How long do you use your phone before you replace it?

How long do you use your phone before you replace it?


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GotNoRice

[H]F Junkie
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I'm just curious how long people on here keep their phones (as their active, main phone). What made me curious was reading an article that was linked on Slashdot:

https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/23/us-phone-upgrade-strategy-analytics/

Apparently the average time a phone remains active is between 16.5-18 months depending on brand. That actually seems pretty low to me IMO. I kept my previous phone (Samsung Note 2) from 2012-2017; over 5 years. My current phone (Samsung S8+) is already over 2 years old but nothing about it makes it feel like I'm using an "old" phone. If anything it still seems quite new. Maybe with my S8+ it is at least partially due to the fact that the newer S9+ is a nearly identical phone so it's not like it's some super old design. Still, kinda crazy to think that the phone is already "older" than average, despite how new it still seems.

I know many that still have and use old phones like the Samsung S3 or even older. In the case of my Note 2 that I used for 5 years, it was certainly showing it's age toward the end, mainly not being able to upgrade past Android 4.4.2, but I might have used it even longer had it not stopped working all of a sudden.
 
still on my galaxy s7 active. wish all phones have been as durable. still see no reason to upgrade. especially considering the pricing of new phones
 
I said 4 years. While the battery is usually becoming a problem by then, it's the version of Android that usually starts forcing the issue.
 
Until that fucker no longer turns on.

Then I search out a new used one.

This g4 is awesome though.

Fucking durable
 
I used to replace 2-3 times a year when I was younger and android phones were making a ton of new features ever few months but as I've gotten older and phones have stagnated more I only upgrade when I feel like theres a big enough battery improvement or camera improvement. I have a box somewhere with probably at least a dozen 6+ year old flagship android phones and all the iPhones from 2g to 7. But last 4-5 years its been more every 1-1.5 years.
 
With people here such as Zorachus and Commander Shepherd here switching phones every 2-3 months, I dunno how valid this poll could be...

:p
 
With people here such as Zorachus and Commander Shepherd here switching phones every 2-3 months, I dunno how valid this poll could be...

:p

Yeah, I'm a little dubious of anyone who claims to keep a phone longer than 2 years. :sneaky:

I like my 7 Pro aside from the rear camera location. I prefer the camera be tucked up in a corner to minimize my fingers slipping over it while taking a pic. Barring unforeseen problems, I plan on sticking with it until the 2020 iPhones are out.
 
Yeah, I'm a little dubious of anyone who claims to keep a phone longer than 2 years. :sneaky:

I like my 7 Pro aside from the rear camera location. I prefer the camera be tucked up in a corner to minimize my fingers slipping over it while taking a pic. Barring unforeseen problems, I plan on sticking with it until the 2020 iPhones are out.
Are you able to tell a difference with the 90Hz refresh?
 
Are you able to tell a difference with the 90Hz refresh?
If I switch back to my Pixel 3XL, I notice the difference pretty quickly. It's not an earthshaking improvement, but the 7 Pro is definitely smoother.
 
If work pays for it: Every new model year.
If I pay for it: About every 3 years.

We have a small IT department so we are expected to support employee phones and our MDM. The perk to this is we get every new iPhone the day they are released. If I was buying my own I’d probably get a OnePlus or Note since I can make those last a few years. Work is iPhone exclusive. I don’t mind iPhone but I like to keep up with android too.
 
When it breaks. I use my phone primarily as a phone and to send/recieve texts.
 
I use my phone until it’s either beat up enough that I could use a new one, the battery goes to crap, or I just get sick of it and want a new one.

That is usually anywhere from 1-4 years
 
2-3 years. S11+ will be my next upgrade.

Old phones like the S3 aren't compatible with many apps in the google store anymore. I still have my old one laying around and tried it recently. It's basically obsolete and very slow, except for calls and texting, email. etc.
 
When my telco decided to kill the network bandwidth. That's what happen to 3G network in my area.
 
I basically keep phones until they no longer work. I don't need the newest or bestest or whatever. I occasionally use it for voice calls, texts and occasional forays onto the internet if I'm not home and have an actual pressing need to look something up. It's primary use is actually as a book reader as it gets used for that more than anything else by far. Since I don't need a super powerful phone or anything like that for any of the stuff I do I'll keep using my current Galaxy S6 until it dies.
 
Keep mine for 2-3 years. I was a huge phone nerd though up until the past few years when the tech in them has somewhat plateaued and even regressed a bit IMO in terms of design (notches and holes impeding on screen, removing features like headphone jacks, removable batteries, IR blasters, flat glass for easy/cheap screen protectors, etc.). I wish at least one OEM would get back to the basics and bring all that useful stuff back into a newer phone.
 
I use it in until it's not cost effective anymore. With my iPhones I upgraded when the app store stopped letting me install apps because my version was too low. With my 6p I had already replaced the screen and battery and my wife needed a new phone, so I upgraded to my Pixel 2 XL... Now that she's an ex-wife, I won't need a phone for the foreseeable future.
 
When it breaks. I will not buy any of the so called flagship phones either anymore. Not when they are relevant anyway.
 
Generally, I use a phone for about two to three years. On occasion I've used them for less, but that's typically when I have a bad experience and the phone isn't reliable or something like that.
 
I'm grandfathered into the original T-Mobile JUMP! program. So for awhile I was doing every 6 months just because I could. I got the LG V30 and sat on that for over a year and moved to OnePlus 6T. Not sure when I'll move off this device. Maybe if T-Mobile carries Pixel 4...
 
I'm really surprised so many people keep their phones so long. I thought I was weird - I just replaced my S5 Active that was about 5 years old simply because I needed to switch from AT&T to Verizon. I bought a "new" S7 which I will probably use until the battery dies. As long as I can make a call, email, and text...I'm happy with it. I'm also proud to say after 5 years in my pocket with no case or screen protector the S5 still is in nearly perfect condition, minus a 1/8" light scratch on the screen that you can't see when it is on.

The battery finally started to die, but I'd say roughly 5 years of running the battery down every day, and then leaving it plugged in all night is pretty good service life! It still holds a usable charge, just not like it used to be. I do love the wireless charging on the S7, the USB port on my S5 is the one thing that looks like it's starting to wear out. Won't have to worry about that with the S7.

I just can't comprehend how people spend $800-1000 every year or less on a new phone. I have friend that does this and I make it clear I think he's an idiot.
 
And to think we had a free one that hung on the wall for YEARS and no one cared.
 
Typically 3 years and then I get the itch for a new one. I buy all my phones outright rather than be tied down by contract though.
 
Exactly. When I run out of minutes on the prepaid SIM, I throw the phone away. Isn't that what everyone does?
It was a reference to the old meme of getting rid of a car once the ashtrays are full.

And yes, sometimes you can buy prepaid SIM cards with more balance than what you pay for them. If you are not attached to the SIM card's phone number, why not buy a new one instead then.
 
You can download an app called accubattery. If you charge to 80% or less it supposedly saves more than double of the lifespan of the battery. It has an alarm to notify you when it's at 80%. I use a wireless charging stand and just frequently put it on there during the day when I'm not using it, and if the alarm goes off, I just take it off. Been using an S9 for almost a year and the battery is still at 93% health. Though I didn't start using the app until a couple months in.
 
Until it breaks down or gets lost/stolen.
Going by past experience that's probably about 4 years on average.
I've never spend over 200€ on a phone though.
 
You can download an app called accubattery. If you charge to 80% or less it supposedly saves more than double of the lifespan of the battery. It has an alarm to notify you when it's at 80%. I use a wireless charging stand and just frequently put it on there during the day when I'm not using it, and if the alarm goes off, I just take it off. Been using an S9 for almost a year and the battery is still at 93% health. Though I didn't start using the app until a couple months in.

Been using that app with my 2 XL since I got it last April and have also been mostly capping my charges at 80% or so. For some reason my phone was only rated at 93% new and it's at 91% now after 16 months or so, but still has great battery life comparable to when it was new. I used that app when my previous 6P battery was dying and it got down to 70% or so and jumped up to 103% when I replaced it, which correlated to the actual battery life I was getting, so I know it works somewhat accurately.

You would think that with all the newer phones sealing batteries now and with that being the main contributor to old phones having to be replaced, OEMs would add a feature into the OS to cap charges at 80% anyways just to save on battery wear and really wish they would so I didn't have to remember to unplug it and could just let it charge overnight to 80% like normal. Or when I'm using my phone in the car with Android Auto which requires you have the phone plugged in and charging it up to 100% if you want to keep using it.

I understand the planned obsolescence angle of it too, but that strategy doesn't make too much sense to me since I'm sure a significant portion of users will jump brands or buy used when it's time to replace the phone, so that OEM doesn't see that new purchase a lot of times (though I'd say at least half stick with one brand if I had to guess).
 
Used my S3 mini until this year and got my wifes S9+ as she upgrade to s10+
so lats time was more than 5 years
 
Happens to be about 2 or so years here, usually until the screen breaks through some dumb fault of my own. Only reason I switched from my Galaxy S7 to an S9 when I did is I switched carriers for the first time in 14+ years. So I plan to use the S9 until it doesn't work any longer. I want that sweet sweet no cell hardware payment each month feeling.
 
I understand the planned obsolescence angle of it too, but that strategy doesn't make too much sense to me since I'm sure a significant portion of users will jump brands or buy used when it's time to replace the phone, so that OEM doesn't see that new purchase a lot of times (though I'd say at least half stick with one brand if I had to guess).
I'm sure both Samsung and Apple are confident enough that even if your phone burns your house down (cough*cough*samsung*cough*cough) you're still going to buy another one of their phones. What brand of phone has a replaceable battery anymore they can jump ship to? And it doesn't matter if YOU buy a new phone or a used one to them, they know they will still sell a bagillion new ones that will eventually trickle down to the used market.

Apple purposely ruined the battery life on some of their older phones with a bad update, they got sued over this. They did it purely to make people buy new phones. It happened to my mom's phone - and she was dumb enough to still go buy another iphone, even after it was clearly explained to her why her last phone stopped working...
 
I'm sure both Samsung and Apple are confident enough that even if your phone burns your house down (cough*cough*samsung*cough*cough) you're still going to buy another one of their phones. What brand of phone has a replaceable battery anymore they can jump ship to? And it doesn't matter if YOU buy a new phone or a used one to them, they know they will still sell a bagillion new ones that will eventually trickle down to the used market.

Apple purposely ruined the battery life on some of their older phones with a bad update, they got sued over this. They did it purely to make people buy new phones. It happened to my mom's phone - and she was dumb enough to still go buy another iphone, even after it was clearly explained to her why her last phone stopped working...

Apple did not purposefully ruin battery life on older phones. Tell me, which update was this, and how did it ruin battery life? It's certainly not the CPU throttling update, which was done to let people keep using older phones instead of subjecting them to crashes and sudden power-downs.

Besides, think about it for a moment. If Apple was caught purposefully spiking battery life, it'd not only take a hit to its reputation, it'd face regulatory investigations that would very likely stick. It has every incentive to at least maintain decent battery life, in no small part because happy customers are more likely to come back. Not to mention that it's very odd to claim that Apple pushes premature upgrades when it has not only been delivering updates to phones 4-5 years old, but has spent the past couple of years improving performance on those older phones.
 
It's certainly not the CPU throttling update, which was done to let people keep using older phones instead of subjecting them to crashes and sudden power-downs.
...says Apple. They aren't exactly known for honesty. And a lot of very smart people think differently. More importantly, apple is busy apologizing profusely and offering discounted battery replacements, and paying out claims from numerous lawsuits, why would they do that if they were guilty of nothing?

Besides, think about it for a moment. If Apple was caught purposefully spiking battery life, it'd not only take a hit to its reputation, it'd face regulatory investigations that would very likely stick.
Apple has been caught neutering customers numerous times over many different issues, and has been the subject of regulatory action numerous times. If you think they are doing anything with your best interest in mind, I've got a bridge to sell you. Apple customers are like a cult, they will continue to buy the overpriced crap no matter what happens. This is the only thing that keeps them in business. People buy their products to look trendy, not because of anything they do better than somebody else.

Regardless of the reason, if you have an older phone, it should continue to work the same as it did when you bought it, minus slow battery decline, up until the day the battery finally gives up the ghost. If it doesn't, this in theory should be a bad image for the company, any brand, but in actual practice most people ignore it over blind brand loyalty and general electronic ignorance.

Samsung had a little issue with phone batteries CATCHING ON FIRE...did that stop people from buying Samsung phones? Nope. Once again I'd bet most sales of brand new $1000 phones are to people who want to look trendy, not because they really needed a new phone or whatever feature the next model has.

Planned obsolescence is a thing, has been for a long time, and will be forever, it seems to be a good business model for just about any company who does it from power tools to refrigerators to cell phones and anything else.
 
...says Apple. They aren't exactly known for honesty. And a lot of very smart people think differently. More importantly, apple is busy apologizing profusely and offering discounted battery replacements, and paying out claims from numerous lawsuits, why would they do that if they were guilty of nothing?

Here's the thing: if you're going to make an extraordinary claim, such as asserting that Apple was intentionally shortening battery life, you must provide evidence. No "very smart people think differently" hand-waving crap. Actual evidence.

The battery replacements, lawsuit claims and such are from the throttling -- you know, to keep the batteries usable. It sounds like you're confused about what those cases actually were -- you just heard vague things about lawsuits and didn't bother to read up. Apple should have been more transparent about throttling, to be clear, but the purpose was the exact opposite of what you're suggesting.

Apple has been caught neutering customers numerous times over many different issues, and has been the subject of regulatory action numerous times. If you think they are doing anything with your best interest in mind, I've got a bridge to sell you. Apple customers are like a cult, they will continue to buy the overpriced crap no matter what happens. This is the only thing that keeps them in business. People buy their products to look trendy, not because of anything they do better than somebody else.

Regardless of the reason, if you have an older phone, it should continue to work the same as it did when you bought it, minus slow battery decline, up until the day the battery finally gives up the ghost. If it doesn't, this in theory should be a bad image for the company, any brand, but in actual practice most people ignore it over blind brand loyalty and general electronic ignorance.

Samsung had a little issue with phone batteries CATCHING ON FIRE...did that stop people from buying Samsung phones? Nope. Once again I'd bet most sales of brand new $1000 phones are to people who want to look trendy, not because they really needed a new phone or whatever feature the next model has.

Planned obsolescence is a thing, has been for a long time, and will be forever, it seems to be a good business model for just about any company who does it from power tools to refrigerators to cell phones and anything else.

Look, we get it. You have a hate-on for Apple and wish it was gone. Can we not let that skew our analysis of what actually happened? I know Apple is a corporation that looks out for its own interests, sometimes at the expense of users. But that doesn't represent evidence of malicious intent here.

In an ideal world, you're right that nothing would change with functionality as the battery gets older. But that's not how it works in real life. As batteries get old, they introduce the risks of sudden shutdowns or other erratic device behavior. Throttling helps reduce the risks of that happening by preventing the CPU from demanding too much of the battery. The problem wasn't that Apple was throttling, it's that it neither notified users nor gave them the option of disabling that throttling if they accepted the risks.

The problem with screaming "planned obsolescence!" is that it's tempting to find it in every corner, to believe it's the foundation of every product strategy even when it's not. And the truth appears to be considerably less exciting. Non-removable batteries certainly limit the long-term usefulness of phones, but CPU throttling meant to extend the longevity of a phone? No. Besides, it's incongruous to suggest this when Apple has not only been delivering OS updates for phones four or five years old, but has spent recent years improving software performance with those years-old phones in mind. Apple certainly wants you to upgrade to another iPhone at some point -- it's just not pushing people as much as you think it is.
 
Here's the thing: if you're going to make an extraordinary claim, such as asserting that Apple was intentionally shortening battery life, you must provide evidence. No "very smart people think differently" hand-waving crap. Actual evidence.
This isn't a court room buddy, nor is it a discussion about appple. Get over yourself. Yes, I do not like apple, that is not relevant. I have implicated Samsung all the same. Why do you think batteries are now being built into everything? Planned obsolescence. If you don't think that is part of a modern cell phone you are a moron. The fact is it does not cause people to stop buying their products, and even if it did, where would they go?! What phone available at the end of 2019 has a removable battery that you could "jump ship" to?

As batteries get old, they introduce the risks of sudden shutdowns or other erratic device behavior.
Please do explain Mr. Professor! This phenomenon does not happen to Samsung phones. It does not happen in laptops. It does not happen with tablets. Why iphones? As I indicated above I milked the OEM battery for 5 YEARS in my S5 - it still holds a usable charge. I cycled it from 100% back to zero every single day, sometimes more than once, and then left it on the charger to bake overnight. 5 years later, still no "erratic behavior, shutdowns, or risks".

If you think any major corporation is out there to help you and has your best interests in mind - whether that be Apple, Samsung, Coca Cola, Southwest Airlines, or anything else, you don't understand modern business practices.

Now, back to the original discussion please. *sigh*
 
This isn't a court room buddy, nor is it a discussion about appple. Get over yourself. Yes, I do not like apple, that is not relevant. I have implicated Samsung all the same. Why do you think batteries are now being built into everything? Planned obsolescence. If you don't think that is part of a modern cell phone you are a moron. The fact is it does not cause people to stop buying their products, and even if it did, where would they go?! What phone available at the end of 2019 has a removable battery that you could "jump ship" to?

It's about basic logic: if you make an extraordinary claim that challenges common knowledge, you have to provide evidence if you're going to sway anyone with a reasonable intellect. You can't make a claim that Apple intentionally shortened battery life on its devices and then cite only "very smart people" as proof. Yeah, non-removable batteries limit the useful lifespan of phones, but that's not the same as asserting that Apple was making software changes to shorten battery life, as you did. So where's your evidence of that?

Please do explain Mr. Professor! This phenomenon does not happen to Samsung phones. It does not happen in laptops. It does not happen with tablets. Why iphones? As I indicated above I milked the OEM battery for 5 YEARS in my S5 - it still holds a usable charge. I cycled it from 100% back to zero every single day, sometimes more than once, and then left it on the charger to bake overnight. 5 years later, still no "erratic behavior, shutdowns, or risks".

If you think any major corporation is out there to help you and has your best interests in mind - whether that be Apple, Samsung, Coca Cola, Southwest Airlines, or anything else, you don't understand modern business practices.

Really? You're actually going to make the unsupported claim that unexpected shutdowns and other issues related to battery wear never, ever happen to other devices? Your personal anecdote doesn't represent the totality of Samsung's hardware quality. If you're going to make a bold claim like that, you need to provide data showing that these kinds of problems are virtually non-existent for Samsung users as a whole, not just you.

I didn't say major companies are acting out of people's best interests. I never did. I just don't think they're always as malicious as you think they are. Again, it's odd to claim that Apple is purposefully killing battery life on its phones at the same time as it offers up to five years of iOS updates and is throttling CPUs to extend the usefulness of device batteries. If your reasoning held true (it doesn't), Apple would be wildly self-contradictory.
 
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