Is $1,100 Too Much For An iPhone? Get An Older One For Less

The $1,100 price tag on Apples latest iPhone turned heads when the company announced two weeks ago.

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But for less than half as much, you can still get a good camera, a decent-sized screen and other popular features.

Just buy a two-year-old iPhone 7.

That phone was Apple’s first to come with water resistance and its first to lose the standard headphone jack. Its 4.7-inch screen is adequate and on par with other smartphones, even though its resolution falls short of high definition. And the phone still has a fingerprint sensor and a home button, both of which have vanished in the latest iPhones.

Or, if you want to pay more for wireless charging, there’s the iPhone 8. An edge-to-edge screen? You’ll need the upcoming budget iPhone XR or one of its more expensive siblings. And if you want a supersized display, that’s where the $1,100 iPhone XS Max comes in.

That model and a smaller version start selling in the U.S. and several other countries on Friday.

If you’re shopping for a new phone, it pays to think hard about what you really want and what you’re willing to pay for it. Improvements over the previous generation tend to be incremental, but can add up over time — and so do the sums you’ll pay for them.

Here’s what to consider if you’re thinking of bargain-hunting in the iPhone history bin.

iPHONE 7 ($449)