A new smartphone again? Rethink unhealthy culture of frequent upgrades

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Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨fne8w2ah@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/a-new-smartphone-again-rethink-unhealthy-culture-of-frequent-upgrades

SO. MUCH. THIS.

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Papanca@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

Consumers however are at the heart of an unhealthy culture of frequent device upgrades

Yes, blame it on the consumer and not on the companies that spend an incredible amount of money to first hire marketeers that think all day long of the best way to push ‘new’ products, and then run costly campaigns to spread the word.

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- Touching_Grass@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Gotta be honest. Yes blame us. It takes two to tango.
  
  At one point in my life there was this anti consumer movement culturally that got absolutely destroyed and buried. Maybe we’re all just sheep without any free will controlled by Steve jobs of the world. We choose to keep certain fires lit and now we’re all freezing. That’s our fault.
  
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  - dependencyInjection@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I think what people are missing here is that although a new phone comes out every year, not every consumer is on the same upgrade schedule.
    
    If I keep my phone for five years then that’s four phones in not getting.
    
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  - tacosplease@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    How many people are actually getting a new phone every year? I don’t think I’m poor but maybe I am? Everyone I know keeps their phones for at least a few years and then replaces them when they are no longer functional.
    
    Still. Every 3 years feels like too often, but that’s around the time things stop working - likely due to planned obsolescence and updates designed to make older phones work worse.
    
    Should we really blame the consumer for replacing something the manufacturer designed to break after a short time? What’s something else you pay $1500+ for that is useless 3 years later?
    
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  - Papanca@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I’m not saying consumers are not to blame, but i have objections against the phrasing; as if it’s primarily blaming consumers. I myself am not quite a minimalist, but do have strong tendencies in that direction. So, i never cared about fashion, or buying the newest gadgets. And i know there are people who are the complete opposite. However, i do feel that companies fuel the greed of consumers big time.
    
    While consumers need to educate themselves/be educated by their caretakers and schools, i feel the heart of the matter is the marketing culture and the tendency of companies of hiding shady practices, like profiting from child slaves who have to mine precious metals, or women slaving away in factories for long hours, while risking their lives and bodies due to unsafe machinery, buildings and being bullied by their employees, for a shamefully low salary.
    
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  - technojamin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I think along this line of reasoning when it comes to evaluating myself. It’s how I keep myself in check and “sharpen” myself as a person. I like to remind myself of how often I fall short of it though. I also like to remind myself of the things that I have going for me that others might not have had.
    
    When I play the more charitable viewpoint of other people’s life experiences out in my head, it’s usually pretty easy to see them getting where they are. There’s a lot of suffering in this world, and large, effectively international companies are finding ways to exacerbate that in order to keep their businesses growing. It’s nice to sit down after a long day and veg out to short little videos, where each gives you a little chuckle or smile. It’s not that hard to get caught in the trap.
    
    I guess what I’m trying to say is that I agree completely that the path we’re going down is concerning and scary, and individuals can absolutely put the work in to make their lives better and elevate above the mainstream, but for any given person, that can be very difficult for any multitude of reasons, and we can’t forget compassion for them.
    
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  - TurtleJoe@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I don’t think there were ever that many of us who read Adbusters every month, but it’s likely even fewer now.
    
    I think that reality TV and social media influencers have had as much to do with people embracing conspicuous consumption as a culture as much as advertisers have.
    
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- Robin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  While these sorts of practices are legal, consumers need to be educated.
  
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  - Guildo@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I have another idea - get rid of capitalism.
    
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  - deleted@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I need security updates not education.
    
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- BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I don't really like this trend of absolving consumers of literally all agency in how they spend their money. Outside of practices that intentionally try to make older products obsolete like purposeful throttling - which should absolutely be shamed and made illegal - no one is holding a gun to your head and telling you to buy the new phone or else. If someone decides that a product is a worthy use of their money and decides to purchase it, then so be it. People aren't children and can decide how they'd like to spend their money, and I really don't see what's wrong with a company trying to convince you to do so. People can make their own choices, and that includes financially poor ones. They can also choose to prioritize different things than you or I might.
  
  Ultimately, if you don't want to buy a new phone, don't. They're really quite good nowadays and tend to last a while. There will of course continue to be shiny new things, and if having the newest thing is truly important to you, you can decide to spend your money on it. Or, you can also not. But to say that consumers have essentially no choice and are simply the poor victims of marketing with no real agency at all is reductive to the point of being almost patronizing.
  
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  - nodsocket@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Consumers have very little choice when it comes to things like cars, electricity company, cable company, etc. In that case it is appropriate to put blame on the companies who have a captive customer base. But with things like phones, there is nothing compelling consumers to buy the latest except FOMO and greed.
    
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  - pimento64@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Image
    
    Ultimately, if you don’t want to buy a new phone, don’t.
    
    Could you have made a more vacuous comment? Obviously people shouldn’t buy every new toy that comes out, that doesn’t change the fact that 90% of the blame—and 90% is a hard floor—belongs to the people who waste the Earth’s resources pinching it off in the first place and then waste even more in protectionism and generally making sure there are as few viable alternatives as possible.
    
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- Maggoty@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  And that make their phones expensive enough to repair that buying a new one is a logical fiscal decision.
  
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- Hazdaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  
  blame it on the consumer
  
  Yeah. Blame it on the consumers indeed. Are you a adult or not? Put the tendies down and put your big boy pants on and realize that you need to take responsibility for at least some of your actions.
  
  Same goes for all those dopes that pre-order every game that gets released and then we all wonder why the industry releases so many unfinished games that need patches and updates. That’s because consumers are rewarding these game developers for releasing shitty software.
  
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- Cheers@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I always say this. You’re one person. Facebook was once a trillion dollar company that hired teams of engineers, phds, and marketers to device the most abusive ways to keep your attention. There are literal studies showing how insta promotes depression in young girls and yet they’re still allowed to operate.
  
  Social media’s marketing schemes are the new generations tobacco industry.
  
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  - Papanca@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Though i agree with you, i never feel like ‘i’m only one person’. For instance, if someone turns off the lights and recycles their trash, they often say; how does it help, i’m only one person after all. But there are so many people thinking the exact same thing and together we can help change the world.
    
    So, yes, companies should be changed and i think this is also about politics and economics, which are usually conservative and greedy. But i never feel like the things i do are in vain; i’m standing with perhaps millions of invisible people who care about the environment and try to do their best and who all might be thinking; i’m only one person. Many people do want to change and try their best, but it’s time that all these conglomerates are being forced to change for real, instead of getting subsidized, and just greenwash their products.
    
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- PrinzMegahertz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Why not both? For example: one of the advantages if Iphones is the long software support. Why then are people buying a new one every year? I‘m still rocking an IPhone XR and while the batterie is down to 80%, I haven‘t encountered an app that brings it to it‘s knees.
  
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Krzak@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Ok but first manufacturers must “rethink” planned obsolescence and right to repair

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- Sharan@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  This.
  
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  - DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    we don’t “this” here.
    
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- Pxtl@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Planned obsolescense is a myth. It’s just cost-benefit that makes old tech crappy. Tech keeps getting better, and supporting the old device is a pain for no extra money. And phone architecture is stupid so they need every single part supplier to provide updates if they want to update the OS, unlike PCs where the hardware is better-abstracted.
  
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  - ky56@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    You’re either a troll or an uninformed idiot who has never done operating system development. A properly modularised OS can have allow for minimal upkeep for older hardware. A leading example is Apple’s .kext system allowing for near 10 years of OS support both on macOS and iOS. Not that I think Apple is a great company but they do have some really good software development practices.
    
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  - andallthat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    it’s not just phones, though. None of my refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers have ever lasted more than 10 years; I think the average is about 5 years before they stop working, get all rusty or a very expensive piece breaks so they are not worth repairing. Meanwhile all of my granma’s old kitchen appliances are still working perfectly after 60+ years of service.
    
    Sure, it might be just that over-optimizing how cheap they are to make also makes them less durable, but I don’t see a lot of motivation from companies to go out of their way to build durable things either. And it’s not that I think Corporate = Bad; as you say it’s a cost/benefit thing, it’s just that the “benefit” companies try to maximize is their shareholders’, not our planet’s. It’s on Politics to create a legal framework where some of the cost to our planet is shared with companies (so they have incentives to make things durable/repairable again) and on us consumer to choose wisely what to buy, when and from whom.
    
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- chic_luke@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I agree. I’m tired of always blaming the end users for everything
  
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jet@hackertalks.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Reduce. Repair. Recycle.

Most phones, break this at every step.

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- Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  A big part of it is built in batteries that are difficult to replace. My phone has a removable battery and has is on its third one now… still works fine and does everything I want it to, after 10 years of use.
  
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  - bobdowl@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    It’s honorable that you struggle through 2013 Android, but using an internet enabled device that hasn’t received security updates in at least 7 years is a horrible idea.
    
    Upgrade to a Fairphone at least, so you can keep replacing parts while also maintaining a base level of security.
    
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HawlSera@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Legalize Right To Repair Ban Planned Obsolescence

Boom, solved the problem. But once again it’s easier to shame Joe Q. Public

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- A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Won’t solve the problem of people spending 1000+ dollars a year on the latest and newest because they need it as a status symbol to fill the vacuous holes where a personality would be.
  
  and I’d wager more people are buying new phones every year for that reason, than due to forced obsolescence.
  
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  - Lazylazycat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Some people will do that regardless, but I would keep all of my phones for longer if the batteries were easily changeable and they didn’t eventually grind to a halt. I loved my Pixel 3a and would still be using it today if I could.
    
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  - aceshigh@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    living from the ego is a choice. everyone is free to examine their values and beliefs, and choose a life that supports their well being. not doing this is pricy.
    
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  - HawlSera@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I mean if they can afford that, good on them I guess? But it really would help for the rest of us who ya know, don’t base their personality on whatever they’re lugging around in their pockets.
    
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  - RogueBanana@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Isnt gonna solve the problem entirely but will make a huge difference. Cant say anything about the iphone craze in US but at least here most change their mobile only when issues pop up and repairs get too expensive or impossible.
    
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- Pxtl@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Ban glue in non-waterproof electronics. I remember when I didn’t need to risk destroying a device with a heat-gun to open it up and repair it like 10 years ago, but y’know, everything needed to be thinner.
  
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  - A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Thats one thing that boggles me… I’ve never heard a single person go “Y’know, this phone is nice…but I wish it was thinner and more fragile”.
    
    I’m convinced they just want to make phones thinner, and push screens further to the edge (or in the case of Galaxy, around the edge and down the side) just to make them more likely to break when dropped.
    
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  - Dremor@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    In waterproof ones too. It isn’t hard to make use of stainless steel screws and a simple O-Ring (see computer waterblocks).
    
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aceshigh@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
maybe it’s my personality or i’m old but i keep my things (including tech) until they become unusable. i’ve never thought about upgrading my phone every couple of years. i kept my last phone for 6 years (it became a brick), my current phone is from 2018.

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- cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I intentionally buy things that I know I can use until they are unusable. I do not often buy anything from apple.
  
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- Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Me too. My phone is 10 years old, my microwave is 40 yrs old, my car is 24.
  
  I take pride in taking care of my stuff and making it last as long as possible. It’s something I got from my grandmother who wouldn’t let anything go to waste. Obviously not everything can last that long, but if you get good quality stuff chances are it’ll be around a lot longer than if you just buy cheap or flashy stuff.
  
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- BrightCandle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  In the era when everyone seem to be taking out expensive contracts for new phones every year I have had just 4 smart phones in the past 20 ish years. They all reach the stage where they are just too slow for modern apps but I think we might finally be in the stage where compute power progress has slowed that the current phone might get an open source Lineage et el on it for a decent period of time with multiple battery swaps.
  
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- eumesmo@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Me too. my phone is from 2017 and I’m fine with it. It’s part of your personality, to preserve things. Associating personality traits to being “old” or to any stigmatized aspect in our society is a dirty trick to manipulate people (in this case, used to force people into consumerism). Just be yourself, and don’t feel bad about it.
  
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skip0110@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
It’s impossible if the vendors stop shipping os updates. I can’t use an out of date phone for my works 2fa push. Kept my phone for 5 years and it was still going, but the planned obsolescence got me.

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- TORFdot0@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Have work issue you a hardware FIDO token (such as a yubikey) or give you separate cell phone just for work. They legally can’t make you upgrade but if your phone can’t get enough security updates to install an Authenticator it is probably time to upgrade to be honest.
  
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  - sturmblast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    the thing is most of the phones are fully capable of running the modern version of the operating system they shipped with but the vendors stop supporting the products to make you buy more shit
    
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- manualoverride@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Writing this on an iPX which got its last update this week, 6 years old now but I’m just waiting for my banking apps to require iOS17. People will blame development costs for excluding older phones but there is no reason iPhones should not get iOS updates for 10+ years to save App developers the work.
  
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  - ribboo@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Well there is, if you wish for apps created by others than large corporations with hundreds or thousands of developers. It will get better with time now when progress is slower.
    
    But phones 10 years ago were absolutely trash compared to those we have today.
    
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somenonewho@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Smartphones have been “good enough” for a while now. Enough power and battery to do all the things needed for enough time before running out of battery.

IMHO there are 2 reasons we still regularly upgrade.

“Obsolescence” wether it would be perceived new hardware features or just new software not being available

Use/breakage (I include batteries dying in that) with no reasonable way to replace parts

I’ve had a few phones over the years some of them I “legitimately” just broke (one had a cracked mb after a bike accident) I broke my second to last phone trying to replace the battery (thought I would be able to, broke the screen). The fact that everything is glued down and made to not be replaceable irked me so much that my current phone is a Fairphone. Replacing the battery takes 1 minute and requires no tools. Replacing the screen takes like 5 min and 8 screws. I plan on using this phone for at least 5 years more if possible. But I understand not everybody can shell out 600 dollars for an “OK” phone.
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- stephenc@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  It’s actually planned obsolescence by phone companies pushing updates that artificially cripple our phones and making us believe that they are becoming worthless. Every single phone will slow down over time, even if you reset the whole thing to clear out whatever you’ve installed. Sure, you’re going to need a new phone eventually when software advances past the technical limits of your device, but that’s not what’s happening; nothing has changed that much since you bought your phone but suddenly your phone is slow and not working nearly as well and the only thing to “fix” it is to buy a new phone.
  
  It’s all a scam to make us all carry around tracking devices and to spy on us. Phones are garbage and belong in the trash can.
  
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Engywuck@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
If only new batteries were easily swappable…

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- pinkwerdo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  They will be in the EU
  
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- ares35@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  flip phones have those, but i've never had to swap one. the longest i've had one before it broke was ~ 7 years and a charge still lasted about half as long as when it was new (2 weeks vs 4).
  
  they actually fit in a pocket and last a lot longer between charges. i don't 'need' the internet on me 24/7, so i'll keep getting those as long as they're still made.
  
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  - SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Well, that’s good, but most other people either need to or want to.
    
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  - Engywuck@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Yes, I have one of those as well, but a smartphone is something I carry anyway.
    
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MrBusinessMan@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
It’s good practice to buy at least one or two new smartphones per year.

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- Rubanski@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Thank you for the tip, Mr Business Man!
  
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- Companion1666@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Battery degrades every six months, and most batteries sold are either cheap but fake or QC-passed but as expensive as a brand-new phone.
  
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  - circuscritic@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Battery degradation is real, but typically Llthium batteries in phones should last 18-24 months before their noticeability bad enough to want to warrant a replacement.
    
    But, if you’re constantly leaving it in a hot car, draining it to near 0%, or otherwise stressing it out, it will will significantly worse off, even at 6 months.
    
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kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Sure, let’s blame consumer for corporate policies

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- HauntedCupcake@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  It’s both really. Too many people rock a cracked screen, then upgrade it as soon as they can. Rather than looking after their device or getting it repaired.
  
  But at the same time, corporations limit device longevity due to bad practices. Like limited security updates, planned obsolescence and anti-repair policies.
  
  In short, not enough people care enough, and the companies prey on this. Attacking the “upgrade culture” is valuable, as legislating against these bad practices can only happen if the people exert enough political pressure
  
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- Cringe2793@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Same situation as plastic straws. Let’s blame the public for using straws, when actually it’s industries and corporate policies that refuse to adopt better practices.
  
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mesamunefire@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
The fairphone and terracube are starting to take off. Being able to replace hardware was a staple in early cell phone design and hopefully will come back.

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- Aatube@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I wonder why nobody has made some sort of headphone Jack module already
  
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  - mesamunefire@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Yeah… the old terracube has one and I loved it. Now I have a USB c to audio adapter and it sucks.
    
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- phoneymouse@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I would consider these if they weren’t still using Android. Anything with Google involved is unacceptable to me.
  
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  - randy@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Fairphone is well supported by open-source Android distributions like Lineage and /e/OS. Not all Android is involved with Google.
    
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  - CumBroth@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Fairphone allows you to unlock the bootloader and install an OS of your choice.
    
    See …fairphone.com/…/9979154556817-Google-free-Androi…
    
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noodlejetski@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
gosh, I love my Fairphone.

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- DacoTaco@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Fairphone 4 with weekly android 13 updates here! ( lineageos )
  
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  - jelloeater85@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Oh dang that’s neato!
    
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- ubermeisters@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Gee willikers it sure is swell huh!
  
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scytale@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I only upgrade when my phone literally dies or can’t support criticial software and security updates anymore. I upgraded from an iphone 6s to a 12 Pro Max 2 years ago and will probably hold on to this phone until it’s no longer supported.

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yoz@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
At work my manager still rocks an old Motorola g5 plus. He says phones have reached peak performance and there’s no point of upgrading. Hes a humble, down to earth guy also make $210k/ year.

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blueeggsandyam@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Phones have to easily repairable before you can blame consumers for upgrading. Cell phones are pretty essential for modern life and most of us don’t want to be without them for long. The upgrade allows for people to not have to worry about what to do when something out of warranty breaks. It is like fixing your car. In warranty, the manufacturer or dealer takes care of things. Out of warranty, you have to find a repair shop. Finding a repair shop is difficult. Trying to get a second or third quote on a broken car is difficult and costly.

The alternative is to make repair shops have transparent prices and make it easy for them to get oem parts. The other option is to force companies to warranty their phones for longer. Until the government does one of those you can’t blame consumers.

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aeronmelon@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
First and foremost, don’t feel pressured to get a new hand tablet with a ten-lense DSLR stapled to the front every single year.

I know Straits only used a picture of an iPhone to get more clicks, but Apple is the least of the offenders when it comes to this. iOS 17 runs on phones released six years ago (including the last iPod touch!), and security updates go a couple years further back than that. I wish Android phones could guarantee that kind of lifespan.

Battery replacement sucks on every smartphone except for obscure modular phones that suddenly lose support or the company goes out of business. But the newest iPhone actually makes it easier to replace the battery (read: still sucks a bit). So, while you have to jump through hoops, you can replace the battery on every smartphone (usually through official channels, but also by other means if needed).

What needs to happen is the masses need to be taught that it’s okay to keep your phone for a few years. Phones need to regarded like cars. Drive it until you can’t, THEN get a new car. And when you do, consider a newer used car. Once that becomes commonplace, then companies will be forced to tone down their release schedules.

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obinice@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Dawg, I only upgrade phones and laptops once every 8 years or so. These things are EXPENSIVE, I can’t afford one more often than that.

My current tablet came out in 2014, that’s when I got it. It’ll be a decade old in just a few months.

Besides swapping the battery out twice over the years, it still works great and does everything I need it to do. Fantastic big AMOLED display, too.

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Swim@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
problem is planned obselescence… dont buy it? fine… a few more years well for you to by dropping suppport for the one you are using

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SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I keep seeing the complaints, but do enough people actually upgrade yearly? Because anecdotally (including online communities in this) I have seen most people claim that they only upgrade every 3-5 years and I think that’s sensible as an upgrade cycle and will only get longer now if my own feelings match the general populace.

I personally have found myself needing an upgrade every 3 years on average and think I’ll find a way to go longer with phones which don’t lose security updates around the exact time the battery starts swelling on my old phone (my previous reason for upgrading and seems to be happening again)

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calavera@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Just don’t buy a fucking new phone every couple years

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altima_neo@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I dunno, my phone’s always start to have issues if I keep them too long. Boot loops, frequent crashing, random resets, functionality failing to work as it did when new, pack of security updates, etc. The hardware is built to fail

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LoganNineFingers@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Have a Note 10+

Screen needs replacing : $450 + tax (cdn) Only one more year of security updates

Bought a “renewed” s23 for $700. I didn’t want to but it didn’t make sense to sink so much into the old phone even though it worked fine. It pained me to give up the SD card slot…

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dinckelman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I would probably still be using my Pixel 2XL if the battery didn’t die. Or a Nexus 6P if that didn’t die from the hardware defect they got sued for. Probably even the OnePlus One before that too, but that may be a bit old for daily use

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Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
And here I am with my S4 running lineage Os (android 11)

Phone is on it’s third battery but doing fine, and does everything I want it to.

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whileloop@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Right? My Pixel 4a still works like new but Google’s dropping support so I have to get a new one or run a custom ROM. And the new phones don’t have headphones jacks!

All that said, I mostly use Bluetooth headphones anyway now, and it’s rumored that Google will switch to a 7 year support cycle, so I might just grab a Pixel 8 on Black Friday.

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narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Guilty as charged. I get a new phone about every two years. Do I need a new phone every two years? Absolutely not. All essential features work just fine on older devices. Why do I still do it? Probably because I’m too enthusiastic about new hardware.

I hand down my old devices to family members, and when I hand a device down, the receiver hands their device down to another family member. So the phones I purchase are actively in use for at least six years. 6 years is around the point where Apple drops support for major new iOS updates, and eventually also security updates. Batteries get old and replacement costs tend to get very close to the remaining value of the device itself.

I’m not trying to justify buying a new smartphone for myself every other year, but there’s only so much you can do as a consumer. Sure, there are aftermarket ROMs for many Android devices that extend software support, but that’s hardly something everyone can install and maintain. You can get replacement batteries from trustworthy brands for fairly little money, but then you either have to replace them yourself (which isn’t trivial for many people), or pay someone more money to replace it for you.

In my opinion, only a small (or at least lesser) portion of the blame is on the consumer. The EU and other governing bodies need to step in and require manufacturers to:

Provide at least 10 years of software updates. This doesn’t have to include a ton of new features, but it should include compatibility updates (so newer versions of apps run just fine) and obviously security updates. Some people use devices with hopelessly outdated software and they are fine with it, but I’d say up-to-date software is very important nowadays (look at the recent WebP bug for example).

Provide replacement parts, especially batteries, for at least 10 years without a profit margin, including a service that replaces these parts - again without profit margin.

Make batteries user replaceable. The EU is already demanding this, so give it a few years and we’ll hopefully get at least that.

As a bonus, make phones modular and upgradable. Framework shows how it can be done for laptops, I’m sure it’s possible to miniaturize this to smartphones, even though this probably has its limitations.

If all this is in place we can start blaming the average consumer.

Still, people like me aren’t completely innocent, I’ll admit that. I know that I’m just fine using older devices. I used a first generation iPad Pro 12,9" for a long time. I think it had a dual core A9X SoC. I eventually upgraded to an M1 iPad Pro and sure, the old device was way slower (or rather the new device was a lot faster), but I’m not doing anything with the new iPad that the old one couldn’t handle somehow.

You could maybe even put a small portion of the blame on developers (or rather, people in charge at software companies). Many apps use frameworks like React Native to port their apps to mobile, and while it’s better than Electron, it’s still nowhere near as efficient as a true native Swift UI or Android (don’t know how their current UI framework is called) app. Huge companies that clearly have the budget to make individual, native apps for each platform rarely do this anymore (Discord, Instagram, …). Building efficient apps would likely make customers less annoyed that their old phone is “getting slower”.
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nostradiel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Paid content, really?

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protovack@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
its not some conspiracy. the more complex, durable and water proof a phone is, the harder its going to be to repair or replace a component or battery. the nice thing is that now that the technology is mature and basically good enough to do anything fairly well, people won’t need to upgrade for tech or feature reasons anymore. Now it will just be a trade-off between durability and water/dirt resistance, and repairability.

Also, people have no clue how to care for batteries. phones get left in hot cars at 100% charge, left in the sun at the beach at 100%. There is no BMS or hardware battery protection mechanism that can protect against that. Those batteries are fucked and will need to be replaced. And replacement means breaking the water seal around the phone, so it’s annoying and expensive.

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weedazz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Bold of you to assume I don’t lose or break my phone every year or two

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bobman@unilem.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I got my phone for free, thankfully, from Visible. They were going to make me upgrade, but I never did and they just decided to send me a new phone instead.

First time I’ve gotten a new phone for free since I was a kid.

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