What's the point of buying new phones every years?
What's the point of buying new phones every years?
Other than your carrier give it for free or cheap, I don't really see the reason why should you buy new phone. I've been using Redmi Note 9 for past 3 years and recently got my had on Poco F5. I don't see the point of my 'upgrade'. I sold it and come back to my Note 9. Gaming? Most of them are p2w or microtransaction garbage or just gimped version of its PC/Console counterpart. I mean, $400 still get you PS4, TV and Switch if you don't mind buying used. At least here where I live. Storage? Dude, newer phone wont even let you have SD Card. Features? Well, all I see is newer phones take more features than it adds. Headphone jack, more ads, and repairability are to name a few. Battery? Just replace them. However, my Note 9 still get through day with one 80% charge in the dawn. Which takes 1 hour.
I am genuinely curious why newer phone always selling like hot cakes. Since there's virtually no difference between 4gb of RAM and 12gb of RAM, or 12mp camera and 100mp camera on phone.
I mean, most of the population isn't buying a new phone every year, it's just that there are enough people using phones in general that at any given time there are people buying new models. It's the same reason why there are people buying cars every year.
I personally use my phones for about 3 years. Sometimes up to 4, but usually year 3-4 is when the battery degradation gets so horribly bad and performance stutters so much that I figure if I'm going to do a full reset and buy a new battery and all that, I might as well get a new phone.
I feel like when I was younger and phone tech was changing a lot in the early days of the iOS and Android the difference even 1 year made was sometimes huge. Nowadays it’s much more incremental. A slight processor boost here, a couple GB of Ram there. I think a large part as to why that is is two things.
One, the tech has stagnated to some degree. Innovation doesn’t exactly sell a phone to regular non tech folks, a stable “don’t have to think about it” experience is what most people are after.
Two, a lot more issues with the cell phone platform are solved with software rather than throwing around more powerful hardware.
All that being said when I was younger I loved the idea of bleeding edge tech in my pocket, I upgraded all the time. The appeal was more customization at a lesser cost to performance, I wanted all the bells and whistles and less of the jank that came with it. I’m a little older now and lean much more towards the “give me something that works and doesn’t crash for the 10 minutes I have to look at my phone” club.
For those that upgrade to the latest iPhone/Pixel every year no matter what, I chalk that up to lots of expendable funds. It doesn’t appeal to me any more but I can also recognize that there are probably plenty of people out there now, like I was 10 years ago, so it could also be a general interest in the tech and how the bleeding edge keeps pushing for faster, more efficient technology.
There is a HUGE difference in 4 and 12 GB of ram if you're using 20 different apps at once that are all running background tasks.
The camera raw megapixel are of little significance these days but things like optical zoom or a larger sensor and aperture make a lot of difference.
The main reason to upgrade otherwise is unsupported OS versions. you'll stop getting security updates leaving your phone vulnerable to attack.
Vanity, marketing and buying shit unnecessarily.
I have a Fairphone 3 that I got in January 2020. Its a great device. I want to using it daily for between 5 to 10 years. And I have no doubt it will do that.
Meanwhile my brother has bought 3 Samsung devices in that time. And each one still works fine. He doesn't need a new phone each time but he will still insist on it.
Status symbol. That, and many people are horrible with their devices. They drop them and scratch them, crack the screen, chip them.
They abuse them and load them with tons of apps. Fill up the phone with videos and photos. The battery holds less of a charge because many people use their phones as computers and will constantly be cycling it dead 3 times a day or more.
Apps update and use more resources and space. They could just clean up their phone, do a reset, and have a case for protection but choose not to and just buy a new one.
It's stupid I agree
Planned obsolescence wiki link
The world around you uses Instagram daily. They do need a better camera and all the AI photo enhancement filters. Plus, consumerism, you know.
Other than that, there's no technical reason to buy anything better than what flafhsips were a few years back. I have one and it's constantly underutilized.
I mean, maybe 5G or wifi 6 could be a reason to migrate.
The only time I ever "upgrade" is when I break a phone beyond reasonable repair. If batteries were easier / more cost effective to replace, I would keep this Pixel 4a a few more years. The battery is starting to lose capacity now, I'll have to check on the cost of battery replacement before too long.
Considering a Fairphone next time I do upgrade.
I totally agree :) I'm S10 until the thing melts, I managed to replace the battery under warranty and plan to rock it as long as humanly possible.
Headphone jack is a huge factor in that as I would not want to lose something I use every day, but also like you say, performance is fine! On top of that is the fact that I'm paying £8 a month for unlimited everything without a contract! :)
I guess there used to be a night and day change, and people kind of still expect that from the next flagship each time they're offered an upgrade?
That said, these days the trends tend to steer into things I don't use much, or improving what's already good enough - its a good time to be on a budget I guess! :)
It used to be that a new phone came with a relatively substantial new feature set. People have become accustomed to this and businesses have been built around this. At this point, it’s mostly about consumerism.
I’m still rocking an iPhone 12 Mini without the slightest hiccup as well as an original iPhone SE as my main music player. I used to be the person who got every new phone because there used to be such a jump in performance and hardware features. Now I have no reason to upgrade at all. Honestly, I’d love to get rid of my phone all together and just use an iPad, Apple Watch, and my camera and journal.
20 years ago, I had an insurance plan with AT&T. For $30 I could "replace" my phone under the insurance policy (once per year). Then the plan changed it was a refurbished phone not new..... then eventually the insurance plan went to a surcharge of $200 to replace with a refurbished phone.
Back in the old days I simply upgraded every one or two years under the insurance plan. But that was the days before smartphones really took off.
These days I don't have that insurance plan, and simply hold onto my phones as long as possible. I don't get it either.
I have a Galaxy S9 that I've had for five years and it just won't die on me. Not that I'm complaining, I honestly have no clue what I'll buy next. But I don't get the need to upgrade annually.
I buy used flagships.
A 1.5 year old flagship costs the same as a brand new midrange phone, but is significantly better.
I just got a S21 Ultra for cheaper than I would have paid for an A54. (Also Exynos is hot fucking garbage. I wanted to get away from Samsung altogether, but the price on this made sense and I has a snapdragon. Significantly better)
There are OS updates and there are security updates. Check with your manufacturer as these periods may be quite short, and considering how tied our finances and porivate info are to our phones, it could be a huge hazard. Most android manufacturers, for example, I think offer 2 years of OS updates and 3 or 4 years of security updates. Apples does 6 and 8 - which is wild to me for all the talk of Android users about FOSS and privacy and security. Samsung does 4 and 5, which IIRC, is one of the highest in the android world.
I'm certain someone will mention GrapheneOS, so let me get ahead of that: You can completely de-google your android phone and get as many years of OS upgrades as your hardware can physically support... but is the average person really going to do that?
Google provides a stripped down base Linux kernel to hardware manufacturers. This kernel works with android and allows the manufacturer to load all the proprietary code needed to support the processor, modem, and hardware peripherals without the manufacturer merging the source code into the mainline Linux kernel. This means the community can never support the hardware in the kernel. As software changes in android, features are added, and vulnerabilities are fixed, the only party that can update the device's kernel is the manufacturer. This is a criminal scheme to exploit the end user and force them to constantly buy new hardware. Proprietary is always about theft of ownership from the end user. It is a tool for exploitation. It is not about intellectual property or business. These arguments are praying on naïveté. Everything can and is reverse engineered in this hardware and software by every serious competing company. The only reason proprietary exists is criminal exploitation of the end user.
I just use my phone until it either breaks or can't do what I want it to do.
Since having kids they break more often.
A free phone from your carrier is never actually free. You will be paying for it over the next 6 months to 2 years.
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I like new cameras, higher refresh rates, and super fast page loads.
Selling my phone on Craigslist every year and buying new is about the same price as buying new every few years.
$1500 phone. 3 years. $500 per year.
$1500 phone. Sell for $900-$1000 at one year old. Buy new phone for $1500. $500-600 per year. And I have a always warranty (extended by my credit card).
Similar price per year, night and day better product.
I only get a new phone when my current phone just dies. The hardware for even the best phones out there really doesn't change much even in 5 year spans. It's actually kind of annoying. The biggest difference between the phone I have now and the first smart phone I ever had is a few hundred cycles faster CPU and it has 4 cameras instead of just 2.
I wish these things were like a desktop PC and I could just buy parts and build it myself so I could have the raw power I want.
No difference between 4GB of RAM and 12GB
You... You're serious? I guess if you're a super casual user, it won't matter. But if you want to do more at once, you need more RAM. Shit, even if you don't more RAM does make a difference when the apps start consuming more and more as time goes on.
In Canada, for years, you were almost a fool for not upgrading your device every two years. The "regular" plans we all had involved a 2-yr contract in which time your phone would be paid off. But after that term was up, the monthly bill remained exactly the same. It was stupid, but a lot of Canadians just said, "Welp. Might as well upgrade then." Then the CRTC here stepped up and told the big three carriers here to knock it off.
I had a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ that I held onto for three and a half years. That was the longest I'd ever kept a smartphone. It was going strong too. Alas, I found out security updates were knocked down to quarterly from monthly. And after this year, it would receive nothing more. I reluctantly looked into the Galaxy S23 Ultra as a replacement and thanks to a good deal, I have that phone now. It's an amazing device too and I hope it carries me for another 3+ years.
For me it's just an unhealthy fascination. Tech is the one place where consumerism got it's dirty claws in me. We didn't have a computer in my household until I was 15 and it was a super slow and old PC my older brother bought for $500. This was back in 1999. I eventually became obsessed with finding the best value for money mobile devices and bought way too many phones, laptops and computers.
There are people that like new things, there are people who prefer older things. I am willing to spend money on a new phone every 2 years because it is my main computing device. I, also, don’t miss a lot of things of older phones. I never used as SD card, I never replaced a battery, and I haven’t used wired headphones in a decade.
I like my iPhone 14, the LiDAR gives me a ton of cool applications, the camera takes the best photos I’ve ever taken before, it will be kept updated for the next 5 years and the always-on screen is very useful for unlock-free info.
If you trade-in a fairly new phone, you can heavily discount a new phone purchase as well. It’s more like leasing a car vs owning a car. Pay for the time you use the phone, return it while it still has value in the 2nd hand market and get a fresh phone.
On the other hand, my brother sticks his phone in his pocket all day and doesn’t look at it at home. He bought an iPhone SE a few years ago and it just works. He would argue buying a new phone is silly as well. But we use our phones very differently and so our purchase habits will be different.
I was at work last week and two colleagues loaded on an apple update to their phones. Their phones slowed to a crawl and lost battery charge quickly through the day. The next thing I saw was one of them with the internet browser open putting his credit card details in to buy a new iPhone £650 gone just like that. iPhone users wouldn't balk at expensive contracts or spending £600 quid on a new iPhone. It seems to me apple deliberately trash their phones and users accept it and upgrade to a newer model. I could understand if it was a cheap phone but jeeze crazy money for something with such a short lifespan. Would you buy a ln expensive TV if you thought it wouldn't last you any more than a couple of years?
As mentioned by others, security updates and the camera. If the right 'phone comes along at the right price, then is when I'll consider doing the upgrade. Upgrading when the latest greatest 'phone is released is something I would never consider.
I just like new phones 🙈
I bought a Redmi Note 11 pro last year and it's a great phone! Really though, buying new phones every year is something only well off people can afford (or people who are ok getting into lots of credit card debt). There really is no point right now, newer phones just aren't that much better and in fact smartphone sales worldwide are slowing down exactly because everyone who wants a good enough smartphone already has one. My current phone does absolutely everything I need, in fact it's much more powerful than my first laptop ever was, I can emulate most retro consoles, watch uhd videos, use any app I need, listen to all the music I want, I can even do things like use microsoft office on it. I don't need a new one, this works just perfect for me. The only thing that would make it better is to get it rooted so I can install a custom rom and get rid of xiaomi's bloatware infested android rom
IDK, I always buy used phones and pretty much use them until they either die or are no longer usable because they were abandoned by the manufacturer for too long. I haven't had a new phone in probably close to a decade now. The last new phone I bought was an Xperia Z3 Compact.
My iphone is almost 7 years old and still runs great. No problems with the battery, speed is just fine, everything is fine. I paid about $1,000 for it and I'm determined to squeeze every last penny of life out of it. No plans to change until it breaks or becomes unusable somehow.
I have Android 7 and Jerboa {the official Lemmy app) requires Android 8 or higher. So people told me to upgrade but I wasn't having that. It turns out there is a fork with Android 6 and 7 support that might get merged into mainline, so my phone will be cool for a while longer. But the upgrade pressure is out there.
I finally dropped my S10e too many times. I tried switching to my backup phone which was a Pixel 2 but it is pretty limited in terms of bands for my carrier. So I bought a Pixel 6a. I would love a Zenfone 9 but it is a tad pricey.
Would I have upgraded of my phone hadn't died? Probably. It stopped receiving security updates. The battery was starting to not last all day. There were some things it was starting to get slow on. The camera was okay in good lighting but shit in bad lighting.
Newer phones are not actually selling all that well. Still good but there aren't really likes it the door on release day like there used to be. People are keeping their phones for a lot longer now or opting for midrange ones.
I break them, then buy a new unlocked "last gen" phone cheap to replace it. I am usually one or two versions behind the "newest" phone, but I'm spending less than using carrier based device insurance. Phones have become like sunglasses to me. I don't buy particularly nice ones because I just destroy them.
Performance gains for certain software or games. Especially if you are into emulation then the higher power of newer flagships or better cooling design, mean that you can run more recent games on your phone. Same thing goes with camera lenses, better camera means you can get better shots so if you are into photography it makes sense to upgrade.
Thrift wise, there is never really a reason to upgrade as long as it still texts and makes calls but the non-phone features are why you would upgrade early.
I have been using my poco f1 for more than 4 years now, the only problem i have had is the battery. It has an sdcard slot, headphone jack, 6gb of ram which has been more than enough and latest lineageos is supported. see https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/index.en.html
The Google Pixel 7P that I have now I bought because I dropped the 6P on the ground so bad that it wouldn’t even start. The 6P I got because it had significantly better camera and was faster than the OnePlus 6T I had before. I know you say 100mp doesn’t make a difference from 12mp but there’s really a huge difference in image quality with the Pixel compared to the 6T, especially in low-light conditions or when you zoom. And it’s not just me, people have been commenting at how good the pictures are without even knowing what phone I own.
I also enjoy new features like the gestures to control apps. Overall, apps and the OS get slower because new features keep being added, and security updates stop coming, so I need to renew the hardware to keep up. I use the phone for hours a day every day, all year around, so I think it’s worth putting some money into it. But I don’t get a new one every year. Maybe 3 years, or possibly 2 years depending on what gets released.
Because the megacorps who make the phones like money and that's how they get it.
From an individual perspective, unless you can afford it and like having the new phones, there's basically no point in upgrading every year.
It's turned into the car stereo thing. In 2002, I wanted a rainbow vomit colored faceplate, CD-R and MP3 support, CD carousel in the trunk, a USB port, steering wheel remote
Now I just want bluetooth, an aux in and a volume button.
Until phones merge with a steamdeck or something, there isn't much to look forwards to anymore.
My phone from 2014 pretty much did everything my current phone can. Certainly nothing worth spending hundreds of dollars on if you have a working cell.
The only feature that motivated me to upgrade to my latest phone was a much better camera and I wanted that for traveling.
I had an S10E that I loved. But then I had a baby and wanted better pictures as memories. So I upgraded the camera I had on me at all times, and went for an S22U. Took a while to get used to the huge size difference, but I couldn't be happier.
Also got it 'used' from Facebook marketplace, brand new in its box for almost half price. The guy had it as a free upgrade from his service provider, didn't want to change phones, and wanted some quick cash for it. Had all the paperwork and everything.
Been rocking a oneplus 8 for the last two and half years, replaced the back glass a couple times and the battery once. I definitely don't baby my phone, it's a tool meant to be used, but overall am pretty good at not dropping things so I can reckon I'll keep going with it until it gets too slow or something breaks.
When choosing a new phone, I usually go for something new that's one level below the latest flagship, and check to see if LineageOS is being developed for it, as then I know it's likely to receive software updates for long after I've moved on to the next.
Thing is, I like, many people here, am a techie, and I'm not afraid to install custom ROMs and open up my phone for repair. The majority of people don't want that, so I'm really looking forward to the upcoming EU regulation on user replaceable batteries! Then it's possible for everyone to keep their phone for longer.
Exactly this. I bought a Oneplus 7 Pro for AUD $750 ($500 USD) in early 2020 and tried to "upgrade" to an iPhone 13 Pro recently. Ended up giving it to my husband and have no plans on getting a new phone again until this one dies. This phone was the last good Oneplus phone before they started transitioning to...whatever they are now. I've rooted it, I've switched ROMs a few times, I've unrooted it and gone back to stock ROM. Love this 2019 phone that seems to be unlike anything else available in the market rn.
My mother in law died after long sickness and she kinda connected phones, not the best, not the most expensive, but now I'm stuck with 8 phones, all ok for me, this one has that, and that one has this, I'm very confused what I should do, but on principle I'll never to buy a phones for 1300 € plus, that's about what a decent one would cost me these days, nope, never. Now I'm up to rooting My collection of Chinese spying apparati, yeah! I WILL SURVIVE THIS! Cheaply!
When I find a good deal on a used/refurbished/open box phone on eBay I grab it and throw it in my drawer until my current phone breaks or becomes considerably difficult to use. I haven't paid more than $250 for a phone in a long time.
The convenience of not replacing the battery.
I'm in a good financial position and swapping the battery isn't rocket surgery, but it's a bit of a risk I'm not willing to take. Plus Pixel phones go on a decently deep discount in September before the next model is released.
And I wait until the battery is bloated so it's kinda a safety thing too.
Still rocking my iPhone 7, and I’m planning on using it until it completely gives out. I agree that there’s very little reason to get a new phone, these days pretty much all of the improvements are just incremental and have no effect on the basic functions—calls, texts, web browsing, etc. Hell, even the fancy new cameras aren’t really needed, past 12mp (~4K) your camera quality doesn’t really make a big impact on image quality (most people have 1080p or 2k displays anyways) and you can only get so far with multiple lenses and AI stuff.
Huawei P30 Lite. 4 years. More or less 1:1 size of S10e, compact enjoyer with big hands. Got battery replaced for a whopping $20, officially. No security problems, keep my Firefox with uBO updated, solid firewalling and app permissions in check.
I have a whopping total of 5 closed source apps (including Whatsapp and Discord sandboxed in work profile) with internet connection, all of which are fully safe as far as security goes, if not privacy. One of the other apps is safe for privacy as well. All of my apps that are not these 5, are installed from F-Droid.
I will upgrade though, because the camera on this at night is no longer competent enough, and there are camera sensors far superior than 1/2.8" on main and 1/4.0" on ultrawide. (1/1.0" main and 1/1.5" ultrawide are peak hardware these days, amounting to atleast 2x better photos and videos which is significant and worth it.)
I had my iPhone X for 3 years and would have kept my 12 Pro for 3 years, but the 14 Pros came in purple and I decided to go for it. I fully intend on keeping my 14 Pro for at least 3 years. Maybe even go 4 this time around and just get the battery replaced at the end of year 2. I don’t game on my phone at all, I have lots of other devices for that, so I don’t need the latest and greatest every year.
Unpopular opinion: everyone focuses on productivity, then on features. Literally zero consideration for performance. Also lack of customization. I can flash Linux, hackintosh or any other random OS on any laptop I buy, but not on smartphone...
Kind of sucks that my Cat S62 Pro smartphone suck ass with it's slowness and lags and I can blame Cat as a manufacturer for that, but lack of standards (so I can flash generic OS onto it simply sucks).
So I am forced to buy new phone every 1-2 years because it gets slow... 🤷
Oh wait! Batteries are not replaceable! USB-C port is also incresibly hard to change!
I'm only replacing my Galaxy S8 because apps are beginning to malfunction and some apps are even emailing me to warn about end of software support for my phones OS, which I cant upgrade because of the age of the phone lol.
I think you would notice a difference between models with the specs you list at the bottom of the post though...
I normally upgrade every two years when my contract runs out. It's cheaper than what I'd be for for an unlimited 5g sim only deal.
Plus this time I want away from my Fold!
I used to do that because I love new shiny things and at that time most Android phones did not get software upgrades anyway. So I just bought entry-level phones every year. Until in 2016 I found a mid-range phone with the right price at least in my country, and with a good history of software upgrades, the Zenfone 3. I used it until the camera sensor and vibration motor died after about 3 years of use. Today I'm only looking for a phone with atleast 3 years of upgrades and replace it until it fails. I plan to use my current Samsung A54 until it doesn't receive software upgrades and patches for the next 5 years.
I upgraded twice from Redmi note 7 to Redmi note 9 to poco X4, only reason I updated was because my siblings lost their phones and I saw it as an opportunity to try a newer version of something I liked.
I don't think I'll upgrade unless the new phone also has an IR blaster and headphone jack. The IR blaster is so incredibly convenient
I generally start looking to replace mine around the time that Google Maps starts becoming laggy. That's usually around the 3 year mark for me. After 4 years things get pretty bad.
Nexus 5 -> Pixel 2 -> Pixel 6a
Practically every app update grows its respective compute and memory footprint. And over time, it adds up. Combine that with the big jumps in resource usage that come with OS updates, and eventually things just start slowing down.
I changed from a OnePlus 6t to a Samsung S23+ after about 4 years of using the old one and at least for me the difference is huge. Both are flagships in their own time. The oneplus was starting to feel a bit laggy here and there, but I never expected the S23+ to be all around so snappy in comparison. Camera quality is leagues ahead. The battery life is way better. The fingerprint sensor was never good on the oneplus, but it's amazing on the Samsung. There are many other features I like or find useful like the wireless charging or the water resistance. The new phone is an all around better package for me and a surprisingly decent upgrade.
You definitely don't need to upgrade every 2 years and it probably matters what you expect out of a phone and how patient you are with the issues, but I think new phones do still offer compelling reasons to upgrade, just not as often as in the past.
My current phone is 6. I have changed battery once. The only problem is internal memory.
I have been using same phone for 5 years now. Never visited to service center. Always used cover & screen protector. I usually see two strategies either buy very cheap phone and keep upgrading in 2 year or buy a mid-range use it for 5-10 year before upgrading. There is usually no significant upgrade in tech in 1 year but wait for 5 and you will feel you are actually getting something new and better
For me it's either when I find the included RAM is too small (as apps grow over time) or when the flash memory degrades to a noticeable degree, or when the camera loading takes too long.
I don't. I usually buy something good (hardware wise) and use it until it dies. Repeat the process.
Lack of memory card slot is a big deal for me. I get the cloud usage and all, but what about having a local copy? Space fills up really fast with a few videos and photos. I don't want to have to manage my storage painfully every month or so.
Also I prefer compact phones which are basically non-existent these days.
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I've felt this way for a long time. After paying off an expensive contract for a S7 edge, I swore to never pay more than £100 for a phone. My S7 lasted 5 years before the battery gave out and the phone started to struggle.
I replaced it with a Redmi not 9 and after a year and a half i was having problems running my most used apps, bit to mention the ammount of bloatware was shocking.
I have just bought a refurbished Pixel 6 for £250 and the difference is in quality and performance is staggering! I have never been happier with a phone.
So my advice would be avoid the cheap brands and buy something future proof, but i totally agree there is no need to get a kew phone every year.
I upgrade when the opsys gets hopelessly outdated (as in apps no longer supporting it) or the device physically breaks. My last phone (Huawei Ascend P7) lasted for 7 years, but the Android 4.4 got just a bit too old, plus I cracked the screen a month after removing the battered to hell glass screen protector...
I don't care much about the phone not getting OS updates since I don't keep anything important on a phone in the first place and I don't care much about CPU/GPU performance since I don't run intensive apps on my phone—that's what my desktop and server are for. My current phone I bought last year will last probably for 5 more years.
I refuse to upgrade past a pixel 4a, because as far as I'm concerned it has everything I need. When my last one broke I just brought another pixel 4a, why? Because they cost like 150 quid second hand on Amazon.
When I have shown the phone to friends and such, I get the same reaction to the price since it looks like a really good phone. And cost significantly less.
No intention of flipping back ever again
I'm asking myself the same thing. I grabbed myself the the cheapest phone available at my local electronics store after I dropped my old one in the river 2-3 years ago. I think I payed around 160€ or something and I see no reason to get something new
I try to milk my phones as long as possible. But that’s mostly because I’m lazy and moving all the 2FA and getting things set up how I like and whatnot is a ball ache.
I like having high-end cameras and screens on my phones.
I keep my phones in excellent condition and sell them whenever I upgrade, which doesn’t make it a crazy expensive process.
I've been using the same galaxy note 20 ultra since launch. It's been 3 years now and it's still working no problem. I do struggle with the USB-C port, it got loose and the wire falls off easily, but no big deal. If this dies, I'm buying the same phone from eBay and I'll be rooting it when Samsung stops sending updates.
I don't understand it either. The only reason I upgraded from my Galaxy S10 was because the USB port no longer worked. I could still charge it via wireless charging, but it was annoying not being able to plug it into my car to use Google Maps. If the USB port didn't break, I'd probably still be using the old S10.
I'll ride this pixel til it dies.
I haven’t gotten a new phone in the last 3 years and I don’t think that I will get one before the iPhone 15 comes out. I’m well satisfied with my iPhone 13 mini.
The fact that most newly released phones don’t go that small annoys me so I’ll keep it until I find something worth while or of similar size.
I'm tempted to upgrade for:
- Wireless charging
- 5G
But I'm not that tempted so I haven't done it, still very happy with my Oneplus 7T from 2020.
Every year no.... Every two maybe, most stop receiving updates after the 2 years, except for some brands and maybe top models...
Nowadays it's slightly better as usually there is a couple more years of security updates but that's it.
Of course if there is scene and you can get some custom ROM like lineage or similar it is slightly better.... But honestly most phones nowadays are locked down.
i upgraded from a samsung galaxy S9+ to a S21
Reason?
better battery. the old was too poor to last more than half a day.
the apps are the same, and honestly apart from the ultrawide camera, the pictures look so identical i cant really tell them apart.
i did notice a slight improvement in loading times of a game, but.. its 2 second difference. nothing major. and also the new screen is a bit brighter, but the resolution is lower.
i miss my S9+. it was great.
My S21 is 2 years old now, and still holding strong. It'll probably be replaced in 2025 or something. It'll all depend on the battery. but i live in EU, so i may be holding on till we see the EU law with replacable batteries come into effect. then i can use the same phone for even longer. spend my money on more interesting things, like graphics cards and mechanical keyboards.
There's an actual reason for me, which is still not good enough of a reason for me to actually buy a new phone even if the old one is still working. Emulation! My Snapdragon 888 is good enough for 3DS, PS3 and Wii and all this stuff, but it can't keep up with the current develpments in Switch emulation. That's why I'm already looking forward to my next phone (as soon as my current one doesn't work anymore)
The camera technology advances significantly every year, so it really matters if you’re a photographer.
Beware of your phone going out of support and losing security updates. Android manufacturers tend to drop devices after 2-4 years, Apple after 4-5.
For me, I just like "fun" phones. I don't update purely due to specs. I recently updated to a fold phone because I'm a bit bored with glass slab phones. A lot of phone manufacturers have decent trade-in deals where I'm at so I never pay full price for them. I might trade in this phone and get the new one if the build quality was improved but it needs to be a notable difference between versions.
I have a Note 10+
With the way it's measuring up today for performance and battery life, if it were going to keep getting OS updates and security updates it'd keep being a great phone for another couple of years yet.
...And compared to some I know, I'm updating frequently.
I really do wish they'd squeeze another 1-2 OS updates into it's life-span. But at this rate I'll still be replacing it with whatever its up-to-date peer is in another year or so...
...and re-purposing this one - it's still awesome (awesomer if it allowed root without losing updates and pay-services)
Only reason I see is because of phones breaking. My current Mi 10T Lite was great for the first two years, then it started getting annoying. I can no longer use Wallpaper Engine because of a stupid system update, notifications started getting stuck, sometimes it has other minor annoyances. The hardware is still fine, there's no reason this phone shouldn't work, but it doesn't. Xiaomi clearly wants me to go buy another phone.
So I did. Just not from them. My Fairphone should be arriving any day now. My friend already got hers, and she got me super excited for it.
I previously thought it would be a way to upgrade phones faster without losing (much) money.
Say, you have a 800$ phone and you want a new 800$ phone. Most people would just buy a new one for 800$ (outright or installment, doesn't matter) after 2-3 years. My idea was to buy a new phone every year, sell the older one for half the price and voila - you paid the same amount but got two phone upgrades.
The problem with that logic is that reselling takes time, energy and luck to get the price you want, plus it is possible to buy new phones for cheaper by just waiting anyway.
I used to get a new one every two years. Back then the changes were big enough to make it worthwhile. Nowadays there is not much to get from a new phone other than the hardware keeping up with the software and an improved camera.
I'd say, as with any device, keep it until it annoys you or doesn't get any more security updates.
My iPhone 11 from 2019 starts to feel laggy and the touch screen is not responding as well anymore. Battery health is still over 90% but due to higher energy demand of the newer OSs and apps I often still need to juice up during the day. So this year I'm finally going to get the new model but I'll keep the 11 as a webcam.
Each year new products & models are launching, so that those in need of it can aquire them. These companies are delivering OS updates for these smartphones so they last longer as realistically possible.
If when yours is broken or far too old, then you should consider aquiring this year's model. So that you can use something that is compatible with studies, work, activities etc.
Obviously each individual/ family/ organization does their own analysis regarding if there is a need or desire to aquire said products. Also what for.
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I buy a new phone anytime a new innovation comes out. I ordered the Google pixel on day 1 and am loving it.
There's a lot of reasons. Single people can spend a lot on tech without thinking. People have lot of money. People don't like their current phone. I say let them spend and keep the companies in business. If all of us stopped buying phones every year and only bought once in 4-5 years, the companies producing phones will have to shut down sooner or later and we'd have just one or two left. I only upgraded recently after 6 years because the phone OS was too old and the cpu was like snail.
I only upgrade every 3-4 years, but there's a lot of subtle differences that make it worth it. For example my current phone is far more reliable with Bluetooth connections than the previous one. It's got a better camera with AI photo touching. It's waterproof. Its fingering sensor is more sensitive and quicker.
I had to wait 6 years untill someone released a device that's atleast in some aspects better than the one I already had. If I were forced to switch every year I'd hate most of them.
Switched from LG V20 to Galaxy XCover 6Pro
You do it to give Samsung or Motorola or Google or apple or Amazon your money every year, obviously
For me, I kept my last phone for 3 years and upgraded because I didn't have enough storage. New phone is a little nicer, has a few new features, but I may well keep it for a few years again.
I finally had to upgrade after 5.5 years because software support was lagging for the version of Android I was on.
I have a Pixel 2 I picked up in 2018, a few months after they were released (my previous Nexus 5x got the bootloops).
I held off upgrading due to the free original quality Google photos. When that ran out, I did follow new releases, and found the features appealing, but then I'd see the ever inflating prices and couldn't justify spending so much to replace a device that still works fine.
And it does still work. Granted, it's had a new battery and a couple of charging ports (I've gotten a lot bolder with cleaning the ports now, don't expect it to need a 4th any time soon). I'm fortunate to be capable of making those repairs myself, I'd have probably given in and bought an A model otherwise. For now though, I just have to say, maybe next year.
I kinda have to buy a new phone every few years because I only get a handful of years in terms of updates (Pixel 5). After my phone is unsupported by GrapheneOS I might turn CalyxOS and by then maybe I'll buy a new phone.
I do it because it might fill the terrifying emptiness inside me for a moment or two. Looking forward to trading my Z Fold 4 in for a Z Fold 5 soon!
I usually break my phone within 12-18 months because they're so damn cheaply made. Why so much glass?
If I could go back to a Treo600 I would do it in a hot second, that was a great phone. I had it for years, it was mostly plastic that I beat up quite a bit, but they use gsm bands that aren't supported anymore.
I just enjoy new tech and trying new things in that arena. So new phones before I technically need to is one of the things I spend disposable income on when something in that arena catches my interest.
Does have a nice side effect of constantly reenforcing the use of platform agnostic services and retaining ultimate control of my data if it is something I care about, since it really allows me to just move the sim to a new phone and be up and running in a hour or less with more or less any Apple or Android phone.
Still using my moto g40 since 2021 , don't think I will be needing a new phone for few more years . Might install lineage os to get that latest Android version
My Galaxy S8 had a lot of annoying problems both on stock ROM and Lineage OS. After three years I switched to Zenfone 8 and so far I am satisfied. The battery life is crap though, especially after updating to Android 13. I'm considering a downgrade if it's even possible
There is no point. We realised it only recently. If you remember the cell phones from the time before smartphones, there hadn't been much technological progress. My first cellphone, a Nokia, could store up to 10 short messages. It's pedecessor had the same storage capacity. Of course, there were technological milestones that have been passed, e.g. antennas which didn't protrude out of the phone, vibration motors, (in comparison to today) really shitty photo-cameras (and the buggy software that was needed to transfer the photos to the computer), etc.
The point is, that they all were capable to do the same thing: calling and texting. Looking back, there was not really a need to replace the old cellphone. Advertising made us want new shiny things.
This changed when smartphones emerged. Hardware wise, there are not many differences. Some have faster processors than others, others have better cameras. The storage capabilities are sufficient. For the normal user these specifications don't matter. All smartphones are capable of accessing the (real) internet. The main difference today is in the software (operating system). Older phones run on software that is too outdated to keep pace, and the software support is often limited, which as a result leads to possible security flaws - because the user is supposed to upgrade the hardware, not the operating system only. And that's why new phones are bought, despite the old ones would still do.
My smartphone ist running on Android 8 (Nougat). It's still working and is sufficient for my needs. But I wouldn't run my online banking with that phone. Also, it gets pretty hot and slow when navigating with Google Maps.
Conclusion: It's not the hardware specifications which lead to the replacement of smartphones. It's the more complex (security wise) software requirements certain applications (online banking apps, medical apps, e.g. insuline tracking apps, overall more sophisticated apps that runs slow on an outdated smartphone) demand today.
I use my phones until the battery life is too degraded to be practical and the phone is too damaged to have the batt6replaced. My Samsung A71 is about 3 years old. Some months ago I noticed the battery was pillowing. Since it was still holding charge for more than a day, the guy at a repair shop (where I took it to get a new battery) just punched a pinprick to deflate it, and it's still going strong.
To keep our corporate overlords in their elegant fineries. DUH-HOY
I only upgrade my phone when it starts to lag and slow down. My last phone I replaced the battery when the life started dropping.
Many people upgrade every year because of perceived obsolescence.