Vodafone Finds Brits Keep Mobile Phones for 4 Years Instead of 2

Smartphone CEOs dumbfounded when no one wants to buy their $1999 xPhone 25 Pro Max XXL Z-Flip 4d-folding hextuple AI 8k camera with Bionic 10Ghz chip including real neurons
- Which is ironically the same as the $1999 xPhone 24 Pro Max XXL Z-Flip 4d-folding hextuple AI 8k camera with Bionic 10Ghz chip including real neurons from last year.
  
  Nah, the 25 has a stylus. The 24 didn't. The 26 won't either.
- Thats gonna be my next phone! Guaranteed!

Not surprising. I used to update every 2 years but my last couple have had a 3 or 4 year gap.
As it should be really. These can be very expensive devices that only make sense if you get a decent life out of them.
- I just don’t see the point of upgrading every two years, and even if I did I’m buying used at this point.
  I’m on iPhone and despite all the fanatics creaming their pants over each release, very little actually seems to change.
  I know a guy with a 6 year old phone, and when he listed off the features it made me realise how little things have actually changed since it was released.
  
  I have an iPhone 8 and see no reason to update in the near future.
  
  Reading this on iPhone X
- When smartphones first took off, each new one was a large upgrade. But each passing year sees new phones being more and more iterative. There's hardly any difference at all anymore between individual years.
  I'm at the point now where I keep my phones until they break or stop getting security updates.
  
  When smartphones first took off, each new one was a large upgrade
  And they were subsidized by the cell phone company, so they only cost $200 (In many places in the US, at least).

I could understand upgrading so frequently at the advent of mainstream smartphones, where two years of progress actually did represent a significant user experience improvement - but the intergenerational improvements for most people's day-to-day use have been marginal for quite some time now.
Once you've got web browsers and website-equivalent mobile apps performing well, software keyboards which keep up with your typing, high-definition video playback working without dropped frames, graphics processing sufficient to render whatever your game of choice is for the train journey to work, batteries which last a day of moderate to intense use, and screen resolutions so high that you can't differentiate the pixels even by pressing your eyeball to the glass - that covers most people's media consumption for the form factor, and there's not much else to offer after that.
- Yeah my semi-techie friend still has an S9+ from over 5 years ago and honestly he isn't really missing anything beyond a few iterative improvements.
  
  S9+ from over 5 years ago
  he's been missing out on 3 years + of security updates kek
  *cries in Samsung
- If the batteries were easily replaceable, and the software didn't continually get bloated, and companies kept issuing security patches, sure.
  I kept my last desktop system for 10 years. Actually I still have it and it performs sort of ok (I was running Mint the whole time). But I upgraded and the performance improvement was actually worth the considerable cost. I've gotten similar life out of my other desktops and laptops over the years.
  I think at least 5 years or preferably 10 is reasonable for smart phones.
- This! and the £1200 price tag.

Unless you're doing very specialist stuff, phone tech peaked a while back for the average user who's only going to do some web browsing, social media, listen to some tunes or watchbsome funny videos. All the little incremental changes aren't groundbreaking for that use case.
Until foldables are both reliable and cheaper, phones have stagnated in terms of visably appealing features.
- Yep, I've just gotten a Pixel 7 Pro after 4 years with a Oneplus 8 Pro and really it's a very incremental change. The camera on the P7P is incredible, just astounding, but on the Oneplus it was amazing. Otherwise they're very much of a muchness.
  I'm thinking I'll hang on to this one for another four years and hopefully by then foldable will be well tested and slightly cheaper.
  
  What's funny is that the camera on the Pixel isn't a hardware thing. It's mostly the post processing software that Google uses. So even that doesn't require upgrading to a new phone that often, since the hardware isn't as important as it once was.
- Yup. Price per flop or whatever is cheaper than ever but after a certain point it doesnt matter. Also I don't do specialist stuff on my phone. I do it on my desktop rig that can actually run arbitrary code I give it.
  I do have a few friends with money who just need that latest 50 megapixel phone camera or that 4k phone screen. But I don't much care.
- Not sure I agree that phone tech has peaked a couple years ago for the average user. What technology peaked years ago?
  Camera? Efficient processors? Display panels? Biometrics? Batteries? Cellular/Wi-Fi modems? Emergency satellite connectivity? I cannot think of a single technology (I am on iPhone 14 Pro) that is not at least marginally better than a year or two ago, and pretty meaningful improvement from ~5 years ago.
  The rate of technological improvement has slowed or plateaued, but there is a pretty reasonable argument that current flagship technologies are the “peak”, even for average user, if only incrementally. I agree that this plateau, coupled with upgrade cost, is making it a harder choice to decide to upgrade for average user.
  
  If anything if you just go with "got good enough for the average user years ago", that works.
  I'm on a cat s62 pro with a 5 year old Snapdragon 660, and, while it shows its age, it functions just fine and will for the next few years.
  
  Cameras are mostly software improvements these days. I argue displays have gotten worse with the drop from QHD to 1080p. Many think that the back fingerprint readers are better than the under screen or facial ones. 5G is mostly pointless. All while costs have increased greatly. A phone today doesn't better meet my use cases than the phone I had 6 years ago and in many ways is worse (lower res screen, no headphone jack, inflated prices).
  
  You're on apple, they certainly haven't had a user noticeable change for the last 6 years.
  For me on android the last "must have" was variable refresh up to 120hz. I'll probably even do a battery upgrade on my s21 when it can't last a full day rather than hit an s25.
  The only blocker I've hit with is yuzu on android, which kind of just doesn't work at all still.

Not surprising when flagship devices have more than doubled in price in over the last decade.
That and the fact that many modern devices feel like compromised devices with purposeful downgrades despite the huge cost increase.
- I want a cell phone with a headphone jack, physical navigation buttons, and a rectangular screen like they used to make. At this point, I'll have to go with a flip phone if I want all of those features.
  
  I’m not saying you’re wrong, you can want whatever you want, but out of curiosity, why physical navigation buttons? They’re a point of failure over time, make dust and water ingress more of a problem. While I like physical buttons for some things; power, volume and physical mute switch are all great (I wouldn’t hate a shutter button too) but at least they have the virtue of living round the sides and top of the phone, not the front of the phone like nav buttons, which take up space that could be screen (or just a smaller phone). It’s not like a physical home or back button is actually any more responsive than a gesture based nav. What’s the attraction to them?
- Regarding flagship models: I found that previous years flagship or current mid-range with similar specs (I use gsmarena to compare) is a good compromise between speed and lifespan, and always go for more memory, today's android uses about 20gb so 128gb must be absolute minimum if you plan to have a few apps installed.

I only replace mine because the batteries are crapping out. Usually it's 3-4 years.
- Just get a the battery replaced. With the new rule for the EU forcing companies to make the phones with user replaceable batteries, it'll be even easier.
  
  I thought about it last time but the whole thing where I'm not getting OS updates anymore make me anxious. I'm not sure that's actually a problem though.
- When my screen is so broken I can't use it anymore.

What do you mean "instead of"? I always heard it was a three year product lifecycle anyway, which is already annoyingly often.

i use electronics until they're unusable. my last phone lasted 6 years, my laptop lasted 11 years. i don't have a tv or anything else.
- No TV. How do you watch coronation Street and EastEnders?
  
  On his smart-kettle, obviously.
  
  I watch all of my shows from laptop personally (not the person you are replying to). I don't care super hard about the big screen. And it means I can do other things on my other monitors at the same time.
  
  i limit how much entertainment i consume. it's improved my mood.

I've had my tablet for 9 years, and I'd have had my phone for 4 years now had it not become faulty.
Devices have reached a point that they just don't need upgrading often, unless you're using them for video games or something cutting edge.
And of course, they're super expensive now too, and we're living in the worst cost of living crisis of our generation, struggling to pay for food. Of course we're not going to waste money replacing something that works fine 🤦‍♀️

I kept my old Sony Xperia right up until I could feel a bulge on the back of it, lol.
- I don't upgrade until the thermal runaway takes my device from me!!! Lol
  
  I don't upgrade until my phone decomposes lol
- Isn't that due to a potentially hazardous swollen battery though? It's best to replace it before that stuff happens
  
  Yeah I've already got a new phone.

Devices are prohibitively expensive these days. The marginal gains from improved tech is also not used to benefit the end user. Devices are not working for the one that pays for it. If only they would release a flagship device with unlocked boot loader, open drivers and a pledge to support it for 10 years. I would buy that. Otherwise I see no need to upgrade.
- It's less that the improvements are marginal (modern flagships are significantly more powerful than 4 years ago for example), it's just that 90% of people have absolutely no use for most of that increased power. The most intensive thing most people do on their phone is watch media.
  
  I know a lot of young men who, if they have money, just have to have those extra gigaflops and that 4k 90hz phone screen.
  Then 95% of the time they browse the web and use it for twitter, etc.. 🙄

That is going to be a problem for apple, better make the next iPhone’s battery be unreplaceable and self destruct after 2 years.
- I’ve been using iPhones since iPhone 4. So far I’ve had the iphone4, iPhone 7+ and iPhone 13max.
  All my phones have been replaced upon end of updates. I think you mix android and iPhone here - I know nobody under 70 that manage to keep an android over 2 years
  
  And pretty much everyone in my family has used our android phones for 4+ years for as long as I can remember.
  It's almost as if anecdotes are worthless!
  
  Low end devices normally last less than high end ones. It's easy to forget that, as all iPhones were designed as high end, that phones can still be made out of cheap plastic and cost 200 bucks. Any android device in the sane price range as the iPhone will last at least as long. (And, for context, I'm writing this from an iPhone 11)
  
  Oh sorry, this wasn’t an iOS-vs-Android dig, all the android manufacturers are constantly near bankruptcy, but apple has shareholders who are expecting growth, they will be hurt the most by consumers holding their on to their phones longer. (Samsung is reporting over 90% profit shrinkage, the Chinese brands are probably just PLA plants to capture as much communication as possible worldwide without a profit motive to begin with)
  
  My dad is still using my old OnePlus one from 2014. Works fine for him. Using lineage OS. I know it doesn't get security updates but he's not stupid and doesn't use it for anything security critical anyway.
  
  I'm way under 70, and I'm using an S10e I brought in 2019. So four years.
  Updates stopped coming in March. But I've no plans to replace the phone yet. Since this one works fine, and very few phones released since have the features that matter to me.
  
  https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/walleye/ Pixel 2, released 6 years ago, supports the current Android version via LineageOS.

Not surprising. For most people smartphone reached a point where replacing every two years is pointless. My phone is also 4 years this year, still holds his battery and works flawlessly.
- I've been upgrading every two years because usually they have some promo for trade ins (Samsung) so I'm getting a new battery and warranty (and slight improvement of camera) for about $200
- Only just replaced my close to 4 years old OnePlus 7 Pro, because it just bricked out of the blue. Would have happily used it for a couple more years. Practically the only improvements on my Pixel 7 Pro, compared to the OnePlus, are battery life and the cameras (especially since I was running Pixel experience on it anyways).
- I think it is mainly battery life which drives upgrades now. Unless you really want the best camera. It's the only thing that seems to improve for the last few iterations.
  
  Everything else is pretty much perfected at this point, but batteries and tiny cameras are hard to perfect. Still have to wait more than two years to see any meaningful improvements in either of those.

Yeah I mean the processing power and general hardware just got to a point where nobody really needs more. In fact my 4 year old phone has the same amount of RAM and similar processor to my new one lol. Unless you're cutting edge 3D gaming it's not needed to have anything more.
I upgraded only because of battery life, higher Hz screen, newer android version, and to get a wide angle lens. Now I have those even its like...what next? Camera quality is all I ever need, screen Hz is perfect. I'm not sure what will make me upgrade next time but if I replace battery down the line and use a third party OS then maybe it'll go even longer!
- I noticed the same trend for PCs in the last 20 years too. In the late 80s and throughout the 90s, things were advancing at a blistering pace. At the start of 1990, a common configuration was maybe a 20Mhz CPU and 16 MEGAbytes of RAM, and by then end of the decade, we broke the 1Ghz barrier and were putting 512MB-1GB of memory into our machines.
  Yet now, I'm still playing recently released 3D games on a first generation quad core i7 from 2009 just fine (as long as nothing in the game starts spewing too many particles).
  
  I've noticed that a lot of the reasons to upgrade now are artificial. My wife dug out an old PC to use two monitors recently, but still does the same tasks that she was doing a decade ago. The computer is ridiculously slow though because of 'updates'.
  Bog standard things like checking her emails and opening Word slow the computer for nothing. Even bare Windows runs slowly because of the graphics enhancements.
- When I looked at the S22 as a potential upgrade to the S20 I have now. It is basically a better camera but no SD card slot (yes they do huge capacities, but boy do you pay for it). So, actually a downgrade for me. Couple that with the fact my battery is still good. Keeping it until at least the S24 now.
- To be honest, if my current phone had the a reliable way for me to change it's battery, I would keep it for longer even! I got my custom ROM going with the latest updates, pixel ported cam. The only limitation I have is lack of 5g and reduced battery life. In all honesty, with chargers in my car, work and home, it hasn't become a reason to change yet.
  
  Yeah honestly I can see why manufacturers are so reluctant to put replaceable batteries in phones. It's one of the main reasons people upgrade these days.
  They have the handy excuse that it's to make the phone waterproof and they will die on that hill it seems!

I’ve started to upgrade when iOS updates stop. As the cost of devices goes up, I just keep them longer so the cost per year is about the same.
- I haven't had an iOS device in ages, but Apple does seem to offer pretty decent support timespans for their phone hardware. Looks like it's 6-7 years of support after the release date, which is respectable compared to the rest of the industry.
  On the Android side, my phone stopped getting updates after 4 years, which feels too short to me. Not having access to Android 12+ wasn't causing me any problems but I didn't want to wait for some future bug, limitation or security flaw to emerge. I switched to LineageOS (just last night actually) to keep it going for another few years.

I don’t see any reason in 2023 to replace my iPhone 12

I will buy a new phone when my phone actually dies, broken screens and old batteries can be replaced. And iOS gets updates for like forever.
- I'm on an iphone 11 (or is it a 10?) and it still gets updates.

Going on 6.
- Had mine for 5 years so far and not planning to replace it any time soon. It even has a 720p display, can't say I ever notice or think "wow I wish I had a QHD phone instead"
  
  Crazy, even the LG G6 I had 6 years ago had a QHD screen.
  You likely aren't missing that much, if that is a normal LCD and presumably a smaller screen you probably have smaller pixels on your phone than a modern 1080p OLED because of the pentile subpixel array.

Well the networks will try to tie people in for 36/48 months so... they kind of asked for it.
- I've been sin only for a while, didn't realise it had jumped up from the average 24 months in the UK now.

Jokes on them, last phone I bought from them was in 1999. Still have it somewhere. Haven't used it since 2000 or so of course.

I've had my moto x4 for 8 years and it's still kicking strong. If it ever dies, I'm getting another.

Had mine since October 2017. Huawei Honor 9. Getting a bit shit now, random power offs below 25%, slow as balls, the usual.
A lot of that is likely just web bloat and inevitable battery death.
So what are the better mid-range phones these days? I'd rather have as little non-uninstallable crapware as possible.
- Pixel "a" Phones are basically the continuation of the (formerly midrange) Nexus. Though Fairphone is entering the US market, they look like they'd be a solid choice.
  
  I would buy a fairphone in a heartbeat if it had a headphone jack.
  I know lots of people find they can get away without it but i use mine literally every day and i much prefer it over navigating menus to use Bluetooth.
- Pixel + GrapheneOS

Still rocking my iphone X! Upgrade may be in order this September as the battery lasts about an hour and the screen is cracked, but damn good run.
- Not as old but I have an iPhone 11 and I just replaced the battery. Feels good as new and the battery wasn’t expensive
  
  Yeah I went to thr Apple Store to do that, and they said they couldn’t replace the battery without charging me €300 for a new screen, so I declined
- I think the most popular phone in the last ten years is an IPhone 5 w a broken screen.

I generally upgrade every 4 years too these days, at least the last few times and for the next upgrade. Let's see if I can remember my whole phone list.
Motorola M301
Ericcson 628 or 688 I don't remember which (or whatever the modified name was on one2one back then)
Nokia 8100/8146 (you know, the ACTUAL matrix phone)
Gifted Nokia 3110 or 3210 (8100 broke down)
Nokia 6100/6126
Sony Ericson T68i
Sony Z1010 (my first phone with a camera, spoiler alert, it was terrible)
iPhone 3GS
Samsung Galaxy S2
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+
Samsung Galaxy S20+ (current)
Wonder if I missed any that were that forgettable?
Generally an upgrade outside of 4 years was because there was a feature I particularly wanted or needed. On early phones this was quite often (think SMS support, WAP, EFR, GPRS). But then contracts were generally for 1 year so it didn't matter too much. Later phones it's been 3G/4G/5G/Wifi calling etc that generally drove upgrades.

Those damn Brits, how dare they?! Buy more, more often!

I bought a new phone after having the old one for 3 years and as a treat to myself. It was an S22 Ultra. I regret buying it as the improvements are very minor compared to my old phone, and definitely not worth the massive hike in cost.
The camera is better but tbh, I barely notice it as its mostly a few photos for memories. I'm not printing them on canvas or anything so no point really having such high quality photos. Will definitely hold onto this one for as long as i can
- I like mine, but that camera is so stuttery. Do you have the snapdragon variant?
- About to enter the same boat, I have the Note 20 Ultra and its on the eve of losing security update support. Don't necessarily want to upgrade but i feel like i don't have a choice.
  Going to look at something like the Nothing Phone 2, it's not nearly as expensive as the S23 Ultra (which is my direct upgrade path) but is plenty fast enough and has at least some interesting quirks and features.
  Tbh, i could get a used digital camera + a mid range android phone and probably out perform the flagship Samsung.
  
  My Samsung s22 has sooo many bugs compared to my old pixel phone Def not worth it Samsung software has really gone downhill
- I had a crappy honor 5x which had a fake camera and a bunch of fake features, also it had some Spyware on it that caused me to have to report fraudulent charges on my bank account and eventually the battery got spicy. Got a s20 ultra at launch and actually love this thing. It'll last me a few years more.

ive only upgraded from my 2014 shit phone in 2021, and i plan to do the same with this one for as long as i can

You'll have to prise my 4a 5G out of my cold dead hands...

i used to buy a new one every 2 years or so,but after switching to pixel 6 and graphene os, I think I will replace it once it's no longer supported.
- Hey, exact same boat that I'm in, except with a pixel 6a running GrapheneOS

Meanwhile, here I am with a Galaxy S8 from 2017, doing just fine. Only bad thing is some stuff burned into the screen from overuse of some apps in the past coughs reddit coughs.
- I had an S8 for my secondary device and had to move to an S10e for something similar.
  My main device is an iPhone 12, which won’t get replaced until Apple come up with a USB-C phone. I used to upgrade every 2 years because there were significant changes to each phone. iPhone 3GS, 4S, 5S, 6S, 8, and 12; that said, if we hadn’t decided to try to get my grandmother on a better device, I’d probably still be rocking the iPhone 8. I kind of miss having a dedicated Home button…

4 years? How cute.

my XR is still going strong. unless the quality starts decreasing dramatically, I see no reason to upgrade just yet

The 2 years life span had a ridiculous affect on the 2nd market that, now will never be the same.

I bought a second hand pixel 6a a couple weeks ago, my previous phone was the OnePlus 3, lasted me 5 years and at the time of purchase it was already a two years old second hand, bought them for basically the same price, 200€.

I just use my budget xiaomi with custom rom wich i bought back in 2019. What i miss the most is maybe nfc so i might change it next year.