Every Other Generation
Apple sent out the invitations and September 12 is the day. After months of rumors and fake photos and tech blogs drowning in complete nonsense, it’s finally happening. Everyone’s asking the same thing: buy it or don’t.
I’m still using the iPhone 4. No S, no Siri. I made this rule years ago—skip every other generation, save some money, don’t be the sucker who upgrades every time. Makes sense in theory. Then you’re around someone with a better camera, or they’re talking to their phone and it actually understands them, and you realize you’ve locked yourself into the boring choice. You smile and hate everyone a little.
The thing about wanting a new phone is that wanting is the whole point. You could use anything—a flip phone would still work fine. But that’s not how it goes. You see the new one and suddenly your old one feels ancient, which is stupid because it’s not ancient, you’re just bored. Or you’re the kind of person who needs the best thing, or you’re the kind of person who doesn’t let himself have the best thing. Either way, you’re thinking about it.
Of course nobody knows what the 5 will actually do. Thinner, probably. Faster. Better camera. Some new feature that’ll sound great in the keynote and nobody will actually use. It doesn’t matter though. With the new iPhone, it’s only ever about having it or not having it. You want it enough to pay, or you don’t, or you’re broke and the decision makes itself.
So I’m sitting here thinking about it. The 5, I mean. Or maybe an iPad instead. A Kindle. A book. There’s that moment where you think about helping people in Uganda while contemplating a thousand-dollar purchase, like the thought somehow balances it out. My phone works fine. Everything breaks eventually. When it does, I’ll buy something new and rewrite the story to make it seem like the only choice I ever had.