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Other How long do you keep your iPhone before upgrading to a newer model?

How long between upgrades?

  • less than 1 year (specified below)

    Votes: 4 1.2%

  • 1 years

    Votes: 94 29.3%

  • 2 years

    Votes: 86 26.8%

  • 3 years

    Votes: 69 21.5%

  • 4 years

    Votes: 39 12.1%

  • other (specified below)

    Votes: 29 9.0%
  • Total voters
    321
I

iSpoody 1243

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 29, 2008
435
1
Australia
I'm curious to see how long people in this forum keep their iPhones before upgrading.

I currently have an iPhone X and from all the speculation regarding the next iPhones features, I'm struggling to see the value in an upgrade.

However considering my phone plan requirements, the cost of upgrading to a new iPhone vs having a suitable sim only plan with my current iPhone X is negligible. Feels like a forced upgrade.

First iPhone (4) I had for 4 years

Second iPhone (6 plus) I had for 3 years

Current iPhone (X) 2 years (unless I can get a suitable sim only plan with significant savings)

What about you all?
 
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I used to upgrade yearly (3G until X). But that was back when the new iPhone started at $650. Now that we live in the age of $1000 iPhones, I’m not nearly as driven to update. I skipped the XS and will wait to see what the 11 has before deciding whether to upgrade. My X still has 93% battery health so I could definitely get by with it for another year.
 
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It depends. The hardware has to really ‘grab’ me in some way, like the triple lens camera has my interest piqued. At this point, I doubt I will upgrade, (Probably waiting for the 5.4 iPhone to debut in 2020), but I’ll base my decision after the keynote. I’m pretty happy with the Max and the iPhone 8 Plus as my ‘work phone.’
 
I can upgrade my old iPhone SE that is 3 years old, to a much faster brand new iPhone that is already over 2 years old. You do the math! iPhones last years and years!

You can easily push the same iPhone for 4+ years.
 
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I’d love everyone’s opinion on this: I was going to upgrade this year, as always, but given how we can communicate on the Mac, iPad, and via the Watch so effectively now, I’ve recently been leaving my phone behind in my car. Thus far, it’s worked out pretty well! I use Apple Pay without the phone, I use AirPods on all the devices without the phone. I feel like, for myself and, I suspect, others as well, the phone is becoming more of a peripheral device.

Thus, I’m not sure I’ll see a compelling reason to upgrade it this year. If anything, the Watch has become far more useful, and thus I can see upgrading that.

Thoughts?
 
It's usually been just 2 years for me. But I feel my Xs Max is more than up to the challenge of 3+ years.

I'm excited for the keynote but can't realistically see a scenario where I buy the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

I'll happily sit on the sideline and enjoy the show however.
 
Spending $1000+ every year on a phone seems crazy.

If you stay just a generation behind that annual price will probably be cut in half.

I look forward to all of the flushed toilet money when I get my next new iPhone for a discount caused by the iPhone 11 rage.
 
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I also believe that iPhones can last 4+ years, so I guess I upgrade every 4 years. I also don't feel that the yearly incremental upgrades are worth the price of a new iPhone.

I had my iPhone 4s for over four years when I upgraded to the iPhone SE, and I only did that because iOS 9 slowed the 4s to a crawl sometimes. I'm still using the SE over three years later now, and I can easily see it going at least another year, maybe more. iOS 12 runs fine on it.

I may look into upgrading if/when Apple releases their next small phone, the rumored iPhone 8 body with upgraded internals. When that happens, the phone will be much better than the one I have in many ways, and that's when it becomes worth it for me.
 
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It depends. I have used one for more than a year or two or like this year downgraded because I like Touch ID better.
 
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I used to be a 2 year upgrade person for the longest time but stopped when the iPhone 7 Plus came out. To this day it still is an amazing phone and while I could upgrade and not regret it i still haven’t. Also I switched from Verizon to google Fi last spring and if I upgrade I have to pay full retail as they don’t offer device upgrades and payments. So that’s a huge limiting factor for me.
 
I'm still using a 4S. IOS 9.3.5

Only had to install a replacement battery since 2009.
I don't want to or rarely need to browse the Net on this phone.

Bought it for ¥6,000 ( US$57 ) in Japan where I live.

The SIM is a hobby knifed one from my original 3GS

My main uses are
1. As a phone.

2. As a login code confirmation for my bank.

3. As a social media app ( LINE ) that I also have on my Mac Pro.

It's small & fits in my shirt pocket, works very well if slower than newer ones but keeps my life simple.

Basically I feel that mobile phones can be very useful but are definitely anti-social.
 
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Keep my iPhone till a new one comes out with feature or features I want that are not available on the current model I have
 
iSpoody 1243 said:
I'm curious to see how long people in this forum keep their iPhones before upgrading.

I currently have an iPhone X and from all the speculation regarding the next iPhones features, I'm struggling to see the value in an upgrade.

However considering my phone plan requirements, the cost of upgrading to a new iPhone vs having a suitable sim only plan with my current iPhone X is negligible. Feels like a forced upgrade.

First iPhone (4) I had for 4 years

Second iPhone (6 plus) I had for 3 years

Current iPhone (X) 2 years (unless I can get a suitable sim only plan with significant savings)

What about you all?
Click to expand...
Ok less than a year but as I said before in other post. I’m working on not upgrading anymore this year.
 
Until a new feature that is very useful for me comes. Last was X with OLED and small bezels. I am not going to give up Qualcomm modem for incremental updates in 2019 models.
 
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I upgrade yearly as I am on the iPhone forever plan with Sprint. Otherwise, I would probably upgrade every 2 years or so.
 
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