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Somewhat unrelated but ever since moving to Android (Pixel 5) I've totally lost track of the iPhone product line. If you asked me what the difference between th

Somewhat unrelated but ever since moving to Android (Pixel 5) I've totally lost track of the iPhone product line. If you asked me what the difference between the iPhone 11/12/13 is I wouldn't be able to tell you. I don't think I care either. Phones aren't making big leaps anymore, it's not worth keeping up with.

parkingrift 5y ago
Basically true of all smartphones, now. I recently saw a giant billboard for Samsung S22. I doubt Samsung has had 21 prior versions of the S line, but who knows. These phones all look the same and have had looked the same for a handful of years now.
- botdan 5y ago
  Samsung switched to using the current year for their model numbers. S22 is the 2022 model.
  - drewzero1 5y ago
    Thanks for clearing this up. Last year I was shopping for used phones and looking at S8/S9, and getting very confused when I saw S21 starting to pop up. "How many of these did they make, anyway?"
    - HideousKojima 5y ago
      S10 was the last of the old numbering scheme, they changed it in 2020 (with the S20).
    - wcfields 5y ago
      Tangentially related, Reminds me of this: In Los Angeles there's a few very prominently displayed billboards at a shopping center for the Galaxy S4 that has somehow remained up [1] [1] https://goo.gl/maps/deKaDdMjM3U4P1Gb7 https://goo.gl/maps/deKaDdMjM3U4P1Gb7
trm42 5y ago
Every phone is nowadays a slab with a touch display so there hasn't been big surprises for a long time. Just gradual improvements and small new features once in awhile. To follow the scene I've noticed it's easier to follow new iPhone releases than multiple brands of Android phones. They are still more or less the same although the specs are in many cases a notch higher in Android phones as the Android seems to be more resource hungry. I got frustrated with the Samsung OS support (long time for new Android releases and no support for quite recent devices etc) and switched from SGS 9 to iPhone 13. Been switching between iOS and Android couple of times earlier and it's good way to avoid platform lock-in.
- baby 5y ago
  biggest change for me are folding phones! They look like the next big thing (but so expensive atm)
roody15 5y ago
Have to agree here. Have the iPhone 11 Pro and still works great. Have worked with iPhone 12 and 13... honestly don't see any day to day difference in performance.
- ask_b123 5y ago
  I've got the iPhone 6 ans it still works fine. :) Although I sometimes wish I had the iPhone 6s so that I could update to the latest iOS version. But iOS 12 still gets security updates every once in a while (last one — September 2021, and there were several last year) so I'm in no hurry to upgrade. Perhaps come the next iPhone SE.
josefresco 5y ago
My fam has 4 iPhones: An 11 and 3 13's and we could also not tell you the main differences. Better uh... camera? Faster maybe? I know the 13's are chonky.
- burntoutfire 5y ago
  11 has the ridiculous rounded bezel, which makes it difficult to pick up, hard to handle in general and very easy to drop (it looks cooler though). Luckily, after years they've finally come to their senses and returned to the uglier, but 1000x more functional cornered bezel in 13.
  - josefresco 5y ago
    Never had a problem picking up my 11 but then again it's barely spent a day outside of it's case.
2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
Same. I stopped caring. I'll use my Pixel 4 until it is no longer supported.
- mr_toad 5y ago
  > I'll use my Pixel 4 until it is no longer supported. So about 6 months to go? https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
    That's when the guarantees end. I'll buy the next phone the first security update that I don't receive.
- snek_case 5y ago
  If only the Pixel 6 had a headphone jack... :'(
  - mattnewton 5y ago
    5a does have one, but it is annoying that this only seems to appear on budget phones.
cute_boi 5y ago
I would love to hold old phone, the only issue that lingers me is battery. I have changed many battery, but it seems I will never get same display time ....
madeofpalk 5y ago
This is how I think about computers. I don't think it's a problem or really points to anything.
wtmt 5y ago
> Phones aren't making big leaps anymore, it's not worth keeping up with. Couldn’t be farther from the truth. Apple has never been about revolutionary change after revolutionary change every year, but the iterative improvements do make big leaps over time. For iPhones, the cameras and photo quality improve a lot at least once every two or three years. It’s because you don’t care that you don’t know about the leaps, not the other way around.
- massysett 5y ago
  As someone who went from an iPhone 7 Plus to a 13 mini, I see GP’s point. 13 mini is certainly a better phone. Better cameras, better battery life, bigger screen but smaller device. But I could see why someone would say this “isn’t worth keeping up with” and not “big leaps.” My 7 Plus photos were fine. It did everything I needed to do. On a daily basis the only benefit for me is that 13 mini is smaller. It was definitely worth the price to me but I see why someone would say it’s not a big leap. And 7 to 13 is many years worth of upgrades.
- ProAm 5y ago
  You can't copy music onto the iphone with a USB cable connected to your computer.
  - mr_toad 5y ago
    Yes you can.
    - ProAm 5y ago
      With any PC? It certainly doesnt work with linux or windows.
      - mr_toad 5y ago
        On a Windows machine you need iTunes to sync music and transfer files according to the docs. (You don’t need to use the iTunes store, but you do need the app to sync music). It’s been a while since I’ve used a windows machine of my own. I doubt it works on Linux unless maybe it works with WINE.
sho 5y ago
> If you asked me what the difference between the iPhone 11/12/13 is I wouldn't be able to tell you Well, let me assist. The 13 is way better than the 12, which is way better than the 11. The camera on the 13 is hands down the best camera yet on any mobile device and was sufficiently better that I and millions of others dropped a cool grand to get it. And guess what? If the 14 is better enough, I'll get that too, and be delighted about it! I get that many phones are now "good enough" for the more basic use cases but that doesn't mean strides aren't being made in other dimensions. You might not care, but others sure do.
- balls187 5y ago
  > The camera on the 13 is hands down the best camera yet on any mobile device I have a Canon MKIV with several lenses (most of which are L glass), and consider myself a decent photographer. [1] While the sensor size and resultant image data from my Canon vastly outperforms what my iPhone can do, the software processing Apple applies to photos leaves me significantly in awe when compared to my workflow that includes a beefy PC + Adobe Lightroom. At this point, I am seriously ditching my entire DSLR kit, shooting nearly exclusively with my iphone, and possibly just picking up a medium format digital range finder to shoot travel landscapes. 1: https://alanroy.smugmug.com/ https://alanroy.smugmug.com/
  - sho 5y ago
    I'm in the same boat, albeit in the Sony camp, sitting on an embarrassing array of now pretty much unused kit. Like you, I'll still lug it along when "taking photographs" is an explicit part of the agenda, but in practise.. it hardly makes it out of the bag any more. The iPhone is just good enough, and it's there. I honestly don't know what to do with the DSLR now. Maybe I'll point it out the window and live-stream the view.
tonguez 5y ago
“I've totally lost track of the iPhone product line. If you asked me what the difference between the iPhone 11/12/13 is I wouldn't be able to tell you.” thanks for sharing!
tw600040 5y ago
// If you asked me what the difference between the iPhone 11/12/13 is I wouldn't be able to tell you And the difference between the last 3 versions of android phones would be what?
- mohanmcgeek 5y ago
  The difference between the last 3 realme phones would be: a different camera, a different screen, a different brand of processor between each of these and they would have been released 3 weeks apart.
  - baby 5y ago
    here you go, probably the same thing for iPhones
- kcb 5y ago
  Mine has a folding screen.

parkingrift 5y ago

Basically true of all smartphones, now. I recently saw a giant billboard for Samsung S22. I doubt Samsung has had 21 prior versions of the S line, but who knows. These phones all look the same and have had looked the same for a handful of years now.

botdan 5y ago
Samsung switched to using the current year for their model numbers. S22 is the 2022 model.
- drewzero1 5y ago
  Thanks for clearing this up. Last year I was shopping for used phones and looking at S8/S9, and getting very confused when I saw S21 starting to pop up. "How many of these did they make, anyway?"
  - HideousKojima 5y ago
    S10 was the last of the old numbering scheme, they changed it in 2020 (with the S20).
  - wcfields 5y ago
    Tangentially related, Reminds me of this: In Los Angeles there's a few very prominently displayed billboards at a shopping center for the Galaxy S4 that has somehow remained up [1] [1] https://goo.gl/maps/deKaDdMjM3U4P1Gb7 https://goo.gl/maps/deKaDdMjM3U4P1Gb7

trm42 5y ago

Every phone is nowadays a slab with a touch display so there hasn't been big surprises for a long time. Just gradual improvements and small new features once in awhile. To follow the scene I've noticed it's easier to follow new iPhone releases than multiple brands of Android phones. They are still more or less the same although the specs are in many cases a notch higher in Android phones as the Android seems to be more resource hungry. I got frustrated with the Samsung OS support (long time for new Android releases and no support for quite recent devices etc) and switched from SGS 9 to iPhone 13. Been switching between iOS and Android couple of times earlier and it's good way to avoid platform lock-in.

baby 5y ago
biggest change for me are folding phones! They look like the next big thing (but so expensive atm)

roody15 5y ago

Have to agree here. Have the iPhone 11 Pro and still works great. Have worked with iPhone 12 and 13... honestly don't see any day to day difference in performance.

ask_b123 5y ago
I've got the iPhone 6 ans it still works fine. :) Although I sometimes wish I had the iPhone 6s so that I could update to the latest iOS version. But iOS 12 still gets security updates every once in a while (last one — September 2021, and there were several last year) so I'm in no hurry to upgrade. Perhaps come the next iPhone SE.

josefresco 5y ago

My fam has 4 iPhones: An 11 and 3 13's and we could also not tell you the main differences. Better uh... camera? Faster maybe? I know the 13's are chonky.

burntoutfire 5y ago
11 has the ridiculous rounded bezel, which makes it difficult to pick up, hard to handle in general and very easy to drop (it looks cooler though). Luckily, after years they've finally come to their senses and returned to the uglier, but 1000x more functional cornered bezel in 13.
- josefresco 5y ago
  Never had a problem picking up my 11 but then again it's barely spent a day outside of it's case.

2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago

Same. I stopped caring. I'll use my Pixel 4 until it is no longer supported.

mr_toad 5y ago
> I'll use my Pixel 4 until it is no longer supported. So about 6 months to go? https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
  That's when the guarantees end. I'll buy the next phone the first security update that I don't receive.
snek_case 5y ago
If only the Pixel 6 had a headphone jack... :'(
- mattnewton 5y ago
  5a does have one, but it is annoying that this only seems to appear on budget phones.

cute_boi 5y ago

I would love to hold old phone, the only issue that lingers me is battery. I have changed many battery, but it seems I will never get same display time ....

madeofpalk 5y ago

This is how I think about computers. I don't think it's a problem or really points to anything.

wtmt 5y ago

> Phones aren't making big leaps anymore, it's not worth keeping up with. Couldn’t be farther from the truth. Apple has never been about revolutionary change after revolutionary change every year, but the iterative improvements do make big leaps over time. For iPhones, the cameras and photo quality improve a lot at least once every two or three years. It’s because you don’t care that you don’t know about the leaps, not the other way around.

massysett 5y ago
As someone who went from an iPhone 7 Plus to a 13 mini, I see GP’s point. 13 mini is certainly a better phone. Better cameras, better battery life, bigger screen but smaller device. But I could see why someone would say this “isn’t worth keeping up with” and not “big leaps.” My 7 Plus photos were fine. It did everything I needed to do. On a daily basis the only benefit for me is that 13 mini is smaller. It was definitely worth the price to me but I see why someone would say it’s not a big leap. And 7 to 13 is many years worth of upgrades.
ProAm 5y ago
You can't copy music onto the iphone with a USB cable connected to your computer.
- mr_toad 5y ago
  Yes you can.
  - ProAm 5y ago
    With any PC? It certainly doesnt work with linux or windows.
    - mr_toad 5y ago
      On a Windows machine you need iTunes to sync music and transfer files according to the docs. (You don’t need to use the iTunes store, but you do need the app to sync music). It’s been a while since I’ve used a windows machine of my own. I doubt it works on Linux unless maybe it works with WINE.

sho 5y ago

> If you asked me what the difference between the iPhone 11/12/13 is I wouldn't be able to tell you Well, let me assist. The 13 is way better than the 12, which is way better than the 11. The camera on the 13 is hands down the best camera yet on any mobile device and was sufficiently better that I and millions of others dropped a cool grand to get it. And guess what? If the 14 is better enough, I'll get that too, and be delighted about it! I get that many phones are now "good enough" for the more basic use cases but that doesn't mean strides aren't being made in other dimensions. You might not care, but others sure do.

balls187 5y ago
> The camera on the 13 is hands down the best camera yet on any mobile device I have a Canon MKIV with several lenses (most of which are L glass), and consider myself a decent photographer. [1] While the sensor size and resultant image data from my Canon vastly outperforms what my iPhone can do, the software processing Apple applies to photos leaves me significantly in awe when compared to my workflow that includes a beefy PC + Adobe Lightroom. At this point, I am seriously ditching my entire DSLR kit, shooting nearly exclusively with my iphone, and possibly just picking up a medium format digital range finder to shoot travel landscapes. 1: https://alanroy.smugmug.com/ https://alanroy.smugmug.com/
- sho 5y ago
  I'm in the same boat, albeit in the Sony camp, sitting on an embarrassing array of now pretty much unused kit. Like you, I'll still lug it along when "taking photographs" is an explicit part of the agenda, but in practise.. it hardly makes it out of the bag any more. The iPhone is just good enough, and it's there. I honestly don't know what to do with the DSLR now. Maybe I'll point it out the window and live-stream the view.

tonguez 5y ago

“I've totally lost track of the iPhone product line. If you asked me what the difference between the iPhone 11/12/13 is I wouldn't be able to tell you.” thanks for sharing!

tw600040 5y ago

// If you asked me what the difference between the iPhone 11/12/13 is I wouldn't be able to tell you And the difference between the last 3 versions of android phones would be what?

mohanmcgeek 5y ago
The difference between the last 3 realme phones would be: a different camera, a different screen, a different brand of processor between each of these and they would have been released 3 weeks apart.
- baby 5y ago
  here you go, probably the same thing for iPhones
kcb 5y ago
Mine has a folding screen.