this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 97 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not surprising. I used to update every 2 years but my last couple have had a 3 or 4 year gap.

As it should be really. These can be very expensive devices that only make sense if you get a decent life out of them.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I just don’t see the point of upgrading every two years, and even if I did I’m buying used at this point.

I’m on iPhone and despite all the fanatics creaming their pants over each release, very little actually seems to change.

I know a guy with a 6 year old phone, and when he listed off the features it made me realise how little things have actually changed since it was released.

[–] 6xpipe_ 1 points 1 year ago

I have an iPhone 8 and see no reason to update in the near future.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Reading this on iPhone X

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When smartphones first took off, each new one was a large upgrade. But each passing year sees new phones being more and more iterative. There's hardly any difference at all anymore between individual years.

I'm at the point now where I keep my phones until they break or stop getting security updates.

[–] 6xpipe_ 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When smartphones first took off, each new one was a large upgrade

And they were subsidized by the cell phone company, so they only cost $200 (In many places in the US, at least).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah definitely this is a big factor.

I have a small pot I save into for my phone upgrade each month. Waiting longer means I get a shiner new phone when I do finally decide to upgrade.

And once I have it I want it to last as long as possible!

When it used to be just part of your contract you wouldn’t think about, just get a new one when your contract said it was time.

[–] 6xpipe_ 2 points 1 year ago

There wasn't even a maximum on the contract. When I got my first two phones, I agreed to a 2-year cellular contract. If I closed my account or moved providers before that, I had to pay AT&T some amount of money to kill the contract. After those two years were up, I could do whatever I wanted. I was then on a month-to-month payment, like standard cell plans today. They just wanted to make sure to recoup their money over 2 years for subsidizing my cheaper phone upfront.

Now, the subsidization is more like a subscription fee, where there are additional fees on the bill each month toward the phone and the cell phone company encourages you to get a new one once it's paid off. You're still paying full price for a phone. Possibly forever.