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Comment by JohnTHaller | Hacker News Reader

If you bought an iPhone 6S Plus 128GB at launch, it cost you $949. $189.80 per supported year so far.

If you bought a Pixel 1 128GB at launch, it cost you $749. $249.67 per supported year over 3 years.

(The iPhone 6S Plus has same 1080p resolution as the standard size Pixel phone, which is why I use them as the base, but for folks wondering...)

If you bought a Pixel 1 XL 128GB at launch with the higher resolution screen, it cost you $849. $283 per supported year over 3 years.

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If you bought an iPhone SE 64gb at launch, it cost you $499. $120 per support year so far.

best. smartphone. ever.

(I actually just dug mine out to give it another go, but the battery is nuked from sitting untouched for eighteen months :\ )

I can't wait for the iPhone 12 announcement. Rumor has it that we'll finally be able to upgrade to a newer small iPhone.

Such a rumor has been circling every year since the original iPhone SE was released.

I do still really hope so though...

I finally bit the bullet and upgraded from a SE, compromising on the size of the phone. I already notice increased wrist stress and place more sideways weight than is optimal on my pinky (to hold the phone up but also be able to reach single-handed).

So, knowing how life works, we can guarantee that Apple will release a small form factor phone as part of their next offering ;)

Apparently it's not that small, sadly :( But it might be the only one I can buy as my iPhone SE ages out of the support window soon.

It's said to be smaller than the new SE and just a couple of millimeters bigger than the original SE.

>the 5.4-inch iPhone won’t be much bigger than the original (2016) 4-inch iPhone SE 131 x 64 mm (5.15 x 2.51-inches)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2020/05/07/apple-ip...

It's closer in size to the new iPhone SE than the old one :(

It's 8 millimeters taller and 6 millimeters wider than the original SE, assuming the leaks are true, of course.

That's a couple more millimeters than I think I would have preferred, but I guess we'll see when it comes out how it feels in-hand.

You're not alone!

I'm die hard fan of SE (SE ONE of course!) and form factor is perfect for me.

Try doing a battery replacement. I bought one off Amazon for $20 and it came with all the necessary tools. The process was pretty easy if you watch a few guides on YouTube beforehand.

> If you bought an iPhone SE 64gb at launch, it cost you $499. $120 per support year so far.

I was paid to buy my SE (https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/6lyjyl/cheap_pr...)!

The update cycle on Android is not so straightforward. For instance RCS messaging, a newly added feature, is also available on Pixel 1 and older devices because such updates are directly sent via playstore to all the phones. So you don't really need full OS updates like in iOS.

Also, you are forgetting that Android phones drop in price almost immediately, so it's not fair to compare launch prices. For instance my Pixel 4 was essentially 74000JPY just 2 months after launch compared to 120000JPY iPhone 11 Pro year round.

You lose major OS updates after 2 years and security updates after 3. You really shouldn't be using a phone that's no longer getting security updates even if the apps themselves are getting updates.

Even at those prices, the iPhone is still a bit less expensive per supported year.

Pixel phones get 3 years of full OS updates, not 2.

The difference comes out to be negligible 666JPY/year. And Samsung phones get even cheaper after launch, couple that with their 4 years of security updates their cost/year is substantially lower than Pixel or iPhone.

Well, one Pixel got three OS updates, but there has been no change in their written support policy that I've seen.

Also, they cut off that particular Pixel from further updates right after switching to the .0 version of the new OS.

Who in their right mind wants to be stuck with the buggy .0 version of an OS?

> Well, one Pixel got three OS updates, but there has been no change in their written support policy that I've seen.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/4/16403922/g... Every Pixel has 3 year of support mentioned in it's support page.

> Who in their right mind wants to be stuck with the buggy .0 version of an OS?

Android updates have changed over time, they didn't do 9.1 or 10.1 updates at all. All bug fixes are pushed alongside security patches. And Pixel 1 got 4 updates on Android 10, last one being especially a month late due to fixing of all final bugs.

Two years of OS updates with an additional year of security updates is not the same thing as three years of OS updates.

As far as the Pixel 1, the people I knew who installed Android 10 on it regretted the decision. The couple of patches they got before getting cut off definitely did not iron out all the bugs.

> Two years of OS updates with an additional year of security updates is not the same thing as three years of OS updates.

I don't see what your problem here is? Every Pixel gets 3 year of FULL OS UPDATES. Not 2 years OS + 1 year Security updates.

> As far as the Pixel 1, the people I knew who installed Android 10 on it regretted the decision. The couple of patches they got before getting cut off definitely did not iron out all the bugs.

Android folks tend to moan and complain a lot. Just look at /r/Android. All my non-tech-enthusiasts friends using Pixels have never complained about anything.

If Google has indeed changed their support policy, it's going to take more than an article asking if Google has done so to serve as a citation.

>If Google is indeed adding another year, it would at least move closer to matching the lengthy span of time that Apple’s iPhones continue to receive new features and operating system updates. Security updates are also promised for three years, but that was already the case with the original Pixels.

Also, you'll have to excuse me if I take the word of people I know when they say getting Android 10 right before they were cut off from all other updates resulted in a buggy mess.

At least Pixel 1 is one of the officially-supported lineageos devices, with very straight-forward installation step. Once google stop supporting it, jumping to lineageos is easy enough to do and will give the device another years of life. Nexus 6, an almost 6 years old device, is still officially supported by lineageos, so Pixel 1 will likely get supported well past 5 years as well (assuming the maintainers are motivated enough to keep working on it).

On the other hand, if you use a less popular device, your option will be much more limited as the device get older.

I like that the updates are offered. I wonder how usable these older devices are after updates.

I have an iPhone 8 which hasn't been usable since the last update. Most functions work but the performance has taken a nose dive. Some apps crash randomly.

I would not use that device as my daily phone.

I'm guessing the iPhone 8 has some other issue (full storage?). Mine has had great performance and no app crashes since I bought it.

I've still been using an iPhone 8 Plus as a daily driver since launch. Right after updates, or after not being used for a bit, there's some indexing that slows down the phone a little, but that recovers pretty quickly with some additional use.

I'm even running the iOS 14 Developer beta on my 8 Plus right now and it still runs like a dream.

My near-new iPhone 7 is snappy with latest iOS.

Check battery health?

Thanks for all the hints. So it seems it's the device itself and not the update.

I had a 6S Plus until earlier this year when the port went on the fritz and car play started acting erratically. That was pretty much my sole reason for upgrading.

Performance wasn’t great for a while but after the whole battery kerfuffle last year I took it into the store to get the battery replaced for $30 and it felt like a brand new phone after that.

Like the siblings say, you may have some other problem. I have an iphone 7 that I always keep up to the date. I didn't notice any performace problem, and my battery is supposedly degraded (the settings page says I should change it).

I have an iPhone 7 I bought for $110 recently on Swappa to mess around with iOS development. It runs the current iOS 13 version quite well.

I'd suggest checking your battery health and maybe doing a reset.

I have an iPhone 8 Plus. Still runs like its brand new. Perhaps a battery replacement or system restore would remedy your issues.

I have the original SE. Same chip as the 6s. It's smooth as hell, even on the beta.

I’ve had the 6S since shortly after launch and it still runs smooth. The only issue is the battery which I can probably get replaced if I wanted to ditch my portable battery. Prior to this, I had an iPhone 4 for many years. While it wasn’t apparent at the start, switching to the Apple ecosystem for my mobile devices has ultimately saved me a lot more money compared to my friends and family that use Android phones.

I’m reading your comment on my iPhone 8. It runs as well as the day I got it.

My iPhone 8 has been my daily driver for 3 years now and runs like fresh out of the box. Battery degradation is the only issue but that's just natural wear and tear.

The screen on the Pixel is 0.5 inch smaller than the 6s plus

Not only that but it's pentile amoled, meaning total subpixel count is only 2/3 of the iphones lcd screen.

OLEDs also cost about $100-$150 more than IPS even now.

Correct and updated my original post. My point still stands about resolution, though. The 6s has a 4.7" 750p screen, so doesn't exactly compare to the 5" 1080p Pixel screen. But even with that screen size difference, the iPhone wins. Handily.

You're completely ignoring the flagship killer market here.

You can buy a poco f1 (Snapdragon 835) for 250$ that will perform just as well as any pixel.

For that price you can buy a new flagship killer every year.

I think a key (deceptively absent) point of that comparison is that the premium price on Android is coming from replacing it after 3 years. So basically from years 3-5 you are using a 2018 Pixel 3 as opposed to a 2015 iPhone 6S Plus.

Performance of the cheapest iPhone available today is greater than the most expensive android phone, so this is a moot point. You need to upgrade the Android hardware just to maintain parity.

CPU performance, sure. But there are other things like power consumption, cameras, LTE performance and band support, etc that are also a factor.

Personally, I dont think CPU performance has been an important factor for years on midrange and higher phones, but that's a matter of opinion.

CPU performance directly impacts performance of those other elements.

But that's totally the opposite of the common (and maybe false) narrative that Apple is pushing users to upgrade faster than their counterparts.

The iPhone 5s got six years of OS and security updates.

The six got cut off after "only" five years because it didn't have enough RAM to run the current version of iOS.

Now the original SE and 6s will also receive that sixth year of support.

If you bought that original iPhone SE, that works out to $67 per supported year.

I find it surprising that the 5S has had 6 more updates since it was dropped from support when iOS 13 was released. The last was just over a month ago. I hope that this is a sign that Apple will continue to provide security updates even after they no longer provide feature updates. Of course, the upgrade to the 1st gen SE is the obvious path for those who had a 5S so continued upgrades aren't so important, but it might be relevant with the 1st gen SE if Apple don't release a smaller iPhone 12.

Apple released updates to iOS devices back to the 2011 iPhone 4s last year.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/07/22/apple-issues-ios-...

I have got my Android phone with twice the resolution of iPhone 6S for $100. And recently updated (after long delay) to Android 10. Another year to go or more.

So it is more like 25$ per year for Android.

Not a perfect phone but good enough.

What phone is it. I seem to average to ~200usd per year on Android as well, in order to have a functional device.

I went for Xperia 10. Camera sucks but otherwise the phone does the job remarkably well. 90% functionality for 10% price and I don't need to worry about loosing or breaking it.

Of course the phone is de-Googled and runs on stock European Android without operator's crapware which is also nice about Xperias. Full factory install takes 15 minutes with newflasher.

I do not enjoy iPhones and Apple's miserable software in general. I am running ChromeOS/debian on my Macbook Pro (the last good model) for years now.

Guess that makes me odd guy..

It's not reasonable to compare on resolution alone. Not to mention, the iPhone 6S and Pixel were both flagship devices in the period OP is discussing.

Better resolution yet takes 5 seconds to open and paint the app drawer... great.

Yeah, but I can install one of the many unofficial Android builds over and old Android phone.

My mom still uses my old Galaxy S2, which probably costed 50 euros/year over almost 10 years and supports Android 10 thanks to LineageOS.

An iPhone's faith is to become a doorstop no matter what.

You can jailbreak it and mess with it however you want. Unofficially of course.

What's the point if you can't update the OS and if you do you have to jailbreak it again, every time, until you reach a point where you device is not supported or there's no jailbreak available and you are back to the doorstop?

Unofficial Android builds are fully supported, maintained and updatable builds, they simply are not released by the phone vendor or Google.

If you can’t update it, the jailbreak is permanent, it’s again by the people as you describe.

> If you can’t update it

That's the original point

you can' update your phone, because it's not yours

If you're happy, good for you, but it's not ok.

Most Android phones don't have a 'supported' version of LineageOS. It's very hit or miss, usually miss. Hence why my Nexus 6 and my girlfriend's Pixel have supported versions but none of the other Nexus or Pixel phones do. Or the HTC One m8 has a supported build but no other HTC phones do.

Google phones are only popular in the US, but Android users are mostly outside of the US.

In Europe the most popular smartphone brand is Samsung.

Lineage supports basically all of their models.

Also: Nexus support is not bad

Nexus 6 and 6p are supported

https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#google

They even support all my Xiaomi devices, including a very old Mi pad second edition.

It's probably the OS that actively supports more devices in existence right now.

iOS doesn't even support all the iPhones.

"Warning: The Google Nexus 6P is no longer maintained. A build guide is available for developers that would like to make private builds, or even restart official support."

The devices link you included links to legacy builds/devices that are discontinued. The only Google phones currently supported on LineageOS are the Nexus 6 and Pixel 1/1XL. As another data point, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S7 have no active support either while the S4 and S5 do.

This is where you should look: https://download.lineageos.org/

Apple's upcoming iOS version -- not just current, but the one that's not even released yet -- supports all iPhones released in the last 5 years. There's just no comparison.

> There's just no comparison

Exactly.

One supports just a few devices, the other supports hundreds.

One is free, the other is not.

Guess which is which.

if Nexus 6P is not supported is Google's fault

Nexus 6P was a bad phone, with sever problems, it was discontinued after a year and you could obtain a compensation if you had one that was faulty.

Still the community tried to support it

They decided wasn't worth anymore

The community is people, Apple is not people.

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