Curious to see what the trends are
When it no longer works. Current one is 4 years old and everything except the fingerprint scanner is still working fine.
Mine is 4 years old and still works perfectly fine. I did start looking at some phones with a better camera recently, because my wife got a new one not so long ago and the difference in picture quality is almost absurd. But then I have also started looking at getting an actual camera to remedy that, for the price of a flagship phone you can get some amazing digital camera’s.
Same. I guess I’m hard on my phones, because usually I start having microphones, speakers, and buttons start failing at about the 2 year mark. My last phone was still perfect at the 2 year mark, but I dropped it on carpet from 2 feet off the ground and the touchscreen didn’t work anymore. I was leaving on a trip like 3 days later, so I didn’t have time to get it repaired.
So I’m pretty consistent about getting a new phone every 2 years.
I usually get mid-range phones, though. Like the cheap ones from high end brands. My current phone is the entry level pixel 7, which I got for $500. I don’t really mind spending $500 every other year.
I usually keep my phone until it has degraded / become so incredibly slow, that I can’t use it properly anymore.
Yes which is usually at least 3-5 years.
People can (rightly) shit on Apple, but my phone has been working for 5 years now, still works quite well, with only the battery life being an issue. As long as easy charging is within reach, I’m unlikely to get a new phone.
I didn’t realize people’s phones actually broke down in less than 5 years, I thought they just upgraded because they wanted to.
I’ve had my Sony XZ2C since 2018 and I haven’t had any issues. I’m sure the battery must have been better in the past but it easily lasts me the day, so I don’t really notice.
I’ve been poor long enough that the phone companies have learned not to fuck with my phone. Whereas a richer person would respond to a remote nerfing by buying a new phone, I respond to a remote nerfing by cursing and battling through whatever simulated tech shade they throw my way. I think they just realized it’s not worth the effort as it will never result in me buying a new phone.
Agree, iPhones’ longevity is hard to beat
New batteries are really not a big deal, and keep the phones more useful up to the end. We keep iPhones in the family about 6 years, but halfway through replace the battery and give them to the kids
When it stops receiving OS version updates
Only when it physically breaks beyond repair. And even then, sometimes I buy the same model again.
I take good care of my phones, so they physically last longer than the firmware does. I upgraded my Pixel 3a to a 7Pro because the 3a would start freezing, crashing apps, rebooting, etc, pretty much making it unusable for anything longer than a couple of phone calls or 15 minutes of internet/socials usage.
I imagine I’ll have this phone for like 4-5 years, fingers crossed.
Why upgrade when it still works?
The problem with waiting until it’s totally and completely borked is then you have to panic scramble to get another phone instead of planning out a purchase. And I had difficulty doing this because my bank wanted to verify it was me making a large purchase…but my phone wouldn’t work so I couldn’t authenticate myself because that’s how everyone authenticates themselves. It’s a whole ordeal.
Granted, this can even theoretically happen with a new phone if you drop it or something. But at least with an old one, there are often signs before it goes completely kaput. My beloved cheap ass Motorola phone would bootloop occasionally and started doing it more and more often toward the end of its life. One morning before work it just totally died and would never turn on again, not even able to get the boot screen. (Troubleshooting revealed unfixable eMMC failure.) That was a fun couple of days trying to figure out how to buy a more expensive item without authenticating myself on my phone lol.
If it starts to show problems I would prepare in advance of course but so far I have my S10 for over 4 years and it had zero problems so far.
How much do you spend on a phone that your bank tries to stop you? I think you have been ripped off
I had only ever purchased cheapo phones. Decided I wanted to splurge with a flagship at the local Best Buy and got a hard stop from my bank who wanted to verify it wasn’t a fraudulent charge. I wasn’t being ripped off. It was the normal price of the phone. I splurged on some new tech lol.
Funny thing is after giving up on that route, I made the purchase for the exact same amount on Amazon instead and it went through no problem lol.
Damn, your bank seems to have an awful lot of control over your bank account.
I bought my S10 for 350€ on Amazon when it was on sale. Might have even been my last buy from Amazon
It’s really not that deep. It was a charge of $1000 from a retailer I don’t normally purchase from. That’s not a regular occurrence. The only other time I had my bank ask me for verification was when I was withdrawing a large amount of cash from an ATM, which I also don’t normally do.
I see, I just never heard of that before. After looking it up I saw that I could transfer 100 000€ without my bank saying anything.
I usually sell my old phone and buy a new to me used phone. The cost for upgrading is usually only $100-150 for me and I typically end up getting a pretty massive upgrade hardware wise. I haven’t had a brand new phone in over a decade now.
These days phones don’t even make those big jumps anymore and these huge camera arrays really put me off anyway.
Only when forced to by the phone breaking, switching providers, or, as in the case of my last phone, when they shut down a network (2G).
Whenever it stops working.
This is the way.
Generally about every 4 years - I feel like it’s the sweetspot between longevity and keeping up with the technology, plus that’s usually around when updates stop and physical issues start
I switch phones when they become unusable, so about 4 years in my experience. That’s plenty for me, especially since I buy older (cheaper) models. Also, I’m rough on my phones so I outfit them with heavy-duty cases from day one.
My previous phone was a LG Stylo 3. It lasted 5 years, albeit with greatly decreased battery capacity. I was just thinking of ordering a replacement battery when it suddenly bricked itself while charging… first time I ever lost a phone unexpectedly. Before it I had a Samsung Note 2 - its charging port started failing but I still managed to backup everything by hotwiring the battery.
I really wish we could repair phones more easily and cost-effectively. I just can’t accept that something that costs ~500 CAD is “temporary”, technological changes be damned.
Sounds like you should go for the fair phone next
Thank you for reminding me of it! I looked into it a couple years ago but it wasn’t available in Canada. Now there are a few stores that ship internationally and there are much less network compatibility issues. Excellent news!
When my battery dies or there is a REAL upgrade not just a new camera. Or my dog eats it (it happens)
Bruh
About four years on average. I would go longer, but at that point the phones I buy tend to go buggy. I buy phones in the € 250 to € 300 range.
Whenever the one I have stops working. The last few have kept going for 2-3 years until they wouldn’t charge. This time I have a case that covers the charge port from dust, I expect to keep it going 3-4 years.
I switched to mostly using wireless charging after the charging port wore out on my last two phones. Hopefully that will keep my 2.5 year old phone going for another year or two.
Work exposure to extreme heat and cold usually kills mine every year. I’m looking seriously at repairability.
My iPhone 8 from 2017 is still going strong, it replaced an iPhone 4 (2011-ish I think) when WhatsApp, the bank’s app, and other important applications stopped working. I guess I’ll have to switch later this year or maybe next since the battery life is getting too short and summers hit it good. I hope they make the iPhone 16 tough cause it has to last me until the put out the 32 to keep on this neat powers of two progression lol.
