Apple presented its brand-new generation iPhone on Tuesday evening. With a minimum price of 809 euros, a new iPhone costs quite a bit. Do you need to upgrade or do you better stick with your old device for a while? We figured it out for you.
Faster, better and full of brand new features you never knew you needed. So you can summarize the presentation of each generation of iPhone. Apple promises with the new A14 Bionic chip up to 50% faster performance than other smartphone chips. We now hear that sales pitch every year. Although it is true that Apple top of the bill chips in their smartphones, but whether the average user notices much is debatable. Especially compared to the iPhone 11, the performance will be largely the same and apps will hardly start up visibly faster.
Further on the list: Dolby Vision. That allows to record HDR video that is more colorful than ever before. So good, in fact, that you could almost leave a professional camera in front of it. The iPhone 12 Pro even gets a LiDAR. This makes it possible to make 3D scans of spaces.
5G: is it worth it?
Although the biggest novelty on the iPhone 12 is mainly the arrival of 5G, but do you already need it now? In short: no, but it is allowed. In our country, the new frequencies on which 5G is ‘broadcast’ are still not auctioned. That auction therefore generates a lot of money for our country, but the federal states cannot even agree on the distribution of the proceeds. In our country there is already some kind of 5G network. At the beginning of this year, Proximus launched a 5G ‘light’, for which they use old 3G frequencies that are no longer in use. For that option you have to add quite a bit, but that was also the case with the introduction of the 4G network. Only after a year the use of 4G became free. For example, the real 5G network is not expected in our country until 2021.
For smartphones, 5G will not mean a revolution. The internet speed will of course improve (also the case on 5G ‘light’), but you will not miss anything crucial (yet). The 5G network will then mainly play a role for it Internet of Things, which will increasingly occupy a larger place in our lives. Just think of smart refrigerators, smart security cameras or self-driving cars. Due to the increasing number of devices, the capacity of 4G will eventually become full. 5G offers a solution because it allows for a larger capacity. Anyone who buys an iPhone 12 is therefore ready for the future. In any case, 5G will become the norm within two years.
iPhone 6s? of iPhone 7? Overstappen!
For iPhone users, it is mainly the remaining operating time of the iPhone that counts: because how long will you receive updates from Apple? At the moment, all devices from the iPhone 6s still enjoy the most recent operating system iOS 14. That is striking, because the iPhone 6s dates from 2015. Although it has been part of Apple’s new strategy for some time to make devices last longer and longer to go. For example, more and more people keep their iPhone for two years or longer and you can have your battery replaced in an Apple Store for a limited amount (between 55 and 75 euros).
Should you switch to the iPhone 12 now? We recommend it if you have an iPhone 6s or older. Not only will you enjoy a larger, but also better screen (and all kinds of extras) from now on, but you can probably continue with your new device for another four to five years. It is therefore almost certain that iOS 14 will be the last update for the iPhone 6s. iOS 15 is presumably for the iPhone 7.
Do you now have an iPhone 8 or later? Then you can safely wait another year. That device can continue for some time and still runs very smoothly. In a year’s time, you can consider switching to the future iPhone 12s, which is already faster, better and more modern.
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