4 ms·

When they cost as much as they do, is it really a surprise that a good portion of people don't want to replace them every other year? I would like to be one of

When they cost as much as they do, is it really a surprise that a good portion of people don't want to replace them every other year? I would like to be one of the people replacing theirs every year or every other year and while I could afford it, I can't justify the expenditure. Add to that the fact that most phones purchased within the past couple of years remain performant enough for most people.

screye 8y ago
Exactly, at this point phones cost about the same as laptops and laptops have a ~3-4 year replacement cycle. I won't be surprised if the same starts applying to phones, now that the improvements between generations are mainly cosmetic.
EthanHeilman 8y ago
I have a pixel one; I see no reason to upgrade. What feature do new phones offer that I can't do with the pixel one.
- wilsonnb3 8y ago
  Waterproofing is worth it IMO.
  - WaltPurvis 8y ago
    So upgrade when/if you drop your old phone in water? That's actually the only time I've upgraded to a newer phone, the two times I ruined my old phone with water. If my next phone is waterproof, it might be 10 years before I upgrade. (Right now I'm on a Galaxy Note 4, which I got after accidentally running my Note 2 through the laundry a few years ago; it's more than adequate for what I use it for.)
  - sapphire_tomb 8y ago
    In ten years of smartphone ownership, I've never killed a phone with water damage. I've actually never lost one to any damage at all. Waterproofing is a gimmick (to me).
2muchcoffeeman 8y ago
For a while it was alright. I was willing to upgrade every tick of the iPhone cycle and hand down my old iPhones. I even handed down a couple of iPads. The last few years has been different though. The devices have been good enough. And the prices on the lastest iPhone has kept going up. Had the prices been cheaper I’d have upgraded. My parents are on 4+ year old phones (I use for 2, then they use for 2 before another hand down) and even older spares that are just used for travel and the get a local sim. The incremental improvement is worth it if I can pass down. As it is, I think they’ll have to get new phones when they just stop being supported. I’m not upgrading.
hyperpallium 8y ago
I think the higher prices are in anticipation of slowing sales, the root cause of which is the end of Moore's law etc.
- manmal 8y ago
  I‘m not sure you can blame Moore‘s law here with iPhone CPUs getting 20-30% performance bumps every year.
  - hyperpallium 8y ago
    Since 28nm, successive nodes cost more per transistor, instead of cheapening exponentially as they had formerly. Strictly speaking, this is one of the Moores-related laws, falling under the "etc" of my comment. tl;dr the performance bumps cost more.
bagacrap 8y ago
Seems easy to justify to me. You use it constantly, a small increase in joy or functionality multiplied by many hours = worth the cost of a speeding ticket.
- josteink 8y ago
  3% faster is just going to be 3% faster, and nowhere near bringing me actual joy. Having to pay $100 a month for a difference barely measurable in real world performance however... That will cause me real-world dissatisfaction.
  - Dylan16807 8y ago
    You're kidding about those numbers, right? An optimistic but realistic scenario is something like 40% faster and $20 a month, where the phone is used a lot and the speed translates into saving multiple hours a month. Definitely worth it there.
    - josteink 8y ago
      If the phone is a flagship or Apple-priced that’s at least $1200. $100 a month if you buy a new one every year. If the webpages I browse today load fast on my existing phone, network being the speed barrier... will I actually experience a 40% speed-up on a new phone? No way. The value is just not there. And that’s not my opinion. That’s the market speaking. Figures are down for phones everywhere.
      - Dylan16807 8y ago
        Every other year. $2400. And that's if you throw your old phone in the garbage. $20-25 a month lets you trade up to a new $700-900 phone every other year. You won't benefit from that 40% all the time, sure. But if you get 8%, and you use your phone two hours a day, that's almost five hours saved! Processing is not a negligible amount of waiting. Plus new phones tend to have better radios.
black_puppydog 8y ago
Top reason for me to even consider upgrading from my Galaxy S5: Google maps has gotten so overloaded with "features" that opening it takes about a minute and unloads everything else including music player. Similar for Twitter. I don't complain about fb messenger because I took its bloat as a nudge to ditch it years ago already. Luckily, Osmand is getting better and better, and Twitter less and less relevant. \o/

screye 8y ago

Exactly, at this point phones cost about the same as laptops and laptops have a ~3-4 year replacement cycle. I won't be surprised if the same starts applying to phones, now that the improvements between generations are mainly cosmetic.

EthanHeilman 8y ago

I have a pixel one; I see no reason to upgrade. What feature do new phones offer that I can't do with the pixel one.

wilsonnb3 8y ago
Waterproofing is worth it IMO.
- WaltPurvis 8y ago
  So upgrade when/if you drop your old phone in water? That's actually the only time I've upgraded to a newer phone, the two times I ruined my old phone with water. If my next phone is waterproof, it might be 10 years before I upgrade. (Right now I'm on a Galaxy Note 4, which I got after accidentally running my Note 2 through the laundry a few years ago; it's more than adequate for what I use it for.)
- sapphire_tomb 8y ago
  In ten years of smartphone ownership, I've never killed a phone with water damage. I've actually never lost one to any damage at all. Waterproofing is a gimmick (to me).

2muchcoffeeman 8y ago

For a while it was alright. I was willing to upgrade every tick of the iPhone cycle and hand down my old iPhones. I even handed down a couple of iPads. The last few years has been different though. The devices have been good enough. And the prices on the lastest iPhone has kept going up. Had the prices been cheaper I’d have upgraded. My parents are on 4+ year old phones (I use for 2, then they use for 2 before another hand down) and even older spares that are just used for travel and the get a local sim. The incremental improvement is worth it if I can pass down. As it is, I think they’ll have to get new phones when they just stop being supported. I’m not upgrading.

hyperpallium 8y ago

I think the higher prices are in anticipation of slowing sales, the root cause of which is the end of Moore's law etc.

manmal 8y ago
I‘m not sure you can blame Moore‘s law here with iPhone CPUs getting 20-30% performance bumps every year.
- hyperpallium 8y ago
  Since 28nm, successive nodes cost more per transistor, instead of cheapening exponentially as they had formerly. Strictly speaking, this is one of the Moores-related laws, falling under the "etc" of my comment. tl;dr the performance bumps cost more.

bagacrap 8y ago

Seems easy to justify to me. You use it constantly, a small increase in joy or functionality multiplied by many hours = worth the cost of a speeding ticket.

josteink 8y ago
3% faster is just going to be 3% faster, and nowhere near bringing me actual joy. Having to pay $100 a month for a difference barely measurable in real world performance however... That will cause me real-world dissatisfaction.
- Dylan16807 8y ago
  You're kidding about those numbers, right? An optimistic but realistic scenario is something like 40% faster and $20 a month, where the phone is used a lot and the speed translates into saving multiple hours a month. Definitely worth it there.
  - josteink 8y ago
    If the phone is a flagship or Apple-priced that’s at least $1200. $100 a month if you buy a new one every year. If the webpages I browse today load fast on my existing phone, network being the speed barrier... will I actually experience a 40% speed-up on a new phone? No way. The value is just not there. And that’s not my opinion. That’s the market speaking. Figures are down for phones everywhere.
    - Dylan16807 8y ago
      Every other year. $2400. And that's if you throw your old phone in the garbage. $20-25 a month lets you trade up to a new $700-900 phone every other year. You won't benefit from that 40% all the time, sure. But if you get 8%, and you use your phone two hours a day, that's almost five hours saved! Processing is not a negligible amount of waiting. Plus new phones tend to have better radios.

black_puppydog 8y ago

Top reason for me to even consider upgrading from my Galaxy S5: Google maps has gotten so overloaded with "features" that opening it takes about a minute and unloads everything else including music player. Similar for Twitter. I don't complain about fb messenger because I took its bloat as a nudge to ditch it years ago already. Luckily, Osmand is getting better and better, and Twitter less and less relevant. \o/