2026-06-02

Lilli and I had iPhone 11s that we bought in 2019. They were no longer supported by Apple and Lilli's had a black line across the display caused when Grimm the cat pushed the phone off the desk. Battery capacity of our phones had degraded to about 75%. It was time.

We decided to get new phones and pay for them over time. We went to the AT&T store in Egg Harbor Township and spoke to salesperson Greg.

Results

This was an easy and pleasant transaction. Took about an hour. We left with new iPhone 16s. All of our software was installed and running.

We ended up paying less on our phone bill every month despite paying for the new phones.

Recommendation

Greg was terrific. He was patient, knew his products, and knew how to set up the new phones and move the data from our old phones to the new.

iOS 26.5

The new phones came with iOS 26.5. We had been running 26.4.2, and Greg had to upgrade our phones before migrating their contents to the new phones.

We bought 2 phones, with screen protectors and cases for each.

Features

We didn't use the AI features on the old phones and we didn't turn them on for the new phones.

Things we had to buy

New iPhones don't come with chargers or cables. Our new phones use USB-C cables instead of USB-A. Afer we got home I had to buy a bunch of things from Amazon:

• 4-pack USB-C fast wall chargers with cables $40
• Car cigarette lighter socket dual USB-C charger $16
• 5 USB-C to USB-C braided cables, mixed lengths $10

Things we may buy later

• USB-C wired earbuds ($7-$19/pair)