The most-anticipated smartphone event of the year takes place on Wednesday, with Apple set to unveil its iPhone 15 line-up at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, Cupertino.
There will, of course, be a range of new iPhones to suit all tastes, from the standard iPhone 15 through to the 15 Pro Max, all equipped with marginally better cameras, processors, and battery life, and infused with Apple’s design aesthetic.
But the most hotly anticipated new iPhone feature is a rather prosaic one: a USB-C port, replacing Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector. Apple will talk that up as an improvement, and indeed it is, finally making your new iPhone compatible with the tangle of USB-C cables and chargers you use to connect all of your other gadgets.
But if Apple had its way, it would stick with Lightning. A new European Union regulation has mandated that USB-C connections be the standard for devices sold in the EU from the end of 2024, and Apple will likely fall in line globally with the iPhone 15 to avoid complicating its manufacturing process.
Working for Apple?
The new iPhones will also cost you a pretty penny. Apple has been very successful in recent years pushing people towards its more expensive Pro model. That’s enabled Apple to keep revenue from iPhone sales steady even as smartphone sales across the board have slowed.
Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro (128GB version) debuted for $1999. An analysis showed the average adult Kiwi would have to work 8.8 days to earn enough to pay for it, up from 8.4 days in 2021. Analysts suggest the new Pro will cost up to US$100 more than the iPhone 14 Pro.
Whether you are an Apple fan or favour the Android alternative, you have a choice to make: do you pay a premium for a new release smartphone, or buy an older model with the previous generation’s hardware and features?
Here are five reasons you should avoid being persuaded by the hype and hold off on buying the latest smartphone release.
Diminishing returns
For a while, during the 2010s, each new generation of smartphone came with at least one big upgrade or new feature. Mobile chipsets improved dramatically, boosting the performance of phones and allowing for a better mobile gaming experience. Cameras added megapixels and resolution, with multiple lenses for different shooting requirements. Night mode was a game changer for snapping pics in low light.
We saw the introduction of biometrics: face and fingerprint scanners, fast charging, wireless charging, near-field communication (NFC), which underpins payWave contactless payments, and, most recently, 5G connectivity.
But there’s not much more to pack into a new smartphone, apart from efforts by the likes of Samsung and Oppo to freshen the format up with foldable screens. What you are now getting with a new smartphone is likely a new benchmark in terms of hardware and software performance, and design quality. But the gains are incremental, barely noticeable.
You will not miss out greatly any more if you skip the latest model.
Batteries have staying power
Smartphone batteries have got bigger in recent years, with standard models typically in the 4200-4500mAh (milliampere-hour) range. That should be enough to get you through a day of use on a single charge. Higher-end and larger models typically have larger batteries, which is great if you are, literally, a power-user, constantly on your phone during the day.
The lithium-ion battery in your smartphone degrades over time. But you should reliably get 2-3 years of use while enjoying at least 90% of the battery performance your phone had at purchase. Remember also that the battery can be replaced, so don’t use short battery life as the sole excuse to buy a new phone.
For $200-$300 you could extend the usefulness of your ageing phone by a couple of years. It pays to look after your battery by using the charger that came with the phone and keeping it at a stable temperature: not too hot, not too cold. As I covered recently for the Listener, phones are becoming easier to repair, too, so don’t let a cracked screen or faulty speaker drive you to an expensive new phone purchase.
Software support
Each new annual smartphone release typically comes with a refreshed operating system – the software that runs your phone. Apple generally announces the new version of its iOS operating system early in the year, to give developers time to adapt to it ahead of the new iPhone debut each September.
Apple’s iOS backwards compatibility is pretty good. For example, the current iOS 16 can be run on the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X, which were released in 2017. However, those two models will not run on iOS 17, which will be widely available with the iPhone 15 line-up. Older phones usually get security and other critical updates delivered to them for two years.
But while an operating system may have backwards compatibility, it doesn’t mean a five-year-old phone can run all the latest software features. In fact, the biggest factor determining whether you should buy a new phone is whether the new widgets and features that will be available can run on your old phone or not.
The backwards compatibility is a bit more complicated in the Android world. Although Google, developer of the core Android operating system, generally designs its newest operating system (we are up to Android 14) to run on older phones, many smartphone makers adapt Android to create their own customised OS. Backwards capability in that case varies across the phone makers.
Again, while you may be able to run Android 14 on an old Samsung smartphone, new software features may not work and you won’t necessarily get the latest security updates. With the launch of Android 14, Google said the OS would refuse to install old Android apps as a security measure.
Save some cash!
The main reason to hold off on buying the latest and greatest smartphone model is ultimately to get the existing or last year’s model at a decent discount. As the iPhone 15 line-up hits New Zealand stores, expect clearance sales of older models. With the arrival of each new model, prices also go down in the refurbished and second-hand market for previous phones in the line-up.
Staying a model or two behind the current release is the ideal scenario. You’ll sacrifice little in terms of functionality, but pick up a deal. Keep in mind that if you buy direct from Apple, it also offers a trade-in deal for older iPhones, which may tip you towards getting the latest model if the trade-in discount is sufficient.
Three great older model smartphones
Apple iPhone 12 5G 128GB
The iPhone 12 is still a great phone, which comes with a lot of upgrades on the iPhone 11. It was the first in the Apple line-up to support 5G connectivity, sported beautiful design and a crisp 120Hz (hertz) display. Its cameras were excellent, as was its performance. It’s still widely available, too.
Price $1299 (iPhone 14 is $1599)
The Samsung S21 Ultra 5G 128GB
The S21 Ultra, which debuted in 2021, is a big phone in every aspect. It has a 6.8 inch, 120Hz display, a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset and a generous 12GB of RAM. It is also 5G-compatible and comes with a stylus that lets you take notes on the screen. The S21 Ultra is harder to get hold of in late 2023 – some parallel importers still sell it and there are plenty of them on the refurbished market for $600-$700.
Price: $1100 (S23 Ultra is priced from $1883)
Oppo Reno8 5G 256GB
Fast charging, decent screen quality and in a more compact format that will suit smartphone users who dislike lugging around a big phone. A really solid mid-range performer, which received a decent software upgrade earlier this year.
Price: $699 (Reno10 is $799)
