PanamaTimes

Friday, Apr 26, 2024

The True Cost of Upgrading Your Phone

The True Cost of Upgrading Your Phone

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, once compared buying an iPhone for $1,000 to buying a cup of coffee a day over a year. No big deal, right? But financial advisers see this differently. By some estimates, an investment of $1,000 in a retirement account today would balloon to about $17,000 in 30 years.
In other words, $700 to $1,000 — the price range of modern smartphones — is a big purchase. Fewer than half of American adults have enough savings set aside to cover three months of emergency expenses, according to the Pew Research Center. Yet one in five people surveyed by the financial website WalletHub thought a new phone was worth going into debt for.

Tech companies fairly argue that our smartphones are our most powerful tools for work and play and thus worth every penny. But they also play numbers games to downplay the costs of a new phone. Samsung, for example, has said the price of its new Galaxy phone is $200 — but that’s only if you trade in a year-old phone for credit toward the new one. The true price is $800.

So it’s worth looking at phone upgrades in a different light to weigh their financial impact. That can help us make well-considered decisions so that the move isn’t automatic.

The irony of Mr. Cook’s coffee analogy isn’t lost on Suze Orman, the financial adviser who once famously equated people’s coffee habits to “peeing $1 million down the drain.” The seemingly small amount of money that people mindlessly spend on java — and now phone upgrades — could be a path to poverty, she said.

“Do you need a new one every single year?” asked Ms. Orman, who hosts the “Women and Money” podcast. “Absolutely not. It’s just a ridiculous waste of money.”

Apple and Samsung didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

So what’s the true cost of a phone upgrade? Let’s look at the math.

Flipsy, a company that buys and sells used phones, published an analysis this year arguing that it’s smart to buy a new iPhone every year. Here was its breakdown:

* The iPhone 12 cost $799 last year. It’s now worth $460 if you trade it in to defray the cost of a new phone. The newest iPhones, the iPhone 13, also cost $799. So if you traded in your iPhone 12, the iPhone 13 would cost $339. At this rate, if you bought an iPhone every year for four years, including the original $799, the net total would be $1,816.

* If you waited three years for the iPhone 15, your iPhone 12’s trade-in value would diminish to about $200. Trade it in and the cost of the iPhone 13 would be $599. Add in the original $799 and your net cost over four years would be $1,398.

In summary, upgrading annually over three years costs $418 more, or roughly $12 a month, compared with upgrading every three years, Flipsy said.

Framed this way, it may sound like a bargain to get a new phone every year as opposed to every few years. But plugging these numbers into a financial calculator tells a different story.

If you put $12 a month into a retirement account, like a Roth I.R.A. that has an average annual rate of return of 10 percent, that amount would turn into $25,161 over 30 years, according to Ms. Orman’s savings calculator.

Ms. Orman compared the trade-in dilemma to buying cars. Car manufacturers could argue that the diminishing trade-in value of your car should compel you to buy a new one regularly — but don’t fall for it.

“I love my car, and I don’t care that the value goes down,” she said. “Think of the 11 years I have saved money not having car payments, or trading it in and spending more money to get another car.”

So what about those cups of coffee? On average, we pay $3 a cup, so $1,000 could buy roughly 333 cups. But naturally, making your own coffee is much cheaper.

I plugged some numbers into a coffee calculator designed by Bone Fide Wealth, a financial planning service. A $16 bag of beans from Peet’s Coffee at Costco could brew about 41 cups of coffee for 39 cents each. So a $1,000 iPhone is worth about 2,500 cups of coffee. Not as compelling.

Doug Boneparth, the president of Bone Fide Wealth, made a counterpoint. For people who have plenty of cash and are aware of the impacts of their spending, splurging on new phones could be inconsequential to their overall savings goals compared with bigger expenses like housing — and if phones make them happy, go for it. He said he sets aside cash every year to buy a new iPhone as a sort of hobby.

“Personal finance is quite personal,” Mr. Boneparth said.

But he acknowledged that even his hobby was beginning to have diminishing returns because new phones weren’t getting much better technologically every year. “The 13 is the first one where I’m like, ‘This one literally only has a better camera,’” he said of the latest iPhone.

Ms. Orman cautioned that for most people who didn’t have as much money in the bank, especially those in debt, the effects of a phone upgrade could snowball. A $1,000 phone charged to a credit card could turn into $3,000 with interest by the time it’s paid off, she said. More debt could also affect your credit score, making it harder to buy or rent a home.

“If you think a phone is worth going into debt for, then, oh my God, you’ve now just set yourself up for always being in debt,” she said. “The truth of the matter is there’s nothing other than a medical expense worth going into debt for.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Apple warns against drying iPhones with rice
In a recent High Court hearing, the U.S. argued that Julian Assange endangered lives by releasing classified information.
Global Law Enforcement Dismantles Lockbit Ransomware Operation
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has died at the Arctic prison colony
The President of Argentina Javier Mile does not fly private, he flies commercial, with the citizens he represents. And they LOVE him for it.
Bitcoin Reaches $50,000 for First Time in Over Two Years
Belo Horizonte: Brazil's Rising Carnival Hotspot for 2024
In El Salvador, the 'Trump of Latin America' stuns the world with a speech slamming woke policing after winning a landslide election
Tucker’s interview with Putin is over 50M views on X within the first 5 hours.
Finnish Airline, Finnair, is voluntarily weighing passengers to better estimate flight cargo weight
President Nayib Bukele has proudly announced El Salvador's remarkable achievement of becoming the safest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Former Chilean President Sebastian Piñera Dies in Helicopter Crash
This farmer seems to understand science a bit more than the event organizer, Klaus Schwab.
Facebook turns 20: From Mark Zuckerberg's dormitory to a $1trn company
The Coolest Dictator in the World" on the Path to Victory in El Salvador
Macron, France and fake news
Indian-Origin Man 'King' Arrested For Smuggling $16 Million Drugs Into US
Can someone teach Americans that not every person with slanted eyes is Chinese?
Europe's Farmers Feeding the People, Protesting Against Politicians Who Do Nothing for Their Country and Serve Only Themselves at Taxpayers' Expense
Paris Restaurant That Inspired 'Ratatouille' Loses $1.6 Million Worth Of Wine
Brazilian Police Investigate Bolsonaro's Son for Alleged Illegal Spying
Police in Brazil Raid Residence of Bolsonaro Associate Over Allegations of Illegal Spying
Border Dispute Escalates as Texas Governor Vows Increased Razor Wire
OpenAI Enhances ChatGPT-4 Model, Potentially Addressing AI "Laziness" Issue
The NSA finally acknowledges spying on Americans by acquiring sensitive data
Report Reveals Toxic Telegram Group Generating X-Rated AI-Generated Fake Images of Taylor Swift
US Border Patrol States 'No Plans' to Remove Razor Wire Installed in Texas
Bitcoin Experiences Approximately 20% Decline in Value
Klaus Schwab recently appointed himself as the Earth's "trustee of the future."
DeSantis Drops Out, Endorses Trump.
Nikki Haley said former President Trump is "just not at the same level" of mental fitness as he was while president in 2016.
Residents of a southern Mexican town set the government palace on fire in response to the police killing of a young man
Samsung Launches AI-Driven Galaxy S24, Ushering in New Smartphone Era
Judge Questions SEC's Regulatory Overreach in Coinbase Lawsuit
The Ecuador prosecutor who was investigating the television studio attack, has been assassinated.
Is artificial intelligence the solution to cyber security threats?
Vivek Ramaswamy suspends his US election campaign and endorses Trump.
Viral Satire: A Staged Satirical Clip Mistaken as Real Footage from the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos
The AI Revolution in the Workforce: CEOs at Davos Predict Major Job Cuts in 2024
Ecuador Reports 178 Hostages in Prison Gang Standoff
The Startling Cuban Espionage Case That Has Rattled the US Government
Two Armed Men in Ecuador, Dressed as Batman and The Joker Storm the Streets.
Armed Gang Raids Ecuadorian TV Station Following State of Emergency Declaration
Anti-Democratic Canada: Journalist Arrested for Questioning Canadian Finance Minister on Support of Terrorist Group
Ecuador's 'Most-Wanted' Criminal Vanishes from Prison
Mexican Cartel Supplied Wi-Fi to Locals Under Threat of Fatal Consequences for Non-Compliance
Border Surge Leads to Over 11,000 Migrants Waiting in Northern Mexico
Outsider Candidates Triumph in Latin American Elections
As Argentina Goes to the Polls, Will the Proposal to Replace the Peso with the Dollar Secure Votes?
Fatal Shark Attack Claims Life of Boston Woman Paddleboarding Near Bahamas Resort, According to Police
×