One of my personal bugbears is that every year, the reviews of Apple’s latest iPhones almost always say the new models provide incremental, not revolutionary, improvements.
It’s always the same conclusion: If you have last year’s model, there’s no compelling reason to upgrade. But got an older one? Yeah, go ahead.
It drives me crazy to read reviews like that. And they’re all like that!!!
I know this is silly and irrational, and here at Cult of Mac we are oftentimes as guilty as the rest of them.
Part of the problem is most iPhone reviews compare the new models to last year’s, but only a small slice of customers upgrade every year: only about 10% to 14%, according to a recent survey by price-comparison website SellCell.
About 25% to 33% of buyers upgrade their iPhones every two years. And the vast majority — around 40% — wait three years or longer. So, what makes more sense for most people is to compare the new iPhones with older ones.
Which is why we’re taking a look at the iPhone 14 Pro versus the new iPhone 18 Pro.
The 14 Pro marked the debut of many modern iPhone features such as the Dynamic Island and always-on display, which makes it a pretty good handset to highlight the accumulated differences over the years.
Also in today’s newsletter:
Preorders of the iPhone 18 Pros seemed to suggest the new models were a bust because lots of configurations could be had on day one. A week after they went on sale, that’s far from true. Some configs are backordered for a month.
As in years past, Apple TV lets everybody stream the Charlie Brown Halloween special for free. For those who don’t subscribe, it’s only for a very limited time, though.
🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: Ugreen’s 4K webcam is likely a big upgrade over your built-in webcam, and it’s down to just $50 (from $80). #affiliate
If Charlie Brown’s not your jam, you can waste a precious hour or so watching the latest Cult of Mac podcast on YouTube! Or listen to the audio.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
iPhone 18 Pro already has a ‘-gate’: Cult of Mac podcast #34
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One more thing ...
A hundred years ago, if somebody had asked Alexander Graham Bell, “What are you going to be able to do with a telephone?” he wouldn’t have been able to tell him the ways the telephone would affect the world. He didn’t know that people would use the telephone to call up and find out what movies were playing that night or to order some groceries or call a relative on the other side of the globe.
Today’s poll
How often do you upgrade your iPhone?
Results from yesterday’s poll
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