I’m using a 13 Pro Max. I doubt I’ll upgrade. I expect to wait for the 17.
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I think it’s a case of “the journalist’s justification”. Namely… “I work in an industry where we’re expected to upgrade at least every 2 years but I don’t want to.”
Everybody else will use whatever criteria they want and not feel the need to write about it at length.
My thinking at the moment is that I’m starting to find the battery life on my iPhone 11 Pro is less than ideal. So… probably I will? Don’t know yet.
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Not planning to upgrade my 11 pro until it either completely dies or can no longer make phone calls. I will get a battery replacement for it when it eventually requires one.
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iOS 18 will probably be the last upgrade for my iPhone 11 so I plan to upgrade next year.
My wife and I usually upgrade at 4 years so a couple more years on our 14 Pros. We don’t see compelling reasons to upgrade yet.
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13 Pro here and also no intention to upgrade. If Apple Intelligence is life changing, then yes, will consider upgrade when iPhone 17 came out and AI and Siri has matured, somewhat.
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I have the 14 Pro Max and currently intend to upgrade to the same Model in the 16 to get the 5x optical zoom on the camera, the action button and potentially the new additional Camera button.
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My wife and I each have the 15 Pro (I have the Max) and we are upgrading. We are on the iPhone Upgrade Program and it’s really more of a thing where we have the means and enjoy the new phone each year. If our circumstances/desires changed, we could easily keep our phones for 3-4 years.
Apple’s products absolutely last well into the future. And with a battery replacement down the line, you can get even more time. Our annual upgrades are completely frivolous and fun. There’s no logical reason for us to upgrades except that we enjoy it. I suspect that is true for 99% of people who upgrade every year.
My big conundrum is what phone to get. I’m really thinking of going back to the 16 Pro instead of getting another Max. I love the big screen, but I don’t want an even bigger phone and I don’t love the pocket-ability of the Max. Not to mention one-hand use is difficult with the Max. So we will see!
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I have a 15 Pro Max and it already has the 5x optical zoom and the action button. The 5x optical zoom is particularly nice. I also love being able to use USB C for everything now. The upgrade to 8 gb RAM also made a big difference for me, because even without the coming improvements in load time, Obsidian usually opens instantly because it stays active in the background for much longer.
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Yeah, I forgot about USB C, a definite upgrade
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This is what gets a lot of people — camera upgrades.
Which is why I love not caring at all about them. It stops me from being tempted every year or two. 
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I plan to upgrade my iPhone 14 to a 16 ASAP. My intention is to pass my 14 on to my daughter adding a Pay-As-You-Go SIM. She only really needs it to satisfy banks and online stores for 2FA during transactions.
Currently have a 14 and will definitely upgrade - purely for the new Apple Intelligence capabilities on the new 16.
I’ve been lucky enough to work on integrating LLM models into some structures for my company, and my entire worldview of AI capabilities opened up. I’m really interested to see what Apple Intelligence can do.
For me the iPhone is my main camera and takes probably 99% of my pictures. So I don’t feel like Apple “got” me — I’m happy to keep my main camera current and improving.
I’ve tried to be a “camera person” and have a standalone, and there are still times I use it. But usually that’s a deliberate trip/vacation. For my pictures taken around my normal life, it’s all iPhone.
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I completely mirror this. I have an old DSLR, but it rarely comes out now unless I make a real effort.
Running/walking, family days out, work stuff… I’m completely iPhone.
I prefer the quality of the DSLR, even though it’s “Only” 10mp (I bought it about 15 years ago) but I’ve never been one to tweak photos, so the iPhone photos tend to come out better.
It’s hard to beat a camera that’s always with you, fits easily in your pocket or bag, is relatively sturdy, and takes great photos, even (in newer models) in low light.
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These are precisely the opposite reasons to mine. My DSLR is 7 years old and runs rings around anything my iPhone can do without needing to be upgraded.
For me photography is a craft and using an iPhone and Apple Photos is like asking a productivity guru to just make do with Apple Reminders or a novelist to just use Apple Notes.
The beauty of phones as cameras — some people will say it’s because “it’s the one you always have with you”, but I disagree — is that everyone has one. It has democratised photography. I take a lot of photos with my phone, too, but they aren’t art for me. They’re the equivalent of the old Instamatic, or the disposable one put on your table at a wedding reception.
That people can and do capture what’s important to them is great, it really is, but it’s not — in my mind — the art of photography.
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This is, I feel, an over-worn sentiment. I’m not calling you out for this; I just see it used over and over. It’s easy to beat the camera that’s always with you. I spent a year or so carrying around a camera I bought for NZD$110 that, in good light, could take photos every bit as good as my then iPhone 8 (remember, the camera was lauded at the time!) and was smaller than the phone.
Its purchase was intended to be approximately the cost, at the time, of the next tier of storage on the lowest, best model iPhone.
It won’t compete with an iPhone 15, but spending about 3-4 times that will absolutely best it in all except those few situations where computational photography comes to the fore like ultra-low light scenes.
As I said above, I totally agree that always having a camera with you is great, and having one that’s easy* to use is great. It gets a lot of photos taken that otherwise wouldn’t be taken. But… iPhones are objectively just not great cameras.
*My Mum has a compact camera she bought years ago for travelling that takes way better photos than her (recent model) iPhone, but it suffers from exactly the same problem as the iPhone — it is an ergonomic nightmare for photography.
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I am also on 13 series, and I won’t be upgrading. AI is being used to try and make us upgrade everything; I’ve no intention of falling for the marketing hype.
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I’ve never seen either of these quotes before, the one I’ve always seen and used is that “the best camera is the one you have with you.” And that’s always true. If you don’t have a camera with you, you can’t take the shot.
As others have said in this thread, people don’t tend to carry a standalone camera around all of the time, but very few people are without a cameraphone.
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