It’s an accomplishment for sure when a person spend one iPhone while others spend few iPhones for same period and (probably) similar uses.
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Other Why Aren't we Keeping our iPhones for Years?
- Thread starter ElPaso
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Andeddu
macrumors 68020
It’s not an accomplishment because one person is an enthusiast and the other isn't.
No one will get an award for using an iPhone 11 or 12 in 2026, lol.
That’s like saying it’s an accomplishment for keeping a beat up Honda Accord for 15 years rather than changing your car every 3-5 years.
What do you expect from someone who is living for other's approval. It's like his/her opinion or needs has no meaning as long as other people are satisfied.
That's exactly what I would expect from an Apple sheep.
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ClaraStahlbaum
macrumors 6502a
If you live for someone else's approval, you aren't living for yourself. Food for thought.
eoblaed
macrumors 68040
I can't speak for anyone else, but I upgrade annually because there are new devices with better functionality available. For a device I use every hour of every day, for all the things I use it for, having something that does all of that ... better ... is of value to me.
This is not to say people should upgrade every year; I totally understand and respect the position of folks that aren't interested in doing that and keep a phone for several years before upgrading. Just sharing why I, and folks like me, upgrade regularly: for us there's value in getting all the various improvements we see year over year.
ftaok
macrumors 604
The reward shows up in the bank account.
It does! My wife and I have two modern but older cars (2015 and 2018) that run well, and are paid off - and that looks mighty good in the bank account!
For normal incremental releases I upgrade every 3 years but I make exceptions for two reasons. The first is if my particular iPhone is having repeated frustrating service issues (rare) and the second is for an unusual leap forward or a new type of iPhone. For example, I'll be consider replacing my iPhone 16 Pro with the folding iPhone if it's good and doesn't cost $10K by then. In the current state of the economy and specifically memory shortages, these things aren't going to get cheaper--they are going to get more expensive.
I have two XS Max phones that I still use as well as a 13 Peo Max and a 17 Pro Max. I had another XS Max that I kept new in the box until last year. It had 100% capacity when I sold it to a friend for $100 so he could Jailbreak it.
Alpha Centauri
macrumors 68000
I'm thinking that I'm going to use my 16e for 5 years. The best I've done is an 8 Plus which I had four years to the day. But iPhone users that have commented in this thread are pretty evenly split on what "we" do lol
CarlJ
Contributor
Huh, I've had 8 phones in that timeframe, working out to about 3⅜ years (the first few of those were on carriers' 2-year upgrade cycle, but the iPhones were spaced further apart).
Luftkopf
macrumors 65816
Before I got an iPhone, I barely ever managed to finish a 2 year contract without buying out my phone and getting a new one. I think my 3GS was the first phone I kept for the whole contract. Then I went from an iPhone 6 to an 8 Plus, then a 14. Who knows what my next one will be.
Since '98 I can remember 4 Nokias, a Motorola, and a Sony Ericsson. The Nokias and Sony Ericsson were decent, but I hated that bloody Motorola flip phone. I never did figure out why it was so popular!
'98-'09: 6 mobile phones
'09-now: 6 iPhones.
Since '98 I can remember 4 Nokias, a Motorola, and a Sony Ericsson. The Nokias and Sony Ericsson were decent, but I hated that bloody Motorola flip phone. I never did figure out why it was so popular!
'98-'09: 6 mobile phones
'09-now: 6 iPhones.
SiXiam
macrumors member
What were you longest lasting phones? For me it was the iPhone 6S Plus (5yrs), Motorola Startec (4yrs), iPhone XR (4yrs).
CarlJ
Contributor
iPhone 6 I had from the end of 2014 (IIRC) to 2019. iPhone 8 I had from 2019 to the release of the iPhone 16 Pro in 2024.
iPhone 7 here, third case, got a security update a few weeks ago, battery 80%, should last untill 2027 model.
Nice! You sound like someone who takes care of their devices. Your battery is at 80%, is it the original or was it replaced?
I am on year 4 of my current iPhone and just finally ready to replace it.
I only upgraded from my iPhone 11 to a 12 because I got the 12 for free and it had a new battery and my 11s battery was down to 80% BUT I had used the 11 for 6 years and it was great. Now that I’ve learned ios 27 will support the 11 it would have been cool to have still been on it even now.
If you care about ewaste and the planet, quit needlessly updating cell phones for no reason…
You must really hate the planet to act like this.
Usually after about 2 years the battery health is down and the camera and/or other upgrades are good enough to warrant upgrading for me. The camera is a big reason in modern times why I upgrade.
Back when you could still safely resell your devices without worrying about being scammed, I used to just sell my old iPhone to take off a huge chunk of the price of a new one so it was easy to upgrade every year. These days I'll keep the device as an additional camera and phone if it doesn't seem too redundant with the newer model. Kept my 13 Pro because it was the last one I had with a Sim card slot but traded in the 15 Pro as it seemed like an inferior version of the 16 Pro. Undecided on whether the 16 Pro will be worth keeping when I get the 18 Pro this year.
I do cringe at people who complain about their finances but keep a newer model iPhone when at the core a 5 year old model can do almost the same thing as the newer ones, just slower.
Back when you could still safely resell your devices without worrying about being scammed, I used to just sell my old iPhone to take off a huge chunk of the price of a new one so it was easy to upgrade every year. These days I'll keep the device as an additional camera and phone if it doesn't seem too redundant with the newer model. Kept my 13 Pro because it was the last one I had with a Sim card slot but traded in the 15 Pro as it seemed like an inferior version of the 16 Pro. Undecided on whether the 16 Pro will be worth keeping when I get the 18 Pro this year.
I do cringe at people who complain about their finances but keep a newer model iPhone when at the core a 5 year old model can do almost the same thing as the newer ones, just slower.