Are you waiting for the iPhone 14?

It wasn’t too long ago that, every other year, we’d get an “S” variant for Apple’s iPhone. It was a very, very obvious way to tell the world that this was an “iterative” update. Not that that’s a bad thing, mind you. Not by any means. But, now, at a glance, it would appear that Apple’s moved away from that plan of attack.

But that’s not really the case, right? For those who keep tabs on this sort of thing, we know that the iPhone 13 isn’t so much a huge update compared to the iPhone 12 as it is a pretty minimal uptick in features and design. Again, not a bad thing! It’s just how it is.

Which is why I’ve seen a lot of the same comments this year as I have in the past. For the folks who have stuck with the “S” variants as their standard go-to options (which does make a lot of sense), then upgrading to the iPhone 13 works. Most of those customers would still be rocking an iPhone 11 variant anyway in that case.

A still image taken from Apple's iPhone 13 Pro introduction video on YouTube, showing a closeup of the three cameras on the back.

This year is a little different, though. If you’ll recall, there have been rumors of an iPhone adopting a punch-hole design for quite some time now. And, more recently, we started to hear that the iPhone 14 would be the handset to welcome this change. Things got interesting when a leak showed us what the iPhone 14 might look like, with its notch-less hardware, no camera bump, and more.

It’s a lot of changes! And when you take into account that there are a lot of iPhone users out there who would like to see the notch go away, the iPhone 14 is probably a very bright spot in the future. And maybe even a reason to just go ahead and skip this year’s iteration of the popular smartphone and wait it out.

But, this is a familiar argument. A very familiar train of thought. Apple is going to keep releasing newer, better iPhones as the years trudge along. If you wait now, you could just keep waiting “forever.”

I’ll admit, I was on the fence with an upgrade this year. I don’t know why, maybe it was the fact that this year just felt truncated in just about every single way, but it genuinely felt like I just bought the iPhone 12 Pro. Plus, I really like the Pacific Blue. But, the new Sierra Blue definitely caught my eye, and after Apple’s event wrapped up I was leaning more towards an upgrade after all. What sold me is the fact I’m on a yearly upgrade plan anyway, so I had to fork over just $35 to upgrade and get a new iPhone.

This refresh does feel different because of the iPhone 14-sized shadow looming over it. If these latest rumors are to be believed, the iPhone 14 is going to be the hardware redesign a lot of people have been waiting for. Titanium hardware, no camera bump, the hole-punch front-facing camera (which means even more changes to the TrueDepth Camera).

Then again, if you don’t follow any rumors or give any credence to leaks, then all there really is to consider this year is if there’s enough in the iPhone 13 to warrant an upgrade from whatever smartphone you’re currently using. And that’s really what it should come down to, right?

Where do you stand with the iPhone 13 this year? Have you already pre-ordered? Are you waiting for the reviews to fall in? Or are you skipping this year entirely in favor of next year’s model?