THE AGT UPGRADE GUIDE · AUTUMN 2026 EDITION
Don't waste your money. The written version.
Five years of sharing what I'd buy, and just as often what I wouldn't, collected in one place for the moment you're actually deciding. I'm not here to tell you what to buy, because I don't like telling people what to do. But I can share my experience, per buyer rather than per phone: the free tool works out your shortlist, this is where each pick gets the full call. Ultimately it's your money and your priorities.
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link or card on Stripe’s secure page, and you come straight back unlocked, guide in hand. Less than one percent of the phone it's about. If it isn't useful, reply to your receipt within 7 days and I'll refund it, no questions asked.
EARLY BIRD, FOR SUBSCRIBERS
Subscribed to the channel? It's £7 / $9 until Thursday 8 October.
Think of it as an honesty box. If you're already subscribed, take it, that's what it's for. If you're not, this is the moment: one tap, and the same price is yours. Either way, thank you.
That's YouTube's own button, so tapping it sets a Google cookie. It only loaded because you asked.
Code SUBSCRIBED is applied for you at checkout. Ends Thursday 8 October.
WHAT YOU GET THE DAY YOU BUY
- Your other two picks, unlocked. The bold move and the value play for your answers, by name, with my reasons. Unlocks on this site the moment you’ve paid, and with your key on any other device.
- The full ranked list for your answers. Every phone I weighed for you, in order, with the fit score.
- “Or similar”, for every pick. Two more phones per slot that fit you nearly as well, each with the one-line difference, so a pick never feels like a lottery.
- Storage: where the money quietly disappears. The one page that pays for the guide. Which tier, why 1TB is rarely the answer, and the SSD trick I use myself.
- Leaving the walled garden, or staying on purpose. What each Apple tie really costs to cut, the overlap method, and why staying is sometimes the smart money.
COMING FREE TO EVERYONE WHO'S BOUGHT
- Model by model: the config worth paying for, trade-in timing, the carrier play, and what I’d do in your position. One page per phone in the tool, in my words, from my testing. · rolling out through September
- Foldables: who should, who should wait. Including the iPhone Duo, the moment I have held one. · October
- The iPhone 18 update. Rumoured numbers replaced with real ones, and my verdicts once I have tested them. Free to everyone who already bought. · October
A guide full of prices ages fast, so it's date-stamped and refreshed rather than reprinted. You buy once; the edition keeps moving under you.
HOW IT WORKS
- Buy it. Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link or card on Stripe's page. Stripe emails the receipt.
- You land straight back on your results, unlocked. Your other two picks, the "or similar" phones and the ranked list open by name in the Upgrade Path; they're personal to your answers, so they live there rather than in the file. The written guide downloads alongside, and you're shown a key. On another device, paste the key, or recover it below.
- Updates are the same download. The file is always the latest edition, so come back with your key as chapters land. Tick the box in the tool and I'll also email you if a new review changes your picks. Nothing else is ever sent.
ALREADY BOUGHT IT?
THE INDEPENDENCE BIT
Every Apple product in here I bought with my own money; Apple has never sent me a review unit. Other brands do send units and occasionally pay for travel, and each review says so where it happens. Nobody sees a verdict early. I take no money from any carrier. Sponsor reads are stripped from written work. And every score in the guide is the same live number you can see on the review it came from, so this can never quietly disagree with the site.
QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK
- Your videos are free. Why pay?
- The videos are per product and per moment. This is per buyer and per decision, and it carries things the videos never do: the config worth paying for, when to trade in, the carrier maths, and a straight answer to "which one, for me".
- Won't it be out of date in a month?
- Prices, yes, which is why they're marked as rough and dated. The thinking, no. And buyers get the refreshes free for the season.
- What's not in it?
- Budget phones under about £500. That isn't what I test, so I'd rather point you at the channel than pretend. And anything I haven't held is labelled as spec-sheet talking, not me.
- Can I share it?
- It's a file, I can't stop you, and I'd rather you sent a friend this page. The key is what unlocks the tool, and it's yours.
- Refunds?
- 7 days, no questions, reply to the receipt. After that, if something's actually wrong with it, tell me and I'll sort it; that isn't a window.