Despite many reports to the contrary, not everyone rushes out to get a new iPhone every time Apple has an upgrade.
For those of you who have waited a (phone) generation or two and maybe you’re worried your phone is starting to act a little wonky, now may be the time to make a change. In a review of the iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus, Brian X. Chen says an upgrade makes sense for people with phones two years old or more. The screen is bigger, the processor more powerful, and there are a number of different storage options.
But think twice about spending $650 for the 16-gigabyte version. A new feature called Live Photos makes photos twice as large as those on older phones — so 16 gigs may not be enough for people who take a lot of photos. Instead, think about going to $750 for 64 gigs and $850 for 128 gigs.
For people with newer phones, the main new features of the 6s and 6s Plus may not be enough to justify the upgrade. The first, called Live Photos, keeps a “buffer of a second and a half’s worth of motion frames before and after you take the photo.” You may want this for those little moments when you didn’t expect to want to take a video — until it’s too late and the moment has passed.
The second, significant new feature is called 3D Touch. It allows the phone’s screen to be sensitive to how hard you are pressing, assigning different tasks to light and hard touches. But it could be some time before enough third-party app makers can support this capability.
It is an interesting feature, but whether it’s compelling depends on how voraciously you need the newest gear.