Mind you, I've been wanting to do the switch for years but never having the opportunity to do so

So, this is what I did before I made the leap, I was due for an upgrade your n carrier.

I went with buying an older iPhone (I believe it was an iPhone 7, with an 84% overall battery health), I tested out everything on it but it's battery health prevented me from using it as a "daily driver", I went to my carrier's store and other stores that had the phone models out that you could play around with, so in the meantime I got another unlocked android that didn't have the navigation buttons (it was, in my eyes, android phone with iPhone 13 layout, everything done physically on screen).

After about 6 months of doing this, I finally took the plunge and upgraded my phone (on black Friday weekend 2022, so I'm relatively new to iPhone) and I can tell you honestly, I love the iPhone, I have the 13, it's battery life is amazing, I can easily get through the day on a charge, I have noticed that the colder weather zaps the battery more quickly but I'm pretty sure that is to be expected, I charged my phone to 100% last and took it off charge at 11:23pm, it is currently at 51% at 5:18pm.

So my suggestion would be try this if you can, if not then I wouldn't jump head first just yet until you are able to do some physical testing

If I was your mother and read this, I'd immediately take the phone away and not let you have it.

Reasons for this would be:

1. Disrespectful towards your parents, while your dad wanted to buy the iPhone but your mother did for you, she granted his wish for you.
2. I don't think she sees the iPhone as a "prize" but rather a gift for graduating. So be grateful for it.
3. My parents would woop my butt if I talked like this.

You are acting like an entitled little brat who thinks they should have everything given to them and be able to control the situation, I hope you don't talk to your mother like this and you should thank her for the gift, not "prize"

I see that too in my area, as one commenter said, private sales/trades usually are more profitable for getting the newest phone.

Now in the sense of the iOS updates, I don't see any difference with my battery life or battery health, mind you I'm new to iPhone (since black Friday weekend 2022) and I have the 13, so I basically went through iOS 16.1.2, 16.2 and now on 16.3, so I haven't seen many issues, I think what people don't realize is that with whatever improvements to the iOS that are done, it will take a toll on the battery for the first day or so for the phone to recalibrate

Android to iPhone here and so far I love it

And having AppleCare+ is cheaper than what my carrier wanted

Exactly

If you go into settings->general->model number, if it has an M as the first letter, it will be new

I got AppleCare+ for my phone, it’s my first iPhone ever