We meet again! Three days in a row. What will you do without me tomorrow? Don’t answer that.
In case you missed it yesterday, we published our latest video: my week with the new Siri AI. If you’re a subscriber, you can read my column on it, too.
But that was yesterday. Today, I’m here to tell you it’s the worst time to buy an iPhone. Actually, sorry. It’s the best time to buy an iPhone. I argue both sides below.
Then, this week’s Old Thing is a fan favorite—or rather, four fans’ favorite. Lovers of the HP 12C unite!
‼️ REMINDER: If you’re enjoying this newsletter, consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get Wednesday’s subscriber-only newsletter, special editions and a lot more of my technology adventures. ‼️
The next iPhones will be more expensive. Thanks, AI.
On Wednesday, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the company is raising product prices because AI chip demand has hiked the costs of memory and storage. “Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal. He didn’t say exactly which products would be impacted or how much prices would rise. But analysts—and another Wall Street Journal report—suggest they could climb as much as $200 on the next iPhone.
Fans of my long-time WSJ column know that when school is out for the summer, I give the same annual advice: Do NOT buy a new iPhone right now. The logic is always the same. In early September, there will be new iPhones. And even if you don’t care about the new devices, the current ones will get cheaper.
But now Mr. Cook has kicked sand all over my routine advice. So if you need a new phone, buy now before prices go up. Actually, wait, don’t do that. Welcome to iPhone Buying Fight Club, where I argue both sides.
Do NOT buy a new iPhone right now.
OK, sure, your battery is depleting and your phone is slow, but what’s a few more months, you wuss? The next iPhone is around the corner. If you buy now, you’ll miss out on the new features Apple announces in September. There’s talk of a foldable iPhone! Pro models getting better cameras! A smaller Dynamic Island! New colors! 9to5Mac has a good roundup of the iPhone 18 Pro rumors.
In the meantime, go to the Apple Store and see if you can get a battery replacement for around $100. Replace the cracked screen. Both will help your resale or trade-in value when the time comes. Get a microfiber cloth and wipe off that gross layer of mystery grease. Delete some photos or get a higher tier of iCloud storage. Believe in yourself.
Plus, iOS 27, which comes out in the fall, is going to improve performance, so maybe you won’t even need a new phone. (I’ve already seen apps launching faster in the beta on my iPhone 17 Pro.)
Most important, we don’t actually know what Apple will do. It might raise prices by $200. Or only $50. Buying a $1,000-plus device because of a hypothetical future price increase is exactly the sort of panic buying that leads people to stock their basements with toilet paper and canned beans.
DO buy an iPhone right now.
If Apple really raises prices by as much as $200, you’re going to be wiping your tears with those extra dollar bills. And is that new iPhone really going to be that much different than the current iPhone 17 or 17 Pro out now? Ooooh, a new shade of blue.
There’s the reality that these phones don’t change much year to year anymore. Most people don’t buy iPhones because they’re excited about a slightly better camera or a smaller Dynamic Island. (Most people: What is a Dynamic Island? Is it included with Disney World admission?) Most buy new phones when their current phone is at its end of life.
So yes, that nice-looking iPhone 17 Pro—especially in that orange color, and with RAM and storage still priced before the AI chip apocalypse—looks enticing. I’d way rather pay $1,099 for it right now than, say, $1,299 for it in three months.
OK, so those are the arguments. And honestly, there is no wrong answer here. You either wait, get more features and spend more money, OR buy now and save some money and get slightly older technology. In other words, everything is going to be fine. At least for Apple.
One of the less glamorous parts of running New Things? Figuring out where the money goes. After a week of shoots in California, I had receipts for a straw hat, coconut cookies and other highly necessary journalism supplies scattered everywhere.
Luckily, Mercury just introduced an AI helper called Command. I can ask questions about my business finances in plain English, like: “How much did we spend in California?” Instead of digging through statements and spreadsheets, Command pulls together the answer. And it does this without asking why I bought a new bathing suit and straw hat for a work trip.
You can also ask Command to do financial work for you, like: “Pay David $100 for going to the beach with me.” It asks you to confirm the information and then quickly sends off the payment.
And because all of those expenses were on my Mercury IO Mastercard, everything is already organized in one place. It’s a far better experience than the traditional business banking tools I used before.
Banking that works the way modern software does: fast, clean, no branch visits, no hold music, no fax machine energy. Exactly what I needed right now. Check them out here.
Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. The IO Card is issued by Patriot Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated.
(Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.)
In the span of a few days, four different readers sent in their HP 12C calculators. There has always been an alarming amount of enthusiasm for this calculator. So I present this week’s quadruple-feature Old Thing.
What's your old thing? HP 12C Financial Calculator
What year is your old thing from? Introduced in 1981
Why do you love your old thing?
Bob Johnson: It took a bit to get used to the “reverse Polish notation” scheme it uses, but once I did, everything else seemed backward.
Richard Calcote: It was capable of making dozens of different types of calculations using one of 120 built-in functions. Basically, an accountant’s dream.
Bruce Bolduc: It got me through business school and many projects before Lotus / Excel became widespread.
Fred Van Bennekom: There’s little you can’t do on this thing. You can even find online versions of it. It’s that beloved!
One last thing before we go: This morning we crossed 100,000 subscribers on YouTube! That’s just two months after publishing our first video.
To everyone who subscribes, watches, reads, comments, emails and tells their friends about New Things: thank you! 🙏🏻 We honestly didn’t know what would happen when we started this thing a couple of months ago and the support has blown us away.
We’re so grateful to have you as part of this community. Now let’s see if we can get new Siri to subscribe, too.
This newsletter was written and curated by Joanna Stern and Adele Lowitz. Have a great weekend! ☀️
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