Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
As a rule, I advise everyone to buy the latest iteration of a smartphone. My reasoning is as follows: the true cost of a phone is not its upfront price, but its lifetime cost (which includes the cellular contract). On average, that comes to about $2,000 over two years. Keeping that figure in mind, what may at first seem like a substantial price increase is actually only about 5% of the phone's total cost over its lifespan (or even less, if you keep it longer). In exchange, you get all the latest hardware upgrades and the guarantee of more future OS updates. You'll be more satisfied with performance, be able to keep your phone longer, and be better able to run resource-intensive future software. It'll also have a higher resale value should you wish to get rid of it.
If you buy a 5S you'll need to get a new nano-SIM card (which replaces the old micro-SIM format) from your carrier.
|
I mostly agree with this, although with the 5s vs 5c I'm not as convinced from a usability standpoint. I think a 32GB 5C is a better value than a 16GB 5s at the same price, in part because I believe the 5c will be just as well supported as the 5s.
Getting something current is especially important with Android, where the only phones I'm aware of that have gotten two years of support are the Nexus line. Most get one major update, and often only many months after Google makes it available. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Android is usually 1-3 years ahead of iOS in terms of features.