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 kept my last phone maybe 5 years. I replaced it because my bank’s app no longer supported the old Android version and the mfg no longer provided updates.
I replaced it with a !LineageOS@lemmy.ml device because I decided not getting updates was a deal breaker.
every 5 years, which imo is even too often. the reason is usually a combo of os slowdown/battery life/lack of storage which really is a little ridiculous. f capitalism!
I buy a new one when my current one is having so many problems it’s hard to ignore. I didn’t get a smartphone till 2020. Before then it was cheap pay-as-you-go phones. That phone was a moto g power and I had it till last year when it was getting to be too slow and the screen shattered when dropping it on my way out of work. I got a pixel 10 since my phone plan gave a massive discount on it.
My good friend gets a new phone as part of their plan every 4 years, so they give me their old phone and I give my old phone to my partner. Haven’t bought a phone in over 12 years, but I guess you could say I change phones every 4 years.
Longtime Apple fanboy here, I bought an SE in 2014, upgraded to the XS in 2018, and the 16 pro in 2024, so once every ~5 years or so. Couldn’t imagine buying a new phone more frequently than that.
at the moment i use iphones have for several years. I buy a new phone when the old one isn’t supported or when it is going so slow that it’s borderline painful to use it. it ususally is no longer supported by that time .
I only buy crappy ones, so usually every 2-3 years, but this Samsung a06 is making me think I should buy a new phone after only 1 year because it’s pretty bad!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
