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I have to really disagree with this. This isn't something like a microwave we're talking about where the tech hasn't changed in decades. This is literally som
by metacritic12 4y ago
I have to really disagree with this. This isn't something like a microwave we're talking about where the tech hasn't changed in decades. This is literally something on the bleeding edge of chips and technology, where the ability to compute really does go up a ton every 5 years.
Add on to that the fact that most people use it many hours a day, this equal something like a thousand hours a year. So even a top of the line phone that you refresh every 3 years is something you pay cents an hour to use -- quite low.
If you're from a developing country or the low end of a developed country, I can see how not upgrading your phone every 3 years can be important. If you have moderate resources from a developed country, not being willing to upgrade your phone is frankly a utility mistake for most people.
If phone makers have to support old devices, there is a lot of developer time, testing, etc that is needed.
In the end, I think the flaw of the article is the same flaw as below: some people get upset that if a small streak damages something like 10 pixels on a 4K screen, it's cheaper to replace the entire thing than to fix it. Replacing the entire thing seems like "waste". Not so: repairing the screen is actually waste, because it requires lots of skilled human time. Replacing the screen is mostly cheap automatic assembly. Likewise, it "feels bad" to throw away a working phone, but actually the societal cost of supporting very very old phones would be a lot more than having an ecosystem where most people want to upgrade every couple of years -- in a arena that is actually changing fast.
- Symbiote 4y agoYou are considering only the economy, but I think people keeping older phones are also considering the environment (carbon dioxide, other pollution, mining etc). That's the main reason I'm using a 5 year old phone.
- camillomiller 4y agoApple has an amazing recycling program (I know because I’ve seen Daisy in action). If you care about all that, bringing your iPhone to Apple at the end of its lifetime is the best decision you can make.
- KoosL 4y agoApple puts most phones into a shredder for 'recycling'. [Daisy is cool, but...](https://www.ifixit.com/News/15794/apple-daisy-cobalt-recycling https://www.ifixit.com/News/15794/apple-daisy-cobalt-recycli...)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- camillomiller 4y agoThanks for explaining to me what I personally saw during my press visits to Apple recycling facilities.
- TillE 4y agoI think phones are now perhaps approaching a plateau of "good enough" for anything resembling the current applications, but 2GB of RAM definitely ain't there. That doesn't cut it for a modern multitasking OS with loads of high-res graphics to go along with a high-res screen. I've had an iPhone XS since it was released, it's only just barely starting to show its age, mostly with shorter battery life. Five years is a good long run for constantly-improving tech. Life is short, you simply won't have to worry about that many upgrades.
- asdff 4y agoSometimes I think the screen race is shooting the device in the foot. Anything after the retina display in the iphone was just diminishing returns. People aren't going to notice refresh rate or more pixels beyond what they can already resolve at that distance scrolling instagram, but it sure makes for great ad copy. I'm a bit of a radical where I think retina display is overkill on a laptop even, since I'm sitting here on my 1280x800 pixel laptop and I can't see any pixels from where the laptop actually sits in practice.
- Dylan16807 4y ago> This is literally something on the bleeding edge of chips and technology, where the ability to compute really does go up a ton every 5 years. That's cool and all but going up should be a choice. If someone doesn't want new features, they shouldn't have to buy new hardware.
- asdff 4y agoWhat did people use iphones for 10 years ago? Mobile web, email, social media, texting, watching videos, that sort of thing. What do people use iphones for today? The exact same stuff. Why are we buying more powerful crap by the year to do the exact same functionality? Its like an arms race over nothing.