I feel like that doesn't make a lot of sense for me, new phones lose a shit ton of value in there first year (this is true for even iphones, XR is worth like 450 used, so lost 300 dollars in value in 1 year). Maybe ill skip the "1st gen" of 5G but we will see, im one of the few people who could actually use a 5G phone rn, so with in a year it may be good enough for me personally. Obviously I will reevaluate that when that time comes, nevertheless i would want to have a phone that I can give up at that point if i decide I want a 5G phone. Also signing up fo the apple upgrade program makes 0 sense for me, if you read my title "Trying an iPhone for the first time" I am really not the kind of person that wants to be trapped into getting iPhones and spending tons of money.
Edit: just looked at the apple upgrade program, which does seem like something that could work for someone looking to upgrade in a year, though it still makes 0 sense for me.