Well, I was going to order ye olde iPhone 11 from my wireless provider this week, and then I saw a MacRumors post reporting on the latest iPhone 12 rumors.¹

I know I should be able to look past something that’s not going to be on the market for another nine months, but sakes alive, I’ve forgotten what it means to be in the tick-tock product cycle that Apple has been in for the longest time.

For context, I have an iPhone 7 Plus with a battery that should be replaced. I would have already done this, but my screen has a nice-sized crack in it, running from slightly left of the center bottom edge to the volume rocker on the upper left edge of the unit. It otherwise functions normally, aside from the odd barcode being a pain to scan from time to time thanks to an abnormal crack running through any given representation of the binary language.

Sadly, the damage excludes my device from being serviced officially, unless I replace the glass front of my screen.

And so, after holding out for as long as I could bear with the battery, I decided that I was going to take advantage of my carrier’s interest-free financing of a new iPhone 11. I haven’t been a fan of being beholden under contract to a carrier for awhile, but I can’t really see anything wrong with this payment plan–especially when I can pay the whole balance off at any time without a penalty.

Of course, Apple offers a similar plan, but I feel even more like I’m leasing a device in that case, instead of owning a device.

Maybe I’ll just get over it and commit to getting a new device.

Here’s to hoping I remember to buy a case for it.