Upgrading Phones

[TJKansai]

From NYT:
The True Cost of Upgrading Your Phone
Buying a $1,000 iPhone can be equivalent to giving up $17,000 in retirement savings or 2,500 cups of coffee.

I myself am using my son's 6s+. My wife has a 6s. She is having issues as the 16GB barely hold the system OS now.

Eventually, we'll upgrade to our sons' XRs.

One son has an XR and the other a 12 and XR.

Fun calculator here that tells you how much your coffee habit is. I buy at Costco and make my own, so about 50yen a day.

https://bonefidewealth.com/buythedrip/

[captainspoke]

I'm on my second smart phone. First was a cheap android that I used for about two years to test the waters (gala-kei before). I decided I liked it and switched to an 11pro, now about two years on it. I bought it for the camera(s) since I play at photography, and I'm still discovering things about that. It still impresses me, almost to the point of selling my mirrorless and its lenses. It'll probably be good for another 2-4 years, maybe more.

[pfdsa]

Usually only buy a new phone when the current one becomes too slow, stops getting updates, or if the screen is completely broken and there's no way to fix it. Therefore, my phones tend to last 4-5 years.
I'm on my second Xiaomi (first one lasted 5 years, current one is on the 3rd year), and plan to buy Xiaomi again when this one finally dies. Only bought an Iphone once (think that it was the Iphone 5) and didn't enjoy spending so much money on a phone, so set a personal limit of 300 euros per phone.

[RetireJapan]

Similar for me. Flipphones, then an iPhone 3g, 4, then Android (first from Google and now cheap Huawei).

Will probably get a Xiaomi next as I have been impressed by their smart bands and earbuds. But my phone is only 3 years old, so I reckon it still has some legs

[Beaglehound]

As a Luddite, I am on my first smartphone and have only had it a year. I don’t use it for anything fancy so will keep it going until it breaks or becomes unusable.

[sugus]

For me, I've been buying unlocked Android cheap / mid-range phones for years (for about 30,000 / 40,000 yen), but would only last me 2-3 years before starting to have problems with the battery and the usual slowness. Not even doing a clean reset would make these phones much faster, and I tried a few brands, ASUS, Samsung, Sharp... Also the camera on these phones was pretty mediocre, too... and always frustrated considering I really love taking pictures. The lack of updates / support after 2 years also quite bothered me.

So last year, I decided to take the plunge and splurged on an iPhone 12 Pro Max (unlocked, paid outright). Yes, a lot of money I know but I do hope to keep this one for at least 5-6 years. Even the iPhone 6 still gets updates so I thought it would be good to try 'the other side' and couldn't be happier. The camera is fantastic and battery lasts for a very long time. Fingers crossed I won't have to replace my phone for a very long time.

[seb]

I myself am using my son's 6s+. My wife has a 6s. She is having issues as the 16GB barely hold the system OS now.

Eventually, we'll upgrade to our sons' XRs.

One son has an XR and the other a 12 and XR.

Fun calculator here that tells you how much your coffee habit is. I buy at Costco and make my own, so about 50yen a day.

https://bonefidewealth.com/buythedrip/

I am in a similar situation as you.

I aim for every 4 years, but I think my iPhone 7 is already 5 years old and going well. I had 4S for 4 years, then a 6 with 16GB for 2 years. But 5 years ago it was already too small to take even short videos with lowest quality setting... So I changed to 7 with 258GB that I use 25% of... At least I have no reason to change now.

My older son also has the best phone in the house.

And we also buy coffee beans from Costco. Sometimes we buy on Rakuten during super sales (easy way to get an extra ¥1000+ purchase) and when we started we bought at Kaldi, but it's the more expensive option.

PS: when I buy a new phone, I wonder what is cheaper between buying a 1 year old 2nd hand iPhone every 3 years, or a new one every 4 years.

[Bushiman]

Usually change phones when the old one is on its last legs, i.e. when the thing is infuriatingly slow to load apps, and the battery starts to have issues. This is normally around the 4~5yr mark...
When I do change phones, I've had great success from the Amazon "Used" section and Yahoo Auction... So far I've had two SIM-free Google Nexus 5 phones, one for ¥2man which did last 5yrs, then the second ¥1man... I only had to change that second one as yeah, the version of Android was too old for the apps I use... Upgraded to a barely used SIM-free Pixel 4a from Yahoo Auction for ¥3man and I plan on keeping this guy till he becomes obsolete...

[eyeswideshut]

I am on the AU upgrade program so I upgrade my iphone every 2 years at no penalty although the 13 seems to be slow out of the gate this year due to supply issues no doubt. Also I am lucky in that my company reimburses my phone expenses so I may as well get the latest and greatest even though my 11 still works perfectly fine. I know people complain about how expensive new smartphones are but honestly I think they are cheap given how much computing power and features they cram into them. I never cease to be amazed at how far the technology has come in such a short time.

[EmaxisSlim Cultist]

When it comes to value and functionality I would like to recommend both the：

Pixel 4a and Iphone SE2.

Great cameras, fast phones, Mobile suica and wallet.

Both are under 4 万。Projected lives of 3-5 years depending on use.