Every year around now, we start seeing articles proclaiming that it’s a bad time to buy an iPhone.

The rationale is that Apple tends to release new iPhones in September, leaving only a couple months until the current batch becomes stale. If you can hang on a little longer, these articles say, you’ll be rewarded with a much better device for your money.

These days, that advice is no longer the gospel it once was. Buying a new iPhone in the middle of the summer isn’t just acceptable, it can even be preferable under the right conditions. Here’s why:

Reason 1: Hardware upgrades are less essential now

While smartphones always have room to improve, the changes from one generation to the next are getting harder to appreciate. We've long passed the point at which phones can become visibly sharper, and it takes serious scrutiny to tell the difference in camera quality between, say, an iPhone X and an iPhone XS.

If rumors are accurate, this year's upgrades to the iPhone XS and XS Max will have a triple-lens rear camera system for better optical zoom and low-light photography, while the iPhone XR's successor will upgrade to a dual-lens camera. All three phones may also have sharper front cameras, the usual performance improvements, and the ability to charge other accessories (such as certain AirPods cases) by resting them on the back of the phone.

Those all sound like fine improvements, but they won't drastically change the way you use your phone, nor should they. Most of us just want a phone that takes nice pictures and works as expected, and pretty much any iPhone from the past few years fits that bill. That may explain why people are upgrading their iPhones far less frequently than they used to.

Reason 2: Software support goes further than ever

In the iPhone's early years, holding out for the new model involved an element of future-proofing. The earliest iPhones only received two or three major software upgrades, and those upgrades had a nasty habit of degrading the experience on older phones.

From the iPhone 4S onward, Apple has delivered at least four major iOS upgrades to all of its phones, and it's also made a point of improving performance on older phones over the past couple years. Last year's iOS 12, for instance, cut app load times in half, increased camera load times by 70% from the lock screen, and sped up keyboard load times by 50%. When iOS 13 launches this fall, Apple says apps will once again load up to twice as fast, and they'll also be up to 50% smaller, so they'll download faster and eat up less storage space. Despite all the conspiracies over planned obsolescence, even a slightly older iPhone will still last a long time.

Reason 3: You might save more money now

As I wrote in Issue #23, a booming market now exists for used and refurbished phones in like-new condition, which can save you hundreds of dollars. While the latest iPhones were less plentiful a few months ago, they're starting to appear on sites like Backmarket and Amazon. The former, for instance, has an iPhone XS Max on Verizon for $824, which is 25% off the regular price, while the latter is selling the unlocked iPhone XR for as little as $618, which is $132 off the regular price. The discounts should only get better as the release of newer iPhones gets closer.

Reason 4: You might save even more money later

If you're determined to wait for the latest iPhone, you might as well prepare to wait even later than September. Last year, Brad's Deals had a great story arguing that Black Friday is the best time to get a new iPhone, based on how retailers such as Walmart and Target routinely bundle the phone with hundreds of dollars in gift cards right after Thanksgiving. Last year, we also saw Apple offer exceptionally good trade-in offers for new iPhone buyers from late October onward. The idea that you're only a couple months away from a much sounder purchase decision isn't really true anymore.

I realize that having written all of this, I still haven't provided a definitive answer on when to buy a new iPhone, but that's because no definitive answer exists. Paraphrasing the wise words of my longtime editor Harry McCracken, the best time to buy a new iPhone--or any tech product, really--is the point at which you can no longer stand using the one you already have. While you shouldn't be oblivious to the annual iPhone release cycle, it's also okay to trust your gut.
 

I loved seeing this hiding-in-plain-sight tip on Instagram from fellow tech journalist Rich DeMuro: If you’re in a store that’s offering a certain percentage off its products, just enter the regular price in your phone's calculator app, hit subtract, type in the discount percentage, then hit the calculator’s percent button. This will show you the final sale price without making you calculate and subtract the discount amount first. So for example: 60 - 20 % = 48.

As some commenters on DeMuro’s Instagram video point out, this is the way calculators have always worked, even before they became smartphone apps, but the vast majority of replies are from folks who had no idea. It turns out that even the most primitive gadgets have unintuitive features.
 

Returning Amazon purchases at Kohl’s: A couple months ago, Amazon said it would let you return purchases to any Kohl's store starting in July, which was great news for me as the nearest Kohl’s is a half-mile from my house. Now that July is here, I’ve been able to try out a return, and it’s fantastic.

If you have a Kohl’s nearby, you can just select the "Kohl’s dropoff" option while initiating a return through Amazon’s website. You’ll receive a barcode via email to scan at the store, or you can optionally print it out instead, and the store will pack the product up so you don’t even have to keep the original shipping container. (With standard Amazon returns, you have to tape up the original container and append the return shipping label yourself.)

Why is Kohl’s doing this? Supposedly the goal is to increase foot traffic to its stores, which might make some sense as I’d never previously bothered to figure out what Kohl’s is for. Still, the only pressure I received to buy anything during the process was a 25% off coupon valid for the next seven days, which the cashier handed me on my way out. I’ll continue to return stuff without buying anything for as long as Kohl’s believes in the strategy.

Deleting your Google Maps history: After adding the ability to automatically delete Google search and other activity data a couple months back, Google’s extending the same capability to location history. In the Google Maps app, open the sidebar menu and select "Your Timeline," then hit the vertical "..." button in the top-right corner. Select "Settings," then scroll down to "Automatically delete Location History." You can then choose to delete location data on a 3-month or 18-month window.

As I noted over at Fast Company, Google still has other ways to follow you around. If you use other Google services that have location access on your phone, for instance, they can take snapshots of your whereabouts when you use those services. As with location history, you can delete this data on a rolling basis—along with other information such as search history—on a rolling basis by visiting this link while signed into your account and selecting "Choose to delete automatically."

Firefox’s Android revamp: Longtime readers may know that I’m a fan of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, which on the desktop offers built-in tracking protection and lots of neat customization features. While the Android version of Firefox has always felt like a step backwards, the new Firefox Preview app is a major improvement. It has the same tracking protection as the desktop app, and private browsing is just a tap away on the home screen. It also optimizes for one-handed use by moving the address bar and home screen controls toward the bottom of the screen, and it’s faster than the old Firefox thanks to a new rendering engine. The "Collections" feature, which lets you save and launch groups of tabs, is a nice touch as well. Mozilla says it will launch a finished version of Firefox Preview in the fall, but in my experience it’s stable enough to start using now.

MacBook Air rumors: If you’re in the market for a new MacBook Air, consider holding out until this fall, when Apple is rumored to release a new Air with a redesigned keyboard. The new keyboard will reportedly abandon the "butterfly" mechanism that Apple’s used across its MacBook line for the past few years, and which has caused widespread reliability issues. Instead, it’ll use a more traditional "scissor" mechanism with keys that travel further down when you press them.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Airs also use Intel’s 10th-generation Core processors, which will bring a major leap forward in performance and battery life. Apple is often first in line for new Intel chips, and these ones are designed specifically for thin-and-light devices like the Air. As I mentioned in Issue #29, I’m now holding off on buying a new laptop specifically to see what kinds of laptops these new processors bring.
 

While not a deal exactly, Verizon-owned wireless carrier Visible is currently lifting the speed limits on its $40 per month unlimited data plan. Provided you’re not in a congested area, that means you’ll no longer be capped at 5 Mbps. Visible says it’s offering the faster speeds for a limited time as a way to "learn more about member needs" ahead of some larger new service plan later this year, but anyone who signs up now will lock in those speeds for good. Visible operates on Verizon’s network, so it effectively provides the same coverage at a much lower price.

Also worth noting given today’s feature topic: Visible’s offering a $200 Mastercard debit card for online purchases when you buy a phone (iPhones included) through the carrier, or a $100 card if you bring your own.
 

Over at TidBits, Josh Centers has a great deep dive on solving hardware problems with a thorough cleaning. While it’s easy to assume that a faulty smartphone charging port, muted speakers, or even sluggish PC performance will require an expensive repair, you might be able to solve the problem yourself with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol, a can of compressed air, or even just a toothpick. I’ve certainly done my fair share of digging for lint with a paperclip in my phones’ charging ports and headphone jacks, but as Centers points out, even the most tech-savvy among us can forget the solution is that simple.
 

In the world of freelance tech journalism, I’ve got a kindred spirit in JR Raphael. We’ve both been in the business for over a decade, have written for several of the same publications, and love talking about ways to get more out of technology. Oh, and he also writes newsletters with both free and paid components.

JR’s main focuses are Android and Google, and I recently hopped on his Android Intel podcast to talk tech journalism, cord-cutting, Android TV, and my deeply-held beliefs on sandwiches. The podcast is normally exclusive to JR’s paid newsletter subscribers, but Advisorator readers can listen to this episode for free right here. Check it out and let me know what you think.

We’re also both offering discount newsletter subscriptions to our mutual subscribers this month. Sign up for the Platinum version of JR’s Android Intel newsletter with the code ADVISORATOR40, and you’ll get a permanent 40% discount. Consider it a bundle, of sorts.