All the little things

If you want to enjoy stereo sound from your device, you’ll need an iPhone 7 or later

We’ve covered the major bases here, but there are a few more things to think about.

For example, if you want to enjoy stereo sound from your device, you’ll need an iPhone 7 or later – earlier iPhones lack the feature. Speaking of audio, you’ll need to buy an iPhone 6s or earlier if you want to hook up a pair of your wired earphones without needing an adaptor.

Splash damage

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are also the first models to be water and dust resistant, which is useful if you’re worried damaging your prized new iPhone.

And if you’re fed up of cable spaghetti, the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X all feature wireless charging (although you’ll need to get a wireless charging pad as well).

3D Touch lets you press a little harder on your iPhone screen to get extra functionality and options, both in apps and the Home screen. It’s only available in the iPhone 6s or later (though not the SE).

Let’s not forget battery life. Apple says the SE’s battery lasts for 14 hours of talk time on 3G, as do the 6s, 7 and 8. The iPhone 6s Plus gives you up to 24 hours of 3G talk time; you’ll get around 21 hours on the 7 Plus, 8 Plus and X. In general use, Apple claims the 7 and 7 Plus get up to two hours more juice than the 6s and 6s Plus. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the same as the 7 and 7 Plus, but the X gets about two hours more battery life.