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Comment by giancarlostoro | Hacker News Reader

Before I got my first iPhone five years ago, I always noticed that iPhone owners would drag it along for a long time, but really the phones are tanks. I remember switching Android phones every two years, because they quite literally started to decay. I think my last Android Phone I could have probably made last longer than two years, I still turn it on and play random games on it, and its still very responsive.

I assume they know just how long their customers keep their phones and maintain them accordingly.

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This... is the opposite of my experience. Friends with iPhones seem to upgrade them unreasonably often, but my (Samsung) Android phones last a loooong time. My first Samsung I retired somewhat involuntarily after 3 years so that I could get a model that would also work overseas, but the phone itself was still fine. My second Samsung (the one I got in 2016 for the overseas trip) I just retired last fall, 2024, and even then only because a job required MS Authenticator and it wouldn't let me download it to the phone. Battery life was still fine, everything I used worked fine.

I fully expect to be using my current Android phone into the 2030s.

Well your experience is maybe more based on your friend behavior than on an absolute rule.

This is the same for absolutely every manufactured goods. The same durable car model will be kept for over a decade by some people while some other opt for a leasing plan that guarantee a new car every two years. But the intrinsic quality of the car remain unaffected.

To ponder this you must consider what become of the phone they replace : did they trash it or did they have a second life with a less edgy owner?

Maybe you use low end phones or crappy vendors?

I'm migrating from my 5 year old flagship (lol) only because vendor decided to stop supporting it. Battery still good for a day, great screen, good enough camera, fantastic sound, ssd card slot...

My next has at least 7 years of mainline support (with all AOSP releases) plus at least couple of years damage control updates.

It's a matter of the choose I think.

The second hand resale market for iPhone is huge, especially in Asian 3rd world countries.

It is in Apple’s interest to keep old iPhones updated, as old iPhones being in active usage is better than them rotting in a drawer.

A relative of mine used their Galaxy Note II until the internal flash died and it stopped booting. It was definitely over 5 years old by that point.

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