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It's been an average of two years for me. With Xs Max, I'll be keeping it for 3 years.

No new iPhone until 2021 or 2022 for me. And yes, I'm perfectly fine with that.
 
We reached a point where consumers are not upgrading their phones anymore like they used to. Even with the assistance of carriers and ‘upgrade’ programs, it’s not enough for the majority to want to upgrade their phone, even if they can afford it. I’d wager the approximation for someone to keep their phone is about three/maybe four years, I am personally less than two.
 
I try to hold off buying a new iPhone until I really need one, or my needs change.
I've had -

iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPhone 4s - Still being used
iPhone 6 (Battery exploded)
iPhone 6 Plus - Still being used
iPhone 7 Plus - Still being used
iPhone X - My current iPhone
iPhone 11 Pro Max - Just ordered this weekend. I was going to wait for the redesign, but ya know....
 
Every year since the original iPhone. On iUP now, so it really wouldn’t make any sense for me not to upgrade every year now.

Lol. I tried using that nonsense on my wife about getting a new car every year. Didn’t work.

But honey it wouldn’t make sense not to get a new one each year. Smack.
 
I'm even stingier than OP.
I'll use a phone and keep it on the same OS it came with for the duration of my ownership (unless its something terrible like iOS 11). Then when it's been banned from the newest version of iOS, (iPhone 6 barred from iOS 13for example) I'll get another iPhone 2 generations ahead of my previous one. I have yet to ever buy the latest version of an iPhone. Prefer to stay a few generations behind.
I have my eyes on other toys. iPhone isn't the only toy in town

#fax
 
I used to keep them 2 -3 years. Staring with the original I went.
iPhone 1, 3 GS, 4S, 5S, 6 Plus, 7 Plus, XS Max, 11 Pro Max.

In between the 3 GS and the 4S I had a BB and a HTC Evo 3D.

Staring with the XS Max I’ll upgrade every year.
 
3 to 4 years, depending on the iOS updates.

iPhone 4 - 2010 to 2014
(then went to Android with the Sony Z1 - 2014 to 2016 when it died)
iPhone SE - 2016 to 2019
iPhone 11 Pro - 2019 to hopefully 2022/2023
 
As I purchase a new one I tell myself this should be good for at least 2 years and then I watch this years promo video of the new camera system...
 
Used to be every year but since the £1k+ price point im now moving to 3-4 years. Plus I do love my apple watch and that just makes annual upgrades hard with that added expense.

Most of the cool new features are part of iOS anyway. So as long as the phone supports the latest version your getting all the good stuff. What they are doing in hardware is pretty much just camera and thats it.

The new phone will always be faster but is your current phone fast enough? Sure it is.
 
I used to upgrade each year and would love to continue doing that. However, I can’t use OLED screens due to PWM and the XR/11 is too big for me. So I’m currently stuck on the 8 until Apple releases a phone I can use.
 
Generally 4-5 years for me. I’m a “use it till it breaks/can’t do what I need it to do” person.

I don’t play games on my phone. I’m not into photography, and I rarely post photos to facebook, so the year on year camera improvements (whilst appreciated) are of little real world benefit to me.

Once the initial phase of “wow, I’ve got a shiny new toy to play with” wears off, an iPhone becomes…just another iPhone.

IMHO, the latest and greatest iPhone 11/Pro doesn’t do anything ground-breaking compared to previous models. Voice calls, messages (iMessage, Whatsapp, Viber, Facebook messenger etc), web pages, spotify, youtube, banking app, google maps, emails etc etc works equally well on a iPhone SE, 7, 8, X etc compared to an iPhone 11/Pro. Touchid vs Faceid are just different means to the same end (ie authentication). Both systems have their strengths and weaknesses.

The consistency in software across a number of devices (an Apple strength) is IMHO a compelling reason not to upgrade: why buy a more modern device when the current device does what I need it to do, and operates well enough???

Appreciate there are a number of reasons why people upgrade; for me, the cost to upgrade to a new device that does (essentially) the same things as my previous device isn’t money well spent.
 
I try to hold off buying a new iPhone until I really need one, or my needs change.
I've had -

iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPhone 4s - Still being used
iPhone 6 (Battery exploded)
iPhone 6 Plus - Still being used
iPhone 7 Plus - Still being used
iPhone X - My current iPhone
iPhone 11 Pro Max - Just ordered this weekend. I was going to wait for the redesign, but ya know....

I think this was a good move. The way Apple has been I'd be cautious of a Gen1 redesign of any Apple Product. I'm going to wait at least 6m after the 2020 is released and see how it functions. My 8+ works like a charm. Reliable 5G to the masses is at least 3 years away at the earliest. Still far to much squabbling over standards. A quality QC modem will be more than enough for the majority of users with no need for 5g. Only power users will truly benefit from 5g IMO. :apple:
 
On average, 2 years. The longest I’ve ever kept a phone, or an iPhone, was about 2.25 years with my 6+. I’ve been saying that I want to keep my iPhone XS Max for another 2 years at least (3 total years of ownership), but really aim for 4-5 years of ownership total. However, I’ve never owned a phone that long and I’m a tech enthusiast. Also, with recent iPhones only losing about 25-30% of retail value over each year, you’re really not saving much money by holding onto your iPhones for longer (assuming you would sell it), unless you do it for 4 years or greater. Somehow, getting a new iPhone and selling every year just seems wasteful to me though.
 
4
5
5s due to broke 5
6s
8
XS Max for the 512 GB of storage I needed.
 
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