HOW LONG DO PHONES REALLY LAST?

This blog is an extension of "When should you actually upgrade?" As I said in that blog, the upgrade cycle is heavily dependent on how long a phone can actually and practically last. To put it forward plainly, Android phones last for 2-3 years whereas iPhones last for 4-5 years. The life of an Android phone varies greatly and is subjective to the price range, manufacturer and the support offered by them both in terms of hardware and software.

For the budget android phones (under 12000), last for 1-2 years. After that there are a lot of bugs, crashes, irresponsive functions, bloatware, unsolicited shutdowns and battery problems. It is very common and that is why budget phones keep coming out very frequently. These budget phones often do any get more than 1-2 OS updates because the device won't be able to handle any load after that. The hardware is just too inferior to dawn the new software features.

Mid-range android phones (20,000-35,0000), are a lot more balanced. They can easily last for 2 years and can even stretch for up to 3.5 years. They will become the preferable range of smartphones in the future as many manufacturers are promising extended software updates for up to 4 years. Their hardware is of superior quality. The build is a mixture of plastic, glass and metals.

For flagship phones (above 50,000), they last 3+ years easily for Samsung. Chinese smartphones do not have a robust software or after-sales support system in place and are often forgotten about as soon as the latest one is announced on stage. In all these cases, you will experience a slowdown in speed. The camera and application will lose their snappiness and new apps may not be the best optimized.

All these complications do not infest Apple. Since they control both the hardware and software, they can tailor the experience as they want. Apple wants to prevent people from leaving the walled garden and they do this by locking people into the ecosystem by preventing them from upgrading too often. This would mean that customers are more likely to utilize more of Apple's services. Yes, Apple slows down old iPhones with software updates but that is in your best interest to prevent shutdowns and high power usage and battery degradation. Because of Apple's supreme software support of 6 years, customers are incentivized to buy iPhones in the first place and hold on to them for a long time.

A lot of this also boils down to handling your phone. Dropping a phone once may not leave the screen shattered but you can be pretty sure that the jerk sent a shockwave through the components. Every little aspect - exposure to water, heat, direct sunlight and personal handling - has a direct effect on the life of your phone in the long term.

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