Don’t normalize thousand-dollar smartphones. That is more than a month’s worth of rent in Downtown San Jose, you know this.
Imagine how much of that money could go toward school, groceries or anything else a broke college student needs to survive.
Instead of spending at least $699 on a smartphone from Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 13 line, save your money and stick with your current iPhone or smartphone.
The newest iterations of Apple’s devices include: iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, according to a Sept. 24 Apple news release.
The lower-priced, 128-gigabyte products include the $699 5.4-inch iPhone 13 Mini and the $799 6.1-inch iPhone 13 according to the same Apple news release.
The “higher-end” models include the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro, which ranges in price from $999 to $1499 and 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, which ranges from $999 to $1599, according to the same news release.
The prices correlate to the hard drive sizes that differ from 128GB to 1 terabyte, according to the news release.
Apple stated in the news release that the Pro and Max were “redesigned inside and out” with the “most advanced camera system ever” and Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion, improved battery life and an A15 Bionic chip.
The Super Retina XDR display has improved contrast, higher brightness and a cinema-standard color gamut, according to the Apple Support website.
Apple’s new processor, the A15 Bionic chip, has 15 billion transistors, new graphics and artificial intelligence abilities that are higher, faster and supported by a new graphics processing unit, according to the same website.
Transistors are the core circuitry elements that process and store data on chips and the iPhone 13’s count is significantly more than the 11.8 billion on the A14 chip, which powers the 2020 iPhone 12 models.
Don’t be fooled by Apple’s iPhone 13-line marketing, it barely makes any technological leaps beyond its cheaper predecessors, the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 11, which were first introduced in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
The reality is if you have a smartphone from the iPhone 12 or iPhone 11 lines, you should skip this update unless your current device is in bad shape from wear and tear.
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 products are hardly different.
They both have 5G support, which is the fastest cellular network on the market, 6.1-inch screens, speedy processors, great camera qualities and storage support, according to Apple’s Compare iPhones Models webpage.
The iPhone 11 line lacks two main components that separate it from the iPhone 13 products: 5G support and camera quality, according to the same Apple webpage.
The iPhone 11 is only two years old. It's probably working perfectly well for most of its owners.
While purchasing decisions will be different depending on your personal needs, budget or the functionality of your current phone, you shouldn’t subject yourself to Apple’s costly “best” products out of company loyalty, product hype or social status.
Cheaper doesn’t mean bad. I personally own a $399 second-generation iPhone SE that was introduced in April 2020.
The iPhone SE has a 12 megapixel camera and A13 Bionic chip, which also powers the iPhone 11 product line, according to the Apple iPhone SE webpage.
The SE model is a durable, high-quality phone that’s basically the iPhone 11 but about $200 cheaper.
Older iPhones go down in price every year.
The iPhone 11 and iPhone 12, two perfectly fine and former flagship phones in their own rights, currently start at about $499 and $699 respectively, according to the Apple website.
You can even get one of Apple’s refurbished iPhone products, which are pre-owned products that’ve been returned to Apple by customers who ran into some kind of defect, according to a Dec. 1, 2020 buying guide by MacRumors, a website that aggregates Mac and Apple related news and reports.
The pre-owned smartphones include those refurbished through Apple's recycling program, in which Apple repairs products and replaces faulty parts before re-selling through the online store, according to MacRumors’ buying guide.
Just because Apple dangles a new “best ever” product line every year like juicy bait, doesn’t mean you have to bite.
