Upgrade from iPhone 7 Plus?

Hello, guys,

Do you think there’s any advantage upgrading from iPhone 7 Plus to an iPhone XR? Or the real upgrade is to an iPhone 11?

Thanks in advance!

Phones have gotten so ridiculously good over the past few generations that I think it’s almost never worth getting the latest and greatest unless:

  1. You intend to keep and use it for 4 years or more.

  2. You’re really into doing photography on your phone.

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I’ve been having the same debate. I’m using a 7 now and the extra hour of battery on the 11 vs the Xr is a compelling enough reason for me to get the 11. That’s in addition to the camera upgrades. There’s also slightly better future-proofing on the 11 with support for WiFi 6 and Ultra Wideband, but who knows when that will be adopted broadly.

This biggest jumps in terms of experience will be because of full-screen utilization (I didn’t think it would make a big difference for me when I moved up from the 8, but I found myself no longer needing an iPad mini at the time) and as mentioned above, some photography aspects.

I really appreciate all your answers.

My question is, I think: is the XR already outdated or soon to be?

My mom tells me Apple is offering $150 trade-in on her iPhone 7. She’s looking at the lowest-end iPhone 11 in the iPhone Upgrade Program. $35/month, minus trade-in, minus 3% cash back savings by paying via Apple Card works out to $28/month for two years.

I wouldn’t say outdated, but more so if battery and new camera features are important than the 11 makes sense, otherwise Xr should be good for few years.

Alas, us canucks (Canada) don’t have the upgrade program or the Apple Card (yet), so I don’t know much about it, but your math seems decent. You could probably get a better return if you sell privately, but of course that comes with more effort. If you’re planning on hanging on to the phone for 2+ years, I’d seriously consider the 128gb, as 64gb fills pretty fast these days with the higher resolution photos and videos, and generally larger apps. Alternatively, you could rely on iCloud to offload some of that.

Go for the 11 and sell other phone privately. I got a good price for my 7 plus when I bought the Xs. I love the 5.8" screen on my phone and plan to keep it for a long time.

Don’t know if this is useful here. I comfortably read Kindle books on my Max and use my Logitech K811 and Ulysses for text entry. Obviously there are superior tools, but for many situations the phones big/little screen works.

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I have an iPhone 6s Plus, I put a new battery in it when Apple was offering the big discount for a new battery. I’m trying to hold out till 2020 iPhones. I feel that if you’re going to get a new phone , you should just upgrade to the newest one. I’m also having a heard time justifying to myself a new phone every year.

I also did the battery replacement for my 6s Plus, but ended up trading it in a few months later for the XS Max, and I have to say that I unreasonably love the new (now year-old) phone. It’s a substantial step-up from the 6-series in performance, battery life and especially in photo quality and options. So I’d definitely recommend anyone get an XS/Max/11/11Pro if you ready to upgrade. Just grab a $9 3.5mm-to-Lightning cable if you’ve got any old headphones you want to use.

Wow, not sure I could have held out that long! iOS 12 helped, but my 7 is definitely a little laggy these days, especially running shortcuts. I’m looking forward to the snappiness of a new phone, especially after getting spoiled by an new iPad Pro last year.

I”m in simillar situation but I want to upgrade from SE to either Xr or 11. In Poland difference in price is about 115$.

iPhone 11 has the same screen as the Xr, but most everything else has been updated. Faster processor, improved Face ID, better camera, more lenses, better water resistance, and the new Neural Engine enables new camera features like Night Mode, better Smart HDR, and Deep Fusion for high-res images. Plus it gets 1 hour more battery life. In the US the price difference is similar ($100). I think that if you can afford it the additional features and speed will be worth it. (Which is what Apple wants.)

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