4 ms·

Why is it "time" after 3 years? They should hopefully still be getting software updates, at least security updates. I'm on an iPhone 13 since launch (almost 5

Why is it "time" after 3 years? They should hopefully still be getting software updates, at least security updates. I'm on an iPhone 13 since launch (almost 5 years ago) and still see no reason to upgrade. There just hasn't been anything 'exciting' in phones in many years. EDIT: should add, I've only used 50% of the 256GB storage and battery life is still fine (comfortably gets through an entire day+night). But I'm not a heavy phone user so that's perhaps atypical for a 5yo phone.

cautiouscat 2mo ago
It’s a fair question. The battery is on the border of needing to be replaced, which is a $79 repair and would probably buy me another three years or so. But at this point I want something a bit snappier and I’ll probably replace the battery and use it as a backup phone.
- shaftway 2mo ago
  Not a fix for the battery, but if you're on Android, enable developer settings and change your animations to 0.5x speed (there are three settings to change). Every OS animation will take half as long. It makes an aging phone feel much snappier.
  - netsharc 2mo ago
    Won't 0.5x speed make it slower (Driving 20mph instead of 40mph will get you somewhere in double the time). I just checked my phone, the phrasing is "Animation scale .5x" (Among other numbers), meaning it's scaled to take n times the time.
    - deleted 2mo ago
      [deleted]
    - shaftway 2mo ago
      Thanks for the assist, I typed it up from memory.
  - phainopepla2 2mo ago
    That really did make using my old phone less painful, thanks for the tip!
  - encom 2mo ago
    This, but set it to disable all animations. It makes using the phone so much quicker, not having to pause for pointless animations.
    - thenthenthen 2mo ago
      There used to be a jailbreak app for iphone to increase animation speed, it was soooo nice, it felt like you were actually using the phone instead of the phone using you. Anything out there for iPhone right now? Edit: cowabunga on iOS 17 (broken in iOS 18+) https://cowabun.ga/ https://cowabun.ga/
Analemma_ 2mo ago
If you like taking pictures with your phone, the cameras are still improving steadily enough that you'll see meaningful improvements if you upgrade every three years
- lebca 2mo ago
  Anecdotally, every iphone I've tried since my iphone 11 pro seems to take worse photos. I do take a lot of photos with a standalone camera though so I imagine I am biased.
  - meatmanek 2mo ago
    I can't remember which generation exactly had this shift, but yeah around the iPhone 12 they went really heavy on the processing, so instead of a noisy but sharp image you got a smudgy mess. Later generations improved on that but you still see this when zooming in or in low light. The processing pipeline also started imposing its own opinions on your photos, adjusting the brightness of dark areas and bright areas to even things out, increasing saturation, etc. This has generally trended towards more processing over the years. In a picture from a standalone camera (or an old phone back when the processing pipeline was basically just debayering, white balance, chroma denoise, and a gamma curve), you'll actually have contrast between shadows and highlights, which, when done well, looks great. When done poorly, it looks terrible (blown highlights, noisy shadows), which is the whole point of the processing pipeline -- on average (random user, random scene), you're better off reducing the overall contrast in the image with local adjustments, even if that turns some excellent photos into boring ones, because it'll turn a lot more bad photos into acceptable ones.
    - cosmic_cheese 2mo ago
      I recently picked up an old Olympus OM-D EM-1 to play with, along with a couple of prime lenses. The photos it produces aren’t as high-resolution than those of my iPhone 16 Pro Max, but they look a lot nicer regardless. Part of that is due to the larger sensor which no phone is going to be able to compete with, but it’s also because it allows contrast to exist and photos don’t turn into smudge/blotch soup when zoomed in a little. Thanks to that, its photos capture mood better and feel closer to what I see (or remember seeing). I’ve toyed with alternative camera apps (of which many exist on iOS) and those are a bit better, but still fall short of an decade+ old standalone camera.
gniv 2mo ago
Same here. Battery health is 84% which is not disastrous. But charging is a chore. The charging port doesn't work half the time (a problem in the car especially). I would also like it to be lighter, which I probably won't get.
- alex_c 2mo ago
  The charging port might just need cleaning. I’m still using an iPhone 11 and the charging port was getting super unreliable. I cleaned it a couple of weeks ago - gently, with a toothpick and a flashlight, there was some lint stuck inside - and it’s worked perfectly since then.
  - wffurr 2mo ago
    This - I have the iFixit cleaning kit which has a really tiny plastic pick / brush thing - I think it might be a dental crevice cleaning tool, like floss but for bigger gaps. I got a wad of lint out of my lightning port and all of a sudden CarPlay works perfectly. Same thing happens to USB-C ports.
  - olyjohn 2mo ago
    Is it just me, or was Lightning the most prone port to get clogged up with crap and have moisture end up inside it? Used to happen to me all the time, but USB-C hasn't been a problem at all.
- encom 2mo ago
  >The charging port doesn't work half the time Give it a blast with an air compressor.
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
culi 2mo ago
Thank you. We need to hold corporations accountable to make devices that continue to work and don't include planned obsolescence. When people buy into the psychology of needing to buy the newest version every year or even that "it's just time" to upgrade without any specific need for it, they undermine that
- steve_taylor 2mo ago
  So we're going to ask them to not advance their operating systems and apps to take advantage of newer hardware?
  - culi 2mo ago
    What?
    - steve_taylor 2mo ago
      Devices get slower over time due to their operating systems becoming increasingly complex as they're updated. This increased complexity is due to the OS developers taking advantage of the newer models' improved hardware. This leaves owners of older models facing a decision between staying on the older OS version and retaining the current performance vs. updating to the latest version and risk performance degradation. But it's not even that simple. Over time, app developers stop targeting older OS versions, which means you could be stuck with old versions of apps, some of which will refuse to do anything until they're updated. The way to solve this is for device vendors and their OS developers to simply stop updating the OS in a way that takes advantage of new models' improved hardware because that same code slows down older devices.
thiht 2mo ago
I've upgraded from iPhone 12 to 17 a few months ago and I agree, I could have waited 1 or maybe 2 more years. At this point I just upgraded because I wanted to and could afford it, not because I needed to (even though I'm a heavy phone user, unlike you according to what you're saying). The iPhone 12 was my first iPhone and I've been really impressed by how long it lasted, and I'm only hoping I won't need to upgrade before the iPhone 22 release.
DamnInteresting 2mo ago
My iPhone 13 is likewise still ticking along, most nights I put it on the charger with over 70% battery remaining. Of course, about the only thing I use it for is reading e-books, which isn't very taxing. Also a little photography. If the upcoming folding iPhone supports the Apple Pencil Pro, that'll be the first tempting phone feature in years. It would be fun to have a digital sketchbook in my pocket. Of course the price tag will probably cancel the temptation. Part of me is sad to see so little innovation in new phones, but another part of me enjoys keeping my money.

cautiouscat 2mo ago

It’s a fair question. The battery is on the border of needing to be replaced, which is a $79 repair and would probably buy me another three years or so. But at this point I want something a bit snappier and I’ll probably replace the battery and use it as a backup phone.

shaftway 2mo ago
Not a fix for the battery, but if you're on Android, enable developer settings and change your animations to 0.5x speed (there are three settings to change). Every OS animation will take half as long. It makes an aging phone feel much snappier.
- netsharc 2mo ago
  Won't 0.5x speed make it slower (Driving 20mph instead of 40mph will get you somewhere in double the time). I just checked my phone, the phrasing is "Animation scale .5x" (Among other numbers), meaning it's scaled to take n times the time.
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]
  - shaftway 2mo ago
    Thanks for the assist, I typed it up from memory.
- phainopepla2 2mo ago
  That really did make using my old phone less painful, thanks for the tip!
- encom 2mo ago
  This, but set it to disable all animations. It makes using the phone so much quicker, not having to pause for pointless animations.
  - thenthenthen 2mo ago
    There used to be a jailbreak app for iphone to increase animation speed, it was soooo nice, it felt like you were actually using the phone instead of the phone using you. Anything out there for iPhone right now? Edit: cowabunga on iOS 17 (broken in iOS 18+) https://cowabun.ga/ https://cowabun.ga/

Analemma_ 2mo ago

If you like taking pictures with your phone, the cameras are still improving steadily enough that you'll see meaningful improvements if you upgrade every three years

lebca 2mo ago
Anecdotally, every iphone I've tried since my iphone 11 pro seems to take worse photos. I do take a lot of photos with a standalone camera though so I imagine I am biased.
- meatmanek 2mo ago
  I can't remember which generation exactly had this shift, but yeah around the iPhone 12 they went really heavy on the processing, so instead of a noisy but sharp image you got a smudgy mess. Later generations improved on that but you still see this when zooming in or in low light. The processing pipeline also started imposing its own opinions on your photos, adjusting the brightness of dark areas and bright areas to even things out, increasing saturation, etc. This has generally trended towards more processing over the years. In a picture from a standalone camera (or an old phone back when the processing pipeline was basically just debayering, white balance, chroma denoise, and a gamma curve), you'll actually have contrast between shadows and highlights, which, when done well, looks great. When done poorly, it looks terrible (blown highlights, noisy shadows), which is the whole point of the processing pipeline -- on average (random user, random scene), you're better off reducing the overall contrast in the image with local adjustments, even if that turns some excellent photos into boring ones, because it'll turn a lot more bad photos into acceptable ones.
  - cosmic_cheese 2mo ago
    I recently picked up an old Olympus OM-D EM-1 to play with, along with a couple of prime lenses. The photos it produces aren’t as high-resolution than those of my iPhone 16 Pro Max, but they look a lot nicer regardless. Part of that is due to the larger sensor which no phone is going to be able to compete with, but it’s also because it allows contrast to exist and photos don’t turn into smudge/blotch soup when zoomed in a little. Thanks to that, its photos capture mood better and feel closer to what I see (or remember seeing). I’ve toyed with alternative camera apps (of which many exist on iOS) and those are a bit better, but still fall short of an decade+ old standalone camera.

gniv 2mo ago

Same here. Battery health is 84% which is not disastrous. But charging is a chore. The charging port doesn't work half the time (a problem in the car especially). I would also like it to be lighter, which I probably won't get.

alex_c 2mo ago
The charging port might just need cleaning. I’m still using an iPhone 11 and the charging port was getting super unreliable. I cleaned it a couple of weeks ago - gently, with a toothpick and a flashlight, there was some lint stuck inside - and it’s worked perfectly since then.
- wffurr 2mo ago
  This - I have the iFixit cleaning kit which has a really tiny plastic pick / brush thing - I think it might be a dental crevice cleaning tool, like floss but for bigger gaps. I got a wad of lint out of my lightning port and all of a sudden CarPlay works perfectly. Same thing happens to USB-C ports.
- olyjohn 2mo ago
  Is it just me, or was Lightning the most prone port to get clogged up with crap and have moisture end up inside it? Used to happen to me all the time, but USB-C hasn't been a problem at all.
encom 2mo ago
>The charging port doesn't work half the time Give it a blast with an air compressor.

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

culi 2mo ago

Thank you. We need to hold corporations accountable to make devices that continue to work and don't include planned obsolescence. When people buy into the psychology of needing to buy the newest version every year or even that "it's just time" to upgrade without any specific need for it, they undermine that

steve_taylor 2mo ago
So we're going to ask them to not advance their operating systems and apps to take advantage of newer hardware?
- culi 2mo ago
  What?
  - steve_taylor 2mo ago
    Devices get slower over time due to their operating systems becoming increasingly complex as they're updated. This increased complexity is due to the OS developers taking advantage of the newer models' improved hardware. This leaves owners of older models facing a decision between staying on the older OS version and retaining the current performance vs. updating to the latest version and risk performance degradation. But it's not even that simple. Over time, app developers stop targeting older OS versions, which means you could be stuck with old versions of apps, some of which will refuse to do anything until they're updated. The way to solve this is for device vendors and their OS developers to simply stop updating the OS in a way that takes advantage of new models' improved hardware because that same code slows down older devices.

thiht 2mo ago

I've upgraded from iPhone 12 to 17 a few months ago and I agree, I could have waited 1 or maybe 2 more years. At this point I just upgraded because I wanted to and could afford it, not because I needed to (even though I'm a heavy phone user, unlike you according to what you're saying). The iPhone 12 was my first iPhone and I've been really impressed by how long it lasted, and I'm only hoping I won't need to upgrade before the iPhone 22 release.

DamnInteresting 2mo ago

My iPhone 13 is likewise still ticking along, most nights I put it on the charger with over 70% battery remaining. Of course, about the only thing I use it for is reading e-books, which isn't very taxing. Also a little photography. If the upcoming folding iPhone supports the Apple Pencil Pro, that'll be the first tempting phone feature in years. It would be fun to have a digital sketchbook in my pocket. Of course the price tag will probably cancel the temptation. Part of me is sad to see so little innovation in new phones, but another part of me enjoys keeping my money.