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Sep 11, 2019, 10:00pm EDT |

Is It Worth Trading In An iPhone 8 Plus For An iPhone 11?

Anthony Karcz

I write about how to do more with your consumer gadgets.

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iPhone 8 Plus vs. iPhone 11

Apple

Every year, the Apple ecosystem gets a little more muddled. After all, when Apple sells iPhones that are three generations old, and they all look essentially the same, it's hard to keep track of which is which and what's what.

The reveal of the iPhone 11, with its distinctive dual (or triple) camera bump changes things significantly. Not since Touch ID went by the wayside has there been a better differentiator. But what if you're still rocking one of those old Touch ID iPhone 8 devices? Is it worth trading it in for an upgrade to the iPhone 11? Here's how the two phones compare.

iPhone 8 Plus

An Apple iPhone 8 Plus with a gold finish.

(Photo by Neil Godwin/T3 Magazine/Future via Getty Images)

I had the iPhone 8 Plus the weekend it came out and loved it. It was the biggest, fastest, most innovative iPhone on the market. With a 5.5" Retina HD display, 1920x1080 resolution, and the addition of TrueTone, it offered an incredibly crisp picture. The 8 series iPhones are where Portrait mode made its debut as well. The 8 Plus also has fast charging, 13 hours of battery life and wireless Qi charging. The A11 chip of the iPhone 8 Plus also has a neural engine onboard, assisting with image and speech tasks. If you regularly use 3D Touch (which would be odd since everyone, including Apple, has forgotten it exists), the 8 Plus has it, whereas the iPhone 11 doesn't. The 8 Plus only comes in two sizes, 64GB and 256GB. The one nice thing? Apple will give you $300, sight unseen, for a working iPhone 8 Plus when you trade it in as part of your new iPhone 11 purchase.

iPhone 11

Meet the iPhone 11.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The iPhone 11 has a bigger 6.1" display, but in a smaller overall body (nice trick, right?). It also has fun color options like lavender, yellow, and more—something that the iPhone 8 Plus distinctly lacks. In the specs department? Forget about it. The 8 Plus, once the absolute pinnacle of Apple's iPhone engineering, can't even come close to the new model.

The iPhone 11 has two individual 12mp lenses for wide and ultra wide shots. Those two cameras and its next-gen A13 Bionic Chip also allow it to shoot in Night Mode, something that Apple fans have been envious of ever since Google's Pixel showed off the same party trick last year with its Pixel 3. The upgraded camera also allows you to shoot video at 4K resolution with multiple cameras at once, allowing you to change the zoom on the fly. It's more durable than the 8 Plus as well: certified water resistant up to 2 meters (as opposed to just 1 meter). The battery life is also vastly improved, since the XR already got 1.5 hours more battery life than the 8 Plus, and the 11 gets 1 hour more than the XR, that's 2.5 hours of additional battery. Throw in the new Portrait Mode filters and it's pretty obvious that the 8 Plus has had its day in the sun.

Verdict

As you compare the devices, it's clear that the iPhone 11 provides a significant upgrade over the iPhone 8 Plus. What's even more tempting, however, is that Apple is currently offering premium prices on trade-in devices. Whereas the popular trade-in site Gazelle only offers $300 for a 256GB iPhone 8 Plus, Apple will give you $300 for any iPhone 8 Plus, no matter what the storage size. It's a pretty sweet deal if you're sitting on a 64GB model.

With a trade in, the iPhone 11 price drops to $399—making it a much more attractive buy. If you've been holding out, waiting for the right moment, now is the time. You're not going to get more from your iPhone 8 Plus than you can at this moment and the new devices are more than worth taking the plunge.

Shop the iPhone 11

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Anthony Karcz

I've been writing about technology, gadgets, and pop culture back before Apple had even thought of the iPhone. I've seen the rise and fall (and rise again) of Apple. I've

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