Are regular phone upgrades pointless?

Thread: Are regular phone upgrades pointless?
Hostile_18

Hostile_18

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For the longest time I'd get a phone on contract and upgrade every 2 years, when the contract expired. Traditionally there was some nice quality of life updates. My current phone (Samsung s21+) I haven't felt the urge or need to upgrade at all. What new features have I missed the last three-four years? How often do you upgrade your phone?

Honestly my most important features are a decent sized screen, battery life and decent volume. I just don't know of anything exciting that would make me want to update, even being the relative techy I am.
 
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Yes, they are pointless these days, unless there's a specific new/improved feature that's been added recently or if your phone is beat up.

Those games you play on the toilet won't run any better on a new phone.
 
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Bullet Club said:
Yes, they are pointless these days, unless there's a specific new/improved feature that's been added recently or if you phone is beat up.

Those games you play on the toilet won't run any better on a new phone.
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I don't even play games on my phone. Full Phat coke or nothing lol.

I do kind of like the idea of phones with a foldable large screen but they are so expensive and break easy. Like don't get me wrong I'd pay for something if I wanted it that bad, but it would be more a nice to have feature. I also think a fold screen, with a screen on the outside would probably be a huge battery drain.
 
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Calcium said:
I buy a phone and use it until it dies or the screen is cracked. This usually takes 4-5 years. When I do upgrade it's usually a pretty substantial difference.
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Thats a good length of time. Generally speaking should it break or crack early on the costs to repair these phones are (IMO) ridiculously high to repair, to encourage upgrades. I always Insure my phone for say £5 a month or add it to the home insurance. I also use phone protectors now, where I didn't before. Not screen ones though as I feel they can limit functionality.
 
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I went from iPhone XS to iPhone 15. Hope to go from iPhone 15 to iPhone 20+ or whatever it's going to be called. the difference in camera going from XS to 15 was pretty huge. Biggest difference was the screen refresh rate. It's so much smoother to scroll with the 15 than the XS. But after a while you don't notice it anymore and it is the new standard.
 
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Eneru said:
I went from iPhone XS to iPhone 15. Hope to go from iPhone 15 to iPhone 20+ or whatever it's going to be called. the difference in camera going from XS to 15 was pretty huge. Biggest difference was the screen refresh rate. It's so much smoother to scroll with the 15 than the XS. But after a while you don't notice it anymore and it is the new standard.
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That's how I've found with many tech upgrades. You don't appreciate going forward no where near as much as you do when your forced to go back.

Good point about the camera. How important photo quality is will vary drastically from user to user. I think I'd fall into the typical Netflix user type response "my camera is good enough" lol.
 
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One thing that I has changed in recent years, is on the software side. I use my phone to pay for 99% of everything now. Such a great quality of life feature to not have to carry about a wallet in another pocket.

Just waiting for when my phone can replace metal keys 🔑 😅
 
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Hostile_18 said:
That's how I've found with many tech upgrades. You don't appreciate going forward no where near as much as you do when your forced to go back.

Good point about the camera. How important photo quality is will vary drastically from user to user. I think I'd fall into the typical Netflix user type response "my camera is good enough" lol.
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Regarding camera it's not important to me when I sit at home. Last year I was away for a longer trip and took a massive amount of pictures with my old and new phone (bought the new one on my trip) and it's a huge difference in quality. Especially the zoom capabilities and pictures in low light. A lot happened there imo.
 
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My current phone, an iPhone XR, is about 5 years old. After my two year contract was up I started to look into upgrading and then realised there wasn't really much I'd be gaining. Going to a SIM only contract made my bill much cheaper and it's not like there were features I desperately needed from a newer model. I'm now reaching the point where I'll probably upgrade soon because I've noticed some slowdown. So now when I make the upgrade it'll hopefully be a noticeable step up in quality of life features rather when I was upgrading just because.
 
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I've got the Z Fold 4 and once you get over the foldable screen it's just another android phone. The bigger screen is nice, but when you are out and about it is too cumbersome to use on the go, you'll almost exclusively use the smaller front screen (which is quite narrow). There are a few features the foldable screen offers, but you'll only use them once or twice and then never again. The camera is pretty crap (not sure about Fold 5 or 6) . It's also very bulky and heavy. It doesn't fit into your pocket.

I'll probably got back to Apple for my next phone. Maybe an iPhone 12 or 13. I only make calls/texts, browse the internet and watch YouTube videos so I don't need anything too fancy.
 
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If it was solely up to me, I would use this same phone for the next 8-9 years. It's a S22 Ultra. We all know this thing will start to chug in another year or so, because "software is leaving your phone behind, dude. You needa buy a new phone!!"

I hate smart phones.
 
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I replace my iPhone when the HW starts failing. Usually by then there has been enough improvements that the upgrade feels worthwhile.
 
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Yeah I have an iPhone 13 and the 14 and 15 features are forgettable.
"More pixels in bs pics you send in group chat."
"Better processor despite all you do on your phone is spam reels to your family like it's your job, hate speech on X, and watch crime documentaries."

Yeah I think this phone is going to hold out for me for a while.
 
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Use it until it starts acting funny/not keeping a charge then trade it in.

On a similar note, I just want to say that phone nerds are the absolute fucking worst. I got a new phone a couple years ago (Android Galaxy S22 I think, I honestly dont know) that I was upgrading from my previous phone which was also a Galaxy S-something (had this phone for maybe 4 years or so).

The guy at the phone store was shocked when I showed him my old phone:

"Oh wow, I didnt know people still had these!"
"Any phone here is going to be a huge upgrade"

So I get my new phone and its hard to notice a difference except the battery stays charged for longer, low light pictures are marginally better and that's about it.
 
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Hostile_18 said:
Anyone on a phone longer than 4 years how is the battery life holding up? :)
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2018 Samsung and the battery is fine. I use my phone all the time for work as well. I'd replace the battery if it started to crap out, the phone is fine and has no problems. Upgrading your phone when the contract is up is a pointless waste of money. That's what chicks do.
 
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I'm still using my Xperia 1ii that I've had for over 4 years now. Battery life is quite poor at this point and my wireless charging does not work with it anymore. I also haven't had any android updates since 2022 and security updates seem to have ended for me as well.

Still a fantastic phone and the best one that I've ever had. I will eventually get the Xperia 1vi within this year but the changes will still be quite minimal in comparison from my last one to my current one.

Mainly the battery is my reason for wanting a new phone.
 
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macapala said:
I've got the Z Fold 4 and once you get over the foldable screen it's just another android phone. The bigger screen is nice, but when you are out and about it is too cumbersome to use on the go, you'll almost exclusively use the smaller front screen (which is quite narrow). There are a few features the foldable screen offers, but you'll only use them once or twice and then never again. The camera is pretty crap (not sure about Fold 5 or 6) . It's also very bulky and heavy. It doesn't fit into your pocket.

I'll probably got back to Apple for my next phone. Maybe an iPhone 12 or 13. I only make calls/texts, browse the internet and watch YouTube videos so I don't need anything too fancy.
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Fold 5 here.
Agree with pretty much everything except I love the bigger inner screen. I really only use it home since out and about I don't want people seeing all my Dpad shit posting. But I don't think I could go back to a slab phone. Though I do wish the outside screen wasn't as narrow. Don't care about cameras they do the job I ain't a professional IG influencer. Thought I always liked big phones and was rocking the note before it was cool and then had a Z flip.

I wouldn't upgrade to the 6 since in CAD it cost 3K and all that gets me is a few millimeters on the outer screen and squared edges. 5 will probably last me until samsung makes the outer screen the same size as the s24 and the inner screen 8+ inches.
 
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I'm still on the S10+ I bought in like June of 2019. So that's more than 5 years on this thing. I only want to upgrade for superficial reasons. It's not a need.

I don't use it like a teenage girl (the way you guys use your phones, ya fuckin Nushes) so maybe I don't notice the battery degradation. I just do not have battery issues. It doesn't lose a ton of charge overnight, so I top it off before work. I come home and slap it down on the charger again. That's it.
 
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Before totally getting rid of my smart phone yes 100% , most yearly upgrades are a waste and offer no substantial enough upgrade to do yearly IMO ( one reason getting rid of a smart phone entirely ) unless your chronically addicted to always being online you can find some great "dumb" flip phones for under $100 that have days worth of battery life and much more durable while still offering some great features, I find spending $1000+ on a smartphone every year very pointless and don't really care if people think I'm retarded/not cool for thinking so
 
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I'm on an XR that has a couple faults (automatic brightness and FaceID) that I was quoted £400 to fix. A brand new XR would be about that these days.

I'm also feeling some sluggishness, I've been getting throttling this summer in the heat, and the battery is down to less than 80% health/capacity so that's not quite ideal.

But it will serve a parent as a hand me down when I get something new, although I'm not in a massive rush despite the issues.
 
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I have a five year old phone that's still perfect for everything..
Can surely use this for five more years...

Same with my m1 air..
 
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Hostile_18 said:
That's how I've found with many tech upgrades. You don't appreciate going forward no where near as much as you do when your forced to go back.

Good point about the camera. How important photo quality is will vary drastically from user to user. I think I'd fall into the typical Netflix user type response "my camera is good enough" lol.
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That's the nature of most things. When you first get a new car, it's amazing. After a while, it just becomes your car.
 
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Definitely has felt fairly pointless for the last 5 years or so at least.

Getting a phone that reliably does 120hz is a big quality of life upgrade in my opinion, but beyond that, unless you care a lot about incremental camera upgrades, I don't really see a point in upgrading more than once every 4 ~ 5 years.

Then again, these new "Apple Intelligence" features could be compelling... Verdict is still out on that one.
 
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Hostile_18 said:
Anyone on a phone longer than 4 years how is the battery life holding up? :)
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I had a phone from 2017 and it lasted until beginning of Spring of 2024 so almost seven years exactly considering it was purchased around Spring. Phones never mattered much in the past. It used to be make a call, say what you wanted to say, hang up. Then text messages. And now, it's our own personalized second computer. Now all kinds of suckers are buying each iteration of the newest iPhone because the camera has a slightly brighter shade of whatever color. It's a waste of money and a weird fixation if you ask me. My old iPhone was excellent and it lasted seven strong years
 
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I used tracfone flip phones but recently (year or so ago) it got so old they no longer supported it and the only phone they would give me for free was a smart phone... so not I have that. When it dies I will get another super cheap tracfone.. whatever is cheapest. So maybe go back to a flip.
 
Like all technology there's barely been any reason to upgrade for half a decade or more now.

We're at the end of the road on what technological advancements can achieve with physics as we understand them.
 
Stilton Disco said:
Like all technology there's barely been any reason to upgrade for half a decade or more now.

We're at the end of the road on what technological advancements can achieve with physics as we understand them.
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I think we're going to see wild attempts of an "AI phone" and things are going to get wacky for a bit before someone fine tunes it.
 
Polden said:
I think we're going to see wild attempts of an "AI phone" and things are going to get wacky for a bit before someone fine tunes it.
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I honestly think the capabilities of AI have nearly peaked and we're going to see very little beyond gimmicks and slightly more reliable version of Siri getting pushed, before companies realise it doeant actually do anything people want, so doesn't actually make any money.
 
Always were.

I went about 8.5 years between phone upgrades, just retired my S7 and didn't do it out of necessity.
 
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