Thoughts on buying a new iPhone

Here are a few thoughts on the new iPhones and considerations for those thinking of upgrading, based on Apple’s iPhone presentation on September 9.

This was a presentation filled with oldies but goodies, borrowing from things that worked in the past: thinner, the AIr designation, machined aluminum, faster processor, more memory, All ho-hum.

Apple announced four models: iPhone Air, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max.

• The new iPhone Air is a very thin phone with many limitations. I think it could turn out to be a dud in terms of sales and customer satisfaction for a number of reasons:
  • A smaller battery – In spite of Apple’s claim that the smaller battery will get you through the day, all signs contradict this. It’s smaller than the batteries in today’s phones that are marginal for many.
  • Apple is pre-emptively offering an extra cost MagSafe battery for “up to” 60% more battery. They must know it will be needed. (Note that an external battery is about 20% less efficient compared to an internal one because of the power loss with MagSafe.) So Apple is suggesting you more than double the Air’s thickness for a few hours more of battery life.
  • Something so thin is more fragile, so it’s likely you’ll want to get a case for it, losing some of the benefits of a thinner phone.
  • Its single-lens camera is much more limited and is not as good as the phones on the last few generations of the Pro models.
  • It’s thin over the body, but has a big bump at the top, a very different profile than the MacBook Air.
  • It costs more for less, especially with the extra battery.
    
• If you want to upgrade, the iPhone 17 Pro models make more sense, although they only offer incremental improvements over the iPhones 15 and 16.
  • A display with a faster refresh rate that makes scrolling smoother.
  • Improved cameras, include a better selfie camera, that provide marginal benefits to already stellar cameras on their predecessors. Don’t be fooled by Apple calling the 3 lenses 8.
  • An unspecified battery life improvement – Apple never states the capacity so we’ll need to wait for teardown reports to see just how much better. If it’s significant (>15%), that might be a good reason to upgrade. Not only does a larger battery last longer between charges, but it means fewer charges, which means the battery will last longer before a replacement is needed.
  • Lots of discussion about a new enclosure design and materials, a regular Apple talking point. iPhone 6, 7, and 8 were all aluminum, the next gen phones were stainless steel and then titanium. Now we’re back to aluminum, although machined like the MacBooks rather than stamped. Apple seems to be trying to recreate the success of the MacBooks’ machined aluminum housing, which revolutionized notebook design decades ago. But this time, it’s less important. Aluminum is more prone to scratching than the titanium used on the 15 and 16 phones.
  • Does the case material really matter when we all bury our their inside a protective case?
  • The overall form factor is changed with its raised area across the back of the camera that Apple calls a “plateau.” It’s very similar to the Google Pixel phones of the past few years. Nothing striking or unique.
    
• Apple will be rolling out their new iOS26 software soon, and that will be more significant for many than the hardware. Phones from the iPhone 11 and newer will all benefit.
  
• One noticeable omission was mention of AI, something last year’s rollout featured. This just confirms that Apple is a couple of years behind Google’s new Pixel 10 lineup that does much of the computation on the phone. Apple will now partner with Google to play catchup. If you want the latest, most significant and powerful new phone, buy a Google Pixel 10 Pro.
  
• If you want to stay in the Apple ecosystem, upgrade if your phone is a X or older, if you want to give your phone to a relative, or if you just like having the latest model. Don’t upgrade to get the most advanced phone ever.
  
• Apple has done a great job convincing us to upgrade every year or two when it rarely changed our experience. Yet we never upgrade our TVs, refrigerators or any of our other products anywhere near as often.
  
• Then there’s one more reason some might want to wait: to send a message to Tim Cook for this act of cowardice.