This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Here’s the thing, Apple has been practically forcing its users to upgrade their iPhone annually for the last two generations, and it was doing it to a lesser extent before that. It honestly seems like the company has weaponized its incompetence — which may very well be planned — because it knows that people will want to upgrade if their current phone immediately becomes obsolete.
Surely a new cooling system won’t make the iPhone 17 Pro a necessary upgrade, right? Well…for many users, I think it just might.
iPhone 15 to iPhone 16
The iPhone 15 became outdated fast. | Image credit — PhoneArena
It didn’t take long for Apple to announce that your year-old iPhone 15 was now obsolete. I am, of course, talking about the time that the company showed off Apple Intelligence. Apple claimed that only the Pro models in the iPhone 15 lineup could run AI due to more RAM, a statement that was quickly disproven when Apple Intelligence was ported to jailbroken iPhone 15 models.
Whether these phones could run Apple’s newest fixation or not, the point is that the company made its flagship phones outdated in just a year. If you wanted Apple Intelligence and you had an iPhone 15 or an iPhone 15 Plus, you were going to have to upgrade.
Did you upgrade from an iPhone 15 for Apple Intelligence?
Yes, and I'm glad I did
10%
Yes, and I wish I hadn't
15%
Yes, but from an older iPhone
0%
Nope, still rocking an older iPhone
50%
Not an iPhone user
25%
I suppose it’s a good thing that Apple’s suite of AI features still remains woefully incompetent and incomplete.
It’s happening again with the iPhone 17
The iPhone 17 Pro will look like this. | Image credit — Setsuna Digital
Putting aside the good, and long-awaited, upgrades this year — more RAM and ProMotion displays across the board — the aforementioned vapor cooling chamber is actually very important.
You see, the iPhone has been having trouble keeping up in recent years. Reports of overheating iPhones, to the point where they basically brick themselves, have only been increasing in frequency. For such an expensive, beautifully-designed flagship device, this is simply unacceptable.
But it just got worse. With the release of iOS 26 and Liquid Glass, iPhone users very quickly came to a horrible realization: the new look is killing their phones. Liquid Glass, because of the insane amount of visual processing that it needs, is causing the iPhone to overheat even faster, and is also making the user interface very choppy.
This is a larger problem on older iPhone models (iPhone 13 and prior), but I suspect that the iPhone 16 will also take a bigger hit once the iPhone 17 rolls around. More RAM, better cooling, and a faster chip will lead to more visual upgrades for Apple’s latest and greatest, and last year’s model will be left in the dust.
The iPhone 16 may not exactly struggle with Liquid Glass when it comes to a smooth user experience, but it’ll very likely start overheating even more. But hey, if you really want to use Liquid Glass without burning your hands, you have the new iPhone 17 Pro Max!
It’s been a rough time for Apple users
From glitchy software updates, a lack of innovation, poor AI tools, the whole Liquid Glass fiasco, and now the iPhone 17 Pro redesign, it’s been a bit of a rough time to be an Apple user. While I personally think that the iPhone 17 Pro looks great, I know that this isn’t a belief shared by many.
I’ll admit, this year’s aforementioned upgrades are something genuinely worth looking forward to. We’re finally getting rid of 60 Hz on the iPhone, and that almost sounds like a pipe dream come true.
But it also really feels like Apple keeps slipping in a few changes each year that basically force its users to upgrade their iPhone if they want the latest that the company has to offer.
"Iconic Phones" is coming this Fall!
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Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
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