Weekly poll: how often do you change your phone?

11 February 2018
Getting a new phone is exciting but costly, how often do you do it?

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Every 2 years once contract runs out. I think it's for the best. If you change every year, you will get nearly better phone than last One, so just waste your money for nothing, every two years you get at least significant upgrade, but things go know with incremental smarthpone evolment maybe even to change every 3 years would not be bad idea.

    2-3 years is the sweet spot. My previous note4 lasted me 3 years before it fell into seawater and got screwed up. It's still alive though albeit with a broken speaker and a non-functioning s pen.

    Had an s4 before that that i sold after a year because i didn't like it. Even further back i had a nokia e7 that is alive and kicking 6 years after i bought it. But you know, symbian. So it's basically a semi smartphone running on a zombie os.

    My current note8 will stay with me.at least until it turns 2 years old. But if i see something that's more than interesting, i'd probably give it a go.

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      • AnonD-82756
      • nGg
      • 11 Feb 2018

      If I see anything I particularly like I just buy it

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        • Anonymous
        • a0A
        • 11 Feb 2018

        On daily basis, whenever anyone is careless basically

          • O
          • Orangi
          • yLS
          • 11 Feb 2018

          I change my smartphone on an average of 3 years. Started with Galaxy s2, then Galaxy s5. Now, I own an LG V20 which lasted a year and hope to it will continue for the coming two years.

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            • Hmmm...
            • IW1
            • 11 Feb 2018

            Was on iphone4 for 6 years until WhatsApp etc no longer supported. Served me well although the lag has gotten really unbearable. Anyway I'm on android now :-)...

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • Nu7
              • 11 Feb 2018

              Am in Africa n to b honest changing smart phones is not always easy,d exchange rate is to high to get especially flagship phones from branded companies,but tank God for d chinese we are able to get clones n replica dat serve almost perfect

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                • .
                • 3Jn
                • 11 Feb 2018

                I have been a serial switcher for a number of years. Many, many times I only having a phone for a few months before I move on. I'm using the S8 Plus at the moment and I think I will not look to change now until into 2019.

                If I do notice any major degradation in the battery I may move on sooner but I have to say its been fine up until now and I've had since launch.

                The little tweaks here and there to the flagships hardware are just not that game changing just now, and cosmetically they all look samey.

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                  • AnonD-82756
                  • nGg
                  • 11 Feb 2018

                  Current phone Xiaomi Redmi 5A, coming in week Nokia 2.

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                    • Chabza
                    • fjR
                    • 11 Feb 2018

                    I change every two years n the older 1 I keep as backup.To honest I don't buy the latest but mid ranger phones r much better now are days as flag ship are so expesive.

                      • J
                      • Just a random dude
                      • Kg{
                      • 11 Feb 2018

                      Lilian, 11 Feb 2018After switching from S4 to S7, I realized that it was not w... moreThis. With snapdragon 800+, phones aren't even laggy. The lack of 'revolutionary' features (not gimmicks like eye/face scanning and stuff like that) reduces the necessity of upgrades. I currently have 2 phones: 1 running SD 801 and one running SD 810, and they're still running smoothly. Gigabit internet is tempting but it varies by location (it's useless if your provider can't even provide a 42 mbps 4g network). So unless there's a huge revolution, I probably won't upgrade my phone. Money is saved that way as well.

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                        • Dv8pro
                        • CGH
                        • 11 Feb 2018

                        I hardly change phones and my first smartphone was Nokia N73 in 2009. It really cut me deep at the time I was switching from symbian to Android. And I had to because nokia was not supporting their os anymore and one thing that was irritating me was their small pixel density in their phones as compared to iphones and new android phones by then. I don't sell my phone, I use it until it dies or get lost. So sometimes in a year I could used more than one or two phones in a year. In my case only few times I upgrade my phone and I always count on camera, pixel density, screen resolution and brighter screen to do that. I hit yellowish tint screens and my best phone in 2014 was Motorola droid mini but the camera was not impressive and the price was relatively low. Most phones can't display white, they displayed it as yellowish color. Currently l have no plan to replace my phone because it has high pixel density, brighter screen, 1080resolution and impressive camera with Sony IMX298 Exmor RS CMOS Sensor and fingerprint sensor for high security. Although bezel less phones are charming but not apple notched one.... So I will consider one if my current phone get lost or dies...

                          • Y
                          • YetAnotherUserName
                          • nG%
                          • 11 Feb 2018

                          Ionix, 11 Feb 2018Currently on 3rd year with my s6. The 18:9 phones are very ... moreReading websites and pdfs (and books) on my phone is PRECISELY why I will not get an 18:9 screen ratio phone. To get the same width I'd need a significantly longer phone. The present one only just fits in some of my trouser pockets without peeking out or trying to fall out, or trying to dig into me as I sit down.

                            • Y
                            • YetAnotherUserName
                            • nG%
                            • 11 Feb 2018

                            I change my phone when it breaks irrevocably, or when something far better comes along.

                            Prior to smartphones it was longer. My Nexus 4 lasted a year, my Nexus 5 lasted 4 years. My Note 4 (second hand) lasted 4 months before it caught the dreaded eMMC hardware problem that killed it. My Huawei Mate 9 is fabulous, and the Mate 10 didn't have enough to make me change.
                            The current fashion for IMHO stupidly long and thin phones means I am likely to stick with this as long as it still works.

                              • D
                              • AnonD-82756
                              • nGg
                              • 11 Feb 2018

                              I change my handset every few months, this could be low, mid or high end don't judge me.

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                                • AnonD-558092
                                • r7b
                                • 11 Feb 2018

                                I do when the security updates stop. This is the most logical moment to upgrade. Today, Operating systems are much more capable to survive longer without any core update. I take for example Windows 7, the best version of Windows. All apps run on Windows 7. But you'd be crazy tu use it unpatched

                                  • p
                                  • pipboy
                                  • JKY
                                  • 11 Feb 2018

                                  3 years on average, but I'm getting close to 5 years with my current Xiaomi Mi2S. Can't quite find a proper successor.

                                  Also, it seems to me like the progress with phones has kinda stopped. Each phone I had was revolutionary in some way compared to the previous one. That's not really true anymore:

                                  1st phone: Sony CMD J6 - had 4 shades of grey, polyphonic melodies, huge display and large memory for it's time, could record sound for ring tones, even had a browser and email client. Jog dial was genious.
                                  2nd phone: Sony Ericsson K700i - full-color display, mobile java apps, camera, megabytes of storage for stuff and you could connect it to a PC. Lots of proper gaming was done on this one.
                                  3rd phone: Nokia E51 - actual smartphone with proper OS (Symbian) and Wi-Fi (internet on toilet!). This was also the one that made mobile internet meaningful to me as mobile internet pricing started to become "reasonable" around here.
                                  4th phone: Samsung Galaxy S2 - touchscreen, Android, GPS, uh... finally a 3.5mm jack, so I've been using it as my music player as well.
                                  5th phone: Xiaomi Mi2S - nothing particularly new, really? Unlike SGS2, I've been using Mi2S as a camera on my trips and vacations, but I don't know if that was an actual upgrade - I simply did not travel (or snap many pictures in general) before having Mi2S. The device is great, probably the best phone I've ever owned, but it didn't really bring anything new.

                                  6th phone? What exatly do new phones have that would fundamentally change the way I've been using them since SGS2? Mi2S lacks NFC and LTE support, so I guess there's that, but I wouldn't call either revolutionary. So what is the next step anyway? And when will it actually come?

                                    • I
                                    • Ikarma Khan
                                    • vTN
                                    • 11 Feb 2018

                                    option e) Unless you lose your phone or it is damaged beyond repair

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 7Ac
                                      • 11 Feb 2018

                                      Use to be every year...but since I got the XZP I don't feel a need to upgrade every year anymore

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-413292
                                        • sw%
                                        • 11 Feb 2018

                                        I worked in phone shop, it scared me for life. I checked GSM arena daily. I replace phones once a year, but always get them off contract, 6 months after release, like my LG V20. If there was a phone with removable battery, snappy camera with tele photo and wide angle, and battery lasting 2 days, I'd keep for longer!