Apple iPhone 6S Plus: what 10 Hacker News owners think

Likes itOwned 7 yearsStill going

I'm still using my iphone 6s plus from 2015. Smartphones sufficiently plateaued for me a long time ago. It's a shame the rest of you fine folks find everything so inefficient ;-) I'm guessing there's a generational aspect to this as well, and if the devices are the person's only compute device. The assumption on my part is that the younger users are the ones to upgrade quickly as it is upgrading their only compute device. For someone like me, I'll always prefer a desktop/laptop to use for the sheer usability aspect. I just hate the small screen and hunched over posture of using a phablet-like device. That's me and my opinion, and we all like different things.

Likes itOwned 5 years

I have the opposite perception of prices. I can buy a $700 to $1,000 iPhone 13 mini or iPhone 13, and I know it will work well and receive software updates for at least 5 years. I know this because of many years of experience, and I am using an iPhone XS from 2018 right now. My wife used an iPhone 6 from 2014 to 2018, and we still use it as a baby monitor, I used an iPhone 6S Plus from 2015 to 2020, and my daughter uses a 2020 iPhone SE. My mom uses an iPhone XR from 2018. The point is, I have lots of data on iPhone (and MacBook Air) longevity, so I trust them. On the other hand, I still have no idea if any Android phone vendor offers software updates for more than a couple years, much less if the phone actually continues to work well. I had a string of bad experiences between Nexus and Xperia devices from 2011 to 2015, so I learned my lesson then. The amortized cost for me is much less than any alternative Android.

NeutralOwned 4.5 years

I feel like I could use an iPhone 13 mini for at least 3 more years. I used an iPhone 6S plus from Nov 2015 to May 2020, a 2020 iPhone SE from May 2020 to Nov 2021, and I gave that to my kid and took my wife’s iPhone XS, which has been in use since Sep 2018. I want a 13 mini size phone, but I am waiting for the XS to stop being usable. I just want them to keep selling a mini size phone, whether it be 13 or 15. I see no difference until it has been at least 4 years in my use cases.

Likes itOwned 4 yearsStill going

I bought my 2015 6S Plus in 2018 and it still works fine and gets updates in 2022. This was after a string of Androids, none much cheaper than the iPhone, that were out of support almost as soon as they launched. I got tired of the ever-growing list of patched vulnerabilities and missing features in newer Androids.

Neutral

How old of an iPhone does one need to have that switch? My 6S+ has one, but a 15 doesn’t.

Likes it

You will take my iphone 6s plus (the last with headphone jack) from my cold dead hands. Honesty as non mobile gamer, it would still work fine for basically all the apps I use on my newer iphone pro (except for the camera).

Likes it

Yeah, by the way browsing on iPhone 6S Plus is quite okay, compared to even MacBook Pro (2011, but that’s a laptop!), I would say.

Doesn’t like it

I basically lost an otherwise perfectly working iPhone 6S+ because of that. Between OS and the apps getting ever larger, it became unusable, until the point I gave up and had to get another phone, and this one was added to the mountains of e-waste.

Likes it

My first gen iPad Pro and iPhone 6s Plus say otherwise.

Likes it

It only happens when the battery is aging and the iPhone would otherwise shutdown since it can not handle the voltage peaks. Since the reports Apple has now a battery health section in settings which warns actively when you need to replace the battery. For example my father just replaced the battery in my old 2015 6S plus and it works on full speed again.

Likes it

I'm on an iPhone 6s+, so yeah, I'm a fan of the not needing a new phone all the time. I am pleasantly surprised with each new iOS that my phone is still not deprecated. At that point, I will have to look at updating.

Likes it

I have had a 6S+ since Nov 2016 and I really don’t want to switch to a newer iPhone without TouchID. I wish they’d retained this on top of FaceID.

Neutral

Yup. That's why my spare phone is a 6S+ and I am considering fitting its 3rd battery and getting it refurbed. I have some fancy Sony Bluetooth noise-cancelling phones I bought just before my kid was born. They are _amazing_ but they should be for over £300. The noise cancelling is superb... so I use them when flying. Otherwise, too much faff. My £20 Sony wired bass-boost earbuds sound nearly as good and live in my pocket and I use them far more, because of the convenience factor. They never need charging, pair 100% instantly the second I plug them in, latency is a couple of nanoseconds (a metrr of copper at the speed of light?) and quality is superb. They also are excellent for voice calls, while the fancy Bluetooth cans are rubbish at picking up my voice.

Doesn’t like itDoesn’t say they own it

I have several points to say to that. 1) 2015 saw the iPhone 6s, which was only 15 mm shorter than the Xperia 5 or 10 V, while being about the same width and thickness. It had a tiny screen in comparison. The 6s Plus was larger, and heavier, than the Xperia 10 V, in all dimensions (OK, not thickness, this was the time of "paperthin" phones) while still having a smaller screen. 2) I don't want a tiny 2008 smartphone, I want a phone I can use with one hand. A width of 70 mm or less lets me do that. Today, that is small, in 2015 it was about normal. 3) My perfect phone was the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge from 2015, which has about the same dimensions like the Xperia 10 V but the rounded screen edges made it easier to use with one hand.

Apple iPhone 6S Plus

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