iPhone 11 is iphone 11 the new 6s (long life device)

[mrklaw]

my kids and my wife all have either an OG SE or a 6s. Apart from my daughter who has a 16GB phone, the rest are managing really well, and I probably don’t need to update them until next year. Thinking about it, the increase in RAM from 1 to 2 GB is probably the biggest factor in them still working well today.

If thats the case, does the iphone 11 with 4GB become the new ‘standard’ to get long support? or is the difference more subtle going from 3GB-4GB than it was when it doubled?

Wondering what the sweet spot is when it comes to replacements - do I go for an iphone 12/mini for everyone and hope the increased cost is covered by increased life (if they get 5 years out of it), or save some money with an iphone 11/XR and face the potential they may need replacing a year or two earlier.

 

[bodonnell202]

I'd imagine you're probably losing a year of software support going with an 11 versus a 12, but if you consider the 6s is now on it's 6th year of support and the iPad Air 2 is now on it's 7th year of support I suspect 6-7 years of software support may become the standard for new iOS/iPadOS devices with the latest chip. That said I can also see a scenario where the 11 and 12 are dropped at the same time (similar to what happened with the 5s and 6) if 4 GB of ram becomes the limiting factor a few years down the road. Hard to say for sure but I think the 11 should be a safe bet if your goal is 5 years.