Ask HN: How frequently do you upgrade phones? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How frequently do you upgrade phones?

4 pointsghoomketu17 comments

Just wondering since most of my friends are often upgrading every year but i seldom see people doing anything useful with the more features, ram, cpu power etc.

So just wondering how others are here and how old or how often you upgrade it?

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We have used swappa.com to buy used phones for the last purchases. Let someone else pay the depreciation on the new phone and then get it cheaper. This also means you own the phone outright and switch carriers on a whim. We have iphones and they are 7 plus, 7, 7 and 11. The reason for the 11 is because switching providers gave us a discount. I was thinking about upgrading but it does what it needs to and the only feature I might take advantage of is better camera.

In my mind the cool new tech phase of phones has been over for a long while. They are like refrigerators now - any new features (TV in fridge) are mostly just gimmicks. There might be minor advancements in various features but they don't seem like reasons to upgrade. If people choose to put their disposable income into new phones every year, have at it, I'd rather spend it on hobbies.

Considering new generations only bring ever smaller real world gains in performance and features, I tend to wait until my phone either died completely or requires a repair that would cost only a little less than buying a new phone.

Looking at sales numbers it seems very frequent, carrier deals and trade-in programs might play into this as well.

Personally I upgraded from a 4-5 year old phone to a 2019 model a couple of months back.

I upgrade when the phone dies or fixing it makes no sense, as in fixing the screen would cost 60% of the price on a two-year old phone.

I use my phone to call, text, read epub, take photos of the whiteboard, and rarely browse the internet. I'm not a "phone person". I use only apps that add convenience to something I find useful (communication, food, transportation, maps, lodging). No social media apps. No notifications.

I also want small phones I can comfortably hold with one hand without straining it. I don't do giant phones that take a palm and a knuckle. I don't want to cater and care for a phone as if it were my child or that take up space in my pocket or have things on the screen, therefore I don't do cases or screen protectors, and I don't do phones that can't stay up for a day. I only have phones I can use, lose, replace, and move on.

These points make it easy for me to enter a store and buy a phone faster than it took me to write this.

I'm still on my iPhone 5s that I bought in 2014. Had to replace cracked screen (cost around $40) and the battery twice (around $20 each). Even though it's stuck on iOS 12, it still keeps getting security updates from Apple. I intend to use it until apps vendors stop supporting iOS 12, which will probably happen in a couple of years. All in all I'd say the phone was/is a good value and is worth the Apple premium tax.

Between 2012 and 2016 I had about 5 different phones, but they were never upgrades. I simply replaced them when they broke, or got them for free. Then in 2016 I got an iPhone SE and I've been using it since. I'll get a new iPhone next year.

I spent the whopping amount of 600 dollars in smartphones over the past 8 years. My next phone is likely to cost twice as much.

The short answer: When they stop working

Meh, the marginal cost vs marginal benefit is so low that you might as well upgrade whenever you feel like it.

iPhone 12 mini is awesome. Cameras are great, performance is smooth, battery is good, screen is good. 5G is a gimmick imo, but nice to have in the city or in crowded spaces.

If you spend most of your day on your phone, might as well get the best.

I'm on an iPhone 6s so it is over 5 years old. I'm just on the verge of getting a new phone since I need more space, a better camera, and a phone that can actually hold a charge. I tend to hold for 3-5 years since I've had probably 2 phones in the past decade (iPhone 4 and iPhone 6s).

My wife just upgraded from a 5 year old iPhone, I'm using a 4 year old model. Ill likely upgrade next year.

I had my LG enV2 for a little over 8 years, and since then I've had an iPhone 7 that I bought off Swappa. I'll own it for close to a similar amount of time. I can't imagine purchasing a phone for $200+ every year or so, I don't see any benefit.

In the early days of iPhone I would upgrade roughly every 2 years.

Now it's more like 3-4 years. My most recent upgrade was from iPhone 8 to iPhone 12 Pro. The difference in camera quality is striking.

I buy my friends' old phones after they upgrade. Usually by that point CyanogenMod is supported for the model, and I get regular upgrades for less than $100 each.

Not often. I used an iPhone 5s from its release until last year when I upgraded to an iPhone 6s.

I upgraded less frequent now. Usually I upgrade it because of the battery.

When the current I've gives in entirely.

last couple of phones lasted 3-4 years. I usually upgrade when they become non-usable.

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