Why I Bought an iPhone 6s Plus the Day the iPhone 7 Came Out

If you must know anything about me, let it be that I have a long and well-documented history of using high-end smartphones — including those running iOS, Android, Symbian S60, and even Windows Mobile. Call it a far-reaching fascination with technology, or simply a curiosity to sample all the world has to offer; but regardless, there’s one contender, among the many, that has always stuck out as a true winner in my eyes — and that would be Apple’s iPhone, and its powerful yet fluid iOS ecosystem.

To that end, I’ve camped out for the impending release of every iPhone handset, up until Apple began accepting online pre-orders back in 2010. And while several “iPhone killers” have surfaced over the years, occasionally captivating my interest enough to switch over (even if just to try out all the “cool new features”), I’ve never really been content with anything else, quite like I have with my iPhone.

Don’t get me wrong: Android is another formidable contender in the smartphone scene — not to mention, the devices created by OEMs such as Samsung and Sony have boasted a myriad of advanced features in recent years; however, if you want my honest opinion, Android has always been, and likely always will be, a “me too” mobile operating system.

In any case, my last iPhone purchase was the iPhone 5, back in 2012. With its 4-inch Retina Display, elegant yet durable construction, and super-fast Lightning port, among other things, I considered the iPhone 5 to be a giant leap forward from what the 4s had to offer — and therefore a worthy upgrade, to say the least.

I spent a few years thereafter on the sidelines, sampling a variety of other handsets, including the Galaxy Note, Note 2, and even a few Windows Phone devices. But during that time, even long after the iPhone 5s was released, I caught wind from the rumor mill that Apple would once again be unveiling a major, game-changing handset — the iPhone 6 — in the fall of 2014.

Featuring an even larger, 4.7-inch, or whopping 5.5-inch display, the iPhone 6 was, in my honest opinion, a true competitor against the many large-screened, increasingly advanced Android handsets flooding the market.

But I still didn’t run out and buy one..

Why? Well, to put it bluntly, there was no objective in my mind — particularly because I knew that, historically speaking, just a year later the 6s and 6s Plus would be coming out. I didn’t want to lock myself into yet another two-year contract, just to once again be duped 12 months down the road, when an “even more magical,” “45% more powerful” iPhone would see the light of day.

And, sure enough, when the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus actually did touch down in the fall of the following year, I honestly thought it was yet another giant step up — even from the 6 — albeit embodied in the same form factor, with the same display, and the same, conceptual design.

Yet a certain part of me, perhaps the most rebellious, sheerly inquisitive part, still wanted to experiment with other, more “feature packed” handsets — such as the Galaxy Note 7, for instance, which I owned for about two weeks before nearly burning my hand picking it up one morning. Damn battery drama..

As I shared in my Galaxy Note 7 review, however, that device was actually quite nice, and featured a myriad of new and exciting features. But even still, it was inherently crippled by a shoddy and inconsistent OS — prone to apps crashing, left and right, UI bugs, and a less than stellar battery performance, among other anomalies.

And so I waited until the iPhone 7 came out to decide what I was going to do.

Now, if you’ve been following us for a while now, you’ll likely know there have been a plethora of rumors about the iPhone 7 — many of which turned out to be true, yet even still, many that didn’t see the light of day like many of us were hoping.

And so, with the window of time running out to hop off the Galaxy Note bandwagon, and iPhone 7 pre-orders all but sold out until at least October, or even November, I decided to just go with the same phone that piqued my interest just 12 months ago — the iPhone 6s Plus — and I’ve never been happier.

Not only is the iPhone 6s even faster and more fluid that the Galaxy Note 7, but I have full access to the entire library of digital content that I spent the last seven or eight years building on the iOS platform. The choice, for me, was a simple one. And while the iPhone 7 is indeed an even more powerful, more feature-rich device than the 6s, it’s certainly not that “major” refresh that many of us have come to expect with Apple’s whole-number device upgrades.

As we’ve been hearing for months now, however: that game-changing, top-to-bottom refresh will more than likely be joining the iPhone family come the fall of 2017. Perhaps by that time I’ll be ready to get back on the annual upgrade program of my former years, but I’ll be content with my decision until then.

What other smartphones are you considering? Let us know in the comments below.