I am currently on an iPhone SE and cannot rationalize even upgrading to an iPhone XR, let alone an XS or XS Max. My primary complaint with my SE right now is that the battery needs to be replaced, which I will probably have Apple do at a cost of $65 (CAD).

I assumed that XR or XS would be a lot faster than my SE, which would be a big reason to upgrade, but upon watching YouTube videos doing direct comparison of SE and XR in day to day usage, they appear to be nearly on par as far as general usage is concerned.

Significantly improved cameras would be another reason to upgrade, but Apple does not appear to be keeping up to competitors as far as the newest camera innovations are concerned (optical zoom, impressive low-light performance of products like Huawei P30 Pro, etc.)

I also have an SE and still get comments about having an old or retro phone.

My biggest worry is more and more sites and apps clearly haven’t been tested on a ‘small’ screen, and I simply can’t access a crucial element of the UI.

Well, developers can’t ignore the SE resolution because the 4.7 inch phone has the same resolution when in zoomed mode.

You'd be surprised how many app/site developers ignore lower/zoomed resolutions. Worse is when zooming is disabled completely.

Of course it’s impossible to disable zoom mode for apps. But Apple also turned off the ability to disable zooming in Safari one or two releases ago.

I usually set the override for the browser... it's annoying, at least allow a range up to 2x, it also irks me when apps don't listen to the accessibility settings for larger sized text.

I know people will often point to revenue being relatively stable so it shouldn't worry the OEM but that's actually misleading.

It's like when you raised the price by 100% but selling only 50% of the supply. Yes the revenue is the same but you're losing mind shares and services that comes along with the volume. The brand loyalty goes down as well.

Absolutely, I paid for a Pixel 2 XL when it came out because of various issues with my prior phone. But I don't think I'll bey paying over $500 for another phone ever again. The 3a is a great phone. I'm pretty sure when this one dies, I'll probably stick to mainline mid range phones that have been out at least 3 months before making any purchase again.

Samsung has too many products to even think about, and their top end is too expensive. Apple, I just don't care for. There don't seem to be too many developer friendly android options, and not sure if Librem 5 (or whatever comes after) is worth the extra cost either.

One might think then that there's something wrong with Apple or Samsung's strategy here. There isn't.

Revenue down doesn't imply cheaper phones would create more revenue, and even then better revenue doesn't imply better profits.

Almost all the money is in flagship phones and if you're holding on to a phone for four years, it might as well cost over 1000$.

Many people I know in my life who are not tech people have opted to buy the XR because it is clearly the better value product.

I personally got an 8 for my work phone. No notch and Touch ID for less? Yes please. If only it had an earphone jack.

I already dropped Apple from my personal devices earlier this hear. Cheaper OnePlus 7 Pro? Yep. Only took a few days to get comfortable after iPhones since the 3G.

Which is why people are switching to cheaper Chinese brands which offer better value for money.

Plus some still want a headphone jack.

Resisted upgrading since 6s here. Certainly price is a factor. I’d like to get the better camera, but just so many other things I want for my $ besides a new screen when my current one runs most of the things I care about.