hail-saision

Except, if you were on the Apple iPhone Upgrade Program, you'd be swapping to the iPhone 11 Pro anyway. In that one situation, you're definitely better off —or at least no worse off financially —by upgrading.

It's not true that you're "no worse off financially" to upgrade from the XS you bought last year using the upgrade program.

1. You still have to pay sales tax on the entire cost of phone, something you did last year when you bought the XS (so $80-140 depending on your state and the iPhone you choose)
2. You probably will want to buy a case for your new iPhone 11 Pro, something you also did last year when you bought the XS ($40-50)

So really the cost to upgrade after a year with the XS is more like $120-190. That's not even taking into account the fact that if you hang on to the XS for one more year that you will have $400-500 in trade-in value when you upgrade to the iPhone 12 (after making 12 more monthly payments that is).

I'm not saying the upgrade isn't worth it, but it's not fair to say there is effectively no cost to upgrade. I personally am justifying the cost because I look at it as the cost to have a nicer camera for the next year.