I finally upgraded my phone after 7 years. I had trouble picking out a phone that didn’t remove everything… no headphone jack, no sd card slot and we’re supposed to call that an upgrade? (What I got still has those thankfully)
I went from an OPPO find 5, to oneplus 1, then OnePlus 5, and now pixel7a. The OnePlus 1 was probably the only one I was impressed by and the others were just replacements. I don’t plan on changing until Linux phones are less of a pain in the anoos or if the 7a gets totalled. I’m the family tech guy for a lot of people that always upgrade to the latest phone and nothing worthwhile ever happens in a decade of phones any more. If anything they get worse with more planned obsolescence and proprietary bullshit.
I upgrade less than I used to, and I only do mid-range devices now, like the Pixel A series or Motorola G series. That kind of bracket. I’m just going to install Lineage OS on it anyway and it works fine so why pay more when I don’t need that.
Last couple upgrades was iPhone 7 -> 11 Pro -> 15 Pro. Each brought me something significant (FaceID, 120hz screen, magsafe, wireless charging, etc) along with a nice speed boost. I feel like the sweet spot for upgrading is 3-4 generations.
The smartphone market has matured, so there is less of a difference between each generation. Earlier on there was a massive difference in performance:
The OG Galaxy S had 512MB of RAM, 8GB storage, and a single Arm A8 core at 1GHz, and the SII had 1GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB storage, and a dual core A9 at 1.2GHz. This is a single generation with double the RAM and more than double CPU power, and nearly 6x the GPU power (theoretically), and 2-4 times the storage.
Then the SIII came out with a quad core SoC 1.4GHz, a much larger screen with higher resolution (jumping from 480p to 720p), significantly bigger battery, and up to 64GB of storage.
The S4 doubled the RAM to 2GB, faster storage, significantly faster and more efficient SoC, a larger, 1080p display paired with a much more powerful GPU, and a significantly larger battery as well.
Back then, if you had the money, there was a considerable difference between each generation and there was a reason to upgrade, many not every year, but if you could afford it, upgrading every other year made sense.
After that, changes were much more calm. Sure, some phone makers made exciting and innovative stuff, but the hardware didn’t have a massive difference from one generation to another, and also prices were rising.
Nowadays, phones are far less exciting, but flagship phones are ludicrously expensive, and yet they sell incredibly well. While phones are being improved from one generation to the next, they feel like small steps rather than a giant leap. Our demand for power hasn’t gone up quite as fast as our phones themselves. People will keep buying phones less frequently, just like we do for laptops.
@Blaze I kept my last phone for about 5 years, and it was still quite usable when I left it. But I just lacked space, and I had to be picky even about the apps I needed. Now I plan on keeping the one I have until I no longer receive updates.
I told myself that my Pixel 8 pro will be enough for a bunch of years. That is, until I went on a trip with it. Now I feel like my Pixel 7 was better than the P8P is, with just as good of a camera with better battery life.
I’m glad I kept the p7 as a burner, because I may just make it my prime phone. I only upgraded on the prospect of a long lasting phone and received the p7 for free…
I only upgraded for the nicer camera. I have so many pictures that are blurry that I think springing for a little nicer camera is worth it. But yeah, the tech is pretty stagnant.
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