Whenever it stops working.

When it breaks + the replacement cost as much as the phone costs (I generally buy secondhand)

I have a 5 year old Xiaomi 9, the only issue is that the battery doesn’t hold power anymore. Need roughly 4 charges/day and I believe it’s bloated because when I leave it to charge for too long the screen would bump up a bit.

Only changed it late last year when company handed me a xiaomi 13.

When the phone doesn’t serve it’s purpose anymore, and/or is ungodly laggy. That can be anywhere between 3 months to 5 years.

Usually around 2-3 years. That’s usually around when my current phone stops receiving software updates and by then I can find a good deal on an outgoing model.

For instance I upgraded to a Pixel 7 Pro when the 8 came out. I sold my 6 Pro for a decent amount and my total cost of upgrading was something like 300 bucks which was worth it to me to not have to worry about it for another few years.

3-5 years

I replaced my last phone after a year because my sister’s phone broke. I gave her my s20 and bought a Pixel 7 because I wanted root

Whenever the one I have stops working. The last few have kept going for 2-3 years until they wouldn’t charge. This time I have a case that covers the charge port from dust, I expect to keep it going 3-4 years.

I got my current phone in 2020 and I’m thinking of replacing one of the parts soon (it’s a Fairphone). The one before I got in 2015 and was a cheap and cheerful Huawei smartphone that got sadder over time. The one before that someone had given me in 2006 or something because he was getting a new phone; that was similar to this one on the right: link. Before that was some sliding phone. Before that I had a Nokia Ngage, and that was when I decided I didn’t need all the bells and whistles.

So to calculate the average: (4+5+9+2+2)/5=4 years, 5 months ish.

I’m the kind of nerd who tracks this kind of thing, so here is a list of the number of months between purchasing each phone I’ve owned, from newest to oldest:

5, 44, 47, 28, 23, 18, 46, 40

The first number is 5 months from my latest phone purchase to the present day. I’m not looking to replace this device any time soon. The previous two phones I owned lasted a decent amount of time, nearly 4 years each. Before that I was buying cheaper second hand phones that didn’t last as long. And if you go way back, the final two devices are pre-smartphone era where phones were simpler with less to go wrong and less need to upgrade.

when I accidentally drop it and it somehow lands screen-first on the most pointy screen-protector-piercing object in a 300km radius

screen replacements either cost like more than half the price of the phone or I have to import the replacement from China

rather just upgrade

When I’m forced to. My most recent phone was free because carries were upgrading to 5g and I was still rocking 3g. Same story with the phone before that but it was some other network thing I can’t remember. I haven’t paid for a phone in almost 10 years.

Only when forced to by the phone breaking, switching providers, or, as in the case of my last phone, when they shut down a network (2G).

Only when it breaks. My last phone I had from 2016-2022, the one before that from 2011-2016.

Generally about every 4 years - I feel like it’s the sweetspot between longevity and keeping up with the technology, plus that’s usually around when updates stop and physical issues start

Since I switched from iPhone to Android I’ve been getting a new phone every year. Even tried a Flip. You can sometimes get good deals as a Google Fi customer.

TL;DR: I’ve got a pile of not-that-old phones I should probably donate.