Is $1,100 too much for an iPhone? Get an older one for less

NEW YORK » The $1,100 price tag on Apple’s latest iPhone turned heads when the company announced it last week. But for less than half as much, you can still get a good camera, a decent-sized screen and other popular features.

Just buy a two-year-old iPhone 7.

That phone was Apple’s first to come with water resistance and its first to lose the standard headphone jack. Its 4.7-inch screen is adequate and on par with other smartphones, even though its resolution falls short of high definition. And the phone still has a fingerprint sensor and a home button, both of which have vanished in the latest iPhones.

Or, if you want to pay more for wireless charging, there’s the iPhone 8. An edge-to-edge screen? You’ll need the upcoming budget iPhone XR or one of its more expensive siblings. And if you want a supersized display, that’s where the $1,100 iPhone XS Max comes in. That model and a smaller version start selling in the U.S. and several other countries on Friday.

If you’re shopping for a new phone, it pays to think hard about what you really want and what you’re willing to pay for it. Improvements over the previous generation tend to be incremental, but can add up over time — and so do the sums you’ll pay for them.

Here’s what to consider if you’re thinking of bargainhunting in the iPhone history bin. IPHONE 7 ($449) » The big jump in iPhone cameras came a generation earlier with the iPhone 6S, when Apple went from 8 megapixels to 12 megapixels in resolution. With the iPhone 7, the front camera goes from 5 megapixels to 7 megapixels, so selfies don’t feel as inferior. Headphones go into its Lightning port, which is used for both charging and data transfer. It’s a pain when you want to listen to music while recharging the phone. For that, you need $159 wireless earphones called AirPods. Apple no longer includes an adapter for standard headphones; one will set you back $9 if you need it. IPHONE 7 PLUS ($569) » This larger version of the iPhone 7 has a second camera lens in the back, allow-

AP PHOTO/RICHARD VOGEL, FILE The new Apple iPhone 7 is displayed Sept. 16, 2016, at the Apple Store at the Grove in Los Angeles. In the iPhone 7, Apple boosted the front camera from 5 megapixels to 7 megapixels, so selfies don’t feel as inferior.