Some folks are out of joint because the next iOS release, 10.3.2, will supposedly not include support for the iPhone 5 or 5C. In other words, we’re finally moving to 64-bit-only iOS, four years after the iPhone 5s shocked the world with a 64-bit processor. I don’t know that it’s a big deal to cut off a phone that was new in 2012 (or 2013, for the 5C) – that was the phone with iOS 6, so it’s had four major releases since. By contrast, my Moto X was first dropped in summer 2013 (I got mine in February 2014) and hasn’t had an OS version update since late spring of 2015 and hasn’t had a security update of any kind in a year. In a world where you can never count on getting the latest Android OS – or ever getting an upgrade – I think four years worth of support is pretty good for phone hardware.
It’s necessary, too, because absent the two-year upgrade cycle dictated by American phone contracts, it no longer makes sense to upgrade your phone every two years whether you need it or not. The iPhone SE I bought almost a year ago had six-month-old innards when I got it, but absent something truly amazing – an AMOLED-based iPhone with the screen size of a 7 in the body of a 5 and 2000mAh battery, say – there’s no compelling need to get another phone. The SE is 64-bit ready, compact, amazing battery life and has already proven itself abroad – and will almost certainly be called upon to do so again.
Still not the case for the Apple Watch, though. Nice to have when it’s on my arm but I don’t miss it when it’s gone – especially since that usually means I’m traveling somewhere, if only to fish off a charter boat in Santa Cruz (notice I don’t say catch. That’s not a mistake. It was a rough weekend). Plus, apropos of my last musings on this topic, the Apple Watch means another charger to carry and another thing to top up overnight, whereas my mechanical watch can be wound once and left on my arm pretty much until the day I die.
International travel has also given me a use case for WhatsApp, because that can easily move between phone numbers – even internationally – and give me cross-platform chat compatibility with people on both sides of the Atlantic. As with so many things, it’s all about having a use case. (And I find it singular that of the social media and messaging products I actually use, two are owned by Facebook without actually being Facebook apps. They figured it out – if at first you don’t succeed, buy someone who did.)
But it’s spring 2017. We’re going on four years since phones added something you really need. We had 64-bit processing, NFC payments and fingerprint ID in 2013; everything since is just screen size and battery life issues (and this SE, almost a year old, still gives me over 7 hours of screen time between charges. Try that with a modern Android). If you want me to buy a new phone, make it one I need.