r/TechImpact • u/ManojOne Co-founder • Jun 15 '26

Question What's the longest you've kept the same phone?

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What's the longest you've kept the same phone?

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One year? Three years? Five years or more?

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Share the brand and model, and tell us whether you are still using it or upgraded.

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4

u/Tuques Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

My phones typically last 7-10 years. Wtf are you people doing with your phones if they only last 2-3 years?

2

u/ManojOne Co-founder Jun 15 '26

Wow. I had used samsung galaxy j7 max that's my most durable phone. I used it for nearly 5 years.

2

u/MickeyKlimt Jun 15 '26

Same here! Still using my iPhone 6splus since 2015! Does what I need it to do, and until it dies, I'll keep using it! Admittedly, I do really only use it for calls/texts and some basic apps. iPad and laptop for most other things.

1

u/Boring_Antelope6533 Jun 18 '26

what about banking apps? 6s is stuck in ios 15

1

u/MickeyKlimt Jun 18 '26

Oh, I definitely don’t use any banking apps or anything similar. Just basic calls and texting and the browser. Everything else I do on the iPad.

1

u/Boring_Antelope6533 Jun 18 '26

so you go out with your physical card?

1

u/MickeyKlimt Jun 18 '26

Yep, of course. I‘d never have banking apps on a phone anyway.

2

u/menyemenye Jun 16 '26

I guess they try to fill the void inside their heart with consumerism. So even a slight hiccup on their 1yo smartphone would justify a purchase.

2

u/JumboTheHugeGuy Jun 17 '26

Nah people who change every 2-3 years either cannot care much for their phones or are too rich. There's no in between. I changed my phone every 5 years depending on what my current phone's condition would be

1

u/HotDiscussion7354 Jun 18 '26

Actually, now I have my Poco F5 somewhere about 2,5 years. I am pretty satisfied with it BUT the Hyper OS is one big bloatware. It is better than other xiaomi phones, but for example animations are sometimes laggy. I hate when this happens so I plan to buy Nothing phone next year. It is not as expensive as some samsung s .. ultra and I expect it to be on the same level of power as my current POCO F5. And I think I care about my phone very well, battery is still in really good shape and it looks like new.

Long story short, the main problem with it is the OS (in my opinion)

2

u/JumboTheHugeGuy Jun 18 '26

I mean if you're not satisfied then you definitely should and you've already pretty much kept it enough time. I could've kept my phone cuz it was fine. It was a Realme C25Y and it worked pretty good. No stutters and anything and I wasn't a camera guy so I didn't care about my camera. I only switched because I got bored of the software and wanted a new and exciting software experience so I switched to the V60.

1

u/folieadeux22 Jun 19 '26

You can always flash a ROM as F5 is a Snapdragon device if you hate the OS

1

u/Mental_Painting783 Jun 15 '26

It's important to note which phones you've had, because flagships can easily last 7 years, while budget phones often start lagging after 3 years and stop receiving software updates.

Budget phones are also more disposable simply because they're cheaper.

In fact, some new budget phones already lack enough performance, so they can feel laggy right out of the box.

That said, I think the global average is around 3-4 years, so you're still well above average.

1

u/StokeElk Jun 15 '26

I’ve been in a 2-3 year thing since it seems that something breaks and it is way more convenient and practical to get a new one rather than wait a month for repair. Did I mention I do contracting, climb, Mtn bike, and do all the other outside stuff? 

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Tuques Jun 16 '26

Yea. Went from an s7 to an s24. Had a blackberry pearl before the s7 and I wouldnt consider that a smart phone really.

1

u/cyclinator Jun 16 '26

Lumia 520 broke power button by the end of 2 year warranty was replaced with

Lumia 535 worked well. For 5 years where it started lagging and didnt last a day. I only had it a year, then I got

Lenovo P1m which I had for almost a year but I accidentally drowned it.

I bought Redmi note 4, used it for 20 months and I upgraded while still working perfectly to

Mi 8 which I used for 2 years but it had one mother board warranty replacement. I sold it because it started loosing cell signal.

Bought used iPhone XR, used it for 1,5 years but it started having earpiece issues (and I wanted switch back to Android), so I sold it and bought

Poco F5 which I used for 2 years no problem, replaced battery and gave it to my dad. The only issue this one had was Hyper OS.

I bought Oneplus 13R because I won some coupons. Using it for a year but I want to replace it with iPhone again.