My wife wants to

[Longjohn]

Buy me an eyefone elebben for ValiumTimes day. Should I try to talk her out of it? I like the three cameras and the 256 gb of memory.

[Kzoo]

I got WoKzoo an iPhone XR yesterday.  I have a bit of buyers remorse for not getting her an 11.

[Ralphie]

2 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

I got WoKzoo an iPhone XR yesterday.  I have a bit of buyers remorse for not getting her an 11.

Similar for me when I bought my wife an 8 instead of a 10 two years ago.  For me I would just get a used  6 7 or 8 if I ever decided to bail on my sometimes balky 6sPlus.

[Ralphie]

Why did they skip 9?

Oh, here we go.  I figured it was like with Windows.  Weird!

Why was there no iPhone 9?

But often it's for the same reason that Apple skipped 9 - because the company wants to signify a new beginning for a product, just as Microsoft did when it skipped Windows 9 and went straight to Windows 10 from Windows 8 (OK, it was Windows 8.1 for the pedants out there).

OK, here's an answer with a little more beef, although it is still pure conjecture!  I think APple has left the budget user behind, so we cheapos just buy used if we want an eyephone.

https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/iphone-9/

[Square Wheels]

There is no more hard home button on any phones anymore.  If that's something you need, hold out.

[smudge]

Are you an iPhone guy? I'm an Android girl, so it would not be good for me. 

She appreciates what you are doing for her. If you'd appreciate the iPhone, let her get it for you. 

[Airehead]

Do you need a new phone?

[Dottleshead]

Skip the iPhone. 

[Longjohn]

5 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Do you need a new phone?

I would enjoy a better camera. The iPhone7 that I have has a great camera but I’ve heard the 11 is quite a bit better. I doubt my eyesight will ever get better than it is now so the bigger screen of the max will help.  The 256 GB would be nice. My wife got me the 7 the day they were released so I have had it for awhile. My wife said not to trade it in, she wants to give it to a granddaughter whenever her dad says it’s ok.

It would be weird having something that expensive to worry about. On bike packing trips I would always just plug my phone in to charge it where ever I could find an outlet. Often I’d plug the phone in and then go set up my tent, go to dinner, or shower. Bike campers are a pretty trustworthy bunch but I would have to think twice about doing that with a $1,200 phone. I don’t know how many of those trips I’ll be doing now.

[Airehead]

I think if it is important to her and doesn’t cause financial stress then do it. 

[Kirby]

I got an 11 recently after work stopped me from connecting to their systems unless I upgraded from the 5 I had.  I'm not really a big phone person and was perfectly happy with my 5 even though other people at work snickered at how out of date I was.  I considered the XR when I upgraded because a lot of my family had that one and liked it.  But given that I keep my phones until they stop supporting them, I figured I'd get an extra year or two out of the 11. 

So I wasn't eager to upgrade, but I have to say I am really enjoying it.  The camera is much better and it's easier to screenshot and edit pictures.  The larger screen is nice but best of all is the battery life.  Really night and day compared to my old phone. Not sure about the battery on the 7, but it is definitely much easier for me not to worry about carrying a power bank with me everywhere.

I agree with Aire and DH, though.  Even if it weren't much better for you, it seems like it's something she wants to do for you, so if it's doable, accept happily and enjoy.

[Wilbur]

7 hours ago, Longjohn said:

Buy me an eyefone elebben for ValiumTimes day. Should I try to talk her out of it? I like the three cameras and the 256 gb of memory.

You live but once.  Buy the darn phone so you can keep posting pictures.  We enjoy watch the grandlings grow. 

[groupw]

Get the phone. Enjoy it! Unless you put a price tag on it like Minnie Pearl’s hat, most people aren’t going to get too hung up about it. Insurance is cheap. Set it so you can locate and disable if stolen. 
BTW- my understanding is 9 was avoided by both Apple and Microsoft because it is similar to a word for pain in Japan. 

[Longjohn]

I think you helped me make up my mind. I will talk to my son first, he has one and hasn’t said anything bad about it. I would like one but was hesitating because of the price. What the heck, it cost less than a bike and I can still use it if I’m injured. Not like the bike where I have to wait for bones to heal.

[MickinMD]

I haven't seen enough improvement in smartphone pics and vids to want to spend serious money to get something newer but only slightly better than my Samsung Galaxy S7 - which was the point where single camera phones pretty much reached their limit.  The 2- and 3- camera phones don't seem to do a lot more for me. There are some severe limitations due to the extremely short distance between the the lens and the sensor. My old 2"x2"x4" dual camera/camcorder takes better pictures and videos than the best smartphones do now with it's much longer focal distance - though I don't use it because it's much less convenient to carry around and I don't require the improvement.

You may have done more research than me and like the iPhone 11. If so, get it.

I've looked at several YouTube reviews of the iPhone 11 and I'm not too impressed, though I didn't do a thorough study.

A camera image-quality review of the iPhone 11 noted some problems, especially so-so low light and zoom quality (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8FDQzIEDNU):

A side-by-side comparison with the 3-camera Samsung Note 10 Plus wasn't crazy about the iPhone 11 either, though it did like some things (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgbz5KbIatI).

 

Telephoto lens:

Low light was considered slightly better on the iPhone, but there's no night mode for the iPhone ultra-wide camera for some reason:

Shadows looked better on the Samsung: