Discussion Is the iPhone worth buying at the premium price?

[Digital Mastermind]

I have some queries regarding apple iphone. As you know all these years I never thought of iphones, I always bought mid range budget phones upto Rs 15k.

Now since I do not wish to purchase any mid range based phones, the options I have now are less as I now want to upgrade to a higher range phone. Samsung and apple are in my list as of now.

I would like to know how good are Apple iphones and whether the high price tag actually makes the phones that great. Also how many years does apple provide software update and after sales for their phones as they too launch new models every year.

My budget is 50k as of now, so I would like to know where I can get good discount on purchasing the phone and whether it's a good idea to wait for a year if prices are expected to reduce further. I ams also ready to wait for offers during sale on e-commerce website.

@Siva bro Pls do give your valuable advice as ur an iPhone user

Others too are welcome to give their valuable suggestions

 

[kumarvishwas]

The Major Difference between Iphones and Android is the environment i.e. IOS and Android

- Android is more open source means you can sideload various applications that are not available on playstore but same is not possible on IOS.
- Android manufacturers provide maximum of 2 major upgrades until or unless you are using Pixel phones while Iphones provide long terms upgrades I guess for 4 years or more.
- Android phones gradually become slow over a period of time, and further Samsung won't be a good option if you want to play high end games because they come up with Exynos processor in India which is inferior to Snapdragon that they sell in US, while Iphones remain smooth over a period of time
- Apple accessories would usually be expensive and yes the charging speeds would comparably be slow compared to Android counterparts
- Application support are almost equal in both
- Yes the prices are not justified and can be a little lower but what can be done, its monopoly due to IOS OS and its smoothness
- Camera's are almost similar in Apple and Samsung, both are good and bad in one thing or another
- Screen Quality would definitely be better on Samsung devices until/unless you go for Pro Variants of Iphones as normal ones come with IPS LCD displays with low resolutions like Iphone XR or Iphone 11

Rest other users can highlight if there are any other differences between experience of using Android/IPhone

 

[Siva]

@Anish Pai bro,

I have been an iPhone user for roughly 3 years (Nov 2017) and I used Android phones (Mid-range and Flagship) for almost 7 years before finally switching to the iPhone. And I think I'm not gonna switchback in the near future. Lack of customization on iOS was always the reason for me to not switch to the iPhone. However, from the time I started using the Android phone (I started with a Moto Cliq XT), the customization gradually stopped making much sense even on Android. I used to Root and install custom ROMs on almost every Android phone I used, except for the phones I used in the 2016-17 period. This is because, as Android OS evolved through the years, it gradually started implementing most of the features in the stock ROM itself, that otherwise forced us to go to Custom ROMs. At the time, I realized that the main reason that I was avoiding an iPhone was no longer a reason not to make the switch, so I took the step.

Apple without a doubt, is the leading brand in the smartphone industry in terms of providing software updates to its phones. The fact that the iPhone 6S which was released 5 years ago, will receive the latest iOS 14 this fall and the iPhone 6, which was released 6 years ago still receives security updates is a testimony of Apple's commitment to its customers.

After Sales support of Apple is one of the best. I have practically experienced it once. My friend, who was using an iPhone 6 started facing some issues with it. It used suddenly hang and go unresponsive. We took it to the service center and it was just 1 day before the warranty expiry. They took the phone checked it and found that there was an issue with the phone body. It was ever slightly bent, not easily noticeable. They said they are going to replace it with a brand new phone. They called my friend the next day and asked to collect the new phone. This was just unimaginable to me, I have never seen this before with any of the smartphones I took for service. At that time, I was using an Android phone, and this incident certainly played a big role as well in my decision to switch to Apple. Just in comparison, the Samsung S7 Edge (I wasn't using it as I already switched by then) that I spent more than 50k died just after 1.10 years and the repair cost they quoted me was 30k. I posted a thread about it here. My friend was still using his replacement iPhone 6 then and he continued to use it till 2018!!

About the pricing, I wish it's lower than what it is, but Apple is Apple. However, there have been some very good deals on the e-commerce platforms lately on most of the Apple mobiles. For 50k, You would probably get an iPhone XS base variant during the sale. iPhone XR was available for as low as 37k on the Amazon Prime Day sale, but the prices of all the Apple phones increased since then due to the additional taxes Govt levied. Still, XR might be available for around that 40k mark during the sale period. I suggest you go for a model that has an LED display like X or XS. You have an option to wait till the new iPhone 12 models get released in September and the older models will be bound to get a price cut. You also have another option of buying the iPhone 7, which is the cheapest among the lot right now and see if you like the ecosystem. If you don't like it, you would have saved half the money and you could go back to Android after some time without much hesitation.

Finally, Please remember, iOS is vastly different than Android. It's restrictive. There are still a few things that I can't do on my iPhone easily because of all the OS level restrictions Apple applies. However, like all the Apple users say "IT JUST WORKS". So the choice is ultimately yours! I hope this helps! Feel free to ask, if you have any further questions.

Cheers!

 

[Digital Mastermind]

There are still a few things that I can't do on my iPhone easily because of all the OS level restrictions Apple applies

I would like to know more about this.

Yes I have a tight budget, and I have got used to bigger screen phones of 6.4 Inch. Only few top models of XS max and 11 pro I guess have that size.

I just hope my investment doesn't go bad. I made this decision as every 2 years I change my phone and spend about 12k for an upgrade to a lastest model. If I invest properly in iphone and if it's durable I don't have to change the phone for many more years as I would be still getting the updates.

I am ready to wait till there is a sale or discount or can even wait till prices are reduced as u said when a new model is launched. Also I can exchange my existing phone so I can get additional discount.

It's just that I shouldn't feel later on after purchase that I made a wrong dicision.

 

[Jagadeesh]

I am currently using Galaxy S8 and will not recommend a galaxy S series phone. The phone feels new for 6 to 12 months only. Since Indian Galaxy phones have exynos chipset, battery life is one of the worst I have seen. SOT was 3.5hr to 4.5hr initially. Now I get only 2.5hr. This is after putting the phone in medium battery saving mode, reducing display resolution and so on. While in warranty, Samsung was not helpful for the battery issue and asked me to turn off auto sync, reduce resolution and so on. I bought the phone to use all its features. I never enjoyed the phone in QHD resolution. Recently it took 5hr for full charge. So I went to service centre and asked for a battery change which would cost 2k. They told me that there is a screen burn issue on the display and it might spread when they open the phone for battery change. They also told that there is 80% chance that display will fail and I would have to pay 12 to 15k for display change. So I thought to use the phone in same way till October. I found a way and now I can charge the phone in 2hrs.

I thought it is waste to spend for service on this device and now waiting for iPhone 12 series, Pixel 5 or OnePlus 8t series.

 

[Bapun]

Can we use iPhone with dual SIM (nano/micro chip type SIM cards or just single SIM card along with another eSIM?

If dual SIM slots unavailable, it should be an issue for many.

 

[Jagadeesh]

I am currently using Galaxy S8 and will not recommend a galaxy S series phone. The phone feels new for 6 to 12 months only. Since Indian Galaxy phones have exynos chipset, battery life is one of the worst I have seen. SOT was 3.5hr to 4.5hr initially. Now I get only 2.5hr. This is after putting the phone in medium battery saving mode, reducing display resolution and so on. While in warranty, Samsung was not helpful for the battery issue and asked me to turn off auto sync, reduce resolution and so on. I bought the phone to use all its features. I never enjoyed the phone in QHD resolution. Recently it took 5hr for full charge. So I went to service centre and asked for a battery change which would cost 2k. They told me that there is a screen burn issue on the display and it might spread when they open the phone for battery change. They also told that there is 80% chance that display will fail and I would have to pay 12 to 15k for display change. So I thought to use the phone in same way till October. I found a way and now I can charge the phone in 2hrs.

I thought it is waste to spend for service on this device and now waiting for iPhone 12 series, Pixel 5 or OnePlus 8t series.

I would like to add that you will receive only 2 major android updates with Samsung devices. Now there are reports that Samsung is pushing ads in Samsung apps even in Galaxy s20 ultra.

 

[Siva]

I would like to know more about this.

A few examples I can give right away are

1. No proper File manager and you don't have proper access to the file system.
2. Default apps can't be changed, it's changing a bit in iOS 14. We can change the default browser and email app, but that's it, we can't change anything else.
3. The launcher can't be changed, which means you can't customize the home screen look much. Widgets are coming only in iOS 14 (Took several years for Apple to finally do this)

On the other hand, though, the privacy features that iOS gives are generally better than Android. Apple has seriously taken it to the highest level with iOS 14 and remember, iOS is totally ad-free.

Can we use iPhone with dual SIM (nano/micro chip type SIM cards or just single SIM card along with another eSIM?

If dual SIM slots unavailable, it should be an issue for many.

Nano+eSIM only bro, that too starting with iPhone XS/XS Max/XR and later. In India, eSIM is supported by Jio and Airtel currently. Even the Pixel phones support Nano+eSIM for the Dual SIM functionality.

 

[Bapun]

Thanks @Siva bro. No dual SIM slots looks like a major drawback to me. We need to go to the operator to add eSIM everytime we get an iPhone. Also i am unsure how one can readd the eSIM back himself, if it's accidentally deleted.

I was looking at the iOS 14 changelog/features set: iOS 14 Preview - Features

It's really looooooooong!

 

[Bapun]

Does older iPhone models get slow/laggy with new major software updates like happens with Android (having personal experience with Samsung S series phones)?