Last year, I experienced my first iPhone launch cycle at Engadget and the fanfare got to me. It seemed I couldn’t call myself a respectable member of the tech world if I didn’t own any of the shiny new tech. So I headed to the Apple store on the iPhone 15’s opening weekend and put my name in to buy one. As I waited my turn, I idly played with the display model. Holding it up to my iPhone 11, my enthusiasm dimmed. A bright grid of apps, softly rounded corners, one button on the right, two buttons and a toggle on the left… These two phones were the same. Sure, the pill-shaped thing on the screen was new, but, so what?
Instead of splurging, I left the store with my old phone. One year later, as this week’s iPhone 16 event approached, the thought of upgrading my phone hadn’t really crossed my mind. I was more concerned with the real-time transcription abilities I’d need to help cover the event.
But then Apple went and announced a brand new feature for the iPhone 16. While rumors suggested the DSLR-like focus button (now known as the Camera Control) would grace only the Pro models, every iPhone announced this year actually got the fancy new thing. And the Action button from the 15 Pro would now be on the base model as well. Additionally, there’s a new “fusion camera” that combines a 48MP sensor with a 2x telephoto lens. I may not know what that really means, but anything that might help me take better pictures of cityscapes is a plus.
Of course, the new button was likely added because it’ll serve as the interface for October’s upcoming Visual Intelligence, Apple’s AI-fueled feature that interprets the real world through the lens of Apple Intelligence. Given that shareholders insist AI’s buzz be shoved into everything, it’s not surprising that Apple’s best selling product would have all the tools it needs to embrace the tech fully. AI isn’t something I need, but two new buttons? And one that seems potentially pretty cool? It’s enough to lure me to upgrade.
I’m not much of a shopper. I wear six-year old t-shirts, own seven pairs of shoes and still carry an iPhone 11. I’m not necessarily proud of these facts; the experience of buying A New Thing often just leaves me cold, particularly when the stuff I have still works just fine.
Up until now, every iPhone I’ve replaced was for a good reason: Three years in, the battery on my iPhone 3GS stopped holding a charge. After the same amount of time, my iPhone 7 got so slow I’d forget what I was trying to do before an app would open.
Conspiracy theories once abounded that Apple purposely built planned obsolescence into their handsets, but I think a saner reason was that battery and chip technology just weren’t where they are now. With the release of iOS 17, Apple dropped feature update support for the iPhone 8, but a security update went out as recently as last month. That’s nearly seven years of reasonable use (and I have family members with iPhone 8s who have no plans to upgrade anytime soon).
I got my iPhone 11 in early 2020 and, four and a half years later, it’s still an entirely serviceable device. I can play my daily games, waste time on Reddit, keep in contact with friends and family using their various preferred methods and take pictures of tall buildings and overhead wires that turn out pretty decent. The battery won’t last through a whole day if I’m relying heavily on navigation, though that’s not a huge problem for me — I have far too many power banks laying around to ever end up with a dead phone. But it won’t last forever.
The new iPhone 16 costs $799 — the same price as the iPhone 15 went for — and it comes in a new ultramarine color. It’s sort of a purply royal blue that I’m very drawn to and represents just the sort of superfluous, consumerist frivolity that provokes post-shopping dejection. But it’s so pretty! Granted, I’ll never really see that deep, blue-hour shade. The moment I get this new phone, it’s going directly into a case, where it will stay until the next time I upgrade — maybe around 2030 or so.
Catch up on all the news from Apple’s iPhone 16 event!