iPhone 7 Plus to Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Related: Apple, Apple iOS, Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple iPhone and iPad, iOS, iPhone 7
I’m glad I waited all these years.
I don’t like spending my dollars at Apple, but I can’t put it off any longer—I’ll be ordering the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 1TB on Friday September 15 (available Sept 22), to replace my aging iPhone 7 Plus.
OMG, with AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss, it’s $1899 plus tax = $2074. That’s why I have an 8-year-old phone! But I suppose I have to think of it as a camera and then it seems less bad. I will consider the paid-monthly iPhone upgrade program this time... better to let Apple eat the inflation.
The iPhone 7 Plus (now on a fading 3rd battery) has performed like a champ in spite of numerous hard drops including at high speed from my bicycle, saved by the NuGuard KX case, sadly no longer available. I don’t know how I’ll protect the new phone; other cases offer very poor protection vs the KX case.
What sells me are the following:
- Major camera upgrades over my 7 Plus including image stabilization even for telephoto, faster lenses, larger sensors, superior computational photography, “equivalent of 7 camera lenses”, etc.
- USB-C to replace the troglodyte Lightning cable (cables that fail far too often, ultra-slow speed, etc).
- Brighter screen, no small thing outdoors.
- Emergency SOS feature without cell coverage, as I nearly always am hiking alone in remote areas, sometimes late in the season. Better than sawing off my arm, or freezing to death with a broken leg at 11K feet... saves me $200 a year vs SPOT personal beacon.
Phones like this mean that hardly anyone has a reason to buy a real camera. But that was always true—we just didn’t have camera phones yet. But in truth, an iPhone vs a real camera are two very different things, suited for very different purposes. For most people, the threshold is far exceeded by having the iPhone.
UPDATE: phone ordered, due Sept 22. I also got suckered into an Apple Watch Ultra because I want the biometric and altitude stuff. I swore never to buy a watch again, but if it proves itself out when hiking, etc, then I won’t send it back.
