Fast Charge: No matter what the iPhone 12 does, 2020 is not a year to upgrade

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand, you’ll have seen numerous rumours and “leaks” appear about Apple’s iPhone 12  in the headlines this week.

Rumours about the next iPhone aren’t new, but this week they’ve been particularly rampant with reports emerging about the new handsets’, specs, price and potential delays, thanks to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

And, while the rumours do paint a fairly pretty picture – with reports suggesting the new iPhones will include key new features like high refresh rate screens, 5G connectivity and radically improved cameras – for me there’s no getting round the fact that, given what’s going on in the world, 2020 is not the year to pay for an £1000 upgrade of your phone.

This isn’t because 2020’s flagships have been bad and, being clear, my point isn’t limited to Apple’s flagship. It’s because, with a second lockdown looking likely there’s little benefit to grabbing a new phone.

Think about what our day-to-day existence is at the moment. Despite efforts from the UK government, most non-essential workers are still working from home. Even if you aren’t, restrictions on social gatherings mean you’re not exactly going to be painting the town red after you finish work. Instead, you’ll likely be making a beeline home to avoid public transport at all costs.

With this in mind, ask yourself, what benefits would a new iPhone bring you? 5G is great, but if you’re home all the time you’ll be relying on Wi-Fi. A better camera? Unless you’re documenting your attempts to become a nuclear fallout survivor learning to bake and pickle food, what’s there to take photos of?

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The only possible benefit would be getting a bigger screen to watch TV and movies on. But honestly when you’re at home why invest in a phone for that?

If you’re in a shared flat there are plenty of great HDR ready tablets and iPads on the market. If the rumours are true and you must have Apple, the hotly rumoured iPad Air 4 is expected to make its debut next Tuesday, and will likely be a much better purchase if you want a new device for Netflix or Disney Plus.

If not, you can get a fairly awesome TV for the same price, if not less, than a top-end iPhone. Again, a better option if you have the space.

If gaming’s more your thing, why go for a small screen iPhone? If you have a TV then the PS5 and Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are expected in the very near future, and will do a lot more to entertain you than what’s on Apple Arcade.

For these reasons, no matter how good the next iPhone is, I honestly can’t see it being a must have purchase during lockdown the same way iPhones of yore were, especially when there are so many better purchases to make to keep you happy during lockdown life.