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.

cassetti,

20 years ago, I had an insurance plan with AT&T. For $30 I could "replace" my phone under the insurance policy (once per year). Then the plan changed it was a refurbished phone not new..... then eventually the insurance plan went to a surcharge of $200 to replace with a refurbished phone.

Back in the old days I simply upgraded every one or two years under the insurance plan. But that was the days before smartphones really took off.

These days I don't have that insurance plan, and simply hold onto my phones as long as possible. I don't get it either.

I have a Galaxy S9 that I've had for five years and it just won't die on me. Not that I'm complaining, I honestly have no clue what I'll buy next. But I don't get the need to upgrade annually.

dditty,

Another piece to this is that smartphone innovations have slowed down significantly. I used my Samsung S8+ from launch 2017 until 2022 and couple kept it going longer but it wasn’t getting security updates anymore and it’s performance for Android Auto had intermittent issues, so I sold it to my friend (who’s still using it) and upgraded. But as far as new features on new phones, by upgrading I got a faster display, faster SoC, and more RAM, which are nice to have but not game changers imo, and I lost a headphone jack, micro SD card expansion, and downgraded the resolution of my display (S21). I’m planning on holding onto this phone as long as possible and maybe I’ll upgrade to a foldable if they iron out the kinks and come down in price.

Bo7a,

Foldable

Iron out the kinks

I don’t know if this was intentional, but if it was not, you’re a goddamn comedic genius.

dditty,

So since it was intentional I’m just a dude?

Bo7a,

A very funny dude.

Zana,

Yes

woobie,

The only time I ever “upgrade” is when I break a phone beyond reasonable repair. If batteries were easier / more cost effective to replace, I would keep this Pixel 4a a few more years. The battery is starting to lose capacity now, I’ll have to check on the cost of battery replacement before too long.

Considering a Fairphone next time I do upgrade.

daddyjones,
@daddyjones@lemmy.world avatar

As someone who is currently using a fairphone 3, I cannot recommend it.

The idea is good, but let down by very cheap hardware. The fact is that, when you get the phone brand new, it’s already a very low end phone. Still having it 3 years later just means that it’ll be even worse. The fact that you can repair/replace most of it (but not upgrade) doesn’t change that fact.

I have been so disappointed with the experience on mine and would’ve replaced it ages ago if I could afford to.

Have to say, though, security updates are good.

Yoz,

Same. My next phone will be fairphone.

hydro033,

Batteries are cheap to replace.

amir_s89,
@amir_s89@lemmy.ml avatar

An important change is happening in many industries/ markets. To make devices easy to repair & enable OS updates many more years for long term use.

GoOnASteamTrain,

I totally agree :) I’m S10 until the thing melts, I managed to replace the battery under warranty and plan to rock it as long as humanly possible.

Headphone jack is a huge factor in that as I would not want to lose something I use every day, but also like you say, performance is fine! On top of that is the fact that I’m paying £8 a month for unlimited everything without a contract! :)

I guess there used to be a night and day change, and people kind of still expect that from the next flagship each time they’re offered an upgrade?

That said, these days the trends tend to steer into things I don’t use much, or improving what’s already good enough - its a good time to be on a budget I guess! :)

AdmiralShat,

I buy used flagships.

A 1.5 year old flagship costs the same as a brand new midrange phone, but is significantly better.

I just got a S21 Ultra for cheaper than I would have paid for an A54. (Also Exynos is hot fucking garbage. I wanted to get away from Samsung altogether, but the price on this made sense and I has a snapdragon. Significantly better)

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.

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.

j4k3,
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

Google provides a stripped down base Linux kernel to hardware manufacturers. This kernel works with android and allows the manufacturer to load all the proprietary code needed to support the processor, modem, and hardware peripherals without the manufacturer merging the source code into the mainline Linux kernel. This means the community can never support the hardware in the kernel. As software changes in android, features are added, and vulnerabilities are fixed, the only party that can update the device’s kernel is the manufacturer. This is a criminal scheme to exploit the end user and force them to constantly buy new hardware. Proprietary is always about theft of ownership from the end user. It is a tool for exploitation. It is not about intellectual property or business. These arguments are praying on naïveté. Everything can and is reverse engineered in this hardware and software by every serious competing company. The only reason proprietary exists is criminal exploitation of the end user.

swnt,
@swnt@feddit.de avatar

Aka planned obsolescence

Madbrad200,
@Madbrad200@lemmy.world avatar

I agree. I only replace my phone when it stops working.

Battery life is decent for 3-4+ years nowadays.

tweeks,

Check out the Fairphone; you can replace parts like battery and the production line tends to be (more) sustainable. They also provide security updates for 5+ years.

They don’t have really high-end phones though, but personally I think most moderate phones nowadays are fine for practically all usecases. For me it works out fine, as I already used mid-range phones for a couple of years.

I hope they will do something like a subscription for even longer updates (if enough people are interested). Don’t need a new phone if this keeps working / being repairable.

Madbrad200,
@Madbrad200@lemmy.world avatar

I love the idea of Fairphone but it’s too pricy for me unfortunately. my current phone (Redmi Note 10 Pro) only cost £150 ($195) and it’s pretty much the perfect phone for my minimal needs.

tweeks,

That’s of course fair (yes… intended). They are indeed expensive compared to many other phones, especially mid-rangers. It took me a while to decide to switch.

For anyone who can easily afford it though, it might be something to keep in the back of your head perhaps in the future :) I hope this small trend of replacable parts and longtime security support in phones continues.

popemichael,
@popemichael@lemmy.world avatar

My number one reason: battery life

Tak,
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

They could make the battery last 5+ years before degradation if they made the phones a bit thicker to get the same battery life with lithium iron phosphate cells instead of lithium ion cells. They also don’t turn into spicy pillows or catch fire really too if that means anything to you.

I really don’t understand the obsession with having the thinnest possible phone but also selling $2,000 folding phones that are thick as hell.

popemichael,
@popemichael@lemmy.world avatar

That’s why I support the “right to repair”

Sadly a lot of devices are losing that ability by design

Tak,
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

I believe it’s all intentional and I blame capitalism.

popemichael,
@popemichael@lemmy.world avatar

Its less of a belief and more of a fact at this point.

Its still really sad either which way

Ser_Salty,

Selling the thinnest phone, but ship it with a silicone case because the thin-ness makes it too fragile. And also one bit of the phone will just be thicker anyway.

It seems almost like parody. Phones are literally too thin for their own components. If anybody knows of a decent line of phones that aren’t overly skinny, please let me know for when I need a new phone.

IthronMorn,

Z fold user here. This thing has a limited number of times of being folded and unfolded. My early upgrade plan is kinda to prevent the inevitable happening while I’m the device owner.

TheAnonymouseJoker,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

If you do not have a Google Services dependence, you can look the far superior hardware of Huawei Mate X3.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ScIkOukCc (best foldable reviewer by far, since MrMobile is exclusive to USA)

IthronMorn,

It’s actually the Samsung software that I like most.

OrkneyKomodo,
@OrkneyKomodo@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

A free phone from your carrier is never actually free. You will be paying for it over the next 6 months to 2 years.

Whisper06,

Because my simple or brain likes shiny new things.

Strayce,

Right there with you. I’m a sucker for the new shiny and I actually kinda hate it.

DriftingMangoes,
@DriftingMangoes@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah it’s really not that deep. A lot of people simply like the idea of having the latest and greatest.

burningquestion,

The only real argument I’d make is that most manufacturers only push out security updates for a given model for a couple of years, but different companies have different support timelines.

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.one avatar

The big reason is updates. Phones will only get Android and security updates for so long. After that point, you buy a new phone or run the risk of being exposed.

cuppaconcrete,
@cuppaconcrete@aussie.zone avatar

Yeah I should bite the bullet and get a Pixel, they normally get the longest updates support or am I wrong? This habit of going for a budget phone and it becoming unusable/unsafe after 3 years is just a hidden cost I’m in denial over 😞

Mr_Vortex,

The Pixels get 3 years of major version upgrades and 5 years of security updates from Google. After that point if the battery is still working well enough for you, you could always try installing something like Graphene OS on it.

Double_A,
@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Yeah but not one year. Even the shittiest brand will give you security updates for at least 3 years.

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.

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