iPhone 17 Would you hold on to your old iPhone, which continues to receive the latest iOS updates, without succumbing to the hype of purchasing a newer model?

[Allen_Wentz]

If there is no perceivable speed bump in day to day use…no bother for the processor being 3 times the speed (battery though…). Camera: should be better, but I also read people don’t see the difference comparing a 13 and 17 (?). I never compared. Although I easily spot the phone photo and mirrorless photo when viewing on proper screen. Much more crispness, dynamic range and “realness” with the latter.

Sure a separate pricey ILC camera that is 10x larger [especially the probably 50x more lens optics] will be perceivably different when pixel peeping on a large display. How much of that is simply the result of the poor photo technique most users have when shooting using smartphones?

I will tell you that [properly shot] modern iPhone Pros are capable of excellent image capture, and that each year's new iPhone Pros have improved their capture capability. But do not believe just me; look at Apple's "shot on iPhone" advertising and see for yourself.

And the point here is not to pixel compare against a Nikon Z9 with a few thousand dollars worth of lens hanging on it. The point is that yes, there are significant year-over-year camera and processor differences. Any individual may of course choose to ignore those differences, but that does not make them not exist.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

The phone itself doesn't magically "slow down". The only thing that's changing is the software you're running on them, and maybe the battery health. You can solve the former by leaving it with some usable version of the OS. You can solve the latter by having a new battery put in.

Actually the phone itself does magically "slow down" because time is relative. I.e. we view the "speed" of a tech device in context with all the other tech of our lives. E.g with the earliest spreadsheets, calculating was so slow that one commonly only calculated on demand; otherwise the visibly slow calculation processing [seconds] got in the way of the work. As additional RAM became common processing speed improved and one could usually let processing happen in real time ongoing. So once processing got more competent we now perceive those old spreadsheet operations as slow, whereas at the time they were perceived of as fast.

So relatively our older devices have indeed slowed down, because everything else we do in tech has sped up due to always-faster processors and always-increasing usage of more RAM.

For a non-tech example, not time relativity, drive around the east coast USA and 55-65 mph feels reasonably fast. But continue driving west to western states like Texas, Arizona and Nevada and 55-65 feels slow; it takes 75-85 to feel reasonable fast. [Assuming a speed-competent vehicle and tires of course, and YMMV]

The point is that perception of speed is relative.

 

[HiVolt]

The only time I upgraded every year was from the 3G to 3GS to 4. after that it was every 2 years, and now it's at least 3 years. My last upgrade was from a 12 Pro Max to a 15 Pro Max. I plan to keep the 15 Pro Max for another couple years unless the camera upgrades blow me away.

 

[Populus]

YES, as long as it keeps working correctly, doesn’t overheat, doesn’t get frozen or slowed down, etc.

If it works well, then yeah, sure.

Fingers crossed for my SE 2022 to hold as well as until now.

 

[Populus]

The only time I upgraded every year was from the 3G to 3GS to 4. after that it was every 2 years, and now it's at least 3 years. My last upgrade was from a 12 Pro Max to a 15 Pro Max. I plan to keep the 15 Pro Max for another couple years unless the camera upgrades blow me away.

I still remember upgrading from the iPhone 4 to the 4S. Physically it was the same, almost indistinguishable. But the dual core A5 with also double the RAM really made a difference in how snappy it felt. And the camera upgrade from the 4 to the 4S was the biggest I remember in the iPhone history. The 4S was a great device, no doubt. Then I jumped to the first iPhone SE.

 

[HiVolt]

I still remember upgrading from the iPhone 4 to the 4S. Physically it was the same, almost indistinguishable. But the dual core A5 with also double the RAM really made a difference in how snappy it felt. And the camera upgrade from the 4 to the 4S was the biggest I remember in the iPhone history. The 4S was a great device, no doubt. Then I jumped to the first iPhone SE.

For me the iPhone 4 to 5 was a huge jump, not only was it the first screen size upgrade, but the change to LTE was a game changer.