Apple iPhone 6S+

> I find it really odd that you wouldn't notice some of the improvements between iPhone 8 to 16. I'm sure they notice some improvements, when I was out shopping for a new phone I could tell the then-flagship iPhone 13 having a slightly better display and a slightly better camera than 11 even by playing with it at the store. But then, I've upgraded from an iPhone 6S+ to iPhone 11, and even 11 was unnecessary to me. I just had to because I bought the 16GB model back then, the lowest storage option, and with ever larger iOS updates my phone wasn't usable anymore. With that a perfectly usable iPhone 6S became electronic waste, and I was out 600 euros, to do exactly what I've been doing on 6S: browsing, instant messaging, Uber and Uber-likes. Now the fonts look a little nicer, and camera is so much better, and that's.. about it for noticeable features for me. I wouldn't pay that much for either of those if I could. My point is, I think smartphones hit a ceiling of useful features a long time ago. The big features, all the important stuff, the GPS, camera, browser, IM and a few other things have been figured out since a decade now. There are some smartphone "power users" who don't have a computer or maybe a TV and use it for watching movies, playing games or they are amateur photographers/influencers and such, for them maybe these new models still offer something. For everyone else an iPhone 16 does what an iPhone 6 does, just a little fancier.

What "modern smartphone" cannot "play music smoothly"? If you mean, "can't stream smoothly" - check your connection and your service choice (eg Paramount+ always seems to have problems for me ... regardless of the connection or device) But "play music smoothly" has been a core feature (with nary a problem) since the first iPhone Every one I have had runs all the audio I have ever wanted to run with no issue - 4G, 6S+, 8+, 11, SE, 14, and 15 My dad's and mother-in-law's Pixel 7 also have no issues