The iPhone 4 is undeniably sexy, and I’m quite sure that I want one. But is it worth retiring my reliable, three-year old original iPhone in order to upgrade?
On its face, all the features of iPhone 4 put my aging but unfailingly trusty iPhone to shame. A beautiful new design, the smokin’ A4 processor, built-in videoconferencing, an improved camera, multitasking, iOS 4, the crisp new high-density display, much improved battery life, 3G data service, 802.11n WiFi support, MMS capability, GPS, expanded storage capacity, and on… and on… and on.
Yes, my original iPhone just cannot compete in terms of features. It can compete, though, on price. So, is it worth upgrading to iPhone 4?
Let’s take a look at the numbers.
I have essentially three options: keep my existing iPhone, upgrade to the iPhone 4 and stay on my family’s FamilyTalk plan, or upgrade to the iPhone 4 and split off my own AT&T account. Here’s the breakdown:
- The voice plan is the biggest chunk of the package. Right now, on the FamilyTalk plan, I have unlimited minutes, and pay only $10/month. If I were to upgrade to iPhone 4 and stay on FamilyTalk, nothing would change. But, if I were to create my own account, I’d pay $32 for 450 minutes per month—yes, more minutes than I’d ever use talking on the phone, but I’d be paying much more money for much less talk time.
- My current data plan gives me unlimited EDGE and GPRS data for $20/month. If I upgrade to iPhone 4, I get a 3G data plan capped at 2 GB of throughput per month. On FamilyTalk, I’d pay $25 for that service; on my own account, I’d pay $20/month. Paying the same amount per month for less data—but much faster data—is probably worth it.
- With my current iPhone, 200 SMS messages per month are included as part of the data plan; not so with iPhone 4. I’d have to pay an additional $5/month to get the same 200 messages. The ability to send MMS messages, which is included in the additional $5 monthly fee, is nice, but I’d probably never use it.
So, what’s the big picture?
- If I keep my current iPhone, I will spend $816 over the next two years ($34/month, including taxes and fees, for 24 months). There is no hardware to purchase, no activation nor upgrade fees to pay, and no sales tax.
- If I upgrade to iPhone 4 and stay on the FamilyTalk plan, I will spend a total of $1,417 ($299 for iPhone, $44 for sales tax, an $18 upgrade fee, and $44/month) over the next two years.
- If I upgrade to iPhone 4 and get my own AT&T account, I will spend a whopping $1,843 ($299 for iPhone, $44 for sales tax, a $36 activation fee, and $61/month) over the next two years.
And so, the question becomes, is iPhone 4 worth an additional $1,027 over the next two years? Is it worth another $601?
The answer? I’m not quite sure yet.




If this song doesn’t get your foot tapping, your hands clapping, and your voice at least a little bit sore, you may want to check your pulse.