How long do you keep your phone before buying a new one? It is based on this article that especially Apple fanboys, buy a new phone every year when the new one comes out.
I’ve had my iPhone 11 for 7 years. I have no strong desire for a new one either. I just need to replace the battery on this one and it should be good a for a few more years.
I’m on my 18th phone in 29 years.
I worked in app development for half that time, so there was a strong incentive to be on the latest if there were any new innovations to support.
I came here ready to say “between 2 and 3 years on average” but after seeing your message I decided to count how many phones I’ve had and I’m disappointed to see I got to 21 phones in 23 years.
3 phones were stolen; 2 were complete trash that I regretted buying; 1 got destroyed within 2 months of purchase. 1 was a dumb phone I needed as an extra at one point. 1 was a free upgrade I got for work.
For a while I was just too cheap with the phones I was buying. Other than the Nokia Lumias, those cheap phones always had some kind of issue that would drive me insane after a while. They also didn’t really work well for very long so I “had to” change more often. Once I started paying more for phones (like $200) I started keeping them longer too. I only recently replaced my 2021 phone.
I own my Fairphone 4 for a bit over 4 years already. Bought a new battery once and some screen protectors. It’s still doing great and I don’t understand why I would need a new one any time soon.
5 years for the last one, hopefully much longer with this one.
Last one was an iPhone 13, but the battery was shot. I wanted to get out of bit techs grasp, so I gave that phone away and bought a Fairphone 6 and put e/os on it.
As long as possible.
Either it dies, or the battery does and there’s no longer replacements available; or, the manufacturer stops updating it and a there’s no support for a third party OS.
Every other day! I just can’t help myself! A new model is released and the hype machine starts up; updates are released to downgrade performance on older models–I just wag my tail non-stop! It’s so exciting! Those flashy lights and colours! Ooooo! This money belongs in their wallets and everyone’s going to get a hold them! And I tell myself pathetic lies: oh, the battery can’t be replaced… if only it had screws… it’s way too hard to heart up glue and put a new battery in. Besides–all my friends are going into debt too! Plus those new features: it can make phone calls and text! Look! E-mail access too!
4-5 years with a battery replacement at year 2-3 for a refresh. Now I’m trying to hold out for the new Motorola/graphene os phone
Used to buy one every two years or so, either to upgrade or they had failed in some way. Used to spend $1000+ on them too, which is ridiculous looking back with how often they broke.
Had a $2000 phone stop charging and they refused to service it without a huge fee and shipping it oversees. (Asus for anyone wondering. I’ve fully gone off the brand since then. Very overpriced with terrible customer service.)
I was waiting for a call back after a job interview so I went and bought whatever cheap phone I could get and ended up with an oppo. That was in 2019 and it’s still going perfectly fine. Phones haven’t innovated at all since then and with how much they cost I kind of just don’t care to upgrade.
5 years the last one.
The hardware, including battery, worked great. But it has been lacking updates for some years and I’m worried about vulnerabilities. LineageOS was also not available for this phone.
I bought a phone with 7 years updates and my initial intention is keeping it for 7 years. More if an stable and secure version of LineageOS is available down the line.
Only when the current one dies
Current phone is just shy of 4 years old. I have no intention of changing it. I’ve been looking after the battery, trying to keep it in the 80% to 20% range with the occasional full charge so it’s still going strong.
Last one I got 5 years out of.
4-5 years
I will use it until it stops being viable. This used to mean “until the battery dies”, but I’ve also swapped batteries in phones not designed for it, and still had to get a new one as the batteries available weren’t OEM and so bad they basically didn’t work despite being new. Like phone always just turns off at like 40% charge. That isn’t “viable” in my eyes.
Now I’ve got a Fairphone 5. It’s only been a few years, but I’m planning on 10+ years if I can make it happen. In theory some new feature could get me to buy one sooner, but I highly doubt it. Hasn’t happened in the past either.
5 years before even thinking if I need to change. Mostly longer than that as long as it holds up well. We’re well past the point of any meaningful upgrades in hardware. A flagship phone should last anyone a really long time.
When the cost of repair, usually the screen, exceeds the used price of the phone. I’m currently on a pixel 6a with a broken screen and it’s at that point now, think it’s been 4 years and 3 screens. On screen broke falling from the sofa on to the carpet, which was annoying as it had no external damage
