My dad has never really had a cell phone and I’m pretty set on finally getting him one for Christmas this year. I’m upgrading to the iphone 14 plus myself, and my XR (which is still holding up very nicely) with a new battery would probably last him a little while. He would really only ever use it to call/text or open his email. I doubt he’d even be watching videos on the phone.

Is it unreasonable to expect that the phone might last him 3-4 more years?

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doogm t1_it2y6rd wrote on October 20, 2022 at 3:35 PM

Well, I'm not sure that the XR will get 3-4 more years of iOS updates, but that doesn't mean it won't work. With that usage - yes, I think that the battery will last 3-4 years easily. Also, my wife and I just did the same for her Mom this year. Not her first smartphone, but she had a 5C that was soon going to lose the ability to make calls (as it doesn't support VoLTE and Verizon is soon dropping all 3G/CDMA cells), so we gave her my wife's old iPhone 8 with a new battery. (She thinks of the iPhone as her "carphone". She uses an iPad for almost everything.)

NoSoulsINC t1_it2y2k4 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 3:34 PM

Yes, it will just not be able to receive updates after 2-3 years.

PowerfulAtmosphere38 t1_it7vgxv wrote on October 21, 2022 at 3:55 PM

Why do you say that? The 8 managed to get iOS 16. A11 bionic going strong

runnyyolkpigeon t1_itos96u wrote on October 25, 2022 at 5:17 AM

iPhone 7 (2016) did not get support for iOS 16. That’s 6 years of iOS versions supported since it was introduced.

iPhone 8 and iPhone X (2017) likely will be dropped from iOS 17 next year. Putting those models also at 6 years.

Following this pattern, iPhone XR and XS (2018) will support iOS 17 at the latest, but cut from iOS 18 which will be released in Autumn 2024.

dskatter t1_it3aina wrote on October 20, 2022 at 4:54 PM

Absolutely. The XR is a solid phone and if it has a new battery now it could be usable for many years from now.

It won’t get all the iOS updates down the road, most likely, but it’ll still be a good iPhone.

dislikebuttonz t1_it34r4x wrote on October 20, 2022 at 4:18 PM

Yeah that’s a good usage for him. Definitely would be a good idea