How often should you replace your smartphone?

On May 2014, I bought my first Iphone. It was an Iphone 5s, 16GB, Gold in color. I spent about RM2,500.00 it. I know that is a huge chunk of money, but it was worth it! Performance was amazing, camera was divine, and it is so small it fits in the palm of my hands just so perfectly.

I told myself, I am going to stick to this phone for a maximum of 5 years. Because I spent a freaking amount of RM2,500.00 on it!

The Iphone was amazing, I was loyal to it. Ever since I had that phone, no other phone sparks interest in me, because the Iphone 5s was just damn good.

Fast forward to January 2018. I noticed that I can’t see any more of the other emojis my friends are sending out to me. I am running out of storage area and the smooth performance before was starting to disappoint met.

The thought to hunt for another phone began to form in my mind, but I promised to myself that I would use this phone until May 2019! But looking at the performance of my Iphone 5s now, I don’t think I can last that long anymore. As much as I hate to admit this, but I need a new smartphone.

I was disappointed with myself. I thought I could have lasted longer! Then it got me thinking: how often should a person change their smartphone?

I began to do some research, and I saw this list of Iphones and their lifespan:

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone

My Iphone 5s is at its final stage of lifespan! It has been discontinued, but is still being “supported”, for now.

And looking at each iphone model’s lifespan, the longest years it had before it was discontinued, was the Iphone 5 (4 years, 11 months).

The Iphone 5s was release on September 2013, and I got it about 8 months later. My iphone will never make it to May 2019 with a tip top performance like it was before. So the average life span of an iphone before we start seeing dysfunctions in performance, regardless with all of the fancy shmancy IOS updates, it is looking around at most of 3 years since the release date of the iphone.

Meaning, if you were to buy an iphone 5s now, regardless of it being new or you bought it at secondhand, it is not going to last you at most of 3 years. However, if you had bought it at 2013, then yes, it will last you till 2016.

So back to my question again, how often should you change your smartphone?

I was checking out the device plans that other telecommunications out there had to offer, and I noticed that the period of the device plan was 24 months. ALL of theme were 24 months.

So, this made me realize: hmmm… that makes sense. A smartphone maximum’s life span is at 4 years. The first 2 years of its life is the most ideal. Anytime after that, that is where you’ll start to see and feel the problem.

Ideally, you should replace your smartphone every 2-3 years. So, be wise when you are spending for a new phone.

Like the Iphone X, is RM6,000.00 worth it for 2-3 years?

With much love,
@georginni

disclaimer: these information are just from my own personal experience, opinions, and research.