Excited for iPhone 12

I’m really excited for the iPhone 12, which Apple will be announcing next Tuesday 10/13. It’s been three years since I bought my iPhone X and I’m ready for the upgrade. This is the first time I’ve waited this long to buy a new phone. Despite its longer battery life and improved camera features I skipped the iPhone 11 because my X was just so… good. It was the first time where Apple’s latest OS update (iOS 13) didn’t seem at all slower on my two-year-old hardware. Everything was speedy and outside of the camera there was really nothing missing from my X. In fact, I could go another year without an upgrade and be just peachy, though my battery is showing its age and ending the day at about 20% now.

I’m excited for this release for a few reasons. First, Apple is rumored to be introducing a new design with flat edges to match the iPad Pro and new Air. While it’s technically “modern” it is also a throwback to Apple’s classic iPhone 4/5/SE design, which is my absolute favorite design. Second, I’ll be able to get the improved camera of the 11 with night mode and the ultra wide lens as well as any improvements Apple makes to it beyond that. Third, there is a possibility that the Pro model will include a high-refresh ProMotion display just like the iPad Pro. I’ve been wishing for this in a phone since the day I started using my iPad Pro. It’s truly amazing. Rumor has it that Apple cut ProMotion due to power usage, but even so, there is a possibility.

This purchase will mark a major change in the way that I purchase my phones. Up until this point I’ve purchased them on contract or outright so that I own the phones by the time I upgrade. They are either repurposed for something else or go directly into my Mac Museum. This year that will change – I’m going to enroll in the Apple iPhone Upgrade program. This means that I will pay a monthly fee for my phone, but I’ll be able to upgrade every single year to the newest model. It works with any carrier and includes Apple Care+, which I’d get anyway. So it costs me the exact same as I’d already pay, but broken up over 24 months instead of a lump sum. After a year I send the phone to Apple and get a new one. No need to try to sell it myself.

But what about my museum, you ask? Well it’s actually more financially beneficial for me not to own my phone. My three-year-old phone is worth about $300 on eBay right now, so if I put it into my museum it would be equivalent to buying one for that price. I’d never do that. Instead I’d wait until the iPhone X was old enough to fall into the $50 range, probably after 6 – 8 years. Let’s apply this same logic to an iPhone 12: instead of paying $1200 for it and putting it in my museum after 2 years I’ll pay $600 and put it into my museum for $50 about eight years later. By the time it gets added to my museum everyone will be getting rid of them and it will be cheap. Through that time I will have owned the current iPhone every year. Not bad. It won’t matter whether the upgrade is “worth it”, I’ll just get a new phone anyway.

Sally has an iPhone XS, which is now two years old, so she will be joining me on the forever phone plan too. We will most likely get the Pro models for the cameras and will now have Apple’s latest every year.