What's the point of buying new phones every years?

Other than your carrier give it for free or cheap, I don’t really see the reason why should you buy new phone. I’ve been using Redmi Note 9 for past 3 years and recently got my had on Poco F5. I don’t see the point of my ‘upgrade’. I sold it and come back to my Note 9. Gaming? Most of them are p2w or microtransaction garbage or just gimped version of its PC/Console counterpart. I mean, $400 still get you PS4, TV and Switch if you don’t mind buying used. At least here where I live. Storage? Dude, newer phone wont even let you have SD Card. Features? Well, all I see is newer phones take more features than it adds. Headphone jack, more ads, and repairability are to name a few. Battery? Just replace them. However, my Note 9 still get through day with one 80% charge in the dawn. Which takes 1 hour.

I am genuinely curious why newer phone always selling like hot cakes. Since there’s virtually no difference between 4gb of RAM and 12gb of RAM, or 12mp camera and 100mp camera on phone.

Phreak,

I normally upgrade every two years when my contract runs out. It’s cheaper than what I’d be for for an unlimited 5g sim only deal.

Plus this time I want away from my Fold!

AtheistAndroid,

Status symbol. That, and many people are horrible with their devices. They drop them and scratch them, crack the screen, chip them.

They abuse them and load them with tons of apps. Fill up the phone with videos and photos. The battery holds less of a charge because many people use their phones as computers and will constantly be cycling it dead 3 times a day or more.

Apps update and use more resources and space. They could just clean up their phone, do a reset, and have a case for protection but choose not to and just buy a new one.

It’s stupid I agree

Pap3r,

I feel like when I was younger and phone tech was changing a lot in the early days of the iOS and Android the difference even 1 year made was sometimes huge. Nowadays it’s much more incremental. A slight processor boost here, a couple GB of Ram there. I think a large part as to why that is is two things.

One, the tech has stagnated to some degree. Innovation doesn’t exactly sell a phone to regular non tech folks, a stable “don’t have to think about it” experience is what most people are after.

Two, a lot more issues with the cell phone platform are solved with software rather than throwing around more powerful hardware.

All that being said when I was younger I loved the idea of bleeding edge tech in my pocket, I upgraded all the time. The appeal was more customization at a lesser cost to performance, I wanted all the bells and whistles and less of the jank that came with it. I’m a little older now and lean much more towards the “give me something that works and doesn’t crash for the 10 minutes I have to look at my phone” club.

For those that upgrade to the latest iPhone/Pixel every year no matter what, I chalk that up to lots of expendable funds. It doesn’t appeal to me any more but I can also recognize that there are probably plenty of people out there now, like I was 10 years ago, so it could also be a general interest in the tech and how the bleeding edge keeps pushing for faster, more efficient technology.

axtualdave,

I’ll pile on with a “Yup!”

While I fell into a pattern where I intend to upgrade every 2 years maybe 5 or 6 years ago, I’ve noticed in that same time frame that both the cost of new devices has gone up significantly and the durability of those devices has dropped.

I’m very easy on my phones. They spend a vast majority of their time on my desk, or plugged into my car. I’m old and boring enough that “going out” involves sitting down at a table at a nice dinner with friends and then going home. That said, the battery life on my phones starts to degrade after about a year. Various flaws start to creep up in the device. I’ve already had to replace the screen on my Pixel 7 Pro once – though, to be fair, it took a tumble from the couch onto a hardwood floor, but even that, really, shouldn’t turn the screen non-functional.

It’s disappointing to see that planned obsolescence rearing its head.

galloog1,

See, I am not easy on my phones and I wish they were more durable/glove friendly.

Mostly_Gristle,

Pixels have extremely thin screens, apparently. I tried to get the battery replaced on an otherwise perfectly functioning Pixel a few years ago, but it ended up being cost prohibitive because replacing the battery also required replacing the screen which was “potato chip thin” according to the repair guy, and it was almost impossible to swap the battery without breaking it.

onionbaggage,

I just use my phone until it either breaks or can’t do what I want it to do.

Since having kids they break more often.

GentlemenPreferBongs,

It’s turned into the car stereo thing. In 2002, I wanted a rainbow vomit colored faceplate, CD-R and MP3 support, CD carousel in the trunk, a USB port, steering wheel remote

Now I just want bluetooth, an aux in and a volume button.

Until phones merge with a steamdeck or something, there isn’t much to look forwards to anymore.

My phone from 2014 pretty much did everything my current phone can. Certainly nothing worth spending hundreds of dollars on if you have a working cell.

ImFresh3x,

I like new cameras, higher refresh rates, and super fast page loads.

Selling my phone on Craigslist every year and buying new is about the same price as buying new every few years.

$1500 phone. 3 years. $500 per year.

$1500 phone. Sell for $900-$1000 at one year old. Buy new phone for $1500. $500-600 per year. And I have a always warranty (extended by my credit card).

Similar price per year, night and day better product.

Unquote0270,

$500 seems insane to me, I’ve only ever paid about £100 for a phone and it does everything I need it for.

ImFresh3x,

Yeah. Well I use my phone in the same way a professional uses their commercial equipment. And that equipment isn’t cheap. And I love technology. It’s something I personally enjoy. Considering it’s something I use for hours on end every single day, more than any other tool I use in life, and memorializes my life, I have no issue spending $40 a month on it.

Where I live $500 feels nothing. Rent where I live is like $5k per month. Everything is stupid expensive. I’m just numb to it. I am quite frugal in other ways though. My car is 20 years old. I’ll drive it until the wheels fall off. I don’t care about fancy cars at all. And I don’t enjoy “the feel of a new car.”

Unquote0270,

That’s fair enough, I didn’t mean to imply there is anything wrong with it, just that it seems alien to me and my cheapskate ways. I can understand it though, I prefer to use a computer and only really use my phone for browsing but I tend to forget that for some people it’s much more like what I would use a computer for.

Acid,

Yeah that’s a no go mate, I couldn’t even do my job if I had a £100 phone it would end up being a cluster fuck as I need to constantly look at spreadsheets, and multiple email inboxes and work through a web Ui portal and none of that is gonna be a good experience on a phone at that price.

I’ve used enough of those cheap £100 phones be they new or second hand to know for someone who’s actually using their phone to do work they are completely unsuitable.

TheL321,

Many people upgrade every year because of perceived obsolescence.

_haha_oh_wow_,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

IDK, I always buy used phones and pretty much use them until they either die or are no longer usable because they were abandoned by the manufacturer for too long. I haven’t had a new phone in probably close to a decade now. The last new phone I bought was an Xperia Z3 Compact.

K0W4LSK1,

Planned obsolescence wiki link

Prasaedonium,

I upgraded twice from Redmi note 7 to Redmi note 9 to poco X4, only reason I updated was because my siblings lost their phones and I saw it as an opportunity to try a newer version of something I liked.

I don’t think I’ll upgrade unless the new phone also has an IR blaster and headphone jack. The IR blaster is so incredibly convenient

Latecoere,
@Latecoere@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I only ever buy some cheap shit when my last shit bucket phone starts packing in and hasn’t received a security update in a while. I try to drag it out as long as I can but the budget phone makers seem to be getting more scummy and supporting their phones for shorter periods of time. For the first time in my life I’m getting tempted to buy an apple product.

As to why people buy new every year; from the adverts it all seems to be about more megapixels and ai image processing as phone makers rarely ever seem to boast about anything else anymore, apart from the occasional gimmick. Dunno why anyone needs an extra billion or so megapixels, especially as phone lenses are kinda shit in general.

001100010010,
@001100010010@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

If you buy budget phones, don’t be surprised they stop working soon after the warranty expires. I had a Samsung Galaxy A32 and just a few days after the 1 years mark, the camera lens started to fall out, even when glued back together, the image quality degraded because of exposure to dust and moisture. As to the camera, there is a huge difference between image quality as the phone price goes up. If you get a flagship, the phone camera is just as good as an actual camera. Flagships aren’t really that expensive if you wait a bit for prices to drop. Android phones goes on sale within a few months of release. You can get an Unlocked Google Pixel 7 128GB for $499 in the US, $100 cheaper than the 2 years older iPhone 12. All phones since Google Pixel 6 have minimum 5 years of security updates, same as Apple. Flagships aren’t that expensive if you wait for sales. Using a Pixel 7 for 5 years is better than buying a $100 phone every year.

Latecoere,
@Latecoere@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Yeah you vastly over estimate how much I can afford lol. I’ve had this cheap ass piece of shit for almost three years now. I’ll get another cheap ass piece of shit at the end of this year or maybe next. You really gotta make shit last when you’re perpetually broke.

The top of the range phone camera megapixel and ai processing arms race is just pure masturbation.

Deez,

I have never upgraded every year, I used to every two years, then three. Now I’ve had my iPhone 11 for almost four years, and I’m planning to keep it for 5. It will probably still get new OS updates for another 1 year after that (total of 6).

There is no reason to update your phone every year.

stagen,
@stagen@feddit.dk avatar

I haven’t gotten a new phone in the last 3 years and I don’t think that I will get one before the iPhone 15 comes out. I’m well satisfied with my iPhone 13 mini.

The fact that most newly released phones don’t go that small annoys me so I’ll keep it until I find something worth while or of similar size.

nerdria,

My dream is that Apple will release a mini every 3 or 4 years just for me. I currently have a 13 mini too, and I reckon a 16 mini would be perfect.

Otherwise I might end up with an Asus Zenfone, even though it is bigger than a mini.

-hypnotoad-,
@-hypnotoad-@kbin.social avatar

I would look into Asus' software upgrade policy. From what I understand it's pretty abysmal; something to consider when you're someone who holds onto phones for more than 2 years. Google and Samsung have much longer support cycles.

Jaywarbs,

I love my 13 mini! Yeah I’m the same with wanting smaller phones. I had the iPhone 7, then waited until the SE 2020 model, and now the 13 mini. Hopefully they keep releasing mini models.

Radicalized,

There are OS updates and there are security updates. Check with your manufacturer as these periods may be quite short, and considering how tied our finances and porivate info are to our phones, it could be a huge hazard. Most android manufacturers, for example, I think offer 2 years of OS updates and 3 or 4 years of security updates. Apples does 6 and 8 - which is wild to me for all the talk of Android users about FOSS and privacy and security. Samsung does 4 and 5, which IIRC, is one of the highest in the android world.

I’m certain someone will mention GrapheneOS, so let me get ahead of that: You can completely de-google your android phone and get as many years of OS upgrades as your hardware can physically support… but is the average person really going to do that?

passepartout,

Apple doing software updates for such an extended period of time is wild, considering how anti-consumer they are in the first place (bad repairability, walled garden, bizarre prices).

Google does 5 years updates for the pixel phones, which is to be expected since they own android lol.

XTornado,

I mean…the software updates usually help people end up upgrading as new features do not work on certain models or are slower etc…

passepartout,

Reminds me of the occasions when iphone customers complained about their battery draining faster / their phones lagging after a software update for years, and just recently apple responded: “you can have battery or features not both lol”.

Regarding features: Usually good software development makes the software more performant over time, not less. But customers are expected to react to excessive DRM measures (like denuvo) or the uprising telemetry hell (like windows 11) with buying more performant hardware. Yields the question what is a (desired) feature and what is a bug, AND what is a cash cow for companies milking their customers.

XTornado,

development makes the software more performant over time, not less

Yeah but they will focus on the newer hardware. And new features might based on new hardware capabilities that might not be on the older hardware or requires workarounds that are worse.

XTornado,

Every year no… Every two maybe, most stop receiving updates after the 2 years, except for some brands and maybe top models…

Nowadays it’s slightly better as usually there is a couple more years of security updates but that’s it.

Of course if there is scene and you can get some custom ROM like lineage or similar it is slightly better… But honestly most phones nowadays are locked down.

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