Promising software updates alone for 10+ years is going to be a difficult sell, even if you really intend to. And it's going to cost a significant amount of money.
And 10 years is a LONG time. 10 years ago android didn't exist, iOS had JUST come out, basically every "smartphone" out there was called a "PDA" and used windows mobile with a stylus. Even getting connectivity hardware that would work on those timescales is starting to get hard.
And let's be honest, the market would be extremely small. Most people want the newest device every year, because hardware is still improving, new features are added, form factors change, and styling is important. Trying to sell a device which looks worse, costs more, is larger and has less features to the general public just isn't going to work.
I get 5 years, but 10 seems to be really pushing it.
The change in laptops hasn't gone a fraction as far as it has in cell phones in the past decade. That might stop soon, but until it does getting a phone to last 10 years is a pipe dream, unless you are okay with a severely out of date device, which again, I don't think that 99% of the public will be.
And without customers, a company won't be able to support a phone for that long, so you'd end up with a slow, expensive, dated looking, insecure device.
Looking back 10 years doesn't make sense because development was rapid then. But look back 5 years and there isn't a huge difference. A phone from 5 years ago would be fine in 5 more years.
Software updates and hardware serviceability are the bottle necks in phone longevity. The challenge is economical, cultural and political, not technical.
>The challenge is economical, cultural and political, not technical.
While there are some technical hurdles to overcome to make a phone that lasts 10 years, they aren't that big comparatively. The real problem comes when you need to support software for a decade, getting people to buy a phone that's more expensive, larger, and slower than the competitors, selling enough to make the whole thing economically feasible, and getting people to be okay with a dated looking device.
I just don't see that being possible right now, especially while phones are still getting higher resolution, more capability, larger batteries, and smaller form factors. Maybe when phones hit the same plateau that laptops did a few years ago it will be possible, but I would not want to be part of a company attempting it right now.
How is a phone a status symbol? When most people say that, they are referring to iPhones. But when 40% of all phones in the US are iPhones how is it a status symbol? Even if you refer to the price, almost anyone can afford any iPhone - all of the carriers offer monthly 0% interest payment plans.
Once anyone can afford it, it's no longer a status symbol.
I completely disagree. There are plenty of things which are status symbols that aren't overly expensive. "Status symbol" doesn't mean "unobtainable", often people get them just to fit in with their perceived "status" among their peers.
Little things like being able to automatically share WiFi passwords, Apple Pay between people, FaceTime, iMessage, being able to share my location continuously with my wife when I'm on the road (or before when I was running long distances), etc.
My current phone's battery goes 3-4 days before I need to charge it, cost around $30 and it's currently been in use for 3 years with no signs of getting worse or breaking.
I've been considering moving to a dumb phone, but I do need some basic features.
http://run-belay.ru/to-completely-disassemble-the-nokia-3310...
I actually had to stop using the 5110 because the technology wasn't supported anymore (the frequencies were re-purposed for something else), and that's probably what will happen to your 10+ year phone.
You can still purchase a Nokia 1100. It's the world's best-selling handset because you can do all you mentioned.
I still have both in a drawer, and they boot when charged.