I am sure not a lot of people would readily agree to shell out $1250 for a phone, but I am one of those people who believe a smartphone especially iPhone is still cheap. Considering the insane amount of technology it consists of, packing in a great camera, great software, great user experience. Of course, you can buy an older one for cheap but then you would have to buy a new one sooner.

Considering people refresh their phones every 4 years if they start with the latest phone, iPhone 8 would need to be replaced in 2021, XR in 2022, and11 in 2023.

If you have to buy 128 GB iPhone today (Nov 24, 2019)

You are essentially paying:

$250 per year for 2 years to use iPhone 8

$216 per year for 3 years to use iPhone XR

$187.5 per year for 4 years to use iPhone 11

$312.5 per year for 4 years to use iPhone 11 pro max 256 GB

Through these metrics, iPhone 11 sounds like a great and rational deal. 11 pro max is a really an individuals choice so it may or may not be irrational.

Let me know if I am missing something is this analysis.