How often do you upgrade your phone?

[Rolando]

How often?

I just got a 15 Pro, traded in my 11 I bought new, so 4 years on that one.
That 11 replaced my 6s, which I bought when the 7 & X came out in 2016, so 3 years on that one.
The 6s replaced an iPhone 5, which I bough in 2012, so 3 years on that one.
The 5 replace an O.G. iPhone, that I bought used. I think I kept using that one for about 3 years.

[gadje]

I do not like the idea of getting a locked phone and not being able ot use other SIMs when I travel or when I want to switch provides. I also do not like long term contracts.

I used Xfinity before, now the parents are on Visible and the kids are on Mint.

We upgrade our phones every ~4 years and pass the old phones to the kids.

I went from a SE 1st gen, 2016 to an iPhone 12 Pro, jan 2021 so I guess I had the SE for over 4 years, and with new batter ($29 at that time), it was good enough to pass to the younger kid who still uses it.

[modelamac]

Rolando,

I think you need another option: "whenever I need to".

My first phone was a 3, and I moved to a 4 when 3 died.

4 died and was replaced by a 7.

7 sold to friends when 8 came out with a highly desired feature.

8 replaced by 13 when 8 died.

Note that both wife's phone and mine were replaced in every instance. I prefer not to maintain 2 operating systems.

[rz]

First “new” iPhone was a 4s, which replaced a used original one. Next was 6s. And now a 13 Pro Max. I figure it’ll be another 3 or 4 years before I upgrade.

[Zoidberg]

X Other - when my iPhone stops working like it should.

[davemchine]

I just upgraded from 11 pro to 15 pro. Before that it was the 8. So apparently every 4 years. I don’t remember before that.

[d4]

4s > 7 Plus > 13 ProMax

Upgraded from 4s due to battery life and I wanted a better camera
Upgraded from 7 Plus due to an unfortunate incident in a swimming pool

[ka jowct]

I got my 64GB iPhone 6 in March 2015. I replaced it with a refurb 128GB iPhone 7 in March 2018. I took advantage of Apple's $30 battery replacement program for the 6 and they discovered that the Speck candyshell case was the only thing holding the phone flat: the battery was bulging. So they gave me a new 6. I keep it around as a backup.

I had the 7's battery replaced recently enough that I don't feel the need to replace the phone yet. Plus I kinda like having Touch ID and the Home button.

[Ombligo]

Original - 3GS - 4 - SE - SE2 (current)
None were bought new. Recently replaced the SE2 battery, so I'm good for a few years. I expect my next will be a 14 mini as I like the smaller size

[SDGuy]

modelamac wrote:
Rolando,
I think you need another option: "whenever I need to"....

:agree:

Other than purposely upgrading from a Palm Treo a very long time ago, all other phone upgrades since have been done when the then-current phone has some sort of hardware failure (going from memory: microUSB port becoming worn out & unreliable, dead motherboard of some sort (two different phones), and a battery going bad (expanded enough to partially lift up the display from the casing)). If I were to put a timeline on it, though, it would be about every four years - but not by my choice.