Android

I have a Galaxy S10e, purchased the day it launched, 6 March 2019. Today, March 25 2024, it is 5 years old.

My phone is in good physical shape and running fine. The battery isn't quite what it used to be, but it loads web pages and apps well, the UI is responsive, I look at new phones and there's not a single thing there I want. When my previous phone, an S4 Mini, was this old (yes I had an S4 Mini in service for 5 years) it was getting kind of slow, there were apps in the app store that wouldn't run, I had replaced the battery...I still wasn't really looking forward to upgrading. My S10e is...fine. If it kept getting updates, I'd gladly keep it in service.

What's more, I look out at what they're advertising on phones now and I'm like "don't need that. Actively don't want that. Want to not have that. Okay the anti-glare coating would be nice. Don't need AI. Don't need titanium. I don't game on my phone..."

I'm still rocking a Galaxy S9+ with no intent of upgrading. I don't even know what phone I would go with if I did need another.

and then they break it and decide the cost of a repair isn't worth it

Yep, that was me with my previous phone, which I did indeed have for over 5 years.

But there's another major factor to it.

I use Android phones, which get official software updates for only a couple years (3 years for the most part). This includes security updates.

So when I got my current one it was one of only two I even considered, because only those two manufacturers promised 5 years of (security) updates at the time.

It has gotten better though, but except for Fairphone they're still all very hard or impossible to repair.

My anecdote...I used my last phone until it died. It was around 4 years old and the eMMC storage failed from age, making the device a suddenly totally unusable brick. Before then, it had gotten very slow and laggy over time and the battery life degraded to be pretty sucky...barely surviving the workday on standby in my pocket.

From my experience, I don't know that I would necessarily advise using a device for that long. The battery just gets too shitty and its sudden death made it a bit of a scramble to buy a new phone. Granted, my previous phone was fairly low end, but even with a high end device, batteries degrade to almost unusable levels after a few years. I know it sucks for the environment, but it seems like less of a headache to keep a phone for only like 2-3ish years and then upgrade it while it's still working as opposed to waiting for it to irreparably bork itself.

Edit: If you're able to do a battery replacement, I will say that it does change the conversation somewhat. But long gone are the days of easily user serviceable battery replacements for most phones. Yes, there are obscure phones out there that make it easier to swap out the battery, but these phones aren't exactly prominent.

I mean, makes sense that people would rather get a new phone that costs the same as a repair.

That said, had been using a S5 myself for five years before the phone died. As I ain't that big on mobile gaming (and the ones I play don't demand much), the phone did all I needed to. Currently using a S10+, because that's the last Galaxy S model with both headphones and SD support.

I've got a friend whose earpiece on their iPhone stopped working. They could repair it, or upgrade for basically the same price. Their iPhone is a few years old at this point (3 years I think, maybe older), which is crazy to me. But it's true. When something breaks the cost of replacement is often on par with the cost of repair for small tech like phones. Th system is basically rigged to make you upgrade. Also, with a work phone, the upgrade schedule isn't up to him. It's up to the IT department and the corporate office. They may decide to buy new phones next year or something.

I don't see any reason to upgrade my S10

I have a Redmi Note 8, i think. It's att least 5 years old, maybe 6. I have no reason to change it.

It's all about the idea. Even if the guy is not following through with his plan, a couple of the viewers might do so, marking it a success.

Using a pixel 4a still. OS is unsupported and battery life has gone down the drain. I'm holding out for the Pixel 8a because Google has pledged 8 years of support. I really wish decent phones came in sub-6.1" size, but days just what I'm working with. Losing the headphone jack will suck.

I sadly became one of those people last year. I had every intention of keeping my Pixel 5A for a long time but when faced with a $250 repair bill I bought a used pixel 6 for $240 instead of fixing it. I do regret it because the battery life and antenna on the 6 is awful compared to the 5a.

I've upgraded to Pixel 7 last year to run GrapheneOS. Honestly it was a very underwhelming upgrade. My 2019 Oneplus 7T is still kicking running LineageOS, could go back any second and not notice.

I've still got my pixel 4a and it works fine. I won't change it until it breaks.

I bought my LG V30 July 30, 2018. Still using it. The battery is of course not awesome but I'm not really a hard user so I get by. I installed a custom ROM around 2020. I'm on Lineage os 21 now. It's perfectly fine. I guess I'll upgrade somewhere this year cause the back cover seems to be coming off. I'm in no hurry though.