I see jdlyga's point as, iPhone 2 made iPhone 1 a throwaway, and from then on to arguably iPhone 6 where maybe phones were more alike than different on critical

I see jdlyga's point as, iPhone 2 made iPhone 1 a throwaway, and from then on to arguably iPhone 6 where maybe phones were more alike than different on critical metrics. On the other hand your point is that current phones don't have much different between them. I held on to my iPhone 5 for 6-7 years so I think I have even better evidence for you than your resourceful friends.