My first thought with the new phone: “Will I actually use this?”
Last month, at a conference in Nanshan, Shenzhen, I put my old iPhone and the new one side by side for night photography. I used to spend ages adjusting settings; now I can shoot, pick the highlights, and move on. For those of us building a personal brand, that’s tempting. But I’ve been stuck there too: the excitement lasted two days, then work swallowed the time I needed to learn what exactly it saved me.
What It Is—And Why I’m Not Replacing My Phone Yet
The most valuable part isn’t “prettier photos.” It’s that the phone folds several separate steps into the shooting process: automatically identifying key moments, reducing unusable shots, and organizing usable footage. During a street shoot in Shenzhen, fellow photographer Lin Zhe took more than 40 candid photos with the new phone. Back in Hong Kong, he selected just 6 to publish—a process that took less than 10 minutes. Zhou Yan, who covers restaurants, recorded menu footage as short clips at a Kuala Lumpur restaurant and finished the next day’s restaurant-review prep that same day. Still, I see this more as a creative assistant than something that writes content for me.
How I’d Replicate It Today: Try Before You Buy
Cost: The phone starts at around RMB 10,000; the trade-in value of an old device depends on its condition. Software training and trial: RMB 0 and about 30 minutes. Technical barrier: Knowing how to use the camera and transfer files. First step: Open the built-in Camera app on my current phone and check “Settings” or options such as “Photographic Styles” to see whether it supports highlight detection, portrait background blur, or video organization. If those features aren’t available, I’d book an in-person demo through Apple’s website rather than pay first.
How I’d Time It by Stage
If I’m just starting and mostly writing and publishing static images, I wouldn’t chase the new phone. I’d borrow one for three workdays and track exactly how much time it saved. If I have one or two regular clients and need to deliver images or short videos consistently, I’d complete one real client project with it over a week, tracking usable-asset rates, revision counts, and publishing speed. If I’m scaling and my team shoots together, I’d pay more attention to batch organization, consistent styling, and device handoffs than to sample shots. A tight budget isn’t a problem either: this tool isn’t for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with waiting, and my old phone can still move forward with organized photo libraries.