The True Cost of Upgrading Your Phone

[Ronstar]

I take great pride in being 3-5 models behind the latest I-Phone. I mean what idiots would pay $1000 - 1300 to be current. 2.5 years ago, I traded in my 5S and got an 8Plus, which has served me fine and will likely do so for the next 2-3 years.

What's more, I bought a refurbished one from a dealer on ebay and paid around $200 for it.....it works perfectly, no issues.

I’m one of the idiots. Congrats - you’ve become the first member that I’ve put on ignore.

 

[target2019]

I might be a 5/8th's idiot soon. Pixel price has fallen I think.

When my daughter bought me a Pixel 3 my view changed, and I certainly got my money's worth. Clever kid, too, since she bought it and I made many of the payments.

 

[GTFan]

maybe the real problem is people look at the iphone as just a phone.... its actually a full featured computer that just so happens to make phone calls too and will fit in your pocket/purse....

Every modern phone fits that description, and as mentioned in this thread you don't have to pay Apple's jacked-up prices. Even if you want to live in Apple's world (for good reasons) you can still buy a 2-year old iPhone and save a ton, without sacrificing much of anything. New features now are so incremental it's just not worth it to buy the latest every year.

 

[Ready]

This thread is getting a little silly. We all have things in life that we enjoy and are willing to spend money on, even if we don’t “need” them.

Some people like expensive clothes, fine wine, nice cars, luxurious vacations, etc. An argument could be made that any of these things are a waste of money and unnecessary. But who cares. If you enjoy them what’s wrong with that.

I really enjoy technology and I have no problem whatsoever paying Apple’s prices for their phones, watches and laptops. The cost of staying current with these products is completely insignificant to me at this point in my life. I didn’t work hard for 35+ years to sit around and worry about how much a nice phone cost if I want to own one. If it’s not important to you then of course you should not buy one.

 

[brett]

I pay much less for my cell phone service fee than I did for our home land line 30 years ago. Moreover, my cell phone plan includes free long distance.

As others have said this is a non issue. So many plans out there. Just match one to your budget and or your REAL needs.

My perspective is that cell phone charges are a bargain given the utility and when compared to land line and long distance charges of the past.

Choose your phone. Spend $100. or $1500. It is all about choice. Choose our service level. What is there to discuss

 

[ivinsfan]

I pay much less for my cell phone service fee than I did for our home land line 30 years ago. Moreover, my cell phone plan includes free long distance.

As others have said this is a non issue. So many plans out there. Just match one to your budget and or your REAL needs.

My perspective is that cell phone charges are a bargain given the utility and when compared to land line and long distance charges of the past.

Choose your phone. Spend $100. or $1500. It is all about choice. Choose our service level. What is there to discuss

Well it started with an article about funding your retirement which are usually pretty dumb anyway.



Next article, if you don't eat food, your could retire up to 10 year earlier it's all clickbait.

 

[dixter]

Every modern phone fits that description, and as mentioned in this thread you don't have to pay Apple's jacked-up prices. Even if you want to live in Apple's world (for good reasons) you can still buy a 2-year old iPhone and save a ton, without sacrificing much of anything. New features now are so incremental it's just not worth it to buy the latest every year.

I would have to disagree a bit on this kind of generalization....

some don't realize that as the hardware of the iphone gets updated Apple also adds functionality via software... so when you don't upgrade for years at a time then you don't get to even update the ios software because the hardware won't support the newer functions they add...and then most people don't even realize what they are missing out on... or they may not even need the new added functions.... most don't even know of the new functions...

This year Apple put in 1TB of memory.... they also now allow the iphone to be able to connect an external memory via the USB adapter... on my phone I shoot ProRes HD video and use the 1TB builtin memory to take care of the large file sizes and then connect the Samsung T5 1tb drive for the offload and edit.... I then convert the footage to Airi Alexa which is a $70K camera... from an iphone....

They also now allow the iphone to be able to playback on HDMI displays via the HDMI adapter.... so you just plug the phone into your 85 inch TV and you get to play back movies or the video/pics you took...

The new cameras can shoot in the dark... the star trails taken with the iphone 13pro are amazing

if you really like music you can get the camera connect adapter and plug the iphone into the ifi Diablo and plug in a nice set of headphones and you now have one of the finest audio players in the world....

And if you want to play back Dolby Atmos in 24 channels... just hook up the iphone 13pro to a Smyth Realiser A16 .... now you got 24 channels of Dolby Atmos from your headphones... thats like putting a IMAX theater in your living room... oh.. and that A16 via the iphone 13pro.... its emulating 24 speakers that cost $10K each... so now your iphone is emulating a Dolby Atmos system worth over $240K.... it sounds amazing....

How about connection of the iphone to your car... then open a map app... while driving the iphone tells you everything about your trip... tells you there is a cop ahead... tells you a wreck is ahead, tells you there is construction ahead... tells you there is something in the middle of the road ahead so you don't crash your car... shows you the best routes.... thats better than a Garmin GPS...

There is a lot more but you get the jest...

Sorry Android doen't do these tricks....

 

[Retired Expat]

Silly argument. First off it is not $1000 invested unless you are willing to go without any smartphone, oh and don’t you need a digital camera? You get an amazing one now thrown in.

Now do you do work or manage your life with your phone? We rent out our place on AirBnB when not there. A smart phone is essential but this could just as easily be a discussion about soccer mom coordination or shopping lists and reminders that are location based.

You have to look at all they ways an iPhone can help you, simplify your life, save you unnecessary driving and save money (turn things off remotely perhaps etc to determine the actual cost benefit of having such computing power at your fingertips always.

Add to that the potential Health benefits of an iPhone and the Apple Watch and it might just save your life. What is that worth? And top of the line android phones are no cheaper….

One can always cherry pick a fact to make a point. Much harder to look at an issue from a broader perspective…..

 

[Out_the_Door]

I agree with some (but not all). I only got a smart phone in 2020 after years with my nokia flip phone. (or "drug dealer phone" as some of my friends called it). I spent $150. It does everything I need it to do (make phone calls and respond to texts). For a basic item as a phone I don't want to spend more than $200 but I have no problem dropping $2,500+ on a pair of speakers. I say spend on the things that give you prolonged enjoyment and if it happens to be a phone...I say go for it.

 

[Music Lover]

Let’s talk about buying an iPhone for $1,000. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, once compared this eye-popping price tag to buying a cup of coffee a day over a year. No big deal, right?

But financial advisers see this differently. By some estimates, an investment of $1,000 in a retirement account today would balloon to about $17,000 in 30 years.

I can make coffee at home and save $700 or $800 a year, but I'm unable to make a smart phone no matter how hard I try. Luckily, a $300 android every 3 or so years does everything I need.

So...I'm saving $900 a year on phones and $700 or $800 on coffee. Perhaps one day there will be an article on how many retirements are delayed because of take out coffee.

 

[rodi]

The premise of the article is flawed. The same argument about return on money vs purchase could be made for buying a more expensive car, designer clothes, a bigger tv... Really any depreciating asset.

That said - I buy a 'last years model' new every three or four years. I have a year old pixel 4A that I bought new. DH has a pixel 3A (we both like the smaller form factor of the 'a' versions..) Sure - I look at the specs of the pixel 6... but my phone works fine and I'll probably get a pixel 6 when the 7 or 8 comes out.

 

[Koolau]

Perhaps one day there will be an article on how many retirements are delayed because of take out coffee.

Uhh. It's been done.

But seriously, the original post simply points out what most of us who have FIRE'd have known for years: We KNOW what we spend. We HAVE made at least the mental calculus of current value vs future value on everything from a cup of coffee to a smart phone (or a house.) Oh, and we DO have an emergency fund. YMMV

 

[kcowan]

Yes I upgraded from a 4S to a 2020SE with no cover, So far the glass front and back has been scratch-resistant and the camera is amazing considering only single lens. Battery could be better but I manage it.

 

[teetee]

I would have to disagree a bit on this kind of generalization....



some don't realize that as the hardware of the iphone gets updated Apple also adds functionality via software... so when you don't upgrade for years at a time then you don't get to even update the ios software because the hardware won't support the newer functions they add...and then most people don't even realize what they are missing out on... or they may not even need the new added functions.... most don't even know of the new functions...



This year Apple put in 1TB of memory.... they also now allow the iphone to be able to connect an external memory via the USB adapter... on my phone I shoot ProRes HD video and use the 1TB builtin memory to take care of the large file sizes and then connect the Samsung T5 1tb drive for the offload and edit.... I then convert the footage to Airi Alexa which is a $70K camera... from an iphone....



They also now allow the iphone to be able to playback on HDMI displays via the HDMI adapter.... so you just plug the phone into your 85 inch TV and you get to play back movies or the video/pics you took...



The new cameras can shoot in the dark... the star trails taken with the iphone 13pro are amazing



if you really like music you can get the camera connect adapter and plug the iphone into the ifi Diablo and plug in a nice set of headphones and you now have one of the finest audio players in the world....



And if you want to play back Dolby Atmos in 24 channels... just hook up the iphone 13pro to a Smyth Realiser A16 .... now you got 24 channels of Dolby Atmos from your headphones... thats like putting a IMAX theater in your living room... oh.. and that A16 via the iphone 13pro.... its emulating 24 speakers that cost $10K each... so now your iphone is emulating a Dolby Atmos system worth over $240K.... it sounds amazing....



How about connection of the iphone to your car... then open a map app... while driving the iphone tells you everything about your trip... tells you there is a cop ahead... tells you a wreck is ahead, tells you there is construction ahead... tells you there is something in the middle of the road ahead so you don't crash your car... shows you the best routes.... thats better than a Garmin GPS...



There is a lot more but you get the jest...



Sorry Android doen't do these tricks.... [emoji23]

Wow this really opened my eyes. I was using the on-the-go USB cable to connect my 2.5 external SSD with my moto 3 years ago to transfer files to my phone from the SSD. Miracast or Chromecast apps help to cast my phone mainly videos to my dumb TV years ago. I am glad apple catches up android finally.

Wireless Android auto or apple carplay is not really news but isn't that supported by the car infotainment system?

I don't know any audio stuff on either Android or Apple phones so I can't comment on that. But I do think you will have to be in the know to provide a valid comparison. Otherwise it just proves Android users' main point: why spend so much for the same feature that the cheaper solution already covered years ago? That is the risk when you are in one ecosystem for too long, you tend to not see what others are doing.

Waze and other Navi systems on Android give you those features you mentioned and more.

Are microSD / additional microSIM expansion features still not on iPhone 13? I also need 3.5mm jack instead of the lightning adaptor for my $5 earbuds so I don't lose the good wireless ones.

It is true the new iPhone has a lot of features (both hardware and software) to offer but is it the best? No. Is it the best at it's price point? Definitely not.

Example:
https://www.tomsguide.com/face-off/...hone-13-pro-max-which-is-the-better-big-phone

Is it important to treat the comparison objectively so it doesn't become the battle between two fan clubs and get the thread locked by the mods? I think so.

 

[Bruceski44]

That TomsGuide article above says the iPhone 1TB upgrade is an "eye watering" $1599! It's more than eye watering if true. I almost choked!

 

[Music Lover]

I would have to disagree a bit on this kind of generalization....

some don't realize that as the hardware of the iphone gets updated Apple also adds functionality via software... so when you don't upgrade for years at a time then you don't get to even update the ios software because the hardware won't support the newer functions they add...and then most people don't even realize what they are missing out on... or they may not even need the new added functions.... most don't even know of the new functions...

This year Apple put in 1TB of memory.... they also now allow the iphone to be able to connect an external memory via the USB adapter... on my phone I shoot ProRes HD video and use the 1TB builtin memory to take care of the large file sizes and then connect the Samsung T5 1tb drive for the offload and edit.... I then convert the footage to Airi Alexa which is a $70K camera... from an iphone....

They also now allow the iphone to be able to playback on HDMI displays via the HDMI adapter.... so you just plug the phone into your 85 inch TV and you get to play back movies or the video/pics you took...

The new cameras can shoot in the dark... the star trails taken with the iphone 13pro are amazing

if you really like music you can get the camera connect adapter and plug the iphone into the ifi Diablo and plug in a nice set of headphones and you now have one of the finest audio players in the world....

And if you want to play back Dolby Atmos in 24 channels... just hook up the iphone 13pro to a Smyth Realiser A16 .... now you got 24 channels of Dolby Atmos from your headphones... thats like putting a IMAX theater in your living room... oh.. and that A16 via the iphone 13pro.... its emulating 24 speakers that cost $10K each... so now your iphone is emulating a Dolby Atmos system worth over $240K.... it sounds amazing....

How about connection of the iphone to your car... then open a map app... while driving the iphone tells you everything about your trip... tells you there is a cop ahead... tells you a wreck is ahead, tells you there is construction ahead... tells you there is something in the middle of the road ahead so you don't crash your car... shows you the best routes.... thats better than a Garmin GPS...

There is a lot more but you get the jest...

Sorry Android doen't do these tricks....

Most people have no desire for those things.

And...although a phone into headphones might try to sound like a 24 speaker $240k IMAX system but that's both physically and theoretically impossible.

 

[meleana]

I’ve got a 6S plus and I still have my SE from years ago which my husband uses on WiFi.

I actually like that little SE better. Nice and light and fits in my pocket and actually overall better than my 6 S plus..

 

[swakyaby]

I had an iPhone 5S for about 5 years and people made fun of me and were aggressive to me so I could get the latest model. LOL.

Interesting. I had an iPhone 5S for 7 years until 6 weeks ago, and nobody paid any attention.

 

[RobbieB]

I just bought a pixel 6. Only a little more than my last caviar order.

 

[davidfin]

IPhone upgrade

I think the thrust of the article is aimed at youngsters who have yet to learn delayed gratification. At my age, I’m done with delaying any gratification. I did the hard work 30 years, now I’m enjoying the fruits. Upgrading a phone is minor considering all the other gratification I’m doing. Join me, it’s super fun.

 

[davidfin]

I take great pride in being 3-5 models behind the latest I-Phone. I mean what idiots would pay $1000 - 1300 to be current. 2.5 years ago, I traded in my 5S and got an 8Plus, which has served me fine and will likely do so for the next 2-3 years.

What's more, I bought a refurbished one from a dealer on ebay and paid around $200 for it.....it works perfectly, no issues.

That’s pretty cool, but I’m still using the two cans and string from my childhood.

 

[Sojourner]

That’s pretty cool, but I’m still using the two cans and string from my childhood.

 

[Sojourner]

I take great pride in being 3-5 models behind the latest I-Phone. I mean what idiots would pay $1000 - 1300 to be current.

I guess I'll be joining the ranks of the idiots soon, as I'll be purchasing a 13 Pro for ~ $1,000.

But wait... maybe I'm not an idiot. Maybe I can easily afford to spend $1000 on a new smartphone every 5 years. I mean, after all, I am a multimillionaire, comfortably retired since my mid-40s. (Sorry for the humble brag... just trying to sarcastically refute the holier-than-thou "idiots" comment.)

 

[mpeirce]

That TomsGuide article above says the iPhone 1TB upgrade is an "eye watering" $1599! It's more than eye watering if true. I almost choked!

While some people will buy a 1TB iPhone Max because they just want one, I expect most are buying it for doing video.

It handles HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60 fps. Gorgeous. But that fills up 1 TB pretty darn quickly.

You can also shoot in ProRes video format (different from Dolby Vision) which is much like RAW for photography, though ProRes is somewhat compressed - it has to be or it wouldn’t fit at all.

At $1600 for this use, it’ a bargain.

If you just want to view videos of the grandkids, skip it.

 

[Bruceski44]

While some people will buy a 1TB iPhone Max because they just want one, I expect most are buying it for doing video.

It handles HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60 fps. Gorgeous. But that fills up 1 TB pretty darn quickly.

You can also shoot in ProRes video format (different from Dolby Vision) which is much like RAW for photography, though ProRes is somewhat compressed - it has to be or it wouldn’t fit at all.

At $1600 for this use, it’ a bargain.

If you just want to view videos of the grandkids, skip it.

Memory is not that expensive. This is "value pricing" aka whatever the market will bear. I object to such obvious and blatant disconnects between cost and price.