Every year in the fall, new iPhones are released with some great new upgrades to the cameras. And like clockwork, the Twitterverse and YouTuber tech bubble go crazy and hail the new features as groundbreaking. And many of the new features are indeed great, laying the foundation of iPhone photography for years to come, further making advanced technology more accessible.

And every year, like clockwork the improvements made one or even two years are brushed over and some are even considered terrible.

An example is the camera system of the iPhone 12 Pro Max. When the iPhone 12 Pro Max came out, it was hailed as the “photographer’s camera”, with its 47% larger sensor and wider 1.8 aperture allowing for more detailed images. However the previous years’ iPhone 11 Pro Max was still not a slouch. Neither was the XS, X, 8, or those before it like the 4,5 or 6.

However all the camera comparisons on YouTube and tech blogs were doing “deep dives” camera comparisons illustrating how the previous iPhone camera perform so much worse than the new ones, and if you really care about taking great photos, you definitely need the latest and greatest iPhone.

In the world of cameras, this is referred to as Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S), not to be confused with ⛽️ or 💨.

When new models of Nikon, Canon, Fuji, or Sony come out all the blogs and reviewers go crazy over the new technical capabilities of the latest offerings. 25% better low light performance! 15% more dynamic range! 23.56% better AF when taking photos of your dog! 12.43% more detail captured when taking a photo of your drink! 28 more AF points!

Shot on iPhone 4 with an Olloclip Macro Lens

If you really want to see what you can take with an iPhone, don’t look at the photos Apple shares (they’re brilliant every year because professional photographers take them), look no further than the annual iPhone Photography Awards.

Most of the winnings photographs were not taken on Apple’s latest and greatest, including the grand prize winning photo (Shot on iPhone 7). One of the winning photographers from 2021 was shot on an iPhone 5S. That not only speaks volumes as to the capability of the cameras Apple has been putting out for years, but it also shows that like traditional cameras, the final image is only as good as the photographer using it.

Istvan Kerekes’ winning photos of IPPA 2021. Shot on iPhone 7

Buying a new iPhone each year won’t make you a better photographer, getting out and taking more and more photos will. Modern digital cameras are far more capable than film cameras from 50 years ago, yet we never look at the great photographs of the 20th century and wonder, “what model camera did they use? I’ll bet it was with a Nikon!” Although it probably was a Leica 😉

iPhone cameras from a few years ago are far more technically superior than the film cameras on which the greatest photographs of the 20th century were taken on, yet when it comes to digital and mobile photography, there is too much focus on gear.

Rene Ritchie (one of the best Tech YouTubers) has excellent advice when it comes to buying new gear, “If money is tight, wait as long as you can, buy when you *need*, get the best you can afford, enjoy with zero regrets, because there’ll always be something new/next”.

For tech (including cameras) is very easy to get caught up in the hype of YouTube reviews and blogs raving about all the cool new things the latest iPhone can do that your $ 1000-year-old phone can’t. But that doesn’t reduce its capability in any way.

It is a testament to the iPhone’s camera improvements that its ability to invoke the same need to upgrade as a regular camera upgrade would. The iPhone started out as an iPhone with a camera and is now considered a camera with a phone, and just like with a camera, the latest model won’t make you a better photographer.