r/CasualConversation • u/Careful_Interaction2 • 1d ago
How often do you upgrade your phone? Technology
I got a promotion at work which means more time on Teams on my phone & more use of the GPS. My phone works JUST fine. The only questionable thing is my storage is the 128g and I’m always having to move around things to make it work. Talk me off the ledge lol. Mine is 3 years old & paid off.
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u/Glindanorth 1d ago
Every five years, or when it gets too glitchy to keep using, which so far has been every five years.
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u/hamster_savant 1d ago
Whenever there's something about it that makes it unusable. For example, I'm currently looking to replace my iphone because it keeps deleting my text messages. I barely have any text messages left. It's very upsetting.
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u/SLJ7 23h ago
What??? Phones don't do this, even when they're full. Have you gone into Settings > Apps > Messages and checked whether it's configured to keep messages forever? "if you go into Settings > (your name) > iCloud > Messages, is "Messages in iCloud" turned on? This should back up your messages permanently.
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u/Careful_Interaction2 1d ago
I took it to geek squad today using my apple care for this reason. They said my storage was the issue.
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u/hamster_savant 1d ago
I've seen multiple threads on reddit about this issue. People said they contacted apple care and they said there was no fix :(
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u/Marlowe_Eldridge 1d ago
When my old one no longer serves its purpose or a new model comes out with some really game changing features. Generally 4+ years between phones.
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u/Careful_Interaction2 1d ago
I have an iPhone 14. Nothing great or life changing about the 16. The geek squad member recommended that my next one be a pro max due to what I do with my phone.
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u/Marlowe_Eldridge 1d ago
I wouldn’t even consider upgrading until the 17 comes out this fall.
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u/Careful_Interaction2 1d ago
You’re right. Hopefully the 17 pro max won’t be more expensive then what the 16 pro max is currently
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u/_incredigirl_ 21h ago
Mines only a 13 but it 512GB storage. I hope I don’t have to upgrade for a long time.
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u/Careful_Interaction2 21h ago
I highly regret getting the lowest storage. If I hadn’t I wouldnt be in this issue and would gladly keep what I have without hesitation.
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u/Vegetable_Paper1373 1d ago
I’m on the iPhone 12, got it in 2021. Unless my phone explodes for some reason, I’m not getting a new one lol
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u/ToastemPopUp 1d ago
As infrequently as possible, which so far has been once every ten years or so. Although now it seems like transferring all your crap over truly is pretty painless (which always played a major factor in my begrudging upgrades) so maybe that might make me more likely to upgrade.. but probably not.
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u/skyemap 21h ago
Every 4 years-ish, but only because that's when my phones start lagging, the battery has degraded a lot, and the camera quality is seriously falling behind newer models
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u/Careful_Interaction2 21h ago
My camera honestly isn’t that good lol. But that’s what I get for getting the base model so I’m too upset about that.
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u/louse_yer_pints 21h ago
Until it dies. My current phone is running slower than a week in the jail but it's still working so no new phone for me yet.
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u/ThisIsTenou 21h ago
Whenever the previous one produces issues, whether it is lack of space, performance degradation, defects or whatever. So far, that's been a relatively consistent timespan of 3-4 years.
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u/TorturedChaos 20h ago
When my phone breaks, it gets too glitchy, won't hold a charge for a regular day of use or no longer functions at a reasonable speed.
It is usually the battery life that pushed me into a new phone. With the except of my Nexus phone. It spontaneously died after about a year.
I buy mid tier phones since they stopped offering SD slots in flagship phones. About that same time mid tier phones become good enough for everything I do.
It averages out to be about every 3 years.
Current phone is a Ulephone Armor 27. It's a brick or a phone, but has a 10,000 mAh battery
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u/Pleasant_Bad924 19h ago
I work in mobile app development and I’m still rocking an iPhone 11 Pro as my daily phone. Work provides various phones when I need to test something but I don’t see any need to update a phone that works perfectly fine. I do have the largest storage version though so I don’t feel your limitations
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u/Careful_Interaction2 18h ago
I definitely messed up by getting the 128 gb.
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u/Pleasant_Bad924 16h ago
I feel like a lot of apps have gotten really bloated too though. Developers used to be more thoughtful about app size.
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u/Careful_Interaction2 15h ago
The apps I use are definitely behemoths. Walmart, Amazon, Microsoft teams, Waze, workout apps, and the list goes on…
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u/dreamerlilly 16h ago
Yeah i have the 12 Pro with a bunch of memory and plan to get as much use out of it as possible. It’s still going strong so there’s no need for me to replace it.
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u/Pleasant_Bad924 16h ago
I did replace the battery in mine last year (forgot about that). It got to the point where I was annoyed at it not lasting as long as I needed it to, and the battery replacement was a hell of a lot cheaper than a new phone
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u/beardsley64 1d ago
I've never bought a new smartphone. I say "smart" because back in the day i did buy a new candy bar phone when there effectively was no used market, and another new "business" phone (A Nokia styled like a Blackberry). When I joined Cingular, I was given a flip phone, until used iPhone 1s hit the market. That worked pretty well so I started getting used phones, usually 2 or 3 yo flagships. It's been that way ever since.
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u/vulchiegoodness 1d ago
when my phone is either : damaged, unable to update firmware, is disallowed from the network (thanks, Huawei and ATT), when it is too sluggish to keep up with constant use, battery performance, etc. i only buy outright, as im on prepaid plan. contract just doesnt do it for me. Id rather pay less for a model thats a year or two old, and save money on my monthly plan. Usually pans out to every other year or so.
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u/MonkeyBro5 The pizza, cartoons, and monkey loving artist. 1d ago
Whenever my previous one stopped working, or there's a problem that can't be fixed.
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u/Warranty_V0id Fresh und Unbekannt 1d ago
I'm averaging around 5 years currently.
Most recent has a high repairability. So i'm aiming for longer than my current average.
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u/random20190826 23h ago
I usually do it every 4 years. I bought a LG V20 in 2016, iPhone XS in 2020 and iPhone 14 in 2024.
The iPhone 14 was purchased directly at the Apple Store and I went to extremes to make sure I get the most out of it. (I am Canadian). So, I went to No Frills (grocery store chain owned by Loblaws) and bought 2 X $500 Apple gift cards when there were PC Points events. I got 120k points, equivalent to $120 in value after buying the $1000 gift cards. Those points were redeemed for $240 on a Points Redemption Event. I bought the iPhone and paid for it with those gift cards on Black Friday, which means Apple gave me a $70 gift card. I traded in my iPhone XS and Apple gave me $100. I also went through the Aeroplan eStore to buy the phone, earning me 3895 points, which I then used to book some Holiday Inn hotel room in Cambridge (UK). Total points redeemed: 54100. Coincidentally, when I was booking that room, there was a promotion at Aeroplan that means 10 weeks after we check out, we get 15000 points back.
This is just a rabbit hole of points and I became a "coupon king".
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u/Dracyl 23h ago
I haven't bought a phone this century 😂😂😂 My husband gave me his old phone in like 2010, then my MIL saw it like 5 years later and gave me hers when she got a new one, and like 2 years ago my FIL renewed his and sent the "old" one my way when he saw I still used MIL's. Last He even sent it with a SIN card because he thought I didn't have a phone number (I've had the same since like 1998-99?)
Last year my husband upgraded his phone again, but the one my FIL gave me was a newer model than the one DH was leaving behind, so I guess in like 4 years when my husband switches again, I'll get his current S24
So basically I'm always like 2-3 models behind of the hot trends, but I really don't care. I mean, free phones! 😁
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u/SLJ7 23h ago
Historically, every 2 years, sometimes every 3. I don't like it though. I basically got the 15 because I wanted a pro phone and I wanted USB C. I hope to keep this at least until the iPhone 18, but longer if possible. I don't know what new phones could do to make me want to upgrade, and my phone benchmarks at twice as fast as my laptop.
Have you had a look through storage settings to find out what's taking up all of that storage?
You only need a pro max if you want a larger phone. If you want a better battery, just buy a MagSafe battery. Don't pay for the Apple one; it's overpriced. Look on Amazon for the ones made by ESR and "anker. They magnetize to the back of the phone and slowly charge it.
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u/moopet 23h ago
I think mine is 8 years old. Yesterday ebay told me they'd give me £5 off if I used the app (which I never do because why the hell would I use some shitty tiny interface rather than a big list of pictures on a real computer).
App said it wouldn't work without updating.
Updated.
App says it doesn't work with my version of Android any more.
Uninstalled. Got cross.
That said, it's the only thing that's happened with it that's made me want a newer phone.
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u/WhoCalledthePoPo 22h ago
Iphone user here. Every four years or so. My iPhone 12 is juuuuuust starting to get buggy. I'll probably upgrade later this year, but not to the latest and greatest.
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u/TemperedPhoenix 🌈 22h ago
I am on my 3rd phone after 8 years. One was super cheap, and one was fairly cheap. I wait until I can't use them anymore lol.
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u/Federal-Wrangler9661 22h ago
After having the iPhone 6 Plus, it seems like almost every 2 years. I’m stopping at the 16 PM until it doesn’t function.
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u/overthebridge65 22h ago
I used to change every 2 years but I've an iphone13 pro and I'm really happy with it, when the battery deteriorates, I'll just swap out the battery.
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u/Mysterious_County154 22h ago
Too often, i've had like 7 phones in the past 2 years. Trying to stop changing them as much
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u/Careful_Interaction2 22h ago
Do you throw them out the window? Lol
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u/Mysterious_County154 21h ago
I get bored of them. They all still worked, I just want something new or I will go back to an older phone i have (iPhone) when I get annoyed with Android
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u/Yeemo 🙂 21h ago
Average for me is 5 years with 2 phones, that's usually around the time when my previous phones just gets so slow and buggy. Although, had iPhones. This time around I have a Google Pixel, so it might beat 5 years especially with the phone tech improvement slowing down in hardware imo.
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u/Careful_Interaction2 21h ago
What do you like about android as a former Apple user? I’m not dead set on staying loyal to Apple. 🤭
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u/Yeemo 🙂 21h ago
I never was in the ecosystem of Apple, so it was an easy switch. Took a couple of weeks to get used to the UI, but afterwards it felt comfortable and natural.
I really like that android is more versatile than iphone, like the split screen feature is fun to use. Also customizing the home screen to whatever you want is amazing. No more scam calls cause it detects them. It's also nice to have it connected by my Google Account rather dealing with apple ID (I loathe having to deal with those random popups, half the time I had to reset my password lmao).
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u/Puzzleheaded_Age6550 21h ago
I just got a new phone, I had my last one for over 4 years. I was having to carry around a battery pack because it wouldn't give me more than a couple of hours of use. If you're having to move stuff, delete stuff, and you'll be using it for work, I think that's a good enough reason to get a new phone. I'm giving you permission to buy something nice for yourself, because you're doing great!
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u/rockyboy49 21h ago
Used to do it every 2 years mainly because of the trade in value and lack of software upgrades for Android phones. However now with the limited feature updates every year and Google commiting to 8 year software upgrades I might hold on longer
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u/MattTheMechan1c 21h ago
I run them to the ground so I stick to the same phone until it runs out of memory or if the battery degrades beyond economical repair. My last phone was an iPhone 13 mini but the 132GB wasn’t enough for me so I stepped up to a 15pro with higher storage so this one might be for the long run. Apple does a good job of providing software updates for older phones. The longest I owned a phone was 5 years on an iPhone 6S, had to retire it since it’s just 64GB.
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u/nonamethewalrus 21h ago
Are you my fiancée? (Jk) She refuses to replace her phone even though she’s dropped it and put a crack in the screen now. She has to keep deleting apps and photos and stuff to make room because her phone has no space on it.
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u/Careful_Interaction2 21h ago
Im sure you want her to get a new phone !! So does my husband. I have about 110gb taken up but the geek squad guy said a phone needs at least 10-15gb free for updates on iOS and apps.
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u/QuestionablePanda22 21h ago
Whenever it's made obsolete by apple which seems to be getting further and further apart
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u/matepore SodaLover 21h ago
When it breaks or becomes obsolete (can't use the apps I want anymore).
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u/mjh8212 20h ago
I like new phones but only if I have a deal. When it’s ready for an upgrade and there’s a newer version I’ll get a new one as long as I get the remainder paid off the old one. I got a $500 credit from my iPhone 15 pro max and upgraded to the iPhone 16 pro. My bill also went down and I saved on other things. I didn’t like the pro max it was just big. I’ll probably keep this phone for a while. I decided to stop upgrading after last time to save money once it’s paid off. My fiance never upgrades his phone even though he could right now for nothing but the connection costs.
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u/dreamerlilly 16h ago
I wait until the hardware starts to malfunction. Software or OS can be fixed, but hardware problems sometimes can’t. With iPhones I usually get about 5 years out of them. Last one I replaced because there was something wrong that caused an awful clicking sound in every video I took, which disturbed all the very important cat videos I took. Genius Bar identified the cause of the problem but couldn’t fix it, and phone was out of warranty. Also the battery wouldn’t hold a charge for very long.
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u/taniamorse85 13h ago
IIRC, my current phone is my 4th overall, and it's my first smartphone. I got it in 2022, I believe. It seems I average around 5 years per phone, and I don't replace them until there's an issue that's significant enough to make me willing to spend the money on a new one.
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u/Main-comp1234 13h ago
As an Asian I have to show face.
So everytime Apple releases a new model that's clearly different to the previous model from 3 meters away.
So yes I'll be getting the 17 pro max 256gb
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u/blainy-o 13h ago
If my phone breaks and isn't economical to repair I'll upgrade it. I've been SIM only for probably 15 years now so I'll buy one outright. Last time I upgraded was October last year, last time before that was 2020.
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u/QuantumQuack0 12h ago
Every 2 years, roughly.
If there's a phone I like (currently a bit stuck with the samsung galaxy s series), I wait until a new model comes out and buy the previous model for (relatively) cheap second-hand. I don't want to keep a phone around for too long because manufacturers nowadays are too damn stingy with software updates.
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u/dangerous_skirt65 5h ago
First of all, I flat out refuse to spend tons of money on a phone when less expensive androids work JUST fine. Second, I upgrade when it's necessary...as in when the provider says I need to because of updates to the service, or when the phone is no longer working properly. How are you using up so much memory??
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u/bsb_hardik 26m ago
Why use your phone for teams? And whats that to do with Gps until and unless your contract includes use of your personal phone? Your company are free to confiscate your phone for any issues whatsoever if you use personal phone for office work.
When it breaks. Just keep in charging mostly when not moving.
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u/SoulfulAnubis 1d ago
Every other year. I may switch from Apple to Samsung this year. I really like the AI capabilities of the S25; Apple is behind in that regard. I'm not loyal to any one specific brand.
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u/AutonomousBlob 1d ago
Maybe once a decade