A year later and faced with something of an underwhelming update, people like me are now back to the bad old days of not knowing when (or if) to upgrade our phones. So, what should you do?First, let's look at the upgrade plan you signed up for:Actually figuring out what to do is no easier than it was a year ago
You paid $439 to rent a phone and have to pay $439 more now or over the course of the next year to actually own it, at which point it will be two years (and probably two iPhone generations) old.
Assuming the phone is still in good condition, you can buy out your last year of the contract and then sell it on eBay for between $400 and $500, which will free you of your burden but will leave you phoneless.
Assuming you want to stay top-of-the-line but want to switch from Apple, you must now purchase a new Galaxy S7 for $620, a Galaxy Note 7 (assuming they stop exploding) for $950, or an LG V20 for a still unannounced price. Your mileage may vary here, but you can likely enter into a similar pay-monthly model with your carrier (or Samsung) for these phones. You still have to pay off your iPhone loan.
Actually figuring out what to do is no easier than it was a year ago, when phone subsidies were still common.
The iPhone 7 is—just as every previous iPhone has been—the best phone Apple has ever made. If next year's iPhone is really going to be the major upgrade everyone says it will be, you'd be stupid to continue paying the same amount of money for anything but the newest tech. If, however, the 2017 iPhone also sucks, you will feel DUMB for sentencing yourself to yet another year of monthly iPhone payments.Stick out the iPhone 6S until you own it, then decide what to do
This course of action gives you the option of selling the iPhone 6S in 2017 and upgrading to whatever phone you want. But if the phone you want ends up being the 2017 iPhone, then you will feel like an idiot for not bothering with the iPhone 7.Throw your phone in the river
As tempting as this option is, the joke's on you—you're still on the hook for the remaining 12 months of payment to Apple. This is the fundamental shift in the move away from cell phone subsidies: In the past, you paid your carrier $199 (or $299) for a pocket computer that could be worth up to $1,000. If you lost it, you got sad for a few days, then took a friend's old one and waited for your next upgrade. Now, we're paying the full cost, one way or another. And unless you can afford to front $700 or so every year (or just pay that outright, if you're not willing to sell your old phone), you'll be faced with the same upgrade conundrum we always had.We will all certainly face bigger decisions than this in our lives and there are worse things than having a slightly less than optimal phone experience for a year or two. But the iPhone Upgrade Program is predicated on the entire idea that Apple will design the best phone, every single year. If that doesn't actually happen, well, then I've got to at least give Apple respect for designing the best trap.Want more Motherboard in your life? Then sign up for our daily newsletter.