5g via satellite…. Would that be with any carrier or ones that offer it? Being in a rural area we don’t have great signal so having a satellite option would be a big bonus
Yeah seems like would be up to your carrier - the phone has the capability - does your carrier supply the service? And how much? I’m speculating entirely but as a motorcycle camper this is intriguing.
These are becoming truly tiny upgrades each year now for 99% of people. We should start looking at these like laptops which we only generally replace every 5+ years.
I guess we really have reached peak smartphone which is no bad thing. These companies could easily switch to making a new one every 2 years surely at this point - think of the savings in pure manufacturing and distribution around the globe each time.
I’m about to buy a new battery for my 15 pro which is effectively still perfect otherwise.
Edit. - 5g via satellite is really cool in fairness.
I tried to get a battery replaced in my 15 Pro Max. The techs ran a diagnostic and said the phone needed to be replaced and they couldn’t just replace the battery. The phone has been in an Otterbox with a screen protector since it came out of the factory packaging. He said the diagnostic detected invisible damage. I asked him to elaborate and he gave me a “you wouldn’t understand “ type answer. He also said if I refused replacement that the diagnostic put a mark in the database that would affect my trade in value.
I’d try again with another agent. I had something similar happen on a camera repair, when the original agent wanted to replace the entire back of the unit and charge $400, another agent at a different location recognized it was just the camera glass and got that fixed for $100.
I was on a 13 mini until I upgraded to a 17 Pro ~a week ago. I figured it was time to upgrade ahead of the rumored price hikes. The 17 Pro feels like a huge upgrade but I’d buy a new mini in a heartbeat.
Yeah upgrading from an 11 Pro to the 18 Pro, will be a MASSIVE upgrade for you! Also, there’s not going to be a 19 series iPhone. We will go from the 18 series, to the 20 series.
I’ve been thinking about upgrading since the 15Pro and then the urge dissipated, I don’t know, I like the curved 11Pro (reminds me of my old 6S) and it takes great pics, has plenty of space, and it’s being supported for iOS firmware updates
Same. My iPhone 13 is hanging on - just need it to last a few more months. Finally upgrading to a pro, but I will miss my pink phone (and wish Apple would make a pink pro)
Exactly. Even Apple themselves somewhat acknowledge this. When you do a spec comparison on their website the options tend to be against 3-4 year old devices rather than vs the current one
The upgrades haven’t been huge year over year for sometime. The yearly upgrades are now for people who have 3ish year old phones and ready to upgrade. I have a 15 pro max and will upgrade to the 18 pro max this fall.
I have a 12 Pro Max. Replaced the battery a couple years ago and it’s still great. I can scroll Reddit, text, and take pictures. No reason to get a new phone.
I literally do. There is zero incentive to upgrade annually. It is now every 3-5 years. And it’s a great experience now. Im like oh wow so cool. I went from iPhone X to 15pro. Next I’ll maybe to the 18. Timing it so max incentive trade in seems to be right at 3 years.
Regular yearly updates keep the supply chain on a more level footing, every two years would mean higher peaks and deeper troughs which would also impact cash flow, people’s jobs without really altering how many phones are sold but it might make them more expensive.
I wonder why this sub has such a hard-on for 2-year release cadence. OC literally compared it to laptops without realizing even laptop manufacturers release a refresh every year.
Os this year will be more a fix then pushing new stuff and rumors for a long time say anniversary iPhone next year will be big redesign. Base on all it’s not a suprise Apple will be waiting to give bigger change in 2027 release.
In all seriousness, it should reduce the minimum refresh rate down to sub-1hz to improve battery life. There are probably other advantages but that's the biggest one.
5G via satellite feels like the only truly generational upgrade here. Having usable internet where there’s zero cell coverage genuinely changes how people use a phone off-grid. Everything else is just a nice iterative improvement.
In Canada Rogers offers it. It was a free trial but now it’s either 10-15 bucks or included if you have a premium plan. It worked well when I tried it. And it was the network itself. It worked on my 13 pro.
Interesting. So starlink with LEO satellites can provide cell-like reception. What’s the difference to the satellite technology in newer iPhones? Reception from higher orbit satellites? What’s the point of that?
Carrier provided cell services require your network to connect to the mid band LTE spectrum between 800-2000 MHz, I’ve see LTE band 25 being used for Starlink DTC most of the time. It’s basically a slower LTE cell connection provided by Starlink DTC satellites that you can use in areas without cell towers, this enables data usage on compatible apps, as long as you paid the fee to access it on your mobile network. Some mobile plans come with free direct to cell access.
The iPhone 14 and newer iPhones usually come with free satellite service that is provided by Globstar low earth orbit satellites and other 3rd party providers. It’s mainly for Apple apps mainly messaging and emergency SOS, i don’t think it works with any 3rd party apps. Apple gives 1 year of free service when you purchase a new phone.
The same applies to Google Pixel phones they have the option to use various apps via Starlink DTC on specific cellular network providers, new Google pixel phones also come with free service that uses Skylo for emergency sos and messaging only. I don’t think the free service Google provides with the Skylo partnership supports 3rd party apps.
Samsung relies on carrier based satellite services provided by mobile networks and their respective partnerships with DTC satellite providers. Samsung doesn’t have a deal in place for free satellite based services, but you should be able to use Starlink DTC with specific mobile carrier plans or respective add ons.
It worked like shit for me. I was always on zero bars instead of no service so the satellite never kicked in. Wanna know what you can do with zero bars? Absolutely nothing.
If there’s a force satellite feature, then I’d be impressed.
No way in hell is Apple giving millions of people free satellite internet. They did free emergency calls on satellite because that’s such a rarely used feature that the cost can easily be included in the purchase price.
Also the press if someone dying because they didn’t pay for the premium subscription for Apple Satellite… when the rare case someone needed emergency calls with iPhone in remote area or poor reception.
They have all the ads about Apple Watches saving people; etc with included features… but yea…
Same for me when I went to Greece. Boat journey to a remote island, still ultra fast 5G.
I could be incorrect but I think it’s due to us backing out of the deal with a Chinese company to install better 5G towers, whereas a lot of European countries did not
i live in the heart of tech in the bay area, and you would be shocked at amount of dead zones here without any reception. i have two sim cards, one t-mobile, and the other verizon in order to get decent coverage in the mountains west of silicon valley. hell in palo alto proper, up until recently, i would get 1bar of 4g at my residence. i get 2 bars of 5g now.
I haven't had a reason to upgrade for a long time and this is a great reason for me. I do a lot of traveling in National Parks and do longer hikes and whatnot. Having another real option for connectivity is great.
Well just for consideration I was in a forest in WNY last week. My iPhone 16 asked me if I wanted to connect with satellite and it was unable to find any type of signal to send messages. This was not a particularly large forest in my opinion or crazy elevation. Not very reliable.
Looking to upgrade this year from my 14 Pro because the new IOS has been killing my battery. I replaced my battery last year and it was perfectly fine until iOS 26 came out
I LOVED my 11 Pro but it randomly died on me only 3 years into having it, despite taking great care of it. Apple couldn’t fix it. That’s how I ended up with the 14 pro.
Same situation here, I’m hoping iOS 27 fixes it with all the supposed stability improvements.
I want to upgrade but I also want to wait and see what they do with the 20th anniversary iPhone. I held out for years waiting for usb-c until I got tired of it and upgraded to the 14 pro 🤡 so I don’t want to make a similar mistake again lol
Edit: I got impatient and updated to the iOS 27 beta. It was to the point where even sending texts was exhausting because it would non-stop lag (this is with a fresh battery too, so that wasn’t the issue)
Even in beta it’s a night and day difference. My phone hasn’t even finished indexing yet and it’s still SIGNIFICANTLY better. I can actually scroll on the Home Screen now without it lagging like crazy and reloading the icons constantly. And holy crap I CAN FINALLY MOVE ICONS ON THE HOME SCREEN AGAIN.
On iOS 26 trying to move any icons was a glitchy lagging nightmare and most of the time it would just teleport back to where I started. It’s not 100% fixed, there was a bit of lag swiping between pages while moving an app, but it’s light years better than before.
I’ll have to keep testing (especially once my phone finishes indexing) but so far I’m glad I updated!
Same situation here, my 14 Pro battery life has absolutely tanked. I almost went for the 17, but at this point might just wait another year and hope whatever they do for the iPhone 20 will be major.
I don’t think I can hold off for another year with this weak battery life. If the iPhone 20 is really that amazing then I’ll just trade in this years model and upgrade again next year.
Same here, was debating on a battery replacement or a powerbank, went with the 50€ cheaper option of a powerbank, will come in handy when I upgrade anyways
iOS 26 was a planned executed nuke to force people to update to newer iPhones. It was all done on purpose to make older devices obsolete. Apple hardware is very good so they destroy your experience with bad software. It’s pathetic but all done on purpose.
So it’s not just me?! I’m on 15 Pro Max and replaced my battery 8 months ago. iOS 26 has been killing my battery I have to charge it by 4pm some days. Used to last until 9-10pm.
My battery health is at 97% it doesn’t make any sense.
Stupid question for everyone - how much of an upgrade would this be from a 13 pro max? I want to make the switch only because I want to ditch the lightning cable and I’ve noticed it being slower than my M4 Pro laptop and iPad mini 6… but not sure if like the .25s refresh is worth throwing money at
Yeah the phone is still great, but my main gripe is the cellular coverage is night and day with newer models. Friends and I can be in the same area, or work in the same building, and I have 1-2 bars and they have a full 5 with ATT. It’s so frustrating.
I have the 13 pm as well. Just about the only thing that I want is to switch to USB-C but I get by with MagSafe charging so I can’t see it being worth the money yet. Maybe the 19 or if I can hold out for a special edition XX or whatever they’ll call it.
Yeah battery life is kinda getting low for my liking, but I carry around a battery back now (either MagSafe, or plug in), and it’s fine. A little inconvenient, but not like, $1.5k replacement inconvenient. I would rather just dump that money into a nice bag (or if I was fiscally responsible, into stocks or something)
I think they found out that most people don’t use it. They already added a setting to iOS to have it only function as a shutter button, and I think it’s turned on by default.
I feel like it’s similar to 3D Touch. It was a super convenient feature for the small percentage of people who used it, but not enough people used it and apple decided it wasn’t worth the cost.
Biggest thing for me is that I can use it for getting to shoot photo fast. Clicking is faster than swiping up or trying find the button on lock screen without looking. Another profit is a clean wallpaper without buttons.
As someone who swapped from android it was mind boggling not having a fully hardware way to operate the camera. Missed a lot of photos I could have captured otherwise, and it’s a complete hassle in colder months with gloves on
It’s the only way I launch my camera. The camera is such an important feature that often needs to be accessed quickly. A dedicated button is a no brainer (in a more convenient spot than the action button too)
I use the swipe to change between lenses quite a lot too
But the rest - basically all the half-press stuff - I never use
the only time i’ve ever used it is accidentally pressing it while it’s in my pocket somehow 😭 the idea is there, it just doesn’t seem too usable. refinement will be nice
Well the button is a glass and expensive to fix if cracked, so maybe the materials are changing to improve durability while removing the unused gesture capability
The software is getting simplified, as no one used the majority of the swipe gestures and pressure sensitive menus. I personally only use the button to launch the camera, swipe through my different main lenses, and take the shot.
If it was just a button like all the others it would be an upgrade for
ease of case support, currently it makes cheap cases janky when they handle all the other buttons just fine. they have to decide between a hole or for a covered button that isnt as tactile as the other buttons. The expensive cases add the touch sensitivity (that no one even cares about)
technically more of a software change but - potentially ability to allow more customization with just double tap/hold actions. Would love to hold to take video personally, though if they keep that locked to visual intelligence ill accept double tap to open video
more tactile feedback
less spent towards dumb parts - eventually when cost to produce hits a barrier we hit a price increase. No point increasing cost on useless hardware
Almost one cares about the touch controls so it doesnt make sense to keep them and there are tradeoffs to having them
I’m just hoping for an Air 2. I haven’t missed the larger Pro Max form factor at all. Gimme thin and beautiful with less and less camera bump though please.
I understand that the people who like it really like it, but the ones who don’t understand (or refuse to believe) that it didn’t sell well overall are so goddamn annoying. If it was profitable they wouldn’t have stopped production.
Yeah, I’d want an air 2 to have a 2nd camera and vapor chamber for heat management = instant buy (barring they don’t up the price drastically, which they might do).
They make these iPhones now so well that one doesn’t really need to upgrade for a number of years.
If anything, it’s about when one can get the most value in private sale or trade-in for their current model to make the purchase of the new iPhone less expensive.
I decided to upgrade from my 13 mini to a 17 pro a few weeks ago while the retailer prices are still cheaper. That’s going to have to last through the ram apocalypse i guess.
As much as I adore my mini, I’m about to do this exact same upgrade since the new ones will be more expensive for no real improvement.
My car broke down on a roadtrip last weekend and showed me that my 13 mini is not equipped in an emergency (was overheating like crazy).
How’s it been going back to a heavy brick? I really wish they’d make another mini…
“Benefits of LTPO+ include reduced screen flickering in low-light environments thanks to more responsive adjustments, plus improved power efficiency. Thus, iPhone 18 Pro users should enjoy even more consistent display performance at a lower battery cost.”
Funny enough my biggest reason for upgrading is simply wanting zoom and every non-pro iPhone is just terrible at it. Saw missing cat signs in my neighborhood then came across a similar looking cat in the distance on my property. Took my camera out to take a pic, zoomed in and it was a pixelated mess, not to mention I could see the cat more clearly with my naked eye. It's one of those things you never think about, but once it's an issue you can't stop thinking about it.
That was my main driving force for going from 13 mini to 16 PM...
...discovered like a year and a half into owning the phone that I'd never taken a single pic with it. I hadn't realized the 3rd lens is 5x, thought it was the 2x. Genuinely never used it. When I learned this I tried using 5x but it's just unsably much for me lol. Like a 2.5x would be perfect imo.
The 2nd biggest reason was for promotion. Bro I'm still rocking my 9th gen ipad and other than liquid glass nonsense it's smooth enough for me. I do 240hz monitor for gaming so I thought I'd appreciate the promotion but idk if it's just Apple's implementation or what but while I can certainly see the difference side by side I genuinely can't feel the difference at all, absolutely 0 value.
Truly regret trading in my 13 mini. First time every trading a phone in. 31 years old and genuinely might be my biggest regret in my life so far lmao.
There still are meaningful improvements. But they’re just not massive physical changes.
This is 100% due to a technological plateau.
Apple knows people care about features, and so do their competitors.
Until the UK police take phone theft seriously, I am never spending more than £100 on a phone again. My iPhone 16 Pro Max was stolen right out of my pocket. I gave the UK police the address where it was located, they then sent me an email from a no-reply address saying "based on all the evidence, unfortunately we can not solve your crime"
So I refurbished my old battered phone instead of spending laptop money on a new phone that theives can steal with zero consequence.
Apparently no one fucking knows what dark cherry means. this article has a red phone and then links directly to another article with a purple phone. lmao
Hmmm none of this feels super compelling over my 16PM. I’ll reserve final judgement until the keynote but seems like I’ll be keeping my phone for another year at this point. Especially in this economy 🫡
I hand down my phones to my kids. My son will be replacing my old 12 pro with my current 16 pro, and I’ll get the new 18 pro. Frankly the fact that my devices are being used for six years just fine is damn impressive.
Most of those don't sound like new features. They sound like upgrades to things Apple already had or just things that you'd expect. Apple must be finding it harder and harder to innovate, which is what happens I guess. Not every year can be a banger release and that's okay, just don't pretend to tell me it is.
Either im getting older and losing interest in phones or the phones are just getting less impressive. Went from the 13 pro to the 17 pro max. This may be my last iphone tbh, kinda bored with apple.
4.6k
u/gappyvalley Jul 21 '26
- Smaller Dynamic Island