Will I regret buyig the new iphone?

June 10, 2009 9:36 PM

If I buy a new iphone 3G S will apple release a newer, better model in a few months?

Since my last smartphone broke in December, I've been waiting for the anticipated June release of a new iphone. Now that it's finally been announced (yay!), I find myself unable to click the "Buy Now" button.

Forum comments like this scare me: "The more I look at the 3G S, the more it looks like a stopgap model meant to keep people buying iPhones until the real update is ready. Speed bumped and with a better camera, but not with any really revolutionary changes. I wouldn't be surprised to see a remodeled iPhone in January (higher resolution screen, OLED screen, multicore CPU and/or GPU, front-facing camera, etc.)."

How likely is it that apple will release a new/better/improved iphone before next June? I know all the adages about constantly waiting for the better version and never being satisfied with what you have, but I would hate to have waited so long only to be disappointed in a few months.

posted by Nickel to Technology (19 answers total)

There's never any way to tell - but they juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust released the new one. Hell, it's not even in stores for sale yet, so I'd say go for it.
posted by 2oh1 at 9:41 PM on June 10, 2009

Apple most likely will not release another one anytime soon. See here. The last release was a year ago.
posted by special-k at 9:41 PM on June 10, 2009

Response by poster: And as a slightly related follow up question, my family has an AT&T family plan. I am currently on t-mobile without a contract. Once I get the iphone, I will switch to AT&T and would like to join the family plan. When I go online to pre-order the iphone, the plan options all seam to be geared around individual plans or creating a new family plan. I assume I can just call AT&T once I have the phone and add the line to the family plan, but I don't want to get locked into a 2 year individual plan contract by mistake just because I checked the wrong box when I pre-ordered the phone.
posted by Nickel at 9:43 PM on June 10, 2009

Response by poster: Yes, the macrumors buying guide has been my go to source for info over the past few months. I had heard that apple was going to start releasing new phones each June, but that forum comment and my own worries are concerning me.
posted by Nickel at 9:45 PM on June 10, 2009

Best answer: 1. No one on the MacRumors forums is worth listening to about this stuff. The damned thing isn't even on shelves yet, and they're already in full gear.

2. If you want or need something now, get it now. Once I got over worrying about newer stuff coming out at unknown points in the future, I enjoyed the things I had much more.
posted by secret about box at 9:51 PM on June 10, 2009

that forum comment and my own worries are concerning me.

Dude, it's a phone. Just get it, be happy doing cool stuff with it on the go, and stop reading forums on tech rumor sites. ;)
posted by secret about box at 9:53 PM on June 10, 2009

Best answer: How likely is it that apple will release a new/better/improved iphone before next June?

Next to nil.

Apple's already pushed the envelop with the S, since it has the PowerVR SGX GPU instead of the PowerVR MXB Lite of all members of the family.

Now, I'd certainly like to see OLED and a much better video camera, but this isn't that likely IMO.

As for CPU speed, for the foreseeable future (ie through 2010) everybody's going to be writing apps such that speed is acceptable on the older stuff so a faster CPU isn't going to get you anything even if such things were going to come out next year.

If you've waited for the best time to jump in, now is pretty good.

Me, I'll wait for the SGX to come in an iPod Touch or Tablet, TYVM.
posted by @troy at 10:03 PM on June 10, 2009

Really, there's no way to beat the release cycle. Every flipping time I buy any new piece of electronic equipment, they release a better one cheaper a few months later. (For example: I bought a macbook in March. Whoops.)

Best just to accept these things.
posted by paultopia at 10:11 PM on June 10, 2009

Best answer: it is unlikely there will be a new model until summer 2010 (except, perhaps, for a capacity increase) - apple has apparently licensed and acquired enough IP from ARM and PowerVR to make their own silicon (along with the acquisition of PA Semi), but it will take them a bit longer to build their own super-custom chips.

(un)luckily for most of us, we're on a iPhone 3G mobile contract that won't be up till around then.
posted by temancl at 10:22 PM on June 10, 2009

Response by poster: Thank you everyone. I realize I am slightly crazy about this and I really appreciate all the concrete info about why there probably won't be any new models soon.

FYI, for people wanting to add a new iphone to an existing family line, I was able to do this online through the AT&T website (iphone page>Add a line)
posted by Nickel at 10:26 PM on June 10, 2009

Yeah, just be ready for this to happen next year:

*Apple announces new, better phone*
You look at your now one-year-old iPhone and realize you still have another year left on it.
*you cry a single tear* (even though you realize your phone is still good, you're just being crazy, and you never worried too much about this before getting the iPhone)

BTW, I know this from experience :(
posted by carpyful at 11:57 PM on June 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

I wrote that only to say that, like with all gadgets, you'll always regret and have tech envy. It's a part of life.
posted by carpyful at 11:57 PM on June 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

I doubt they'll release a new model for another year or so. They will probably, however, drop the price in a few months.
posted by bluloo at 12:24 AM on June 11, 2009

Like beer, you don't get to own technology, you just rent it.
The moment something is commercially available, it's obsolete. And in 5 years that shiny tech that is worth over $1k+ is work less than $100. C'est la vie.
posted by filmgeek at 3:19 AM on June 11, 2009

So what if they do? If the phone does what you want it to do and the price is right, get it. If and when a new phone comes out, make the same decision again. Repeat until dead or the Singularity or you have ready access to Star Trek replicator technology.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:02 AM on June 11, 2009

Best answer: OLED, multicore...those aren't likely to happen en masse for a while, which should make the 3G S the most up-to-date iPhone until next June's release. If anything, a mid-cycle release would probably consist of a memory bump.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 5:49 AM on June 11, 2009

You know, here's another reason not to be afraid: Macs and iPhones have ridiculous resale value, much much much higher than any PC or other phone brand.

Buy a Mac (or iPhone) for $500 today. Next year, sell it for $450. I have been doing this with Macs/PowerBooks/MacBooks for decades. I pay a tiny fee to "upgrade" (buy old, sell new) to the newer models every year or two.

With every PC I have ever seen, or any "normal" phone, that $500 turns into $200 in a few months... if you're lucky.
posted by rokusan at 6:45 AM on June 11, 2009

The pace so far has been a phone a year, with OS updates during the year that you'll get for free. Apple is very good at making last year's model feel old and clunky (in phones, ipods, computers, you name it), so if you feel like a year is too short to risk that, then it's not for you.
posted by holycola at 7:58 AM on June 11, 2009

I got an iPhone a week after they first came out. I still think its cool, and even though we are now two major revision and a few minor revisions beyond what I have, I'm still not in a huge hurry to upgrade (though I probably will in the next month).

If you buy a 3gs next week, I doubt that anything Apple could possible come out with in the next 3, 6 or even 12 months is going to cause you much regret, except of course, that you seem very prone to regret if you are worrying about this now.
posted by Good Brain at 1:44 PM on June 12, 2009