[eyeman]

Once I choose a phone for its features and buy it, i usually tend to hold on to it as long as possible. Nowadays , newer phones do not seem to offer that much extra either. But I haven't been able to use a phone more than five years. Usually gets damaged by that time.

[DogNDamsel12]

I have been an ardent BlackBerry user until 2018 - 3 phones in sequence. None of the phones these days have the same robustness that the BBs had - the hardware was solid, the sound system was awesome, the typing was much more accurate. The company discarded me before I could discard it.

I hold onto my phones until the end of time if possible and when it comes to change I behave psychotically till after one month of buying the phone!

[psispace]

Used to change every year due to screen damage and battery issues.

Bought a S7 Edge in 2016. Screen started having vertical lines on screen within a year. Fortunately this was replaced under warranty. Being IP68 rated it handled wear very well. Slapped a Spigen Tough Armour case onto it. Viola, no damage for the next 5 years ! And it did take some heavy beating during this time.

I recently upgraded to a Note 20 Ultra. The constant android upgrades and large number of apps was slowing the S7 down. I am still keeping it as a standby phone.

Of course, I made sure the Spigen case, screen and lens guards arrived before the phone did.

[Hatari]

The objective of this thread, in a way, was to keep my OnePlus 5 and refrain from the temptation of upgrading to the OnePlus 9!
Noticed that I was looking for reasons to upgrade while im still very happy with the phone.

It probably only needs a battery replacement as I end up charging it twice a day quite often.

Nice to see so many holding onto their premium phones for 3-4 years. Hope I can get to 5 years! Doubting if I will resist the urge!

Originally Posted by jeetumg27

No offence ;
if its an iPhone, every 4-5 years - I have been doing that and its worth the investment (iPhone 4, iPhone 6 & after that the iPhone XR)

Androids I believe, even the flagships, have to be replaced every 3 years due to sluggish performance or OS security issues (not being updated well in time)

Andriods except the OnePlus phones I feel, with 8Gb RAM, it continues to be quick and snappy.

Originally Posted by deep_bang

Normally used to change phones once a year or so. For the first time I have been holding on to a oneplus 5 for 4 years. And yet the phone works great still. So I have begun to think that premium phones are indeed better built!!

The 9 not tempting you?

Originally Posted by navin_v8

4. Lenovo P780: Used it from 2012 to 2016: My first android phone which I bought after doing a lot of research. It had a metal body (mid-range phones during that time used to have metal body). The phone started having network connectivity issues in 2016 due to some hardware issue. Got it exchanged for a new phone in 2016.

I had one too.. it had great battery life!

Originally Posted by PM - B

Ahh

I can see that I am the outlier here.
Have been using a mobile from late 2000 onwards
I am on my 3rd phone as of date.

1. Panasonic GD92 - ran for 6+ years - 2000 - 2006
2. Nokia 1110 - ran for ~ 11+ years - 2006 - 2017
3. Redmi Note5Pro - 2018 - present

I use / am on the phone a lot.
Currently no plans to change the Redmi Note5Pro from my end - (fingers crossed)

11 years! Legend!

Originally Posted by littlebrother

Boy o boy. Even I've been using OnePlus 5 since its launch almost 4 years ago. And the very same idea of opening a thread like this has been there in back of my mind for some time. Just didn't get the time and effort and then you did it and happen to have the same phone.

It's super fast and efficient as before. Only change is battery life which is about 75% compared to a new ones performance. I'm having the thought to retain this phone as long as possible with a battery change in future.

I've used the OnePlus one for about 3+ years when it was available with invite system and now with OnePlus 5 another 4 years. The OnePlus phones are so well specced and well built at launch that they're still capable after 4 years. Never hanged and gave any sorts of trouble.

Been very happy with mine as well
But the new 65W charging and stereo speakers on the 9 very tempting.

Originally Posted by unni246

A million dollar question indeed

Voted for 4 years as that is normally what I average upon since 2007

Fast forward 2021 the Oneplus 5 still runs good. The 6gb ram does get lag sometimes and the 64 GB does run out of space in about a year and a half when its time for a backup and a full reset of the phone. Once reset the phone's as good as new. Surprised with the quality of the hardware that not even the battery has failed on this one yet, touchwood !

Hope this one survives until end of this year

8Gb RAM serving me well!

[gauravdgr8]

Used to change every 2 years and then bought the S8 during launch in 2017 and still running very well.

Now think will change directly when migrating to 5G, hopefully next year

[mmxylorider]

Originally Posted by Sheel

iPhones had battery issues

The cost of replacing an iPhone battery is not high and gives a good ROI. My next upgrade (for the family) will be to 5G enabled ones. Yes, the lockdown is helping since all of us on WiFi. I also tend to go with services provided by MVNO (Mint Sim in the US operates on bulk purchased T-Mob bandwidth and the yearly cost is about 200$ for unlimited talk/text and 5GB data. It does not make sense to me to lock with a provider for upgrades every couple of years.

[vsrivatsa]

Here is my Phone Ownership Chronology:

• Nokia 6610 >>>>>>>>: 2003 - 2008: 5+ yrs
• HTC TyTn (Hermes)>>>: 2008 - 2011: 3+ yrs
• Samsung Galaxy S2>>>: 2011 - 2015: 4+ yrs
• LG G4 >>>>>>>>>>>: 2015 - 2018: 3+ yrs
• Honor View 10 >>>>>>: 2018 - 2019: 1.5+ yrs
• Redmi K20 Pro >>>>>>: 2019 - Now : 1.5 yrs

Of all the brands, my ill feeling was with LG G4, despite having paid 37K for this flagship from LG in those days, they did not roll out a VOLTE Upgrade also despite the processor supporting it. It had a great screen though at Quad-HD resolution in those days and I possibly would have kept it longer if a VOLTE Update was rolled out.

I don't have any brand loyalty and will buy any phone that seems to be value for money. We bought a Poco F1 for my wife and were very impressed with the way it has aged over the last 2.5 years and this did influence my purchase of the Redmi K20 Pro.

Given the speed at which technology changes - I would not spend more then 30K for a phone purchase.

[Lalvaz]

To me a phone is a utility and not a fashion statement, so I don't have any defined timeline for phone upgrades. I guess I upgrade when it breaks, slows down, or gives some sort of trouble maybe. Usually takes about 4-5 years before the phones start showing signs of age, necessitating a replacement.

[fiat_tarun]

I think with features more or less being very incremental nowadays, people tend to keep phones for longer. My average usage for a phone has been around 2-2.5 years.

I had no problems with my Oneplus 5T but upgraded as I wanted a wide angle camera and a full screen without bezels.

I'm really happy with my ~1 year old Note 10 Lite and with the unique feature of the S-Pen plus Samsung's committed 3 year updates, I guess this phone will stay with me for a while.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

The cost of replacing an iPhone battery is not high and gives a good ROI. My next upgrade (for the family) will be to 5G enabled ones. Yes, the lockdown is helping since all of us on WiFi. I also tend to go with services provided by MVNO (Mint Sim in the US operates on bulk purchased T-Mob bandwidth and the yearly cost is about 200$ for unlimited talk/text and 5GB data. It does not make sense to me to lock with a provider for upgrades every couple of years.

I was looking to get another one, but since I could not get 2 phones [carrying two of them is not feasible, nor required] and these parameters, plus other aspects [conversion to pdf & other office bits were important] I am with an android.

Originally Posted by Sheel

The last iPhone I used was the 7.

Was thinking of the 11, the Pro Max is too steeply priced to be honest, would not want to invest that much.

Do iPhones suggest names when you start keying in numbers or still do not?

Does Truecaller's app show you the name or it appears post the call is cut and you have to look it up?

Plus, I have seen, even till iPhone 11 pro max [haven't cross verified with a 12 pro max], network strength [for both data & voice] is better with Samsung / OnePlus.

[casnov]

Since 2009 I’m on my 3rd phone.
2009 - iPhone 3g
2011 - iPhone 4S
2016 - iPhone 6S
I still don’t see a reason to upgrade from 6S.

[Carpainter]

Originally Posted by Hatari

The objective of this thread, in a way, was to keep my OnePlus 5 and refrain from the temptation of upgrading to the OnePlus 9!
Noticed that I was looking for reasons to upgrade while im still very happy with the phone.

I've been using OP6 since 2018 and I'm really happy. Frankly speaking I'm not tempted to buy newer OnePlus or any other mid range to top end devices mainly because of so many features I'll be losing. There's no headphone jack, notification LEDs etc which are important to me. I'm not really passionate about mobile phones and use them as utility device only. I hope I'll be using my current phone for as long as I can. New phones haven't advanced much other than screen quality and 5G.

[7000plusrpm]

Below is the list of phones I've used since 2005:

Nokia 3220
Sony J230
Sony K750i
Nokia 1100
Samsung guru
Tata Indicom handset
Nokia N78
Xperia Arc
Sony Z1 compact
Nexus 4
Nokia 520
Samsung Note 5
Samsung S7 edge
LG V20
Samsung S8
Samsung Note 8
Google Pixel 2 xl
Samsung S10+
iPhone XR
Oneplus 7 pro
Realme x2 pro
Asus Rog 3

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by Sheel

I

Plus, I have seen, even till iPhone 11 pro max [haven't cross verified with a 12 pro max], network strength [for both data & voice] is better with Samsung / OnePlus.

This I can vouch for. My wife has an Asus Zenfone max pro m1. Its a pretty ordinary phone spec wise, which has not seen an update since Android 9 , sep-20 patch. But it has terrific network coverage and is a great wifi hotspot device. I can receive a wifi signal from it atleast 50 feet away, inspite of having a strong wireless network running otherwise. In contrast I struggle to make my iphone 11 pro as a hotspot even if I place it 30cm away from the receiving device. Not to mention the cell coverage varies in every room.

[Anirudhneni]

I usually use my phones for as long as they die.

2013-2016: Google Nexus 5 (Gave it to mom for a year after that)

2016-2020: iPhone 6s (replaced screen and battery twice, phone was practically a lemon when I was done with it)

2020 (Oct) - Present: iPhone SE 2020

I personally don't like how phones have become so huge, I wanted the iPhone 12 mini but got the SE due to budget constraints. I will probably upgrade to next year's iPhone 13/14 mini if they make that notch smaller.