Macrumors: Apple Users Are Keeping Their Devices for Longer as Upgrades Slow:

In recent years, a shift has occurred in the behavior of Apple customers, who are increasingly opting to retain their iPhones, iPads, and Macs for extended periods before upgrading. In the most recent 12-month period, 71% of iPhone owners and 68% of Mac owners reported that their previous device was over two years old, up from 63% and 59%, respectively, in 2020.

In the early days of the iPhone line - there were new, desirable features that were being added to the products every couple of years. Siri was worth upgrading iPhones for me. The finger print sensor was also an innovation that really made using the phone better.

Times have changed and there are not new innovations that are worth upgrading iPhones for, for most people, and I think that it’s fair to say for the people who use Android phones that it’s not that much difference. Prior to typing this I had tried to find statistics for Android phone replacement timelines, and I found a few sites that claimed that the average was less than 2 years, and another that said it typically was 4-5. I haven’t bothered linking to any of them, because they didn’t feel like reliable sources at all.

Anecdotally, in conversations with friends or co-workers (or even in my own household) the overwhelmingly common reasons to purchase a new phone is because the old phone’s battery life is terrible and replacing the battery is used as an excuse to get something new instead of having the battery replaced, or because the phone has been damaged. Not because there is a new feature.

Along the way, I found people who griped about how this company or that company no longer innovates, but I ask - what feature would make you want to replace your currently functioning phone? I honestly cannot think of what added feature that would make me change phones. I have to get into the area of science fiction before I could give you an answer.

Concluding these thoughts - I think that it is a good think for your checking account and for our planet that phones are not being replaced as quickly as they used to be. And, while I have your attention, if you have the opportunity to repair the phone that you already have instead of replacing it - I’d encourage you to do that.

These are iPhone tips and may or may not have any value for Android users:

  • If you’ve had your phone for awhile and it’s running slow? Erase it and do not restore from backup. Set it up knew. I helped plenty of iPhone users resolve performance issues with this. As the years have gone on, I do believe that Apple’s operating system team has done a better job of this occurring, but it still does.
  • Turn your phone off and on once in awhile.
  • If your battery life seems like it’s gotten poor:
  • Check your battery’s health, if it’s not well, have the battery replaced. Years ago, you did not ever want to take your iPhone to anywhere else to have it replaced other than an Apple Store. I saw plenty of mall kiosk battery replacement jobs that were downright awful. That may or may not be the case anymore. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/check-battery-health-and-usage-iphd453d043a/ios
  • Check the insights from the link above. If there is no stand out reason as to why the battery life on your phone is low - erase your phone and do not restore from backup.