buyer's Remorse?

I have buyer's remorse for a phone, but it wasn't an iPhone and it wasn't because the phone was a bad phone. I bought the HTC Touch Pro in May 2009, my first smartphone. Had I waited a month, the HTC Touch Pro 2 would have been out. My wife was rather pointed at the time in mentioning that to me.

I do however own iPhones that I intentionally never purchased as primary phones because I didn't care for them, the 4 and the 4s. Both were bought later and together I paid $45 for them. Never been a fan of the 4 series (I'm still not a fan) but the 4s was bought for someone else and I ended up with it and the 4 was only $20 because someone was getting rid of it.
 
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I went from 3s to 4s to 5 to 7 to 12 mini to 14 pro. Still have the mini as a backup phone (applecare and all). The 7 was a wasted upgrade, it didnt have wireless charging and I should have held out for the 8, but that being said I had the 7 the longest and it was a massive change going for 7 to mini as it has notch and no button.
 
I haven’t ever purchased a bad iPhone however I slightly regretted moving off the 6S to the 8. The 6S is a really great phone that has stood the test of time.

I had the battery replaced on my 6S earlier this week by Apple. It wasn’t cheap but it was definitely worth doing given the device is pristine and had only been used as my daily driver for 2 years. I use it as an iPad replacement when I am at home as I prefer smaller devices when I am watching something. I don’t like using my main device as much for media because I constantly get pestered with IMs.
 
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eyoungren said:
I'm currently on the 11 Pro Max (since February 2021). I'm looking at either the 15 or 16 when the 17 launches. Other than some slight issues with the 11PM it's been a pretty decent upgrade.
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I just buy the cheapest version of whatever's latest at the time. So I have the base 11. It's running really well and might even make it to the 17, but I think by next year I'll fancy a new phone anyway.
 
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Going from a XS to a 13 Pro was a downgrade in a lot of ways in terms of ergonomics, weight, and size. It felt like paying a penalty to have a better camera (and the ProMotion screen). But now with the 15 Pro things are good again! I'm of the opinion that the 12/13/14 Pro design was the worst in the iPhone's history for its time, just this cumbersome, heavy brick with sharp edges.
 
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I’ve owned 3 iPhones:

iPhone 4s
iPhone 6
iPhone XR (current)

XR I’m least satisfied with. It was too expensive for what it is and also too bulky and heavy.
 
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I do have some regrets about buying the iPhone 14 Pro last year. I had a 12, and it worked perfectly well and didn't have a scratch on it. I should have just kept it for another year or 2, because the 14 Pro just wasn't much of a leap forward in actual use. Also, I got the dark purple color, and its novelty has worn off. And I really don't like the shiny edges of the stainless steel on the Pro.

I will however probably keep the 14 Pro for a while, because I'm determined to break my 2 year upgrade cycle when the upgrades just aren't adding enough value to make it worthwhile. It's just going to be about discipline and ignoring the FOMO.
 
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LunarFalcon said:
I do have some regrets about buying the iPhone 14 Pro last year. I had a 12, and it worked perfectly well and didn't have a scratch on it. I should have just kept it for another year or 2, because the 14 Pro just wasn't much of a leap forward in actual use. Also, I got the dark purple color, and its novelty has worn off. And I really don't like the shiny edges of the stainless steel on the Pro.

I will however probably keep the 14 Pro for a while, because I'm determined to break my 2 year upgrade cycle when the upgrades just aren't adding enough value to make it worthwhile. It's just going to be about discipline and ignoring the FOMO.
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I did the same move, but much of it was driven by the fact that I missed having the telephoto lens after having had the 7+ and 8+ previously.

The 14 Pro's been fine - not amazing, but pretty much trouble free beyond the common rapid battery aging.
 
iPhone 11 for me. It was a good phone but I was just stepping up from the iPhone 7 and was let down of the pictures taking quality. Never buying a non pro iPhone since then.
 
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I would say the iPhone 5c, but honestly there was nothing wrong with the device at all. At the time, I was just young and eager to experience the newest cutting edge tech. Having a small, budget oriented device wasn't what I was looking for at that stage of my life.

I ended up upgrading to the Galaxy Note7, and passing the 5c down to my father, who went on to happily use it for many years.

If the title of this thread was in reference to buyer's remorse for phones in general, it would definitely be the above mentioned Note7, as I'm sure we're all familiar with how that one played out...
 
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If any, it had to be the 12 Pro. Pretty large battery life downgrade coming from the 11 Pro in actual use, and the X55 modem was not that large of an improvement over the XMM7560 in the 11 Pro that everyone hated so much. 13 Pro Max was MUCH better than the 12 Pro. 15 Pro Max is awesome too, making the large size manageable without the weight. The new camera system with .5/1/2/5x zoom options works a lot better for me too.
 
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Sunset Cassette said:
I would say the iPhone 5c, but honestly there was nothing wrong with the device at all. At the time, I was just young and eager to experience the newest cutting edge tech. Having a small, budget oriented device wasn't what I was looking for at that stage of my life.

I ended up upgrading to the Galaxy Note7, and passing the 5c down to my father, who went on to happily use it for many years.

If the title of this thread was in reference to buyer's remorse for phones in general, it would definitely be the above mentioned Note7, as I'm sure we're all familiar with how that one played out...
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The 5c was basically the iPhone 5 but in plastic. I never got one because I had the iPhone 5 from September 2012 to February 2015. But I knew a guy at work who had the 5c and other than the casing it was the exact same thing.

Lot of people used to hate on the 5c but it was a decent phone. My main problem with it is how Apple chose to market it. Rather than admitting that it was an iPhone with a plastic shell, they had to claim that it was 'Premium Plastic' and so imply that it was somehow better than other phones with plastic shells. Never mind the 3GS and iPhones before that had plastic shells. Rather that extoll the virtues of the phone itself, that was Apple's focus - the shell.

That's when I first came to lose any respect I had for Jony Ive.
 
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Flamingdeathbolts said:
iPhone 11 for me. It was a good phone but I was just stepping up from the iPhone 7 and was let down of the pictures taking quality. Never buying a non pro iPhone since then.
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Interesting. The sensor size is so much bigger on iPhone 11. It was the start of appreciable computational photography (Deep Fusion, Night Mode, Smart HDR, video stabilization, etc.) The difference was massive even against iPhone X. I wouldn't be suprised if you had a defective iPhone 11 or something.
 
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I didn’t pay fully for my iPhones, and I’m glad about that. I had 2 X‘s with quality issues not worthy $1000. Now an 11 Pro which I think the same of. I got the 2016 SE and had it replaced 6 times. Got it $50 cheaper as the family members who bought it for me then got a discount (by and from Apple).
Got a 5s second hand for around $100 or a little more I believe, got it when iOS 9 was released and was happy I didn’t purchase it when it released myself.
Got a 2017 Touchbar MBP for ~$2k gifted to me and am very happy that I didn’t pay for that either.

Long story short, I didn’t pay full price for anything and would be mad if I had, tbh
 
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iPhone XR. Wasn’t a bad phone, but the display compromise, the massive bezels considering it was the X style, and single camera. It was a year I didn’t want to spend over $1K on a phone so went cheaper on the XR. Last time I’ll buy the cheaper model for the sake of cheaper. As they say, “buy nice or buy twice.”

I have had a 4s->5s->6->6 Plus->6s Plus->7 Plus->XR->11 Pro->13 Pro->15 Pro Max. My favorite phone overall is the 7 Plus in the matte black. Was so fast, water proof, solid state home button, incredible camera for its time, and looked and felt amazing. Second favorite is probably a tie between the 5s and 15 Pro Max. The new titanium/alloy frame with rounded edges and lighter weight make the 15 Pro Max very nice to hold. Thin bezels are also great.
 
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iPhone 6 had to get replaced a bunch of times due to faults, so that was annoying. One of the replacements was SIM locked!! It was somehow factory locked to a network I happened to be using (I didn't buy it through the country of that network even!), and when I went on holiday to Myanmar I discovered I couldn't use other SIM cards in it which was super annoying and took about 5 hours and £100 in phone calls to resolve, and left me without a phone to use for most of the vacation 🤬

iPhone 15 Max I wouldn't say I regret buying, but I'm sad it fits so poorly in my jeans, but that's the fault of the cheap and lazy way modern pockets are constructed.
 
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