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3 reasons I don’t want to upgrade from my iPhone 16 Pro in 2025

Published

1 day ago

December 25, 2024

Empowerment

Summary

Smartphone evolution has slowed down; minor innovations are not worth frequent updates.

Transferring data between iPhones remains cumbersome.

Prioritize practical reasons over marketing for new tech purchases.

When you’re in tech journalism, it’s taken for granted that you’ll update your smartphone pretty frequently, or at least more often than the average person. It’s one thing to hold onto an iPhone 12 when you’re a nurse or construction worker, but you can’t meaningfully talk about recent phones in articles when your own is four years old. Some of my peers would probably laugh if I showed up to a press event with an iPhone 8.

Journalists don’t necessarily update every year, though, and I think I’ll skip the iPhone 17 in 2025. Things could certainly change, but I think the odds are stacked against Apple getting my money next year.

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It might be brilliant, but it might also be an expensive compromise.

1 The iPhone 16 Pro is more than good enough

There’s no revolution on the horizon

The pace of smartphone evolution has slowed considerably. Companies like Apple and Samsung were making significant leaps in the early days, but that’s because they were tackling the basics, including sharp displays, snappy processors, and high-quality photos and videos. Most of those issues have been sorted for years now, and when they haven’t, it’s because of profit margins — there’s no technical obstacle blocking us from getting replaceable two- or three-day batteries.

There’s no sign the iPhone 17 Pro will offer anything that could make a difference in my day-to-day usage.

The iPhone 17 Pro will undoubtedly launch with faster chips and better cameras, but my iPhone 16 Pro can already handle any app with ease and takes remarkably great photos once I’ve got settings dialed in. I can even use it as a smart display. There’s no sign the iPhone 17 Pro will offer anything that could make a difference in my day-to-day usage, and I’m not about to buy an iPhone 17 Air just to own something slimmer.

Is the iPhone 16 Pro worth buying for photographers and videographers?

Calling something Pro doesn’t always make it professional.

2 Transferring data between iPhones remains a hassle

My fingers are crossed for a miracle, someday

Somehow, despite gigabit internet, Wi-Fi 6, and state-of-the-art CPU designs, it’s still an ordeal to migrate to a new iPhone. I’m not faulting Apple here, since on the software end, there’s been a lot done over the years to simplify the process. You can even get a physical SIM card converted into an eSIM automatically.

When I got my iPhone 16 Pro in September, the most critical transfer steps were probably finished within an hour — but it took the rest of the day to make it feel like my new daily driver, including reinstalling apps. I’m not eager to repeat that for the sake of bragging rights or industry credibility. One day, maybe, we’ll get a miracle technology that lets us create a perfect clone of an iPhone in a few minutes.