Apple’s new iPhone 15 is an underwhelming ‘slap in the face,’ say disappointed fans::Apple unveiled its new iPhone 15 models this week, and some fans say they lack innovation.
Apple’s new iPhone 15 is an underwhelming ‘slap in the face,’ say disappointed fans::Apple unveiled its new iPhone 15 models this week, and some fans say they lack innovation.
So stop releasing “new” phones every year.
This year’s new phones are for people that last bought a phone in 2020 or earlier. If the average user is on a three year upgrade cycle (what the data shows as I recall) then you’d expect roughly 1/3 of people to upgrade every year.
This is better for Apple, as it keeps their revenue more spread out instead of heavily concentrated in year one of a three year cycle.
This is better for consumers, as it means new features and upgrades are constantly being made. If they want to upgrade early they can, and they’ll get new features even if it’s only been two years.
This is also better for both Apple and consumers because there’s more opportunities to course-correct or respond to feedback over issues. If Apple only released a phone every other or every three years, it’d take that much longer for the switch to USB-C.
Just because a new product is launched does not mean you need to buy it. Nvidia released a new GPU last year, but I didn’t buy it even though it’s newer than what I currently have. Arguing that new phones shouldn’t come out each year is like arguing that new cars shouldn’t come out each year. It makes no sense.
I fall squarely into that 3-year cycle. My old iPhone 12 Pro, which is—as others would very plainly say—still pretty capable, is liable to go to my mother. My husband’s will go to one of the nieces or nephews.
For me, this “slap in the face” upgrade is shaping up to be a pretty substantial upgrade. And, I’m good with spending my money on that.
Im going from a 11 to a 15 pro. Good jump for me
I’m in the same boat. Will be replacing my 12 Pro, which will go to my wife, hers to my kid. We get about 10 years out of each phone, by using them like this. The improvements I get for upgrading only after three years are very significant!
Fully agree. It’s like people have no impulse control, and feel like they need to have the shiny new gadget, then cry when it’s not radically different from last year’s model. I’m still on my 11 pro, was holding off for the arrival of USB C, but it’s still working perfectly, so I might just upgrade in 1-2 years.
Yup. I’ve got a base 12. Jumping to a 15 pro max will be a pretty huge upgrade for me. Almost double the battery life, pretty much all the cameras will be massively better, I’ll get the third telephoto lens, the chip is massively faster than the one I have, usb-c, the dynamic island, the action button. A ton will be a jump for me.
For someone with a 14 pro max, there’s no real reason to. Nor is it really intended for them. Now, Apple sure as shit isn’t going to come out and say “no don’t buy our product”, because that would be stupid. But they make it easy to keep a phone for longer with the support for those of us that want to do that. Most companies will maybe give 3 OS and 3 years of security updates. Apple does 5-6 years for OS and still randomly patch old phones like the iPhone 5s with security updates.
I’m planning to upgrade from a 12 mini, which partly influenced my choice of years too (having seen 3 year data was the main part!). If I had a 12 Pro I think I’d have kept it for an extra year, but the battery is just not sufficient for how my phone use has changed.
I think furthering your extra details here too is I saw someone point out that one of Apple’s slides for the base 15 was comparing its performance to the base 12. Apple knows how often people upgrade. Picking the 12 as a comparison point wouldn’t be an accident — we’re the single largest target audience for the 15. And in a year, they will in all likelihood compare the 16 to the 13 for the same reason.
Person with iPhone 11 can still upgrade. Not everyone buys phone on same cycle. So they have to release it. But you don’t have to buy it.
And most people are not buying new phones every cycle these days. Unless there really is a major experience change - which is rare now that the product is mature.
That doesn’t solve anything though. There are improvements every year, just not enough to upgrade every single year.
And there are always people that do keep their device for several years upgrading in any given year.
Stop buying $1000+ flagships if they’re not worth it. No company is going to stop producing anything that people are willing to pay for.