Thanks to Apple’s recent news about slowing iPhone sales, it’s apparent that people don’t upgrade their phones as often as they used to. Until last week, the device I used was over four years old. I upgraded from an iPhone 6 to a brand new…iPhone 7! Wait, but that phone is like two years old.
That’s right. And it’s a great upgrade! I would say that Apple’s phones are so good and bleeding edge that a 2-year old iPhone is still a fantastic device. And that’s why it seems so many people are keeping them instead of breaking the bank to buy a fancy new iPhone XS or XR. They’re just too expensive.
I like to buy used Apple stuff. You get great value and save a lot of cash. Last year, I bought a used iPad Air 2, a three-year old tablet at the time. And I’m still enjoying it today; I typed this blog post on it. It still works great! And I look at the shiny new iPad Pros and think they’re way too costly and they don’t really do anything that my iPad Air 2 doesn’t do. So why bother to upgrade?
As for my iPhone 6, I had planned to use it for one more year before upgrading, which would have made it five years old! But it recently began performing much slower than usual. I tried deleting apps, but that didn’t help.
While visiting friends over the Christmas holiday, it turned out that they had an “old” iPhone 7 not being used anymore, and they simply said they would let me have it! Wow! I gladly accepted the unplanned upgrade from a 6 to a “new” 7. And as a thank you, I gladly gave them a chunk of money for it.
Here’s something to note: I plan to use this iPhone 7 for at least two more years, which would make it four years old before I once again upgrade. Maybe by then the iPhone XR will sell at a low used price of around $250!
You can have great tech gadgets and not have to spend a fortune! iPhones and iPads, at least in the US where I live, are ubiquitous. There’s always someone somewhere upgrading and selling their current device.
If you stay 2 years behind the bleeding edge of Apple tech, I’d say you’re not really “behind.” You are just not “ahead” of the rest. You’re pretty much right in line with mainstream tech. It’s a very good and reasonably affordable place to be.
How old is your current smartphone? Let me know!
Thanks for reading,
-Jason
Jason Journals 
I just got an IPhone X and it is great-my hubby is like you and uses his phones for years and prefers to buy used.
I think Apple intentionally slows their devices down to push people into upgrading.
His last phone worked great till he updated it and then miraculously started slowing down…hmmmmm.
I love Apple products, as far as user friendly, but feel they intentionally do things to their products to make you HAVE to get a new phone.
My daughters phone, after doing an update, started slowing down and suddenly the battery life was so short.
A quick google search showed us this is what Apple does…..not nice!
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Hey Blended Hope, good hearing from you.
Yeah, I’d thought I noticed the same thing. I’d heard about it and have read different news reports on it. I don’t know if Apple intentionally slows old devices now or used to in the past. In fact, I’m pretty sure iOS 12 was meant to not slow older devices. At first, my iPhone 6 ran well enough after upgrading a few months ago. It didn’t seem better, but it wasn’t worse either. But in December, it suddenly got really slow, like something went wrong. So I started wanting to upgrade.
Thanks for your feedback and personal experiences! Take care.
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Oh, and glad you’re liking your iPhone X! If you want to sell it in a year or two…let me know 😄
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I can totally relate with this. As other brands phone slow but iPhone is really worthy to price we pay each time. I have been using my iPhone from last year and still I’m so happy with it.
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As other brands phone slow but iPhone is really worthy to price we pay each time. I have been using my iPhone from last year and still I’m so happy with it. Im hoping to get the new iPhone XS for my hubby soon.
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I would say the iPhone XS should be last 4 to 5 years before getting slow or in need of upgrading because it’s so bleeding edge. The battery will need a replacement in the meantime. I think if you pay more up front, the phone should last more years. Or if you pay less for a phone, expect to replace it more often. Hopefully you end up paying less overall. It’s kind of like the idea of never buying a new car from a dealer because of the ‘new tax’. It loses a lot of value the moment you drive it off the lot.
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