Ask Lemmy

I'm still using a Note 10+. Battery is solid and it does the job. I have no desire to upgrade, but when that does happen, it will happen out of necessity. I've replaced the Otterbox (my old one cracked) and a few screen protectors, but that's it.

When I do upgrade? I'll keep it as long as it still works. I already set up my wife's old phone (Note 10) for my daughter to function for music and digital drawing (she loves Penup and Samsung Notes).

Just looked it up: my Note 10+ hit EOL two years ago! I'm calling that a win.

Had my Librem 5 for 2.5 years now, and in my head I expect another 2 years or so with it. Before this, I had Samsung Note 5 which I kept for I think 5 or 6 years.

Yearly upgrades are dumb.

3-4 years, because I need it for my job to be nearly up to date.

More often than I should. I try to balance that my work will buy one every few years with preserving the materials and labor.

Current phone, Pixel 6a, is getting security updates for 5 years. Got 2 years left. I'll keep the phone for low risk activities (car navigation with offline maps, music player) if the battery is still good.

My next phone should either be a Pixel or a GrapheneOS branded phone, at least 7 years.

I usually replace it with an old used one...

Got a xiaomi 13T 1TB for 300€ last year. The one before that (9bNote pro, 200€) lasted 4-5 years IIRC. It was a used one too.

I just updated both my phone and my wife’s. I went from an iPhone 13 to a 17, and stayed with apple only because I am locked in to the ecosystem by IT policies. Fortunately, the allowance for using my own device covers 80% of the cost of the phone and plan. My previous phone wasn’t charging reliably, and after an unfortunate incident where it was wet for an extended period, was doing some odd things.

Wife had a pixel 6a which was no longer holding a charge, or reliably charging. Upgraded that to a pixel 10.

I have sent both old phones to be fixed, which includes a new battery for the pixel and will be donating them to a Women’s shelter when they come back.

When it dies, replaced my first phone cause it was sprint locked and sprint got bought out. The second one snopped working in a car accident, and the third one's SOC started dying so funny glitchy colors and massive lag made it impossible to use

I always keep it until I break it, usually about 2.5 years.

I'll only say mine is a Moto G7 Power.

Usually after 4-5 years

When I start you start hating your phone.

When I do not get security updates anymore which is around the time the phones battery gets very hot and dies by just existing. It does not feel safe to have that thing in the pocket any more. And I do want security updates. My current workplace has the rule that we can switch after 2 years (but I try to use it as long as possible). So I have mine for 4 to 5 years give and take. Just read pixel 8 gets 7 years of updates so I will strive for that.

The last two times I upgraded was because my employer offered me phones with no strings attached. Before that I had gotten an iPhone XR that I had for only 2 years before I dropped it and it fell off the second story of my work and shattered. Thats probably what prompted my employer to offer me a phone

I'm typing this on my first smartphone ever (previous one was a BB Q10)

Pixel 7a and last week I replaced the spicy pillow battery just outside of warranty. The kit from iFixit had the adhesive strips and battery for a solid price, the process was way less painful than when I've worked on iPhones.

These days only when they break. Had a used Note 20 Ultra for 3 years. Brilliant phone but the screen broke. After watching the Fold range & thinking we'd been beamed into the future I finally took the plunge & got a used Fold (an older model for the S Pen compatibility).

What I would say is some apps that were broken on the Note work fine on newer Android version (for me, YouTube on Firefox used to kaput after exactly 60 seconds).

Fully intend keeping this bad boy until Android finally shits itself with the whole sideload debacle & all the general war on privacy/FOSS. Hopefully Linux phone will become a viable alternative

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S7 from a decade ago, so not often. A few years back I had to replace the battery, but it's still going.

Since it doesn't have an open bootloader I'd like to use it until it dies, as otherwise it'll probably just become ewaste.

I assume it's not very secure anymore, so I don't really do anything important with it.

If I cared as much about my phone as I care about my PCs I would have almost certainly replaced it with something better by now.

Almost never. Only if my phone breaks

I would get a new phone almost yearly. But, I would change phones instead of buying the same phone. So, I'd go from a galaxy, to a Huawei, to a flip, to a fold, and now I finally settled on a red magic pro 10. Been using it ever since.

My last phone was a 2017 model, I replaced it early 2025 with a Pixel 5. I have since bought 2 more Pixels (because they're cheap) and keep one as a hot spare (boot it once a month to update) and one as a test bed.

Generally only when it breaks, my goal is 5 years

I kept my galaxy 10 until my grandson broke the screen. probably 6 years. upgraded to a galaxy 20. I plan on keeping it until it stops working. I did end up fixing the 10 and gave it to my mom. her phone was so old it still had a removable battery. If I didn't need it for work, I'd go back to a flip phone.

I think almost all of my phones failed due to the charging port giving out over time (microUSB was the worst). Last phone had USB-C and wireless charging, so the port was no longer the weak link. It lasted about 4 years before it fell out of my pocket at an unrecoverable height.

I suspect my current phone (Pixel 7) will last me several more years. At this point I think a drop or GrapheneOS EOL are the only things that'll get me to buy a new phone again.

If your phone is feeling sluggish, factory reset, then as you install new apps, remove their background usage permission unless real-time updates are critical. Delete anything with a functioning mobile website.

I used to buy a new one every two years, now it’s 3-4 years. The new phones just don’t excite me anymore and I’m basically just waiting for the battery to run down or it becoming laggy.

Currently have an iPhone 15 Pro so there still some time until I need a new one. Not a fan of the new design anyways.

Like you, I only replace when there is a major problem. When there are repairs I can do myself, I do them to extend the life of the phone. My previous phone had corrupted internal memory or storage, and that was that.

I have run into issues where newer software runs poorly. I solve this issue by not running that software.

I have never purchased the exact same model, but they tend to not be offered at that point. I have purchased the same model line. I had really enjoyed the Motorola G line, especially the extended battery iteration.

At most every 3 years but only because I like new tech. I could easily keep my phone for longer which I will probably do from now on because the changes from generation to generation aren't as dramatic for iPhones (I used Android before until last year)

I usually send in my old phone for trade in or sell it to a refurbisher or to family.

I had the first G1 android, overall better than the flip it replaced. Replacing that got me something better. Every other one the specs were better on paper but in reality I couldn't tell the difference. Which is why I replace when it breaks.

Best of times a phone hast lasted about 4 years

As often as I need to, not as often as I want to. Either it's second hand or fair trade (as fair as possible), and it should come with a private respecting android version, and be by a European company. https://feddit.uk/post/42069586

Probably around 5 years but sometimes I have an opportunity to give it to a family member and get a new one

I had an iPhone 3gs, then an iPhone 6s, can’t recall what years, but they were new phones, just not the newest model out. That 6s got to be a real pain at the end, I’d have to sync my photos and then delete them, and delete apps to give enough space for iOS updates since I only had the 16gb version. In 2022 I think they were handing out big trade in offers to get people off 3g phones so I got an iPhone 13 mini with 512gb. Going to ride this thing for a while

Before I had an iPhone I had various Nokia flip phones. I’d have to replace them every year or 2 because I had a tendency for them to catch when pulling them out of my pocket and slip from my grasp. After a few falls they’d start getting finicky and less responsive. I still have this happen with the iPhones, but they keep trucking

Edit: I have had charging issues with my 6s and 13 mini a few times. But after giving the port a thorough cleaning it always went back to working. I don’t think I was particularly gentle

My 6s had the battery degrade significantly a year (or few?) before I traded it in. I took it in to have Apple replace it, but the phone got bricked and they replaced the phone for just the price of the battery. I had hoped I’d get a 32gb model then because the 16gb was discontinued, but guess they still had stock. My battery for the 13 mini is starting to wear down, so I think in a year I might have it replaced. Might be neat to do myself, just don’t think I’ll have the time to