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mboundary

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2019
4
1
Nearing the eve of iPhone 14, is it insane to buy an iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro now? The only feature I care about is the the apple brand smart battery case. These are still available for the the iPhone 11. I've used them for my iPhone8 for years until they crumbled and I can no longer find them. I cannot stand the slap on magnetic battery, its just not as secure and is cumbersome sliding into and out of a pocket all day. The camera is still an upgrade from my iPhone8....
 
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reppans

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2006
314
187
The issue with buying an ‘old phone’ new-in-box is how long, and at what state of charge, the battery was stored since manufacture. If you believe the battery research, high states of charge are more stressful than high heat.
 
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Ram65

Suspended
Sep 20, 2014
430
284
Nearing the eve of iPhone 14, is it insane to buy an iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro now? The only feature I care about is the the apple brand smart battery case. These are still available for the the iPhone 11. I've used them for my iPhone8 for years until they crumbled and I can no longer find them. I cannot stand the slap on magnetic battery, its just not as secure and is cumbersome sliding into and out of a pocket all day. The camera is still an upgrade from my iPhone8....
I wouldn’t buy a iPhone 11 right now .
 

mboundary

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2019
4
1
What about refurb from apple store? Assuming they maintain or at least check out battery status prior to shipment.
 

1BadManVan

macrumors 68040
Dec 20, 2009
3,153
3,289
Bc Canada
What about refurb from apple store? Assuming they maintain or at least check out battery status prior to shipment.
Apple refurb store will come with a brand new battery. If the deal is good enough, go for it. The A13 chip is still a fast Soc, the same chip used in the latest iPad 9th gens. My son uses an iPhone 11 and hes a heavy user, never a complaint.
 

mboundary

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2019
4
1
Great. thanks. Yeah, I have no performance complaints about my iPhone 8, other than the apple smart battery case is disintegrating.
 
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JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
12,616
23,472
Nothing wrong with buying an iPhone 11 in my opinion. But it'll likely be discontinued next month and could be further discounted by carriers. 4G/LTE will remain for years to come and if you need 5G, the iPhone 11 is a great value.
 

1BadManVan

macrumors 68040
Dec 20, 2009
3,153
3,289
Bc Canada
Great. thanks. Yeah, I have no performance complaints about my iPhone 8, other than the apple smart battery case is disintegrating.
My mom still uses my 8 plus without complaint. Apples Bionic series chips are pretty future proof chips.

If you dont care for the latest and greatest, you'll be pretty happy with the upgrade to the iPhone 11. I would suggest the 11 pro, the old screen is a pretty nice upgrade over the standard 11
 
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eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,824
26,934
Nothing wrong with buying an iPhone 11 in my opinion. But it'll likely be discontinued next month and could be further discounted by carriers. 4G/LTE will remain for years to come and if you need 5G, the iPhone 11 is a great value.
For me, it's early in T-Mobile's launch of 5G. Despite their claims of being the best I'm not interested in being a rollout guinea pig like I was when Sprint rolled out LTE.

The difference in price between the 11PM and the 12PM in the capacity I wanted was one factor supporting that decision to skip 5G.
 
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Andres Cantu

macrumors 68040
May 31, 2015
3,262
7,569
Texas
Sounds like you may need to see how the battery life of the 14 and 14 Max will be. Battery life has improved a lot since the 11, which means you may not need a battery case anymore.

Plus, you can always use settings like dark mode since OLED displays save more battery with it.
 
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JM

macrumors 601
Nov 23, 2014
4,082
6,373
I just bought a used 11 pro in 256 GB. WOW this thing is awesome, and the curved edges are sweet.

The cameras are not as nice as the 13 series (I have a 13 mini, too), but only slightly, and I would wager most people will not notice the difference. (except low light is available on the ultra wide with 13 series, and it's better on the wide as well)

The 11 pro series feels and looks amazingly professional, and I have not regretted buying it at all.
 

calstanford

Suspended
Nov 25, 2014
1,419
4,306
Hong Kong
Nearing the eve of iPhone 14, is it insane to buy an iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro now? The only feature I care about is the the apple brand smart battery case. These are still available for the the iPhone 11. I've used them for my iPhone8 for years until they crumbled and I can no longer find them. I cannot stand the slap on magnetic battery, its just not as secure and is cumbersome sliding into and out of a pocket all day. The camera is still an upgrade from my iPhone8....
That's really a weird reason to buy a phone when you could just buy a newer phone with much better battery runtime where you don't need such bulky case.
 

RinkDinkus

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2022
70
84
Instagram: maxzeuner
I’d say if you can get a steep discount on one and it’s got a new battery in it, then do it. My friend used to have an 11 Pro Max and it lasted him 2 days without a charge. Only reason he upgraded was for 120hz on the 13 Pro/Pro Max (which I personally don’t care about), and to get a cheaper phone bill.

My mom has an 11 and she never complains about it—and she used to complain about every phone she had, whether it was iPhone or Android.
 

1BadManVan

macrumors 68040
Dec 20, 2009
3,153
3,289
Bc Canada
I just bought a used 11 pro in 256 GB. WOW this thing is awesome, and the curved edges are sweet.

The cameras are not as nice as the 13 series (I have a 13 mini, too), but only slightly, and I would wager most people will not notice the difference. (except low light is available on the ultra wide with 13 series, and it's better on the wide as well)

The 11 pro series feels and looks amazingly professional, and I have not regretted buying it at all.
I find night mode on ultra wide is still pretty rough on the 13’s but fantastic on the wide lens
5A2A5F54-69C1-4D4D-8241-DF44C7F2A9FC.jpeg
 

internetrando

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2018
682
499
Texas
Insane?

Maybe.

Like you, I was an avid user of the Apple battery cases. When I upgraded to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, my biggest complaints were (1) objectively worse battery life on 5G; and (2) lack of an Apple battery case.

The battery on my iPhone 13 Pro Max is so good that I do not worry about it anymore. It is *easily* the best battery I have ever had in a smartphone—it just keeps going. I believe it is as good as, and likely better than, the 11 Pro Max was with an Apple battery case.

I would wait to see what the 14 brings first. Worst case, everything currently available just became cheaper.
 

1BadManVan

macrumors 68040
Dec 20, 2009
3,153
3,289
Bc Canada
Insane?

Maybe.

Like you, I was an avid user of the Apple Battery Cases. When I upgraded to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, my biggest complaints were (1) objectively worse battery life on 5G; and (2) lack of an Apple battery case.

The battery on my iPhone 13 Pro Max is so good that I do not worry about it. It is *easily* the best battery I have ever had in a smartphone—it just keeps going. I believe it is as good as, and likely better than, the 11 Pro Max was with an Apple battery case.

I would wait to see what the 14 brings first. Worst case, everything currently available just became cheaper.
I definitely agree, my 13 pro max is the best battery life by a large margin compared to all my previous iPhones.
 

oofio2461

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2021
428
1,834
 Full Moon
Buy a 11 if you care about price/don't care about 5g. Buy a 12 if you want 5g, oled, battery, or magsafe (magsafe battery case is not in the case itself, a thing to consider.) Wait after the event for deeper discounts on both.
 

happy orchard

macrumors 65816
Jun 3, 2020
1,158
1,592
Two thoughts for your endeavor:

1. It does seem likely that the 11 will be discontinued when the 14 is announced, so if you're tempted by the 11 (and want it new from Apple), you might want to order it now before the announcement. If you buy it in store, you'll have 14 days to return; if you order it online and have it delivered, you essentially have a 28-day de facto return period. You could get it, try it, and see. You could also get it, keep it unopened while you're debating, and still return.

2. You mention using an 8, and I wonder if you've used an OLED iPhone. I love my Apple tech, but in the past few years I have had horrible issues with OLED. (I am one of the small minority who has a physically bad reaction to Apple's OLED with headaches, nausea, dizziness, and general discomfort because of PWM, dithering, etc.) You may not; you may get an OLED and absolutely love it. Just mentioning this as something to consider. Fortunately, if you did have a bad experience with OLED and the 11 was gone, you could always get an SE.

Hope you find a phone that works well for you.
 

Bawstun

Suspended
Jun 25, 2009
2,374
2,999
I purchased a new iPhone 11 this past April for $99. It’s a great phone and runs on a chip that will be supported for some time. I think it is a great value if you don’t need all the useless (yes, useless) features of the newer devices and the Super Deluxe Premium Extravagant Pro Special Max editions.
 
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Matsamoto

macrumors 6502a
Oct 31, 2018
849
7,382
Halmstad, Sweden
I dont think that 11 and 11 pro is a bad choice today.
My wife still use one and i have tested it sometimes. Performance is still good, batterylife is good and also the camera.

i dont think you are gonna need a batterypack for your 11, perhaps if you are a very ”heavy user” on battery, or you buy a used phone that have batteryhealth for 80-85%.
I have only tried the regular 11 and battery last fine all day long. My wife is a ”light user” and she charge the phone every second day, sometimes 3 days. Her batteryhealth is 92% after 3 years!

There are of course some pros and cons between the two, but i think you know them or can google it😊
 
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ian87w

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2020
8,704
12,636
Indonesia
Nearing the eve of iPhone 14, is it insane to buy an iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro now? The only feature I care about is the the apple brand smart battery case. These are still available for the the iPhone 11. I've used them for my iPhone8 for years until they crumbled and I can no longer find them. I cannot stand the slap on magnetic battery, its just not as secure and is cumbersome sliding into and out of a pocket all day. The camera is still an upgrade from my iPhone8....
It's not insane, if the phone fits your needs and budget. As a phone itself, it's still a great one, with many colors to choose from. It also uses LCD, which can be useful for those affected by PWM flickering on OLED screens. Its camera is still competitive today thanks to night mode.

Couple cautions, it is 4G only, and uses intel modem. So cellular performance might not be as good as the 12 and higher with Qualcomm modem (depending on coverage in your area). It is also quite heavy, almost 200g, heavier than the iPhone 12/13. Also, don't expect prolonged software support. Apple already ditched iPhone 7/7+ with iOS16. Best case scenario, the 11 will only get 3 years more of OS support.

But if it works for you, go for it.

This is coming from me who bought an iPhone 7+ brand new in early 2020. The only thing that caught me off guard is Apple dropping support for the 7/7+ together with the 6s/6s+, which is annoying. That's 1 year less than the normally expected pattern. But for the price I paid for it, 2 years of support is not that bad as most Android phones around the same price at that time only get 2 to 3 years of support at best anyway.
 

Royksöpp

macrumors 68020
Nov 4, 2013
2,266
3,776
If you can wait I'm pretty sure the 12 will be discounted even more after the 14 release. You could always buy the MagSafe battery pack which is far more versatile than a standalone case. You could even get a third party MagSafe battery pack as well.

magsafe-battery-pack.jpg
 
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