[mithr]

I don't know that I completely agree. To some degree, sure — most folks probably don't notice the year-to-year updates in e.g. computing power.

But my 70yo mother, who is pretty far from being technologically savvy, uses continuity every day to copy one-time-use codes from her phone to her computer, even though she'd have no idea what the term "continuity" means in this context. She notices that it's easier to snap better pictures in more conditions than it was a few years back (and that pictures she receives are better looking on average, too). She uses 1Password with FaceID, which I set up for her, because it's so easy to just look at your phone to unlock that there's very little in the way of enabling and using that, and she doesn't need to write down passwords anymore.

I think some of the magic of the Apple ecosystem is that you don't have to know about these things in order to use them. Someone shows you how to do something (Apple could certainly improve on the organic discoverability of many of these features! Some are impossible to find without looking), and then it often just works. And these things do keep getting closer to that ideal over time, with each generation. When I first started using continuity — long before my mother did — it definitely did not work all the time, and I persisted because I'm a techie early adopter. Eventually, though, it reached a state where once folks learn about it, they can just use it.

I'm also not sure about the 3-4 year number, at least from personal experience, fwiw. We pass down phones in my family, and it easily takes 5-6 generations for them to reach the end of that chain and be in use for a year or two before they're switched out for the next model. Battery has never been the reason someone in that chain switched phones.

[kristianc]

Nearly all of the things you describe there aside from the camera are software/services based and don’t require improved hardware year-on-year at all. This is a problem for a company that makes its money selling expensive hardware.

[armchairhacker]

Even the camera quality could be improved with post-processing like upscaling and color correction, which have somewhat recently become much better.

Although my understanding is that the new cameras are incredible, so while you could get a "decent" photo on an old phone, unlike the other features it would be noticeably worse than the new phone.

[rickdeckard]

Agree. But the company also pays a large chunk of its services R&D and operations by bundling it with the hardware and have people pay upfront for it.

New hardware would not be needed for most of it, but then Apple would have to make every iOS user a fixed yearly fee for a generic package of "some services at our disclosure". And that's quite impossible to achieve and stay competitive...

[gffrd]

I think you hovered over something significant: yes, most of the "new features" of the new phones are software features … but the line between "what is software and what is hardware" may not be crystal clear to a lot of the population.

Imagine the effect of a TV spot touting a new OS feature on the new iPhone. Do I need the new phone to get that feature? As soon as you've asked the question, you're at the doorstep of "I wasn't thinking about it, but I will need to replace the battery soon ($$) and it's been getting slower …"

You may learn the feature is available in an OS update, but it's inconsequential: you've already rolled the idea of a new phone around and remember how nice it is to start fresh. This one may not get you, but next year's definitely will.

Some confusion around hardware -vs- software is key to draw people in.

[sroussey]

Battery can be replaced by going to the apple store and buying a new one which is cheaper than a new phone, so I agree with you on that.

Phone definitely last longer so 6 years sounds about right, as after that they tend to get obsolete.

[nkrisc]

Oh wow, I had no clue. Perhaps this means I’ll be able to keep my iPhone 12 Mini for quite a while longer. It’s the perfectly sized phone, IMO.

[camjohnson26]

I had no idea this was possible, but yeah, going to “battery health” in my Settings shows battery health is degraded, and provides a link to schedule a replacement.

[ern]

I pay very little attention to features on phones, especially things like improved cameras, but I finally upgraded my iPhone X to an iPhone 15 (one of my kids needed a phone). I've noticed that I've been able to take some stunning pictures out of planes when flying, as well as low-light photos.

I agree that even when they aren't explicitly highlighted, they do make a substantial difference, especially when comparing models over a span of a few years.

[android521]

your grandma is certainly a small minority. I am a software developer and i barely know or care about most features on my ios phone. If my apps are not slow and require me to update and my battery is good, i have no reason to get a new iphone. Apple knows it since they require their apps to be updated every year so that it won't be supported on older devices.

[wferrell]

Genuine question - how do you get 1Password to stop re-asking for the typed in password. It is a pain in butt.

[GlenTheMachine]

Settings->Security->Face ID. Set to "on".

By design, 1Password always makes you re-authenticate every time you lose focus on the app. But Face ID (or Touch ID) makes reauthenticating a lot less painful.

[AmVess]

I recently bought my little ma a new big ipad. Her first response to it was "holy cats, this is fast!"

She used an A14 Bionic equipped ipad.

She is in her 80's.

[p1esk]

What does she do with it?

[haroldp]

Continuity camera is great too. The mouse and keyboard sharing... works great when it works. Looking forward to that maturing a bit.

[delaaxe]

Speaking of continuity, how do you get a Youtube video currently playing on the laptop to pause and continue on the iPhone?

[LegitShady]

pause video on laptop.

go to youtube history in youtube app on iphone.

click the top video (the last thing you were watching)

youtube should automagically continue where you left off.

you must be logged into youtube on both machines.

[hkpack]

There are probably multiple ways, but i find the most reliable probably through share -> airdrop to phone.

[cssanchez]

That's so cool! I had no idea about universal copy/paste and I struggle a lot with one time codes across devices since I don't have universal iMessage set up for privacy reasons. I usually just send them to myself via telegram for simplicity.

Thank you for posting all these tips.

[scarface_74]

You realize Telegram is less secure than iMessage?

[viscanti]

This kind of proves the point? Presumably your mother didn't buy the latest phone for "continuity" or camera improvements. The features and additional hardware improvements might be noticeable after being used, but are they driving sales to people who aren't tech enthusiasts?