Should You Buy an iPhone X?

So you’ve already got a newish iPhone that’s working perfectly fine. But now the iPhone X is coming out. It’s hot. It’s sexy. And it’s the most expensive iPhone to-date.

But is it really worth the upgrade?

Here are a couple of thoughts that went through my head.

To buy an iPhone X…

📱

…you’ll have to fork over $999.

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

…which could buy you approximately 83.25 one-liter steins of beer at Oktoberfest in Germany¹.

🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺 🍺

All those cold ones would get you about 16 mighty hangovers (depending on your tolerance level).

🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🤢 🍕

When you buy an iPhone X, you’ll probably end up with yet another sticker.

🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍎

And you’ll have to spend several hours getting your old iPhone backed up and migrated to the new one…

🕘 + 🕙 +📱📲

…resetting your old phone…

📱💭

…putting your old phone on eBay…

📸📱eBay

…dealing with buyer questions…

📧📧📧📧

…boxing it up and shipping it…

📦

…then dealing with any dubious after-sales requests.

🤑😣😡

To earn enough to buy an iPhone X…

…you’d have to flip burgers or bus tables for 95.14 hours for a minimum wage of $10.50 per hour in California²…

⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳ ⏳

…which is like 9,5 feature-length movies.

🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿

So that’s 11.89 eight-hour work days at $10.50 per hour…

📆 📆 📆 📆 📆 📆 📆 📆 📆 📆 📆 📆

…that could otherwise be spent at the beach.

🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖 🏖

An iPhone X will cost the environment

The environmental report for the iPhone X is not out at the time of writing. But if it’s anything like the iPhone 7, then buying an iPhone X leaves a carbon footprint of 56kg CO2¹:

CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂ CO₂

That’s roughly the amount of carbon dioxide an average adult human exhales in 70 days⁴…

😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤 😤

…or the amount of CO₂ you are responsible for when you drive a small gas car around 325 kilometers⁵.

🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗 🚗

To offset that, you’d need to plant 5.3 sapling coniferous trees in an urban setting⁶

🌱 🌱 🌱 🌱 🌱

…and wait until they reach a medium size…

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

…which will take you…

10 years.

So, by the time you've offset the greenhouse gas emissions for your iPhone X...

...you'll probably have to decide whether to buy the iPhone XX.

Sources

¹ “It’s Shocking How Much a Beer Costs at Oktoberfest This Year”. Fortune. Retrieved: 2017-08-15.
² “Minimum wage in the United States”. Wikipedia. Retrieved: 2017-08-15.
³ iPhone 7 Environmental Report. Retrieved: 2017-08-15.
⁴ “Carbon Dioxide, Part 2: Walk, Drive a Car, or Ride a Bike?”. Blog post on Globe.gov. Retrieved: 2017-08-15.
⁵ Carbon Balanced Transport Calculator. World Land Trust.
⁶ Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator - Calculations and References. United States Environmental Protection Agency.