this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
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Only three years for a premium phone sounds like rich people behavior, to be honest.
Nah, here in the US the majority of people buy through their carrier and typically put them on a 0% interest Equipment Installment Plan (EIP) that break the cost to a monthly payment typically spanning 2 years.
The carriers also have an upgrade path, for me on T-Mobile when the phone is 50% paid (so once a year) I can turn in this phone and upgrade. The remaining balance gets wiped and replaced by the new phone. Other US carriers should be similar.
I typically upgrade once a year
That... Seems so wasteful for me.
Depends on how you look at it, T-Mobile requires that all phones that are Jumped remain in good condition so that they can be resold at a good discount to others or shipped off to their phone insurance company to be issued out to people whose similar phone broke and they make a claim
So it's not like they get shipped back and thrown away, and I do always have the option to just not return the phone and continue to make the payments on it and then I can pass it down to a family member or just keep it as a backup. Which I have done in the past.
(Most) North Americans are the epitome of wasteful consumerism, even more than their economic kin in other global north countries (but sadly not by that much). They succumb like flies to company deals and propaganda that incentivizes throwing away functional stuff and replacing it with new shiny thing XYZ in ever decreasing intervals. Vance Packard's 1960s book still being to the point. If environmental preservation is a concern to you or other reader, don't incentivize an unnecessary tech and use your smartphone (that is a necessity) until it breaks beyond repair or usability (and buy an actually strong protection to increase the interval). I still use an iPhone 6S, and it works perfectly well for smartphone tasks (there is even functioning bank apps. security updates still appear once in a while, and bank apps are protected by the banks anyways. if you feel unsafe using banks in an old smartphone, create a 2nd bank as a ''street bank'' for daily tasks keeping only a low amount of money, and keep the money in a primary bank to be used via internet).
Imagine if we could just flash a functional android ROM on it, that hardware still is great and could last decades (replacing pieces once in a while). Anyway, the mainstream tech industry is definitely an enemy of sustainability, don't 'buy' the green-washing.
I spend extremely little on myself. I have a good salary and no vices, every bill and payment is taken care of, and my family is well taken care of between me and my partner.
If I want to indulge myself with a new toy once every three years, I may very well do so without some guy having to complain about it. Sure, call me rich. I guess I'd live up that princess moniker I have on my nickname.
The large U.S. carriers have plans that are, I think, $20-30 a month and you get the newest phone as soon as it comes out, apple or Samsung. They also partner with manufacturers for discounts and trade-in deals, especially when a new model comes out. My last phone was 2 years old but when they offered me the newest one for something like $120 after trade-in (I think that was almost $1100 off, I don't remember all the details) I upgraded everyone on my plan. I think they did the same thing this year but even with those discounts the pain in the ass of upgrading plus the price, even though it's low, wasn't worth the small year over year change. Probably next year or the year after. Assuming similar deals, that makes it $40-$60 a year to get a new phone every 2-3 years.
Edit: You do have to stay with the carrier though. If you leave in less than 24 months you have to pay back a prorated part of the discount. Or at least the part that comes from the carrier, I think you keep the enhanced trade-in from the manufacturer.
To each their own. I would prefer to stick to my $3/mo plan with no extras. And said $120 are, while a good deal for a premium phone, are still $120 I would rather spend on better things (or if they're this throwaway - donate to a charity). A phone after 2-3 years is still very much functional, I don't see the point to get a new shiny thing just because you can.