Everyone’s threshold for repairing versus replacing an iPhone is going to be a little bit different. Sure, the hot new device is tempting and you want to have the newest and best phone out there, but constantly upgrading just to upgrade is expensive and may not be worth your money, especially if there’s a quick and inexpensive fix. On the other hand, if you are going to be spending almost as much as an iPhone is worth just to repair it, it may make more sense to buy a new one. Here’s a few easy guidelines to know the difference.

How Old Is Your iPhone?

If your phone is less than two years old, there’s a good chance that it is not even eligible for a carrier upgrade yet. Those upgrades can help save you a lot of money when you get a new phone, and you may even have to pay a fee to change your phone or pay for the entire phone out of pocket. Fees and new phone charges are expensive, so a relatively new phone may be worth repairing.

However, the flip side of that is when you have a phone older than a preschooler. If your iPhone has been around since your kid was born, and now they are learning their ABC’s, it is probably more cost effective to buy a new one than to keep repairing an old one on its last rings.

How Badly is it Damaged

Plenty of people are able to walk around with a crack in the screen and still use their iPhones for everything that they need. There are even shops, like iphone 6 screen replacement Montreal, that will fix a cracked screen for relatively little money, especially compared to a brand new one. So if the damage is minor or cosmetic, replacing it right away probably isn’t your best bet.

Major damage, however, will probably require a new phone. If the phone is no longer usable, whether because you ran it over with your car and crushed the internal mechanics or dropped it in the swimming pool and the rice trick failed, then you can probably go ahead and treat yourself to a new phone. New phones often come with warranty packages, so if you think you might do it again, the warranty will take care of the replacement or repair for you, and save you some trouble next time around.

Cost-Comparison Guidelines

Most people in the IT industry will say that the best way to decide between a repair job and a replacement job is the 50 percent rule. If the cost of repairing an iPhone is greater than 50 percent of buying a new phone, go ahead and buy the new phone. Some people amend that to say that if the phone will be the same type and system, the rule should be 75 percent. When a phone is older, the upgraded system becomes a nice bonus. So if you have an older phone and it breaks down, you are in luck. You probably should go ahead and get the upgrade to a new phone.