6 ms·
I don't know a single person using an 8+ year old phone. I'd guess 99% of the population makes a phone last 2-4 years.
by camhart 3y ago
I don't know a single person using an 8+ year old phone. I'd guess 99% of the population makes a phone last 2-4 years.
- croes 3y agoBut why? It seems the only progress is the camera and the CPU, but for what more CPU speed? The camera?
- vel0city 3y agoSeveral of the phones I've upgraded from were due to the onboard storage wearing out. A couple were because of water damage, which is less of a concern these days.
- runamok 3y agoFor me at least the battery seems to degrade significantly after 2+ years. I have a OnePlus 7t that is 3 years old and I use it heavily almost every day. I should consider wiping it to see if that improves battery life.
- woodruffw 3y agoNot sure about 8 years, but I know at least 3 people who use iPhone 8s still and have no intention of stopping, so that's 6 years. I know at least one person who had an iPhone 5 until it broke earlier this year.
- kaba0 3y agoI guess this will only lengthen as we go forward, as the initial jumps between successive phones were large, and they are much more incremental nowadays. An iphone XS is good for 5 more years easily.
- llimllib 3y agoI try to use mine for 5 years each, I jumped from the 8 to the 14 earlier this year
- bombcar 3y agoI only stopped using the 8+ because it got destroyed, and "upgrading" to a newer used one was almost the same price. Otherwise I'd still be rocking that touch button.
- szundi 3y agoFather as business development manager manages with iphone 7
- throwaway54_56 3y agoThe lifespan of those phones remains for the people that buy them used/refurbished. There is a strong secondary market for iPhones.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoWow, I don’t think that’s true at all. Most people can’t afford a new phone that frequently. I know amongst my techno elite friends your estimate holds, but for almost everyone else I know they rarely upgrade and it’s more about when it physically falls apart than any desire to participate in an upgrade cycle.
- scarface_74 3y agoIn the US, all of the major carriers offer 0% interest payment plans. Even the MVNOs offer low end iPhones “for free” with a contract. We don’t have to limit it to people you know People upgrade their phones about once every 2.5 years https://www.refurb.me/blog/how-long-does-a-smartphone-last-replacement-cycle https://www.refurb.me/blog/how-long-does-a-smartphone-last-r...
- hotnfresh 3y agoMy carrier offers them 0% interest, rolled into your phone plan payment. But, go figure, the sticker price is like 10-15% higher than on the Apple site. They just hid the interest in the price.
- scarface_74 3y agoThat isn’t true for T-mobile. But even so, you can always just buy from Apple with a 0% interest payment plan
- hotnfresh 3y agoiPhone 14 128GB on t-mobile’s site: $829 (zero-interest roll-into-your-phone-bill financing available) Same, on Apple’s site: $699 IDK, maybe apple price-dropped today and T-Mobile hasn’t caught up, but that’s similar to what I’ve seen in the past when I’ve looked at buying through them.
- fnordpiglet 3y ago0% interest isn’t $0/m. When you live paycheck to paycheck, as most Americans do, that’s a very important detail. Most people don’t have disposable income. But even that do they don’t value phone upgrades. When I see their ancient phones I sometimes remark they can get a phone with monthly terms and they just shrug and say the sad device with cracked screens and ancient cameras and crap display resolution and brightness is good enough for them. It baffles me, but most people just use their phone for texting, occasionally a map, and a crappy camera. Only in my tech friend circle do people keep up.
- skywhopper 3y agoWeird, I don’t know anyone that keeps their phone for less than five years.
- scarface_74 3y agoAnd I’m sure you don’t know “anyone that still watches TV” like the old Slashdot meme. It’s really not that hard to find statistics. It’s 2.5 - 3 years https://www.refurb.me/blog/how-long-does-a-smartphone-last-replacement-cycle# https://www.refurb.me/blog/how-long-does-a-smartphone-last-r... https://www.pcmag.com/news/the-2-year-mobile-phone-upgrade-cycle-is-mostly-dead https://www.pcmag.com/news/the-2-year-mobile-phone-upgrade-c...
- minkzilla 3y agoYou said "I'd guess 99% of the population makes a phone last 2-4 years." Which is obviously false if the average is 3 years. An interesting data point neither of these articles have is the standard deviation. One of the articles says 8% of people wait more than 5 years.
- scarface_74 3y agoI never said any such thing about “99%”
- minkzilla 3y agoAh sorry, I replied to the wrong comment.
- ryandrake 3y agoMy iPhone 7 will be 7 years old in a few days, so close. I haven't found the need for anything that has gone into new phones since then that would justify the cost.
- vehemenz 3y agoHah, I just upgraded my iPhone 7 to the 13 Mini. It's definitely better, but I probably could have held on for another two years.
- avn2109 3y agoMy daily driver phone is an iPhone 7+, which Wikipedia tells me is from 2016. It works great and people often compliment the pictures from its camera. That's not "8+ years old" but it's in the ballpark :)
- zie 3y agoI'm at 5yrs(iPhone XR), though I do plan on replacing my phone with a new iPhone 15 later this year or early next.
- TheAtomic 3y agoOn a 6 year old iPhone 6 here. Solid, charges quick, no battery issues, good pics, you name it. I may upgrade to go all USB-C but may wait to see if the 15 has issues.
- thinkmassive 3y agoAnecdata: I have a friend who refuses to update from an original iPhone SE because he hates the larger form factors AND because it functions perfectly fine for his needs. I know multiple people still using an iPhone X (2018), for whom cost is not an issue. The main reason for the majority of the general population to upgrade is because the phone literally breaks (screen, stops charging, radio malfunctions, etc)
- nerdbert 3y agoMine is 6 years old, my wife and son are both using 8-year-old iphones. They still get security updates.