airnerd

What it comes down to me is who can get the new content or the content I want, first.  Amazon's Prime offering has almost no content I want, Apple Music has yet to tell me it can't find a song.  I used Spotify way back when, when they were about the only big name in streaming music.  It's all about differentiation, and I trust Apple would be able to get exclusive or first rights to any artist they really want to.  

brucemc said:

airnerd said:

this only makes sense.  As the phones become more reliable and the advances between iterations gets less, there is less reason to get a new one.  Nothing wrong with the old one.  Up until now there were huge changes for almost every non "S" version of the iPhone.  From better antennas to better screen, better camera, better security via touch ID, better durability due to fewer moving parts, etc.  Screen resolution can't get THAT much better, durability is high, 5G is around the corner but other than that the networking capabilities aren't leaps and bounds better.  There just hasn't been that next round of "wow, I can't do day to day tasks without that".  AR is cool but in its infancy.  FaceID is cool, but a gimmick at this point.  I'm not knocking the X, it's cool but there is no incentive to move up.  That's why I'm still on my 6, it is still too good of a phone to toss.  

Maybe Apple should embrace the tinfoil hat-wearers and put in some planned obsolescence   

I agree with most of your post, but the FaceID as gimmick comment seems odd.  From what I have read, and in speaking to X owners, it works quite well, and they find it better than TouchID overall.  It does exactly what it is supposed to do, well, and reliably.  Not sure how that makes it a gimmick.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it doesn't work well.  I meant gimmick in that my finger print unlocked it just as well and just as fast IMO.  Essentially I had no issues with speed of unlocking my phone before, so this doesn't offer any sizeable advantage over what we had before.   As the technology grows and that camera that can map faces now is used for more things like perhaps more accurate 3D scanning, then it will become a useful function.

Consumer Reports?  Sheesh, the camera must be MILES better than any Android crap for them to make this statement.  Or it's a make good after being called on their bias.

horvatic said:

There's two sides to this story. Many want the latest and greatest no matter what. Replacing a battery isn't going to stop people from buying a new phone. In fact it might promote more trade-ins for the new phones coming out. 

Agree.  And all these US carriers with NEXT like plans that allow easy upgrades will help boost new sales as well.  

this only makes sense.  As the phones become more reliable and the advances between iterations gets less, there is less reason to get a new one.  Nothing wrong with the old one.  Up until now there were huge changes for almost every non "S" version of the iPhone.  From better antennas to better screen, better camera, better security via touch ID, better durability due to fewer moving parts, etc.  Screen resolution can't get THAT much better, durability is high, 5G is around the corner but other than that the networking capabilities aren't leaps and bounds better.  There just hasn't been that next round of "wow, I can't do day to day tasks without that".  AR is cool but in its infancy.  FaceID is cool, but a gimmick at this point.  I'm not knocking the X, it's cool but there is no incentive to move up.  That's why I'm still on my 6, it is still too good of a phone to toss.  

Maybe Apple should embrace the tinfoil hat-wearers and put in some planned obsolescence