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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple just announced the iPhone 17 lineup, with a new slim iPhone Air model.
- Despite a few hardware updates, many consumers won’t be compelled to upgrade.
- If your iPhone supports the latest OS, you might find the upgrade too incremental to justify.
People used to replace their iPhones every few years. There was a time when every new iPhone felt like an all-new device, packed with new features and significant leaps forward in hardware capabilities.
As the iPhone became more refined, however, these new features felt less bombastic and more incremental with every new version. This, combined with increasingly resilient hardware, means that the consumer upgrade cycle has slowed down.
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Consumers are also more budget-conscious these days. In a recent study published by Statista, researchers found that people are waiting longer to upgrade their phones, and that wait time is only going up — projected to be an average of 2.93 years between upgrades by 2027.
I’m in that category, and I’m not alone. In fact, I’m still rocking my iPhone 12 — a phone that came out in 2020. At the beginning of the year, I told myself I’d upgrade to the iPhone 17 when it came out this fall. Five years with one phone is enough, right?
Well, now that it’s here, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll be waiting another year. Why? Because my iPhone 12 is still good. The battery still rocks, my display only has one hairline crack, and it’ll run Apple’s latest operating system: iOS 26. Below are a few more reasons why I’m waiting to upgrade.
Older models still get iOS 26
Apple’s latest operating system upgrade is available on devices as far back as the iPhone 11. This is important because a massive part of using any Apple product is the operating system. These products are designed to be an ecosystem, working together to improve the experience, not existing as standalone devices.
In that sense, having access to the latest OS gives you access to many of the latest software features, such as the revamped Liquid Glass UI design, quality-of-life improvements to a host of apps like Camera and Photos, automated call screening, and (depending on how new your iPhone is) AI-powered features like real-time translation, Shortcuts, and Visual Intelligence.
Also: You can preorder Apple’s new devices this week: iPhone 17, Watch 11, AirPods Pro 3 and more
Software support is also longer these days. Although Apple doesn’t explicitly set a number for how long it promises support, you can definitely expect five years, and generally expect seven or more years of security updates.
If so much of the user experience boils down to the operating system, you don’t necessarily need the newest iPhone to use the latest features. That being said, many of these are relegated to specific models, so you’ll want to double-check to see which features your device is compatible with.
Apple’s hardware is resilient
Look, I’ve owned a million phones, from my Nokia flip phone in the early 2000s to my Blackberry (RIP) to multiple iterations of the iPhone over the years. The hardware on these devices is simply getting more and more resilient and, with each new model, more durable.
Don’t get me wrong, the hardware on the iPhone 17 is certainly a significant upgrade — the device is thinner and lighter, it features a 120Hz ProMotion display that was once reserved for the Pro model, has a vastly improved cooling system, the all-new A19 chip, 12GB of RAM, and the capability to record video in 8K. But all of these features stand in opposition to an important question: Do you need them?
Also: The iPhone 17 series could be Apple’s boldest move in years – here’s why
While content creators and tech enthusiasts may be chomping at the bit for the upgraded form factor and 48MP telephoto lens, the reality is that the average iPhone user may not take full advantage of these features. I can still take surprisingly good photos with the iPhone 12’s dual 12MP camera. For high-quality photos, I whip out the DSLR.
What I might miss out on
There is one altogether new thing the iPhone 17 lineup has to offer: the Air model. The new ultra-thin iPhone measures just 5.5mm and features a 6.6-inch screen with razor-thin bezels, so it’s thinner, lighter, and has a bigger screen. In that sense, it certainly looks like an upgrade, as Apple’s thinnest phone to date.
If you’re in love with the design of the iPhone 17 Air, it could absolutely be worth the upgrade since there’s no other iPhone on the market quite like it. Apple also read the room here, as it’s not bringing all of these features to an exorbitant new premium price tier: it’s an affordable $900.
Also: If Apple unveils the iPhone 17 Air with these features today, I’m ready to upgrade
There are trade-offs to the Air’s ultrathin design, however. For one thing, it drops both the ultrawide and telephoto lenses for a single rear 48MP lens. In that sense, this phone is a commitment to the thin and light form factor, not necessarily a hardware upgrade.
Lastly, if you’re geared up for all the latest Apple Intelligence features that iOS 26 has to offer, you’re going to need an iPhone model with the A17 Pro chip or higher. This includes spicy features like AutoMix in Apple Music, Hold Assist, Spatial Photos, or AI-generated Genmojis — all of which require the iPhone 15 or up. If you have an older model, you won’t have access to these features.
Also: Every iPhone model that supports Apple’s new iOS 26 AI features (and no, its not just the iPhone 17)
With each new iteration, the iPhone becomes more resilient, more powerful, and with that, worth keeping around a few extra years. The iPhone 17 is a solid upgrade, and one of the more impactful models to come out in the past few years, but I don’t need it just yet. I want to see how long my iPhone 12 lasts, after all, it was built to last in the long run.