Have I thought about getting a new iPhone? Absolutely, and every year I at least entertain it depending on how pertinent and appealing the upgrade is. This year, I somehow wound up thinking I’d be okay with any one of them:

• If I wanted another purple iPhone: Get the Lavender iPhone 17, it’s good enough.
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• Or get the iPhone air, the frame is sleek and shiny like how iPhones should be.
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• Or.. get the Deep Blue iPhone 17 Pro because it most closely spiritually resembled my 14 Pro?

Well I definitely don’t want just an iPhone 17, I always went with the Pro iPhones due to their different design, increase in battery and the overall expectation that the phone won’t stutter or slow down. This year, the chips and the screens are pretty decent all across the board, so it feels like making a good choice regardless of the iPhone you pick.
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Although I’m not a fan of how little the battery is on the iPhone Air, nor how it has a single camera only, and how it’s the only iPhone with a shiny frame. The color choices this year feel ‘just right’ for the iPhone Air, and I would have went for the Sky Blue. The light gold looks nice as well, it reminds me of the iPhone XS. Space Black also looks nice as does Cloud White, giving an iPhone X kind of vibe.

The pro models this year shifted toward a more utilitarian appearance – that Cosmic Orange looks more construction truck orange to me. Really wish Deep Purple was still a thing, but Deep Blue sounds good too. Silver feels perfectly correct for this phone somehow, like it’s meant to exist in this color, reminding me of the Apple Watch Ultra in aesthetic quality.
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Carrier offers

• T-Mobile: $1,100 off iPhone 17 Pro – Must sign up for Experience Beyond Plan w/AutoPay + trade in existing phone. Trade-in credits depend on the phone you get. $830 off towards an iPhone Air. When you buy a new Apple Watch, you could get $200 off when adding a new watch line with the right data plan.
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• Verizon: new iPhone 17 Pro on Us – Unlimited Ultimate line required + select phone trade-in. There is also a promotion where if you buy 3 or more iPhone accessories, you can save 20%. There’s also a bundle deal with their Unlimited Ultimate plan, which gives you an SE3 or Series 11 watch free when you buy an iPhone 17 Pro, or get $500 off towards an Ultra Series 3 watch.
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• At&t: $1,100 off the iPhone 17 Pro models, $830 off the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air – trade-in eligibility requires iPhone 13 and up. Requires postpaid unlimited voice and data plan starting at $75.99 per month. Subject to change at any time.
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• Xfinity mobile: Requires Xfinity or “Now” internet plan to be eligible for an Xfinity mobile account. You will have to trade-in a qualifying phone and get into a qualifying 24-month Xfinity Mobile payment plan.
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What I’m thinking of doing

After going through the motions of adding things to the cart, I’d have to pay device tax and activation cost for a new phone. Altogether the up-front cost will be more than the trade-in value of my phone, which makes me stuck on whether or not to keep it. Especially as trading in the phone won’t factor in to this required up front cost on my plan.

I’m gonna have to sit and think on this for a few days, as there are a few options in front of me. I genuinely don’t dislike my phone. It’s an amalgamation of everything I’ve wanted in a phone: the screen, storage, strength, durability, the purple color – and I own it still. I’ve even thought of replacing this 14 Pro with an identical one of a larger storage size, or even trying out a Purple 14 Pro max.

The Single Core performance and power efficiency of the A19 Pro are appealing aspects, combined with the improvements in the camera over the iPhone 14 Pro.
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In Conclusion

While I definitely need a new battery, the screen is delaminating near the volume keys, and I could go for some more storage.. this phone is phenomenal and beautiful. I just went on eBay, and bought a new screen adhesive for $5 to fix the screen delamination issue.  The A19 Pro is surely better than an A16 Bionic, but nothing is screaming at me to replace my Deep Purple iPhone 14 Pro right now.