Why you SHOULD upgrade your iPhone TODAY

You buy groceries at Whole Foods, you’re not frugal.

A trend I’ve noticed over the years is that some people see how long they can hold onto their old phone. Like a sense of pride til battery bloat does you part. They don’t want to spend the money for an upgrade. Meanwhile, they won’t blink twice at buying a 3-serving bag of organic blue corn tortillas chips for $9.49.

The rationale is always “It works fine! Why waste money on a new one? I have a couple years left of this.” Every time I hear this, a puppy somewhere dies. I do not support throwing money around just because you have it, but if you ask me, it’s always worth selling your phone to get a newer one if it’s at least 2–3 years old. I say “newer” because you don’t have to buy the latest and greatest, but anything better than your current one.

The marginal amount of money you spend on upgrading your phone is well worth the cost — multiple times over. I say “marginal” because you should reference the out-of-pocket expense after factoring in the proceeds from selling your old phone. Assuming you didn’t buy it when Obama was President, it should significantly offset the cost of the new purchase.

Now, this rant isn’t directed at everyone. If you get in a car wreck and need to sell your possessions to make ends meet, don’t upgrade.

While every latest iPhone has improvements and new features, 90% of people don’t care about the lion’s share of it. Therefore, I will give you the primary two reasons you (+ your grandma) should care: the battery and camera.

1. Most people seem to overlook that their iPhone’s battery degrades over time. If your battery no longer lasts you through the day, plugging in your phone to charge is annoying, even if you’re conditioned not to mind. According to some sources, “you can expect the battery to lose about 7–10% of its health with every year of use, so that you end up with 80–85% battery health left after two years.” Sucks. Even if you’re a bonafide doomsday prepper always carrying your charger, there will be many times you can’t charge up. Everyone values their time/sanity differently, but this recurring inconvenience has an associated price. If over the course of two years, there’s 20 times where you would pay $10 to have your phone juiced up, it would be worth spending $200 more for a better phone. There may even be some instances when it’s mission critical you would pay $30 in that moment! Not only will a newer phone have a bigger/more efficient battery, but it will also be earlier in it’s lifespan. And for those of you who support replacing your battery for about ~$70, at this point, it’s better off putting that money toward your new phone.
2. Moving on — the camera. Photos of your family, duck face selfies, special occasions — whatever it may be, how much the resolution of any given picture/video may mean to someone at any point is immeasurable. I take thousands of pictures every year on my phone — and while most are irrelevant, a select few matter to me. It’s comforting to know that they are as high quality as reasonably possible because I can’t go back to take them again — they’re timeless. Even if you don’t have the eye of a photographer — camera technology has dramatically improved a lot even in just the last year. Low lighting, shaky video, optical zoom, or a number of other scenarios are even more blatant.

These two factors alone (additional features aside) make an update well warranted — even if it may not be “necessary” according to some lavish penny-pinchers. Don’t forget, this is especially the case when you offset the purchase from selling your old phone.

“I looked up the resale value on Apple and it’s only $300…” Yes, thank you for addressing this, hypothetical reader.

You should never, ever sell your iPhone through Apple (or any other company for that matter) even though it’s convenient. While there’s a bit of coordination required for Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, or Craiglist — you’ll have it sold quick and easy for $100 — $200 more than any business could offer. The iPhone resale market is a highly liquid one — buyers are everywhere. So unless money is no object to you, at least for my sanity, please go this route.

On a similar vain, I’d suggest buying your new phone through those same channels. The beauty with iPhones is that you get what you see. If the phone turns on and there’s no damage on the outside that’s a problem for you, there shouldn’t be an issue. It’s not like buying a used car where there could be a number of hidden issues you don’t realize and should be skeptical of the seller. The phone will be factory reset (if not, do it — super easy) so there is no need to worry of anyone gaining access to your information. If you wanted to be very particular, you could check the battery life too.

Alright, I’ve lectured you enough. Please do yourself a favor and spend the few hundred dollars for a new smart phone. Research shows that the average American spends 4 HOURS A DAY on their cellphone — excluding 8 hours of sleep, that is 25 PERCENT of your life. Admittedly, for me this figure is about 6 hours and for teenagers it’s over 7 hours.

Now, stop being cheap where you shouldn’t be. An even slightly more optimal experience is well worth it overtime — even if it meant offsetting the cost by sacrificing one of your Starbucks cake pops a week.

Thank me later.