You aren’t, but that concern is mostly superstition.

I work at a place with a huge phone fleet. We have interns study our telemetry and records because I kids like phones and they find ways to save us money. We allow for low friction replacements of phones at 12 months — the average replacement is ~27. The most common issues are cracked screens and excessive scratching on iPhone 16 and a Samsung I cannot recall. Batteries are only an issue for field devices subject to excessive cold or heat.

Unless you’re trying to keep the thing going 5 years, you’re likely seeing marginal benefits.

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jcgl 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Unless you’re trying to keep the thing going 5 years, you’re likely seeing marginal benefits.

Not GP, but yes: that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I think that people should generally expect 5+ years out of their devices. And in a world where user-replaceable batteries are decreasingly common, it makes increasing sense to change habits to preserve the built-in battery.

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xandrius 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What's wrong with expecting 5 years? Am I insane to expect an electronic device to last as much as possible? And if I had to come up with s number, I'd say 10 years at least.

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Spooky23 2 days ago | parent [-]

Nothing is wrong with it. I’m an enthusiast for the tech - I care about the cameras in particular and they are still moving forward between generations on the top platforms.

At work, the optimal cash flow is rapid replacement. We buy high volume so as long as I don’t use a lot of labor, we make money on the subsidy. I buy a phone for $1, and net $250 in trade in 18-20 months.

5-10 years means you want a wall phone. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s a contrarian position and the options on the market don’t support it well as a result.

	▲	jcgl 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> 5-10 years means you want a wall phone. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s a contrarian position and the options on the market don’t support it well as a result. Actually no, that's not what it means at all. The phone I want a phone supports various smartphone features like GPS and NFC. It receives regular software and firmware updates, providing whatever new software functionality has been developed lately. It's built to last, without artificial barriers and compromises that prevent 5-10 of use. The market may not support it very well, especially when looking at the major handset manufacturers. If that makes me a contrarian, fine. But let's not pretend that the "market" (a space dominated by just a few vendors) is optimizing for long-term customer satisfaction or any such things, or that the absence of something in the marketplace means that that things is silly. I get that you're coming from a specific context, needing and wanting to turn hardware over quickly. But there are plenty of other people (who are generally quieter than tech enthusiasts) who don't have any such need or desire. A well-supported phone with enduring battery technology would be very welcome to me. The fact that the market doesn't meet our needs is reflective of the market-makers, not the would-be customers.
	▲	watersb 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		It might make sense to turn over phones every two years if you are a business that maintains lots of phones. As an individual, I generally keep my phones for at least five years. Why should I spend $300 per year instead of $150 when the lower cost option works for me? (I'm typing this on a 2020 iPhone SE; it runs the latest software. Although this year, that's not necessarily a good thing. Liquid Glass, Safari bugs.)
	▲	vid 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		But you make sure to find homes for the replaced devices, right? And that future owner will appreciate longer battery life.

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ryukoposting a day ago | parent | prev [-]

> Unless you’re trying to keep the thing going 5 years, you’re likely seeing marginal benefits.

My last phone went for 6 years, and the only reason I replaced it is because one of my banking apps dropped support for Android 8.