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Should you buy the new iPhone 15, Apple Watch Ultra Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, or AirPods
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Well, the iPhone brought a lot of big changes this year. Everything else, not so much
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Now that pre-orders are upon us, you might be wondering if it's time to upgrade. That depends on what model you have, so I'm going to run through my recommendations
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Let's start with the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. If you have the iPhone 11 or earlier, your time has come to upgrade, and you are going
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to love entering the world of MagSafe accessories, car chargers, stands, and wallets
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If you have an iPhone 12, iPhone 13, or 3rd generation iPhone SE, upgrade if you can
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You'll get significantly improved cameras, battery life, and speed. Some new features will be the USB-C connector that can charge AirPods and Apple Watch, precision
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finding, and emergency satellite communication. Now unfortunately, if you have the iPhone 12 or 13 mini, the mini size is no longer
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an option, so you'll have to pick between the standard size or the 15 Plus
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If you just got the iPhone 14 last year, hold off on upgrading unless you really want the
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dynamic island, USB-C, and 48 megapixel camera. There's not that much improved year over year
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Now let's move on to iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. If you have an iPhone 11 Pro or earlier, you will love the upgrade
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I also recommend this for people who have the regular iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 who are
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considering jumping up to the Pro tier. If you have the 12 Pro or 13 Pro, get it if you can
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From any of these devices, you're going from the notch to the dynamic island, which helps
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you keep an eye on activities happening in the background, like food deliveries you're waiting on, timers running, music or podcasts that are playing, or maps directions that
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you have active. ProMotion will give you smoother display animations all the way up to 120 hertz, and the always-on
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display will make it easier to keep an eye on your phone when you're not using it, whether it's sitting on a desk or when it's in standby mode
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If you play a lot of games on your phone, the new GPU with hardware ray tracing will
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give you significantly improved graphics. Now they have pretty much the same design as the previous years, but the new titanium
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frame will make it significantly lighter than all previous Pro models. Now that does mean that your color options are basically four shades of gray, but at
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least it'll feel nicer in the hand. Now if you already have the iPhone 14 Pro, then you already have the dynamic island
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the always-on display, ProMotion, and most of the same features on the 48 megapixel camera
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I only recommend upgrading if you really want the 5x telephoto zoom on the 15 Pro Max
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Otherwise, you can rest easy skipping this year. Now let's move on to the Apple Watch Series 9
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If you have a Series 4 or earlier, I think upgrading this year is an absolute must
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It still runs the latest version of watchOS this time, but I think it'll probably be dropped
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next year. You'll get a lot of features when you upgrade. A bigger and brighter display that's always on, a hands-free tap gesture, an on-screen
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keyboard, faster and more accurate Siri and voice dictation, a blood oxygen sensor, crash
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detection, an altimeter, and a temperature sensor. Now if you have an Apple Watch Series 5, 6, 7, and 8, or an SE, you'll get a mix of new
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features based on which model you already have, but you just need to ask yourself one question
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Does your battery life comfortably last all day? If you find yourself topping it up in the afternoon in order to make it to bedtime
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you can feel comfortable upgrading. Otherwise, you might as well wait a year
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Now the Apple Watch Ultra 2. If you have one of the regular Apple Watch models, switching to the Ultra 2 gets you
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a significant boost in battery life, screen size and brightness, GPS accuracy, durability
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and speed, even if you have one of the newer models like the Series 6 or 7
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Now if you already bought last year's Apple Watch Ultra, I don't think there's that much
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here for you. You get the display that gets brighter in the sun and dimmer in a dark room, the new
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tap gesture, and the on-device Siri, but I don't think those upgrades are worth a whole
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new watch. Finally, AirPods Pro 2 have been updated with a new USB-C charging case
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Unfortunately, if you already have AirPods Pro 2 with the Lightning case, you can't just
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buy the new case. You have to buy a whole new set for $249, and that makes it hard for me to recommend
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Also unfortunately, AirPods 3, the regular models, did not get the same USB-C treatment
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They'll probably be updated next year, but for the time being, if you want USB-C AirPods
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you have to buy the AirPods Pro 2. Regardless, if you have an older set like the original AirPods Pro or the original AirPods
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now is as good a time as ever to upgrade. So pre-orders for the Apple Watch and AirPods are open right now
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Pre-orders for the iPhone 15 start this Friday. Be sure to like and subscribe for more coverage
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I'm Geoffrey Jones with Cult of Mac. Thanks for watching
