8+ vs 7+ worth the $150 difference?

[SquireSCA]

Future proof. If it was a $500 difference, that's one thing. But if you are gonna spend this much money anyway, I would just get the latest phone and be able to skip an upgrade down the road.

 

[iN8ter]

IMO iPhone 7/7+ or iPhone X. Save your money and don't bother with the 8 Models, unless you absolutely have to have 256GB storage in a phone.

Camer upgrade is very small , especially on the Plus.

Processor upgrade literally doesn't matter, to be frank. It's practically ignorable, and you won't notice the difference between an 8 and 8+

I'm an athlete and use my iPhone all the time for recording HFR video. I'm not buying an 8+ for the 240 FPS 1080p. It isn't even necessary, and the video is upscaled from a lower resolution; so I expect it to look worse than the 120 FPS, meaning I would never use it, anyways. All these smartphones upscaled the HFR video - you need a real camera to capture full quality at those resolutions.

The higher the GPS (above 60) the lower the native resolution and the more details you lose in the video. So nothing above 120 is usable - to me, anyways.

I think I might go with the Google Pixel 2 XL for a year. I'll likely have a spare iPhone 6 Plus to use to access those apps/services, so it won't completely break my workflow. I tend to make sure I keep app libraries across Windows and MacOS equivalent in capabilities, so I can easily just Boot Camp Windows on my Mac and nothing major will change. My laptop is already on Windows.

Next year the "Normal iPhone" shouldn't look like 3 year old devices.

I meant see a reason to get the 8+ except to have one not the best models - but no one bill notice (even you will struggle to ??????).

 

[iN8ter]

Future proof. If it was a $500 difference, that's one thing. But if you are gonna spend this much money anyway, I would just get the latest phone and be able to skip an upgrade down the road.

Getting the 7 won't impede your ability to "skip an upgrade down the road." Smartphones don't have the practical lifespan of a PC, nor are they used non the same way - so the future proof argument is really, really weak IMO.

People buy powerful PC hardware because they can upgrade their HDD/SSD, RAM, GPU, Display, and maybe even CPU in the future. This makes the higher initial cost worth it because you pay way less in the future to upgrade the machine.

They do this for gaming. Vidéo editing. 3D Modeling. Software development. Et cetera.

None of these things are done on mobile devices in the way they are done on desktop/notebook hardware running desktop operating systems. The idea of future proofing a smartphone is a bit of a running joke, and a fallacy.

Especially so, when the companies developing them can attempt to brute force upgrades by limiting otherwise capable functionality to the latest models. Apple doesn't care how powerful your hardware is when they want to sell a new phone that looks just like it, and decide to limit certain features to it to make differentiate it from existing (cheaper) devices that would otherwise give identical user experience. Benchmarks only matter in their very narrow context.

So, no mobile device is truly future proof. The knot device that came anywhere close to that was the HTC HD2, and know on the software side. Companies generally won't allow them to be. The entire idea is contrary to their business model. We always upgrade for that reason, but it never works out this way.

If the devices were truly future proof, then people would see little reason to upgrade.

I stead, they justify it every year or two by telling themselves the same tall tale that you're parenting here.

 

[SquireSCA]

Getting the 7 won't impede your ability to "skip an upgrade down the road." Smartphones don't have the practical lifespan of a PC, nor are they used non the same way - so the future proof argument is really, really weak IMO.

People buy powerful PC hardware because they can upgrade their HDD/SSD, RAM, GPU, Display, and maybe even CPU in the future. This makes the higher initial cost worth it because you pay way less in the future to upgrade the machine.

They do this for gaming. Vidéo editing. 3D Modeling. Software development. Et cetera.

None of these things are done on mobile devices in the way they are done on desktop/notebook hardware running desktop operating systems. The idea of future proofing a smartphone is a bit of a running joke, and a fallacy.

Especially so, when the companies developing them can attempt to brute force upgrades by limiting otherwise capable functionality to the latest models. Apple doesn't care how powerful your hardware is when they want to sell a new phone that looks just like it, and decide to limit certain features to it to make differentiate it from existing (cheaper) devices that would otherwise give identical user experience. Benchmarks only matter in their very narrow context.

So, no mobile device is truly future proof. The knot device that came anywhere close to that was the HTC HD2, and know on the software side. Companies generally won't allow them to be. The entire idea is contrary to their business model. We always upgrade for that reason, but it never works out this way.

If the devices were truly future proof, then people would see little reason to upgrade.

I stead, they justify it every year or two by telling themselves the same tall tale that you're parenting here.

Don't be a Literal Larry here... haha

Nothing is future proof, but buying the latest one, when it's only a $150 difference, buys you more time than buying a phone that is already a generation behind... It's not uncommon for Apple to update iOS and intentionally withhold features that the old phone is perfectly capable of running, just to force people to update...

No, the phone isn't much difference than the 7, but it also isn't much different than the 6, etc...

Most new iphones are small incremental updates, barely better than the one before...

 

[SquireSCA]

IMO iPhone 7/7+ or iPhone X. Save your money and don't bother with the 8 Models, unless you absolutely have to have 256GB storage in a phone.

Camer upgrade is very small , especially on the Plus.

Processor upgrade literally doesn't matter, to be frank. It's practically ignorable, and you won't notice the difference between an 8 and 8+

I'm an athlete and use my iPhone all the time for recording HFR video. I'm not buying an 8+ for the 240 FPS 1080p. It isn't even necessary, and the video is upscaled from a lower resolution; so I expect it to look worse than the 120 FPS, meaning I would never use it, anyways. All these smartphones upscaled the HFR video - you need a real camera to capture full quality at those resolutions.

The higher the GPS (above 60) the lower the native resolution and the more details you lose in the video. So nothing above 120 is usable - to me, anyways.

I think I might go with the Google Pixel 2 XL for a year. I'll likely have a spare iPhone 6 Plus to use to access those apps/services, so it won't completely break my workflow. I tend to make sure I keep app libraries across Windows and MacOS equivalent in capabilities, so I can easily just Boot Camp Windows on my Mac and nothing major will change. My laptop is already on Windows.

Next year the "Normal iPhone" shouldn't look like 3 year old devices.

I meant see a reason to get the 8+ except to have one not the best models - but no one bill notice (even you will struggle to ������).

The Pixel 2 XL looks incredible. Better screen, and the best camera ever fitted to a smartphone.

Also, Google Lens and some of the AI and Machine Learning that Google is now pushing out to their devices, is light years ahead of what Apple or anyone else is doing. Google is on a whole other level when it comes to that stuff...

I am enjoying my 8+ for now, but I am anticipating that I will be selling it as soon as I can get my hands on a Pixel 2 XL... There isn't anything else on the market like it.

 

[iN8ter]

Don't be a Literal Larry here... haha

Nothing is future proof, but buying the latest one, when it's only a $150 difference, buys you more time than buying a phone that is already a generation behind... It's not uncommon for Apple to update iOS and intentionally withhold features that the old phone is perfectly capable of running, just to force people to update...

No, the phone isn't much difference than the 7, but it also isn't much different than the 6, etc...

Most new iphones are small incremental updates, barely better than the one before...

The performance difference coming from a 6 is massive. 3x the RAM, and the CPU is 3 generations ahead.

That’s a completely different scenario.

From the 7, the gains are negligible. I don’t consider an 8 to be future proof in comparison to a 7 at all. It’s basically a refresh. Apple will force an upgrade through feature limitations before you even think of regretting going for the older device.

$150 is a lot of money. It’s almost 19% of the cost of a 64GB iPhone 8+.

These are simple facts.

If we agree that the gains are small, then it’s hard to disagree that the $15 price premium is worth it. At this point, being “future proof” loses all relevance beyond Confirmation Bias. There is no other selling point that really feels worth the premium, so you use this as a way to justify spending more money.

We all do it. It’s how I justified upgrading to the iPhone 6S Plus, and the 7 Plus.

However the new phone always comes out supposedly requiring a new CPU to do exclusive things, while Google seemingly accomplishes much of the same things using a QC SoC that has been on the market (already) for over half a product cycle.

You can upgrade every year for future proof ness. Apple will always find a way to make your hardware seem out of date, so that you can keep upgrading (on very short cycles, mind you) to a new phone.

Ideally, they want everyone upgrading every year. Like clockwork.

It’s not just about being barely better than the phone before it. It’s about paying $150 extra for it and the rationale you people give for doing so

 

[WebOS-Refugee]

just bought the iPhone 8 plus a week ago, my first iPhone. Prior to this phone I used a Nexus 6p, six years total on Android.

My wife is a long time iPhone user. She currently has the 7. The look & feel between her 7 and my new 8 plus are definitely very similar, but there are some differences that made the newer phone worth it to me.

Wireless charging: I have two Tylt chargers from earlier Android phones that supported wireless, and I really missed the convenience of using them. They work great with the 8 plus.

Rapid charging: this one isn't getting much attention, but it's super important to me as someone who travels frequently for business. Getting a substantial charge from 15-30 minutes on the charger can make all the difference while traveling. You do have to buy a USB-C to lightning cable and a USB-C charger. The cable needs to come from Apple, I think, but the charger/adapter can be purchased more cheaply elsewhere.

 

[SquireSCA]

The performance difference coming from a 6 is massive. 3x the RAM, and the CPU is 3 generations ahead.

That’s a completely different scenario.

From the 7, the gains are negligible. I don’t consider an 8 to be future proof in comparison to a 7 at all. It’s basically a refresh. Apple will force an upgrade through feature limitations before you even think of regretting going for the older device.

$150 is a lot of money. It’s almost 19% of the cost of a 64GB iPhone 8+.

These are simple facts.

If we agree that the gains are small, then it’s hard to disagree that the $15 price premium is worth it. At this point, being “future proof” loses all relevance beyond Confirmation Bias. There is no other selling point that really feels worth the premium, so you use this as a way to justify spending more money.

We all do it. It’s how I justified upgrading to the iPhone 6S Plus, and the 7 Plus.

However the new phone always comes out supposedly requiring a new CPU to do exclusive things, while Google seemingly accomplishes much of the same things using a QC SoC that has been on the market (already) for over half a product cycle.

You can upgrade every year for future proof ness. Apple will always find a way to make your hardware seem out of date, so that you can keep upgrading (on very short cycles, mind you) to a new phone.

Ideally, they want everyone upgrading every year. Like clockwork.

It’s not just about being barely better than the phone before it. It’s about paying $150 extra for it and the rationale you people give for doing so

I guess for me, if I am gonna spend $550, why not spend $700 and skip and upgrade cycle next time?

While the CPU certainly CAN handle new features in iOS, Apple has a track record of making the old phones slower, or not able to partake of the new feature, like the split screen where you can do two apps on the screen at once the way Android has been doing it for awhile... I think they said it was because it didn't have enough RAM, the older model.

Probably true, because just the OS and required services, takes up a full GB of RAM, so when you have only 1 or 2gb, you are already behind the 8 ball before you even launch and app... haha

 

[iN8ter]

I guess for me, if I am gonna spend $550, why not spend $700 and skip and upgrade cycle next time?

While the CPU certainly CAN handle new features in iOS, Apple has a track record of making the old phones slower, or not able to partake of the new feature, like the split screen where you can do two apps on the screen at once the way Android has been doing it for awhile... I think they said it was because it didn't have enough RAM, the older model.

Probably true, because just the OS and required services, takes up a full GB of RAM, so when you have only 1 or 2gb, you are already behind the 8 ball before you even launch and app... haha

The iPhone 7 Plus has 3GB RAM. RAM is not a concern. The 8 Plus has the same amount of RAM.

The bolded illustrates my point exactly. How future proof your phone is doesn't depend on the hardware in it, but on Apple's willingness to actually back port any of those new features to your device. Smartphone hardware has been powerful well beyond the capabilities of the software - for at least half a decade.

Also, I don't think split screen would be very usable on the smaller iPhone model. The screen size and resolution is pretty bad for that. They also have terribly small batteries, so it would completely demolish your battery life if you used that a lot. The Plus is the only one that would really be usable in this way, similar to how they gave it Landscape and Portrait Home Screen orientations, and a bigger keyboard layout in Landscape.

For the smaller phone, they would probably say they didn't like how it affected battery life, so they didn't put it in... But you can upgrade to a Plus or X (or whatever) and be fine ;-) Kind of like when they did FaceTime over Cellular, and used it to sell iPhone upgrades to people.

 

[Quis89]

The performance difference coming from a 6 is massive. 3x the RAM, and the CPU is 3 generations ahead.

That’s a completely different scenario.

From the 7, the gains are negligible. I don’t consider an 8 to be future proof in comparison to a 7 at all. It’s basically a refresh. Apple will force an upgrade through feature limitations before you even think of regretting going for the older device.

$150 is a lot of money. It’s almost 19% of the cost of a 64GB iPhone 8+.

These are simple facts.

If we agree that the gains are small, then it’s hard to disagree that the $15 price premium is worth it. At this point, being “future proof” loses all relevance beyond Confirmation Bias. There is no other selling point that really feels worth the premium, so you use this as a way to justify spending more money.

We all do it. It’s how I justified upgrading to the iPhone 6S Plus, and the 7 Plus.

However the new phone always comes out supposedly requiring a new CPU to do exclusive things, while Google seemingly accomplishes much of the same things using a QC SoC that has been on the market (already) for over half a product cycle.

You can upgrade every year for future proof ness. Apple will always find a way to make your hardware seem out of date, so that you can keep upgrading (on very short cycles, mind you) to a new phone.

Ideally, they want everyone upgrading every year. Like clockwork.

It’s not just about being barely better than the phone before it. It’s about paying $150 extra for it and the rationale you people give for doing so

I agree with this.

IMO, the answer to the OPs question is no. It’s not worth it. My wife went from the 7 to the 8 and cant tell a single difference. This years refresh was honestly extremely marginal. I think you’ll always have a group of people who justify their reasons and that’s fine. Everyone has reasons that work for them that make sense to them. But from my standpoint and that of my wife, the upgrade is pointless coming from a 7. She only upgraded because she was having problems with her 7 and rather than using insurance we figured we’d make the jump to see if it was worth it. You stated your wife isn’t a techie...I’d say she’d be perfectly fine with the 7 then.

 

[techgeek88]

Most definitely. I get new iPhones every year, and wasn't interested in the X, so I upgraded from a 7 Plus to an 8 Plus and couldn't be happier. I think in the big picture, the 8 Plus is kind of underrated and I think worthy of being called an 8 and not 7S. A lot of under the hood changes people don't always think about. Plus wireless charging.

 

[SquireSCA]

The iPhone 7 Plus has 3GB RAM. RAM is not a concern. The 8 Plus has the same amount of RAM.

The bolded illustrates my point exactly. How future proof your phone is doesn't depend on the hardware in it, but on Apple's willingness to actually back port any of those new features to your device. Smartphone hardware has been powerful well beyond the capabilities of the software - for at least half a decade.

Also, I don't think split screen would be very usable on the smaller iPhone model. The screen size and resolution is pretty bad for that. They also have terribly small batteries, so it would completely demolish your battery life if you used that a lot. The Plus is the only one that would really be usable in this way, similar to how they gave it Landscape and Portrait Home Screen orientations, and a bigger keyboard layout in Landscape.

For the smaller phone, they would probably say they didn't like how it affected battery life, so they didn't put it in... But you can upgrade to a Plus or X (or whatever) and be fine ;-) Kind of like when they did FaceTime over Cellular, and used it to sell iPhone upgrades to people.

TO me, that is just a crappy way to run a business from the customer's perspective. When I say future proof, I really should have just said "added longevity"... I know that it's not a matter of processing power usually, but a case of "Planned Obsolescence"... Having an 8, will offset that regardless of the cause, as Apple will be more likely to update the 8 than the 7, was all I was saying...

If the 7 was WAY cheaper, that's one thing... But I don't want to spend over $500 for a device that is already 2 generations behind... If I only have $500 or so to spend, I would get a OnePlus 5, which on the Android side of the house, is a flagship performance device...

 

[iN8ter]

Most definitely. I get new iPhones every year, and wasn't interested in the X, so I upgraded from a 7 Plus to an 8 Plus and couldn't be happier. I think in the big picture, the 8 Plus is kind of underrated and I think worthy of being called an 8 and not 7S. A lot of under the hood changes people don't always think about. Plus wireless charging.

Even the iPhone S generation devices come with better internals. The 6 Plus had 1 GB RAM, the 6S Plus had 2GB. Then there was 3D Touch. Higher Resolution Cameras. And Dual Cameras. Better BT, WiFi, and LTE Radios...

None of that is really that surprising, or mentionable... They wouldn't be able to sell phones at all if they didn't refresh the internal components... It would literally be the same phone if they didn't.

Wireless charging is incredibly slow. The benefits of Wireless charging are definitely oversold.

 

[bamf-hacker]

Since you are coming from the 6 then either the 7 or the 8 will be a huge upgrade, however I always recommend getting the latest version of the phone you can afford since it will be around and working for a long time. The newer the phone the longer it will work well with new releases of the OS.

 

[chrisforpm]

Most definitely. I get new iPhones every year, and wasn't interested in the X, so I upgraded from a 7 Plus to an 8 Plus and couldn't be happier. I think in the big picture, the 8 Plus is kind of underrated and I think worthy of being called an 8 and not 7S. A lot of under the hood changes people don't always think about. Plus wireless charging.

That’s exactly how I felt this year, I see the 8 Plus as a much bigger upgrade than most people will give it credit for.

I’ll wait until next year and hope that we get a larger version X that won’t take 3 months to get. In the meantime I am really happy with my 8+.

 

[techgeek88]

Even the iPhone S generation devices come with better internals. The 6 Plus had 1 GB RAM, the 6S Plus had 2GB. Then there was 3D Touch. Higher Resolution Cameras. And Dual Cameras. Better BT, WiFi, and LTE Radios...

None of that is really that surprising, or mentionable... They wouldn't be able to sell phones at all if they didn't refresh the internal components... It would literally be the same phone if they didn't.

Wireless charging is incredibly slow. The benefits of Wireless charging are definitely oversold.

Disagree. It was a big deal. Wireless charging may be slow.

Let me share my use case.

I have a Apple Black iPhone Dock from my 7 Plus, I often shut my light out in my room an hour before bed, play on the phone, and then plug it in. What that means for me is a lot of fumbling in the dark trying to get that phone "just right" on that dock so that the lightning port finds the lightning plug on the dock and slides in. It literally can take 2 minutes for me to figure out. I like the dock because I want to be able to see the screen when I wake up and not have it lying flat. I have trouble with it when the room is lit, even worse when dark and I really don't want to get out of bed to flip it on.

What that means now is, I shut my light off, play with the phone, and just set the damn thing on a wireless charging dock and go to bed. LOL. Literally big. It can charge slow because it's overnight. My battery lasts so long I never need to charge it more than once a day anyway, and I can live with the slow charging on the wireless because I'm sleeping and couldn't care less.

So for me and my use case, the wireless charging is a HUGE change and that plus the processor and camera upgrades was enough to move from a 7 Plus to an 8 Plus and I also enjoy speed improvements and better photos. I didn't lose anything by going with an 8 Plus other than an OLED screen, and TBH I've never felt like I needed anything better. The TrueTone is nice, but I don't have a problem with the IPS LCD display. There was no reason to go to that. Plus I'm not sold on Face ID.

The takeaway is - it's different for everyone. For me and those like me, wireless charging was huge.

 

[techgeek88]

That’s exactly how I felt this year, I see the 8 Plus as a much bigger upgrade than most people will give it credit for.

I’ll wait until next year and hope that we get a larger version X that won’t take 3 months to get. In the meantime I am really happy with my 8+.

Exactly. I have huge hands and I think the X would be too small, despite a larger screen. I'll get the larger X next year when it doesn't feel like I'm taking a huge risk.

 

[mogelijk]

I think the 8 and 8 Plus are very underrated. I do think much of the problem is that you don't see the difference just casually looking at the phone or checking out the specs. To start, for me, one of the big differences is the battery life. There are reports that people who bought iPhone 8's, who previously used 7s, are finding the 8's battery will now last all day without needing to plug it in about 4 or 5. For a light to moderate user, you can get two days of use from the 8 Plus. The new processor is not only faster but the low power cores are much more energy efficient.

The display, while roughly the same as that in the 7/Plus does get the TrueTone improvement, which to me make the screen much more pleasant to look at. There is the improvement in the camera sensor, that has better low light capabilities (even if it doesn't show up on most lists of specs). The wireless charging is a nice feature, particularly with the better battery life, as you can just set your phone an the wireless charger while at a desk or at home and let the charge top up. You also, if you need to charge your phone in a hurry, have the option to fast charge your phone.

That is one place I'll ding Apple for the 8/Plus (and with the X); they really need to ship them with a USB-C charger brick and cable, even if they still shipped the 5W charger. It's annoying that, to use fast charging, you not only have to buy the large charging brick but also a USB-C to Lightning cable -- they should, at a minimum -- ship the USB-C to Lightning cable with the phone.

I do think it is interesting that some reviewers have reached a similar conclusion, doing a "re-review" of the iPhone 8 and Plus after using them for a week, and admitting they were wrong when they said there was not that much improvement over the iPhone 7. In fact, an honest assessment is that the iPhone 8 has almost everything the iPhone X will have, plus a fingerprint sensor -- just in a more traditional iPhone look.

 

[paulxxwall]

I’m so lost in to what phone I want to purchase. My 6s plus has a weak battery but is quick and takes decent pictures and is almost paid off. Battery will cost me about 100$. The new 8 plus to me seems like the same phone just like the same phone I have but with a glass wireless charging case on it. Same face same display. A bit better camera but I don’t complain about my 6sp pictures either. So I feel like Apple is just reusing all of those billions of molds of the iPhone 6. And selling them as new designs. That’s why I’m interested in the x. That one looks like a new iPhone. Also in my mind is the new note 8 that thing looks awesome. Was hoping for Apple to wow me like that. We’ll have to see about th x.

 

[Rodzp]

Only you can justify your purchase. I just got the 8+ for my wife a week ago to replace her 6s 64gb that the battery was not lasting all day. I had the 7+ and was perfectly happy with it and was really leaning towards that option for her, but getting her the 7+ would loose the annual upgrade option she would have with the 8+. I also figured in a couple years the value of the two would offset the upfront cost some if we kept it and did not use the annual upgrade. The X was not something either of us were interested in.
When I went to the the store I was going to get her the 64gb version, but she said once I was there she had run out of space and had to delete apps. I thought that was odd because she never mentioned that before so I cringed a little and said we will get the 256 gb version.
Anyway when I get home she never looked at and said I like your phone better so you take the 8+. I thought ok maybe I will just go back and get the 7+ instead, but she had clearly planned for me to get the new phone all along so I did not want to hurt her feelings or anything. After using it for a week coming from the 7+ I can say the screen seems to be quite a bit better to me when looking at pictures I have taking on my SLR. It is slightly faster to the point I can notice it, but not enough I can say you should go with the 8 over the 7. The camera does have a few more cool tricks but I cannot tell a difference in the picture quality. I would buy the 8+ again giving the same situation and knowing what I know now. Honestly I do not see me replacing this phone for a few years.