[Hatari]

How often do you upgrade your phone?

The million dollar question for our generation!

I have a 4yr old Oneplus 5 that im still using.

[ottocycle]

I generally tend to upgrade every two years. But this time my oneplus 6 is almost 2.5 years already and I feel like it is still serves me good and I no longer feel like upgrading.

[Nav-i-gator]

For a slab of metal sandwiched between two thin layers of glass, no matter how hard I try, I just couldn't keep it from cracking for more than a year. Then, 1 average one year further usage with a cracked screen, means that I have to change this damn money sucker thing every 2 years.

[speedmiester]

Since the early smartphone days, I used to buy models around 20K price bracket and replace every year. Last time around got my self a Note9, it's been 2.5 years now and the phone has held up well and I don't see myself upgrading for another year or so. Also the deletion of 3.5mm jack in many flagship phones is a deal breaker for me.
Due to the nature of my work, I spend close to 4-5hrs on my phone on calls. Battery life is very important and I prefer a wired earphone over bluetooth.
My next upgrade will be a flagship phone and preferably in a phone/tablet form factor which might help me replace working on my laptop.

[Raghav96]

Only after it breaks.
Used my htc 826 for ~11 months
Iphone 6s for 4.5 years
Iphone 11 lets see how long it will survive

[Eddy]

I got my first phone in 2002. And I am currently on my 7th handset, which is about 15 months old. So that's what, 3 years on an average?

PS: Among the seven handsets, one was very problematic and lasted only for a year or so.

[Researcher]

Still holding on to my BlackBerry PRIV since 2015. I mean look at it (Source)!


I usually do not change till I find a suitable reason for upgrade as I usually have a lot of things to shift and manually configure (most are still taken care of by the OS itself these days). I usually go with phones with extended support (read iPhones) or with good aftermarket development (most Nexuses, Pixels and a few Mis). Also I must add that I usually use more than 1 phone at a time, so that sort of extends their life with less wear and tear.

Last year, I replaced my 2014 4S (still works with a 5-6 hour battery life last checked) with a 2020 SE. In addition to this, a friend gave away a 2017 Mi A1 that went end-of-life with Android 9 back in 2019. I use it as a back-up in case any one of my phones fail, which should last me a couple of years (especially that I successfully installed Android 11 through Pixel Experience 2-3 days back ).

[TheRajput]

Used to change my phone every year until I started to use iPhones. I used the Samsung Note 1 to Note 3 and then shifted to Apple.
Now my phone life cycle has changed to three years.
iPhone 6 to iPhone X
iPhone X to iPhone 12

[sahil624]

I use iPhone and one thing that I like about it is that one can use it at least for three years. Currently, I am using XR 128GB which I purchased in October 2018. I intend to use it till 2022, that’s why went with 128 GB.

[saikarthik]

There should be an option in poll unless it breaks or SW not compatible.
But for now, I replace the phone every 3.5 years again owing to App compatibility and the processing power. Currently I use a 64GB memory , 4GB RAM Nokia 6.1 version and it's been 2.5 years now, going strong. My previous phones were not android OS ones and had app compatibility issues and that's the reason I had to buy a new phone. Otherwise my 2015 Lumia 530 still works and is back up phone.

[Gansan]

Every five years, unless I lose the phone or it gives up the ghost earlier than that.

[ashis89]

7th phone in the past 14 years, since I got my first mobile phone.

I was using each phone for 3-4 years and bought a replacement until it broke (or the battery started giving up). Since each of them lasted 3+ years, I didn't try repairing any device.

Since past couple of years, my employer gave me a phone and I chucked my almost new personal phone as I loath carrying more than 1 phone. This work phone has to be replaced every 2 years.

[Dry Ice]

At one point, I have changed phones almost every year in the sub 10k range.

Got a S9, approx 2.5 years back and holding on to it. New phones don't seem to offer anything substantial for the price demanded. Not saying they aren't technically better, just that for my usage pattern don't see the benefit.

Although it's end of the road for it with major OS upgrades, it's still eligible for monthly security patches. So will certainly cross the 3 yr mark with it.

Can I hold on to it for 5 years? Curious to find out.

[J4J]

One of the main reason I switch phones is because of the updates.

I've used 10-15k range phones. All of them gave up due to bad updates a year later. Then I upgraded to mid range smartphone at 25k 2.2 years back. This is samsung a50 at the time it was launched. This is going strong.

I bought it with android version 9.0 and currently it is at 11.0. I am really impressed. Just 2 weeks back I got the OS update.
If this keeps going, I am planning to hold on to it for as long as it lasts.

So in the longer run, a better more costly phone turns out cheaper if we consider the average yearly cost.

[ninjatalli]

Been using my Samsung S8 since Q1 2017 till it started giving minor display issues from last year, that would last a day or two. Purchased the Pixel 4A - tried it for a few days but I found out I preferred my S8 more than that, so the wife (much to her delight) picked it up as an replacement for her RedMi mobile.

Also have an office based iPhone XR since last year but never got comfortable or found a use for it so it is hardly ever used.

To be honest except for the improvements in the camera I really don't find a need to switch to a new phone. I don't think I'll move away from the S8 till it stops working. Interestingly the battery life is still going strong - I get a day's run easily, and 3/4 of a day with heavy usage. Just a few days ago purchased the Galaxy Buds+ and it works seamlessly with the S8, so that's one more reason to stick to this phone.

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Don't think I can answer the poll - none of the options apply to me! When I look back historically, I just realized I have gone across a variety of manufacturers and kept the phone(s) for varying periods of time!

1. 2001 - 2004: One of those Nokia 3310 era phones

2. 2005: Nokia 6600 - had it for less than 6 months as it got stolen

3. 2005 - 2007: Nokia NGage - this was a good fun period with a lot of experiments done on the Symbian OS

4. 2007 - 2009: Sony w810 - loved the range of 'Walkman' phones that Sony used to churn out during those days. 2.0MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens and excellent music output.

5. 2010 - 2012: One of the Samsung options (non-android) that were quite popular - can't recollect the phone names

6. 2013 - 2015: Windows Lumia 925 - wonderful phone but let down by the lack of a good app store. Had to let go due to a cracked screen the repair for which was more than the price of a new phone

7. 2015 - 2019: Bought a used iPhone 5 (<6 months old) for a cracking deal. It ran amazingly well for the next 4+ years and required only a battery change in 2017. Finally gave it off to someone (IIRC)

8. 2016 - 2017: Motorola G4 - Amazon had this ridiculous deal offering a G4 at $50 with the condition that Amazon ads will run always on the lockscreen. Bought it just for the heck of trying it out!

9. 2017 - till date: Samsung S8. Got a gem of a deal within a month of the launch. And the rest is history!

10. 2018 - 2019: OnePlus 6: The mom needed a phone so gave the Samsung initially to her. Got myself a OnePlus 6 which ran amazingly well till it encountered heavy rains of Mumbai in 2019 - the display conked off so gave it to a 3rd party service provider who royally screwed up the phone so had to ditch it.