Thinking about switching to the new $999 iPhone X when it becomes available for pre-order later this week? The recent words of a tech titan may help influence your decision.
Days before the debut of the latest iteration of the iPhone, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s honest take on the world’s most popular smartphone is reverberating around the internet.
Wozniak has been an unabashed iPhone supporter since its debut a decade ago. And like most Apple enthusiasts, he has toed the line even in the face of curious moves by the company in the wake of Steve Jobs’ death in 2011.
Now Wozniak is saying in public what many an iPhone user ‘ and Android fan ‘ has mouthed to themselves in recent years. Speaking to CNBC recently, Wozniak was asked if he will upgrade to the iPhone X.
iPhone 8 is the same as models 7 & 6, says former Apple co-founder
“I’m just worried about what it provides me,” he said in a startlingly honest assessment. “I’d rather wait and watch that one. And I’m happy with my iPhone 8, which is the same as the iPhone 7 which is the same as the iPhone 6 — to me.”
Wait, what? Is Wozniak, or Woz as the Apple faithful call him, straying in his support of the brand he helped create and made millions from? Instead of catching flak for the remarks, scores of Internet commenters are praising Wozniak, seen by many as one of the founding fathers of modern consumer tech.
In the early days, new iPhones used to come with tremendous innovations that abruptly rewrote the standard for the mobile industry. But not anymore. These days, incremental advances — on features that many people don’t use anyway — have dampened the enthusiasm around the new models.
Carriers have seen lackluster sales of the iPhone 8 compared to the 7. Verizon saw only 5.5% of its customers upgrade to the 8 in the third quarter, the company said in a recent financial report, according to Fortune.
Still, many are bullish on early sales of the $999 iPhone X, which becomes available for pre-order Friday.
“As we get into the holiday season, some of those new devices come out, we think we’ll see strong demand,” Ellis Verizon CFO Matt Ellis was quoted as saying on an analyst call.
RELATED: Fools rush in: Why you should wait before pre-ordering the iPhone X
How to save money on the iPhone
Money expert Clark Howard recommends not spending big bucks on the latest and greatest iPhone. Buying an iPhone one generation back — even a reconditioned one — can yield tremendous savings.
He said that when the iPhone 6 came out, his daughters were in need of phones because theirs were broken. Instead of forking over the $649 base price times two, he found a couple of reconditioned iPhone 5c models.
The sweet part? They were less than $200 each. Talk about big savings!
RELATED: There’s now a way to fix iPhones that randomly shut down
[anvplayer video=”4137681″ station=”998267″]
