Skip to main content

Now smartphones are mature products we’re into the annual “this is an incremental upgrade over last year. I’m so mad replacing my 2 thousand quid perfectly functional phone with one that’s almost the same for another 2 thousand quid” cycle.

My brother in Christ; have you considered just … not?

I’m upgrading this year. My phone is 3 years old and the camera stuff is worth it for me. My step daughter is getting my old one, which she is thrilled with.

in reply to Sarah Brown

Colman Reilly
Colman Reilly
• •

I’ve come to the conclusion it’s all performative. “Look how rich I am!”

I upgraded last year, after four years.

in reply to Colman Reilly

Jae
Jae
• •
@Colman I miss the days when literally the best phone you could buy at that point (the iPhone 4) was an attainable purchase for a lot of people. There wasn’t this elite stratum of phones which only Actually Rich People can afford to buy, especially on a two-year cycle
@Colman Reilly
in reply to Jae

Colman Reilly
Colman Reilly
• •
@considermycat but why would you want to replace something with a useful life of seven years on a two year cycle? I got a top of the range 15 Pro Max, because it’s a work tool for me, big enough to write on, my poor eyes are slowly failing and the cameras are good: it’ll be replaced in four or five years, most likely.
@Jae
in reply to Colman Reilly

Jae
Jae
• •
@Colman I totally agree! No harm in investing to get the best tool to work for you long-term. The reference to two-year cycles was from the original post: people who buy the £2k phone and then complain that they "need" to buy a new one after two years
@Colman Reilly
in reply to Sarah Brown

Estarriol, Cat owned Dragon
Estarriol, Cat owned Dragon
• •

my mobile is a 2006 motorola razr!

I use a tablet at home for smart phone stuff, but also mainly as an ereader as I can read all formats on it.

Unknown parent

Colman Reilly
Colman Reilly
• •
@mongoose we’re heavy app users and every four years does us - at which point the teenagers will use them until the next replacement , so we get about eight years out of a phone.
@Baroque Mongoose
in reply to Sarah Brown

Jae
Jae
• •
The reason I went back to iPhones is that I’m not bothered about latest & greatest hardware, but I *am* bothered about losing OS updates, and it annoyed me how little commitment Android manufacturers have to updating their phones “long” term (though I get the economics of it: their margins are so much lower than Apple’s). I’ve now had my iPhone 11 for 3.5 years, the longest I’ve *ever* owned a phone – and since it’s due to get iOS 18 I’ll probably wait till the iPhone 16 price drops at the end of next year before updating
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

MeaTLoTioN
MeaTLoTioN
• •

I'm still rocking my OnePlus 6T from 6 years ago, and it still works flawlessly. Battery life is still at least a day and a half on a single charge.

I did replace the OS quite soon after getting it though, now it's using LineageOS (has been for about 4 years).

in reply to Sarah Brown

Iain MacLean (he/him)
Iain MacLean (he/him)
• •
Totally. My iPhone is an 8+ and still works fine. I'm part of the 'phones should last at least five years' camp.
in reply to Sarah Brown

Adam
Adam
• •

I happily keep my laptops for 8 years but if security updates were pulled after 18-36 months I'd probably replace them far more often.

(no, I can't use LineageOS vel sim. because my bank apps refuse to work on anything other than a stock OS)

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

Christo. London, England
Christo. London, England
• •
I keep my phones until the charge runs out after an hour. Usually 4-6 years. They should be made to last ten plus years at least
in reply to Christo. London, England

Captain Janegay 🫖
Captain Janegay 🫖
• •
@Christo_459 Getting a new battery put into a phone is not very expensive at a good phone repair shop - might make the last few years a bit less painful!
@Christo. London, England
in reply to Captain Janegay 🫖

Christo. London, England
Christo. London, England
• •
@CaptainJanegay
Yes my husband has a 2012 laptop with a new battery. It's when the phone etc isn't supported anymore and eventually gets problematic with stuff not working
@Captain Janegay 🫖
in reply to Sarah Brown

Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖
Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖
• •
I watched the two hour hype fest yesterday and I felt unmoved. It really was a tiny increment (unless people are excited by AI). And the features added are so geared to particular use cases that I’m guessing a lot of folks will say, “what? I don’t even understand why I’d want it”. Even my Watch 8 is lasting a lot better than previous models so I’m in no haste to replace it. My iPad PRO is six years old and that’s the nearest to a device needing to be upgraded.
in reply to Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖

Rachel Greenham
Rachel Greenham
• •

@christineburns i was thinking of getting a new iphone this year, as it would be replacing an iphone 11 (five years old). I still might, but unless i decide i'm going to really try to make use of that camera... it's just a nice-to-have, not compelling.

possibly thinking of a watch 10, as that would be upgrading from... no watch at all. but then i remember i've never even liked wearing watches. you forget that while the keynote's playing… 🙄

@Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖
in reply to Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖

marlies :tblverified:
marlies :tblverified:
• •
@christineburns it’s incremental but to me that’s a good thing. Phones are good now, we’re making small improvements (like over the past year or four they’ve gradually gotten way more shatter resistant), they last long. You upgrade every 3-5 years and you get the sum of all the incremental changes. Much better than the days of FOMO when you skipped a year.
@Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖
in reply to Sarah Brown

Greg Dance
Greg Dance
• •

I respond to you on my late fathers 2016 samsung pad!

It still works as well as it ever did with only one app exception that refuses its firmware version. No doubt more apps will fizzle out like spent fireworks in time, but to chuck such devices after only 2-3 years with no reasoning other than fashion obsesion is a terrible story for our planet and a horrible lead to our kids!

in reply to Sarah Brown

Isaac 🇵🇸
Isaac 🇵🇸
• •
Yeah. I am getting a new one this year because my dad's phone is very old and my current one is a good upgrade for him. Otherwise I would have waited at least another year.
in reply to Sarah Brown

amy
amy
• •
My iPhone 12 from a relative going strong and works just fine. I could get a new one but I don’t care that much. Looking to get the battery replaced (Apple will do this for you and keep / reseal it) which won’t cost too much and will keep it going for many years to come. I’ll probably upgrade in a few years when it’s actually slowing down
in reply to Sarah Brown

MarjorieR
MarjorieR
• •
are you actually going to spend £2000 on a new phone?
I'm a bit chary of upgrading my 2 year old £400 Android phone as camera wise the newer versions have gone from 3 to 2 lenses and probably added even more AI trickery to the imaging.
They have also added a more powerful processor which simply means the battery would be dead more quickly: this one is fast enough for my needs and currently runs for up to 5 days. And it has both phone socket and SD drawer.
And phones have now become phablets - they no longer fit it anyone's pockets or handbags so people end up hanging them round their necks.
As it is my previous, now 7 year old, phone, which I keep in a drawer, does still work but the OS no longer gets updates and it wont 'see' 5G towers.
in reply to MarjorieR

Captain Janegay 🫖
Captain Janegay 🫖
• •
@marjolica The size drives me up the wall. I have dodgy thumbs and physically cannot use modern phones one handed, which is really annoying. I'd be delighted with the screen size of my old Nexus 5, but no - there are literally hundreds of new phones being released every year, but they're all identical in all the ways that matter. Surely one freaking company could consider making something slightly niche, to get a competitive advantage in part of the market??
@MarjorieR
in reply to Sarah Brown

Steve Gisselbrecht
Steve Gisselbrecht
• •

Hi I have an iPhone 7 it's great.

(I had to check yesterday when this conversation [re]started.)

in reply to Sarah Brown

Mx Autumn :blobcatpumpkin:
Mx Autumn :blobcatpumpkin:
• •

i've previously upgraded because the battery became too weak to hold a charge; although getting five years daily usage out of a somewhat fragile device is pretty decent in my books.

I did concider upgrading before hardware failure forced my hand in order to obtain a better camera until I remembered I have a compac camera that's still better than phone cameras which I have since bought a new battery for and use instead.

in reply to Sarah Brown

Mx Autumn :blobcatpumpkin:
Mx Autumn :blobcatpumpkin:
• •
yes, which I have done a few times, however, and this might be due to my obtaining cheap highstreet repairs, they never seemed to last long.
⇧