[tchsvy]

I used to change my mobile once a year, often twice a year, I have always searched for that special mobile phone. But that urge has died down now, and I am generally trying to hold onto my mobiles for at least two years now.

Over the last 17 years, I have had 25 mobile phones.

[Emvi]

Almost every 2 years I change or upgrade my phone, not that I wish to, but I am forced to, for one reason or the other. Asus ZenFone Max was with me for 2.5 years, which is actually the longest that I have used a phone. Samsung J150 was the phone I used the least, guess what, I used it only for a day before disposing it to my officemate. During that period about 12 years ago, I changed 4 phones in a span of 1 month! It was definitely a crazy period!

Samsung J150- used it just for a day
Samsung L700- lasted with me for about 10 days or so.
Sony Ericsson F305- Did not use it for more than 3 days
Samsung S3500- finally brought sanity to the proceedings and from thereupon lasted for about 2 years

[Neversaygbye]

I change my phone only if it's performance degrades to a level that it affects my efficiency.

My first phone was a Siemens M35i which lasted from 2001 to 2004 before it conked out and was replaced by a Nokia 3100. Finally the Nokia gave up the ghost in 2008 which is when I got my first smartphone that was also the first iPhone. This lasted me till 2013 before it became too slow and was replaced by the iPhone 4. Unfortunately Savlon spilled on the iPhone 4 and ruined it in 2015 which is when I shifted to Android with the Moto G. This phone lasted me over 2 years but the battery life became an issue which is when I exchanged it for a Lenovo K8 Plus. I had this phone for the least amount of time - eventually gave it away for a new Asus Zenfone M1 in January 2019, which is the phone I now have.

So I have kept my phones for at least 2 years, if not more. Plus I try to stick to a budget of about 15k, and buy the best phone within that based on specs.

[Hemantteen]

As long as it serves the purpose/works trouble free.
Usually there is nothing innovative (for me) in new smartphones. All of them seem same to me: same apps, same interface etc. So i just buy a phone with more ram/memory/battery available at present and keep it till it works smoothly. When it starts giving trouble like battery degrade or not enough memory due to app updates, I format it and pass it down to my parents. Because the premium specifications i bought 3 years ago are average specifications now and that their usage is not so heavy; so it works for them.

[sarav100]

No matter how careful I keep them they still break in an year or two's time, so for the past 5 or so years, I've been buying Mi's 10k INR offering and smashing them to the ground once ever year.

I'm satisfied with this buying strategy as this way, I'm not too concerned about losing a lot of money and regularly get new form factors.

[gopikb]

I am a culprit here. I tend to talk about not investing in depreciating assets. But my average phone change frequency is about 18 months. I have never invested more than 15K on a phone till date. So it is all medium range smartphones and there is an itch to keep watch on good buyback offers from Amazon / Flipkart once the phone completes more than a year and the moment I see one, I have the tendency to change it. My last five phone purchases spent <10K after the buyback.

It is not only my phone. I let my wife and daughter use their respective phones for 2 years and do the same as well. It has been a disease which I want to try and control given my very modest spending pattern on other things.

But the smile on my daughter's face every time I upgrade her phone - Priceless

[amoghchaphalkar]

My logic has been phone depreciation = 1200 - 1500 per month. So how long I use the phone depends on how much I paid for it.
When I used to buy 15k phones I used them for a year. Currently I have a 60k phone that I have been using for close to 4 years.

[Rajeevraj]

My cadence has been roughly 2-3 years. Mostly change when the phone shows signs of giving up. In the first half of the 2010+ decade there was a much stronger urge to upgrade as the technology was changing rapidly. Over the last 2-3 years that urge is no longer there and the usage patterns have also stabilized. So expect to hold on to phones for a longer time going forward.

[Sheel]

Have been forced to upgrade in ~2 years.

iPhones had battery issues and androids just give up the ghost [screen flickering w/o getting dropped] or some hardware issue [power button giving up].

Currently on a Snapdragon equipped Samsung, but appears, the battery may give up sooner than expected.

[RMN]

I believe 3 years is the sweet spot if its a top of the line phone. I got a Note9 at launch and still rocking it. In terms of features I still don't want to upgrade it but sadly it suffers from random reboots :(

If you get a high end phone I guess the major issue is the battery life. They simply lose life within 2 years.

[jeetumg27]

No offence ;
if its an iPhone, every 4-5 years - I have been doing that and its worth the investment (iPhone 4, iPhone 6 & after that the iPhone XR)

Androids I believe, even the flagships, have to be replaced every 3 years due to sluggish performance or OS security issues (not being updated well in time)

[deep_bang]

Normally used to change phones once a year or so. For the first time I have been holding on to a oneplus 5 for 4 years. And yet the phone works great still. So I have begun to think that premium phones are indeed better built!!

[dhanushs]

I have a very reliable phone dealer since years. I kind of upgrade every year to the latest iPhone.

I buy one month used iPhones (from abroad) at a huge discount and after a year swap them to newer model very lightly used iPhones. I lose about 20-30k every year, but I guess even if I buy a new phone and use it for 3-4 years its the same case. I bought my wife a brand new iPhone 7 and we had to change it after 3 years. Got 10k for the phone.

Oh, and btw, iPhone 12 and iPhone 6 are the generations I haven't gotten my hands on. Also, During the launch of iPhone X, I picked up the iPhone 8 Plus.

[TechLiveMANA]

Used to change it every 12-18 months until I switched to iPhones. The last one was relplaced after three years and the current one is already into its 4th year and still going strong with no long or issues. Don't see a pressing need for upgrade either given what the device is capable of even now.

One thing I like about iPhones is the longer Software Support Lifecycle. Worst case scenario, the OS updates will come for atleast 2 more years per the existing trend.

[harry10]

I change it after one year exact. Older one is usually passed on to Papa or wife. This time I changed it after 2 years as Samsung A50 was working absolutely fine even after 2 years. The reason to change was 64gb storage which was almost over and 7000 mah battery on new phone as I needed more.

I feel phones have hit a saturation point and technology development isn't as great as before so changing phones every year isn't a good option anymore. I plan to stick with F62 for another couple of years unless something drastic happens.