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I trade them when the old one breaks.

Phones stopped having any meaningful reason to update since a decade.

My 2019 Xiaomi Note 8 Pro is still perfect and capable of answering posts on HN like this, going on YouTube or answering WhatsApp. Pics are also great and battery life is too.

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Yes, your personal experience is not the same for the average consumer class. Which is the majority of phones & cars are designed for and sold to.

It's actually the same of the average consumer class, people are updating phones less and less, as there's really little reasons to do so. New phones are marginally better, at best, but not in any meaningful way.

Another user posted in above

"As of 2023, the global average replacement cycle length for a smartphone is 3.6 years."

I'm not disagreing on a technical level. I agree. I use a pretty cheap ass phone myself that I bought off the rack.

I think it's clear though that phone makers and telecom companies are more than happy to sell people a new one every few years and intend to continue doing that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com