Why do you upgrade your phone?

[Noblejanobii]

I typically upgrade around every three years or so. I'm usually pretty careful so my phones aren't usually in bad shame by the time I upgrade. Usually I upgrade because I'm either running out of storage, the latest operating software updates won't install on it, or the battery is failing. Moreso that last one though because by the time the three year mark hits, my phone's battery barely lasts like four hours without me charging it. Even when it was on low power mode, doesn't have any sort of bluetooth, location, or something to that extent enabled, and is just sitting idle, if I started the day at 8 AM and didn't plug it in at all, my most recent phone would be dead by noon.

 

[TwilightBlade]

I used to buy the cheap $200 phones from Walmart and wonder why they get slower or crash or run out of storage/battery. Then, I spoiled myself with the S10 last year (I'm still paying on that), but this phone's performance is way better than the cheaper models. I'm hoping the S10 will last me at least a few more years.

 

[Roni]

I used to buy the cheap $200 phones from Walmart and wonder why they get slower or crash or run out of storage/battery. Then, I spoiled myself with the S10 last year (I'm still paying on that), but this phone's performance is way better than the cheaper models. I'm hoping the S10 will last me at least a few more years.

i personally go up a tier and get ~$300 phones and try to make them last at least 4-5 years. the one i have right now (Huawei Nova 3i) is still working its way to its third. battery's bloated a bit, screen is all kinds of scuffed, and it won't last beyond 12 hours without needing a charge. but i only need a phone for communication, so it'll do me fine.

 

[Uecil]

To play an app game. Not joking.

I mean, it was fine to play the said app game on my phone for 4 years, but I noticed, that the phone was becoming so slow and it would crash now and then, depending on the amount of space or RAM the game was using. It didn't go too well. Also, I had an inkling that they were going to stop updating the specific phone, so I just went and tried to win a new phone at an auction. then I won. I really just thought it would also be a good time to switch in for an upgrade, too, now that a lot of things were being limited, due to the Android type (Android 6.0, 5.0 etc.).

I try to take really good care of my phone. I don't usually cave in to buying one once or every two years. I try to upgrade after 5 or 6 years.

 

[colours]

i used to be big on upgrading phones to the latest and greatest (and also because every phone i owned before either had a cracked screen, or flat out died), but nowadays, not so much. i still have a OnePlus 6T that's serving me pretty well to this day, so i don't really have much incentive or reason to upgrade.

 

[Pokedream.su]

I don't. I buy like $30 phones like very 4 years.

 

[Ace864]

I haven't upgraded my phone in ages, really love my current one

 

[FlameChrome]

use to be because i had ultra budget phones ($20 or less) and they got outdated so fast, even faster than midrange and flagship/highend phones do, like you buy them and a week later they feel a year old. Sometimes they would break, or get very glitchy like an LG i had where for some reason it didnt like me texting a lot so i had to replace it. And recently as an example I had a Samsung Galaxy A50 and the screen shattered (screen was still on the phone but the screen was unusable and whatnot, learned my lesson about no screenprotector on phones) so i had to replace it with the Samsung Galaxy A51, (really it was most just a replacement since the only upgrade really was the storage and cameras). My next phone will probably be a flagship just to have a high end phone and one of the top of the line cpus, while my phone is fine, the Samsung galaxy s21 and s20 FE is looking real good to me atm.

 

[Tsutarja]

I'm curious. What are some of the reasons on why you upgrade your phone? Is it because you like the latest flagship from your preferred manufacturer, or is it something along the lines of your current one is broken beyond repair?

How about when your carrier forces you off your old one because it's an "unsupported device" thanks AT&T :why:

 

[Nick]

The only reason I upgraded my last phone was because I had gotten tired of having a big plus sized phone so I got a normal size phone. I'm not as obsessed with having the latest phone as I used to be. Before that I had the same phone for a couple of years. I had tried a Samsung Galaxy S20 when my upgrade was available, but ended up wasting money and not using it because I liked iMessage too much and all of the people I texted used that and it's most convenient for me for group messages and communicating on my computer.

 

[Roni]

i used to be big on upgrading phones to the latest and greatest (and also because every phone i owned before either had a cracked screen, or flat out died), but nowadays, not so much. i still have a OnePlus 6T that's serving me pretty well to this day, so i don't really have much incentive or reason to upgrade.

i often forget that the 6T is gonna be 3 years old this year. flagship tier OnePlus phones always seem new to me. did you get the 8GB variant? might last you another half decade or so if ever.

 

[Tsutarja]

My 5T was doing fine until AT&T got butthurt that I wanted to use it on their network. While I could easily just change my carrier and go back to using the 5T, I will say I like that the Nord N10 is a 5G phone, in which the 5T is not.

 

[Incineroar]

i often forget that the 6T is gonna be 3 years old this year. flagship tier OnePlus phones always seem new to me. did you get the 8GB variant? might last you another half decade or so if ever.

Not gonna lie that's the reason I switched to OP. They last forever and the community support for those phones is top-tier.

 

[Setsuna]

I really thought I commented on this thread but whoops I guess I didn't so I'll do that now~

I'll usually end up getting a new phone every couple of years because that's about when I'll start running into issues with them. For better or for worse, I'd be pretty particular about a smartphone specifically working perfectly like it's supposed to, so smaller issues will start bothering me.

I currently own a Galaxy S10 and I'm not too particular about having "good" or "flashy" tech but just having a (fairly) recent model of phone makes things easier for me. Since playing idol games on my phone is something I've been doing a lot of in the past 3 years, a reason why I upgraded my phone was because it couldn't record gameplay without having a pretty awful framerate. Not ideal when you wanna play a rhythm game.

I don't have a lot of good technology but a smartphone is something I'll be using constantly every day, so...

 

[Juno]

Usually it's when my contract is up, or my phone doesn't work well anymore. Typically the former these days, because the phones I get are pretty good and they don't break down before my contract is up. I'm not really that plugged in to the latest and greatest of phones and I don't care all that much about what I'm using as long as it's a smartphone that runs Android, but my oldest brother gets really excited talking about new phone models and features.

Me choosing a new phone when I need one usually starts with him going "so this phone looks pretty good-" and I'm like "great, I'll get that one". He hasn't led me wrong, so I'll keep doing that, lol. Sometimes he also just gives me his old phones, and he gets new models so frequently that his hand-me-downs are very lightly used, so hey, free phones!

 

[Neil Peart]

I'm just a technophile, and as long as I have the means, I'll keep upgrading them without shame. I usually end up giving my last-gen stuff to charity, anyway. I can't stand to see things just sitting around collecting dust.

 

[HitmonSal]

I don't really tend to upgrade that often, I went from the XR to the 12 because it was getting on a bit and I had it since launch. I can't see myself upgrading the 12 though, I feel like it's future proofed with its features for a few years! I'm big tech nerd so I do enjoy checking out the competition when I can!

 

[Hybrid Trainer]

I usually upgrade my phone either when planned obsolescence kicks in and it starts to stop working due to hardware failure or lack of necessary updates, but the most recent upgrade I did was from a Mate 20 pro to a OnePlus 8 Pro due to the whole google play fiasco thats happening.

Honestly I think we're in the days now where the only reason to get a new phone is to replace one that doesn't work, be it through an accident or through planned obsolescence. Sure we can still make huge leaps and bounds on tech to make things faster and store more things, but do people really need it?
We can basically run anything on a phone nowadays, internet speeds are just as fast if not faster than your home internet connection, so why would anyone want to create more rubbish and spend a load of money on the newest phone?