I have a Galaxy S10e, purchased the day it launched, 6 March 2019. Today, March 25 2024, it is 5 years old.

My phone is in good physical shape and running fine. The battery isn't quite what it used to be, but it loads web pages and apps well, the UI is responsive, I look at new phones and there's not a single thing there I want. When my previous phone, an S4 Mini, was this old (yes I had an S4 Mini in service for 5 years) it was getting kind of slow, there were apps in the app store that wouldn't run, I had replaced the battery...I still wasn't really looking forward to upgrading. My S10e is...fine. If it kept getting updates, I'd gladly keep it in service.

What's more, I look out at what they're advertising on phones now and I'm like "don't need that. Actively don't want that. Want to not have that. Okay the anti-glare coating would be nice. Don't need AI. Don't need titanium. I don't game on my phone..."

I'm still rocking a Galaxy S9+ with no intent of upgrading. I don't even know what phone I would go with if I did need another.

and then they break it and decide the cost of a repair isn't worth it

Yep, that was me with my previous phone, which I did indeed have for over 5 years.

But there's another major factor to it.

I use Android phones, which get official software updates for only a couple years (3 years for the most part). This includes security updates.

So when I got my current one it was one of only two I even considered, because only those two manufacturers promised 5 years of (security) updates at the time.

It has gotten better though, but except for Fairphone they're still all very hard or impossible to repair.

My anecdote...I used my last phone until it died. It was around 4 years old and the eMMC storage failed from age, making the device a suddenly totally unusable brick. Before then, it had gotten very slow and laggy over time and the battery life degraded to be pretty sucky...barely surviving the workday on standby in my pocket.

From my experience, I don't know that I would necessarily advise using a device for that long. The battery just gets too shitty and its sudden death made it a bit of a scramble to buy a new phone. Granted, my previous phone was fairly low end, but even with a high end device, batteries degrade to almost unusable levels after a few years. I know it sucks for the environment, but it seems like less of a headache to keep a phone for only like 2-3ish years and then upgrade it while it's still working as opposed to waiting for it to irreparably bork itself.

Edit: If you're able to do a battery replacement, I will say that it does change the conversation somewhat. But long gone are the days of easily user serviceable battery replacements for most phones. Yes, there are obscure phones out there that make it easier to swap out the battery, but these phones aren't exactly prominent.

Every single phone upgrade since 2012 was because the battery would get so bad, it lasts less than an hour.

And before someone goes, "Ah try ifixit", the cost of the replacement parts was as much or more than just getting another used phone from like swappa. I've done the financial math countless times.

I miss buying batteries for like $20 and watching the phone become new again.

I as well. At the very least, we need some fucking differences in the market. Every phone doesn't have to be the same. Imagine the car market if all we could buy were Chrysler 300s. It looks sleek and nice but will crap out on you in a couple years and doesn't really fit in well with your career as a general contractor. When it dies, you have to go buy another one and start the cycle over.

My Fairphone does, and I have already purchased a batter for 35 euros, which I keep in my drawer. The phone is now just over 3 years old, probably in a year or so I will replace it. I am aiming for at least 6-7 years lifespan.

That's why I'm eyeing to get a Fairphone as soon as my current phone breaks

I'm still bitter about USB mass storage being removed for only MTP. MTP sucks, any time I use it for more than a few small files it always ends up dying partway through.

That's why I stick with Android 12, all my banking apps work just fine with magisk's DenyList. Heard that's getting tricky on 13 or 14.

And I absolutely need root to add system-wide adblocking and security features like Ice Box and Storage Isolation.

Buying a new replacement totally is upgrading though.

That's why it's so rare to find phones with easily changeable batteries as most phones are like new if you just replace that.

Personally, although the terms have become increasingly blurred over the years, I refer to changing to a new version of software (including an OS, and both ideally with some improvements) as updating it rather than upgrading.

I reserve upgrade more for changes of hardware with some form of improvement over its predecessor. I'd suspect I may not be alone in this, but I dunno how common it may be. When switching to a mix of both, I simply say I'm getting a new [insert specific device depending on which].

Although I'd hesitate to call many new phones an all-around upgrade when they're either removing features (headphone jack/expandable storage) or getting more cumbersome to hold (can you even call some modern phones a handset anymore?).

You can just buy a used phone too. An older pro is going to be better than the new A. Same price too.

Counterpoint: my eyes are not what they used to be 20 years ago and 6,5...7" screens hit the sweet spot for useability. Especially since bezels are super thin these days so a 6,7" phone today is barely larger in total dimensions than a 5,5" phone 6 or 7 years ago.

Pixel 4a checking in. 🙂

This. Had to replace my trusted s10e. Picked the smallest I could get, which was an s23. It's too big.

But it's got lidar so you can jack off hands-free by gesturing a jerking motion!

Same. However I do work manual labor, so nothing too fancy lasts long.

I did that but lost my headphones jack with connected built in quad DAC, a reliable fingerprint reader mounted on the back of the phone, and front facing camera that wasn't crammed under my screen causing an annoying dead spot...

I feel it's time to upgrade when the latest and greatest just released again.

/s

Apple is also super good with software updates on old hardware.

Except for that time they deliberately slowed down older phones with software updates so people would buy new phones.