This is not your typical gadget review. That’s because it is time to rethink when to upgrade your iPhone.

ImageNow is the moment to ask: Do we really need to upgrade our iPhones every two years?

Now is the moment to ask: Do we really need to upgrade our iPhones every two years?CreditCreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Brian X. Chen

By Brian X. Chen

Published Sept. 17, 2019

Updated Sept. 19, 2019, 12:03 a.m. ET

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Over more than a decade of writing about technology, reviewing a new iPhone has long been one of my simplest assignments.

Year after year, the formula was this: I tested the most important new features of Apple’s latest smartphone and assessed whether they were useful. Assuming the newest iPhone worked well, I generally recommended upgrading if you had owned your existing smartphone for two years.

But with this review of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max — which Apple unveiled last week and will become available Friday — I’m encouraging a different approach. The bottom line? It’s time to reset our upgrade criteria.

That’s because we are now living in the golden age of smartphones, when the gadgets’ improvements each year are far from seismic. Devices that debuted three years ago remain zippy and more than capable. Those with the iPhone 7 from 2016, for example, still have a very good phone with a stellar camera and fast speeds.

So now is the moment to ask: Do we really need to upgrade our iPhones every two years?

Based on my tests of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, the answer is no. Don’t get me wrong: The newest models are nice. Apple has made them speedier, improved the cameras and lengthened their battery life. The new lineup also starts at a lower price of $700, down from $750 a year ago, which is a relief in an era of skyrocketing smartphone costs.

But none of this is enough to warrant an immediate upgrade if you have had your smartphone for only two years. The latest iPhones just aren’t a big leap forward from last year’s iPhones or even the iPhone X from 2017.

So here’s what I ultimately suggest: You should definitely upgrade if your current device is at least five years old. The iPhone 11 models are all a significant step up from those introduced in 2014. But for everyone else with smartphones from 2015 or later, there is no rush to buy. Instead, there is more mileage and value to be had out of the excellent smartphone you already own.

Comparing the iPhones 11s with the iPhone X

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ImageApple iPhone 11 Pro.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

I tested the new iPhones for a week, starting with the $700 entry-level iPhone 11 with a 6.1-inch display, which I used as my primary phone for three days. Then I switched to the iPhone 11 Pro, the $1,000 model with a 5.8-inch screen, for two days. And then finally the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the $1,100 model with a jumbo 6.5-inch screen, for another two days.

Then I compared the results with my notes and photos from testing the iPhone X in 2017. What I found was that the iPhone 11 was better, but not profoundly so.

Here were the notable differences between the iPhone 11s and the iPhone X:

All the iPhone 11 models have a new ultra-wide-angle lens in their cameras, which provides a wider field of view than traditional phone cameras. This makes them handy for shooting landscapes or large group gatherings. The iPhone X lacks the ultra-wide-angle lens, but its dual-lens camera is capable of shooting portrait-mode photos, which puts the picture’s main subject in sharp focus while softly blurring the background.

The newest iPhones all have the same computing processor, A13 Bionic, which is about 50 percent faster than the iPhone X. While that may sound significant, the iPhone X is already incredibly fast at shooting photos and running apps and games.

The new iPhones all have longer battery life. Even after a day of heavy use, which included taking phone calls, using maps and shooting lots of photos, each iPhone had lots of juice remaining — at least 30 percent — by bedtime. After similar tests with an iPhone X two years ago, the battery had about 15 percent left by bedtime.

The back of the Pro models is composed of a rugged glass that makes them scratch-resistant. This is impressive, but if you’re spending $1,000 on a phone, you will probably protect it with a case that covers the back anyway — just as many iPhone X owners do.

The Pro models have OLED displays that are slightly brighter than the screen on the iPhone X.

There are lots of little things that are somewhat better on the new iPhones than on the two-year-old iPhone X. For early adopters who are keen to have the latest and greatest tech, those differences may add up to a substantial upgrade.

But for most of us, the upgrades won’t meaningfully change our phone experience.

Contrasting the phone cameras

Image

The ultra-wide-angle lens on the new iPhones takes photos with a wider field of view than traditional cameras.

The ultra-wide-angle lens on the new iPhones takes photos with a wider field of view than traditional cameras.CreditBrian X. Chen/The New York Times

The most noteworthy new feature on the iPhones 11s is the ultra-wide-angle lens. Using the ultrawide mode is simple and seamless: You pinch outward to zoom all the way out. On a beach, the wider view captured my dogs playing on the sand, the ocean waves and the adjacent highway.

The telephoto lens on the iPhone 11 Pro did an exceptional job zooming in on my dog Mochi’s snout as she shook some water off her head.

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The telephoto lens on the Pro models can zoom in closely without losing much detail.

The telephoto lens on the Pro models can zoom in closely without losing much detail. CreditBrian X. Chen/The New York Times

The new iPhones also have a new mode for shooting photos in low light. Once the camera detects that a setting is very dark, it automatically captures multiple pictures and then fuses them together while making adjustments to colors and contrast. The result was that photos taken in low light without flash look brighter, in a natural way.

Image

The new iPhones include a low-light mode, which captures multiple images at different exposures and fuses them into one, to make a picture look brighter.

The new iPhones include a low-light mode, which captures multiple images at different exposures and fuses them into one, to make a picture look brighter.CreditBrian X. Chen

Photos taken with the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro looked crisp and clear, and their colors were accurate. But after I finished these tests, I looked back at my archived photos taken with an iPhone X.

Those pictures, especially the ones shot with portrait mode, still looked impressive. Some of the low-light ones looked crummy in comparison with the ones taken by the iPhone 11s, but I wouldn’t recommend that you buy a new phone just to get better night photos. You could always just use flash.

When should I upgrade then?

Each year, the most common question I get from friends and colleagues is whether they should buy a new iPhone. So here’s a list of considerations in any decision about upgrading.

The simplest place to start is software. Apple’s newest mobile operating system, iOS 13, will work only on iPhones from 2015 (the iPhone 6S) and later. So if you have an iPhone that is older than that, it is worth upgrading because once you can no longer update the operating system, some of your apps may stop working properly.

For those with younger iPhones, there are ways to get more mileage out of your current device. While the newest iPhones have superb battery life — several hours longer than the last generation — a fresh battery in your existing gadget costs only $50 to $70 and will greatly extend its life.

If you have the iPhone 6S from 2015 and the iPhone 7 from 2016, the iPhone 11s are speedier, with camera improvements and bigger displays. That makes an upgrade nice to have but not a must-have.

But if you spent $1,000 on an iPhone X two years ago, then hold off. The iPhone 11s just aren’t enough of an innovation leap to warrant $700-plus on a new smartphone.

If you wait another year or two, you will most likely be rewarded with that jump forward. That might be an iPhone that works with fast 5G cellular networks, or a smartphone that can wirelessly charge an Apple Watch.

Patience has its benefits — and so will breaking free of the iPhone’s automatic two-year upgrade cycle.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4347074&forum_id=2#38858355)

Is it unethical to upgrade your iPhone?

Image

Navneet Alang

New iPhones.Illustrated | AP Photo/Tony Avelar, Aerial3/iStock

September 19, 2019

There is always a bitter sort of irony in watching videos of the unveiling of a flashy new iPhone on your own scuffed and scratched years-old device. As reviews of the new iPhone 11 rolled in this week — and I watched them on my trusty iPhone SE from 2016 — I almost immediately started doing the math in my head to figure out if I could afford the shiny new phone.

But this year's parade of iPhone reviews was a bit different. Where most reviews have traditionally recommended readers upgrade every two years, The New York Times, for example, suggested most people with a 3- or 4-year-old phone hold off on buying a new one. This is a significant change in tone, and it's rooted in the iterative state of smartphone technology: These days, there just isn't much a brand new smartphone can do that your current smartphone can't. But this shift also presents an opportunity to reflect on our buying habits. Why did we ever think it was ok to upgrade devices that cost of hundreds of dollars every year or two? In this moment of increasing environmental awareness, is upgrading your phone unethical?

The hundreds of millions of smartphones sold per year use rare metals that are hard to mine and have harmful byproducts. The BBC reported on an artificial lake in Mongolia filled with "toxic sludge" from the production of new gadgets. Such man-made horrors, coupled with the enormous amounts of resources and energy it takes to create new devices, makes the problem all too clear: The more smartphones we buy, the more waste we create, and the worse the effects on our environment.

Of course, every object we use has an environmental cost; that doesn't mean we should stop buying toilet paper or groceries. But those are products we need. Do we really need new smartphones every few years?

Certainly, there was a point at which rapid iteration of smartphones was somewhat justifiable. The difference between the first iPhone and the second was significant. At the time, surfing the internet or getting directions while walking down the street felt positively revolutionary. In those early years — say, from 2007 to 2014 — there were tangible, pragmatic differences between models. We saw the same pattern with tablets. Now we're seeing it with smartwatches.

But now, the newest iPhones are functionally barely different from older models. Compared to recent devices, the iPhone 11 takes marginally better pictures and is a bit faster, but that's about it. Most people shouldn't upgrade, not just because there isn't much difference, but because it's profoundly wasteful to do so.

The trouble, though, is that the digital revolution was so tied to the allure of invention that's it now become hard to shake our addiction to shiny new stuff. Indeed, we are naturally hardwired to seek out new things, and it is as if Silicon Valley hijacked this built-in human desire. We have become so accustomed to associated novelty and desirability that it's difficult not to succumb to the idea that new is always better. It isn't just hardware, either: Social media sites, like Twitter or Instagram, thrive on this desire for newness — it's why we refresh our feeds constantly.

What people want from new tech isn't simply a tool to be used, but something to be excited about. Something to fulfill a desire for possibility or happiness. Googling "iPhone 11" and "boring" turns up scores of results from people who found the new devices utterly yawn-inducing. Thought of that way, it's understandable why people keep upgrading their phones — they're looking for fulfillment. It also confirms again that tech has hijacked normal human desires and tried to profit off them.

Should you upgrade your phone? If it still does what you need it to do, probably not. Anyone who has a phone less than 3 years old should almost certainly not. Part of personal responsibility in the 21st century is about learning to say no to things: the convenience of car culture, the comfort and quiet of suburban sprawl, and the novelty of new gadgets and stuff. These things come with consequences that extend beyond our own lives and wallets. It's about the broader effect on the world.

It's easy to lust after the latest phone. But it won't make your life or the planet any better. Remembering this is the only way to combat the way we are always asked to sacrifice ourselves at the altar of the new.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4347074&forum_id=2#38858367)

699: 2 cameras

999: 3 cameras

1499: 4 cameras

2499: 5 cameras

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4347074&forum_id=2#38859063)

Next year we'll release the same phone with a 4th camera, a second screen and call it the "Pro Max Elite"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4347074&forum_id=2#38858551)

Honestly, the only bad thing about it is the forces obsolescence from software updates, but luckily I don’t use any apps so I never need to update

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4347074&forum_id=2#38859150)