Chris Evans is done with his iPhone 6s — but he got the wrong upgrade

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Not that I needed another excuse to adore Chris Evans, but reading the eulogy the actor shared on social media regarding the demise of his humble iPhone 6s revealed his smartphone priorities are both relatable and unsurprisingly charming.

“RIP iPhone 6s. We had a good run. I’ll miss your home button. I won’t miss the nightly battle of trying to get you to charge. Or your grainy pictures. Or your sudden drops from 100% battery, to 15%, to completely dead all within minutes. It was a wild ride. Rest easy, pal.”

Evans totally earned my sympathy with the above tweet.

But the actor posted the same message on Instagram along with an image of his archaic iPhone 6s alongside what seems to be an iPhone 13 or iPhone 13 Pro. Given the criteria, or reasons he liked and disliked his bygone handset, I think he should have made a different choice when buying a new phone.

Sure, the iPhone 13 series are some of the best phones available now. The iPhone 13 Pro Max, the most premium model among Apple’s current iPhone lineup, offers top-notch performance, battery life and camera quality.

Though it doesn’t have the feature Chris Evans loved most about the iPhone 6s: the home button.

Why Chris Evans should get the iPhone SE

The iPhone SE (2022) is by no means a spectacular phone, but it retains a beloved iPhone feature. I’ve written about how the iPhone SE 2022 has a big advantage over iPhone 13, celebrating Touch ID’s practicality thanks to the home button. 

I'd give almost anything for Touch ID on the iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to return to the premium iPhone lineups. Without listing the obvious differences between iPhone SE (2022) vs. iPhone 13, I’d say the iPhone SE is superior on the grounds of letting me get into my phone easier. 

Though I don’t know Chris Evans — a girl can dream — the heartfelt goodbye message to his iPhone 6s convinced me he shares my sentiments towards the iPhone home button. 

Evans also lamented the iPhone 6s’s fickle charging and dismal battery life. But guess what? The iPhone SE lasted 9 hours and 5 minutes on the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 5G at 150 nits of screen brightness. Now, that’s not the best phone battery life, but it would be a major improvement over his 6-year-old iPhone.

Better yet, the iPhone SE juices up quickly with a 20W Apple charger. We got to 61% in 30 minutes, which seems like an ample charging window between Evans’s takes on movie sets. Or when he walks his adorable dog Dodger. Or when he’s simply idling around being handsome… I digress.

Along with bad battery life, Chris Evans said he wouldn’t miss the iPhone 6’s “grainy” photos. But if he’s made it this far, again, the iPhone SE will feel like a major upgrade. Despite a single,12-MP rear camera, the iPhone SE takes great photos with the help of the A15 Bionic processor’s computational photography. It’s an excellent camera phone for the price.

Speaking of price, I’m going to assume Captain America can afford any smartphone he wants. So the iPhone SE’s $429 starting price vs. the iPhone 13’s $799 starting price probably doesn’t matter. He’s held on to an aged smartphone, not upgrading on a new device every year or two like many of us. Since the iPhone 6s isn’t among the iOS 16 supported devices, he was certainly due for a change, but it’s pretty evident the move had nothing to do with money. 

Regardless, I wish Chris Evans well with his new iPhone. I maintain the iPhone SE would be his ideal upgrade, and you can bet I'll let him know that if I ever get the chance to meet him.

Kate Kozuch

Kate Kozuch is the managing editor of social and video at Tom’s Guide. She covers smartwatches, TVs and audio devices, too. Kate appears on Fox News to talk tech trends and runs the Tom's Guide TikTok account, which you should be following. When she’s not filming tech videos, you can find her taking up a new sport, mastering the NYT Crossword or channeling her inner celebrity chef.