Tech Support: Should You Wait for the iPhone 12?

Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley weighs in on whether consumers should wait for the iPhone 12.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Something that might be disrupted as well, is your decision to purchase a new iPhone, if you're an Apple fan. We bring into the program Dan Howley.

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For our latest tech support recommendation on, should I wait or should I plunge?

DAN HOWLEY: That's right, Adam. Apple has officially announced that its next generation iPhone, which we'll call the iPhone 12 for all intents and purposes, will be delayed quote, "a few weeks from its normal shipping date of late September." Now we're not sure what that means exactly. But it does raise the question of whether or not you should wait for that new phone to buy one or just go out and buy your iPhone now.

So I'm going to give you the advice that you need. It all really comes down to your immediate need. So this is what you need to know about the next generation iPhone. We're thinking it's going to be the 12th. It will have 5G connectivity. Now the big thing about that is, the upload and download speeds for that device will be way better than what you have on current generation iPhones. We're talking about being able to download movies, music, in seconds. Streaming things in 4k with no issue on the bus when you commute, whenever we start doing that again.

It will also have a faster processor than the iPhone 11. And it'll get a sweet new design, something that people have wanted for quite a while. If you currently have a broken iPhone, there are some options out there. There's the iPhone SE, which launched in April. That only costs $399. That also has the same processor as the current iPhone 11, so it's not exactly going to be slow when you get it.

There's also the iPhone XR, and that costs $599. It is though, going to be two years old by the time the iPhone 12 debuts. So that's something to keep in mind. Apple might also discontinue the iPhone XR when they come out with the iPhone 12. It's something that they do whenever they announce new phones. And when they announce the iPhone 12, chances are, they're going to knock $100 to $150 off of the iPhone 11. So you could end up saving money down the line.

So what do you do if you can't wait? Well, my suggestion is, if you need a new phone right now, go with the iPhone SE. Again, it has the current processor for the iPhone 11. That means it's going to work perfectly. It does have all the advanced features that you would expect, and it has that cool touch ID fingerprint sensor, and a lot of people still enjoy that.

IPhone XR, I wouldn't get. I think that, at this point, I'm sorry, Adam.

[LAUGHING]

At this point, it's two years old. When you invest in a piece of technology, you want to make sure that you get the latest and greatest. And the reason being, is because think about if you get the iPhone XR. The fact that it's two years old means you're chopping off two years at the long end. So you're not going to have it for as long as say, you could get an iPhone SE or an iPhone 12. I would likely say the iPhone SE can be purchased now, because Apple is not going to drop the price since it just came out in April.

So what about that iPhone 12? Well, if you're the type of person that wants the best and you're willing to buy the iPhone 11 right now for $1,000, hold your horses, wait until they come out with the new phone. Because it's going to have a faster processor and that 5G technology. There's no reason to waste your money on an iPhone 11 right now. It would just be like throwing out cash.

If you don't need that new phone and you don't want to spend a ton of money, I still think you should wait and go for the iPhone 11 at that point, because chances are, it's going to be $100 to $150 less than you would pay right now. So those are my suggestions. Don't waste your time buying an iPhone right now unless your current one is, I don't know, on a train to Utah and you're not with it. Or crushed beneath your car or something.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Dan, Dan, let me just, as I hold up my XR here, the reason I would say you might want to hold off, even though I'm a fan of the products, the battery, it's dying quick, and it's not even a two-year-old phone. Just saying, if Tim Cook is watching.