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Other How often do you upgrade your iPhone?

Always upgraded every 2 years since having the 3GS until last year still have my 6S after deciding that the 8 wasn't worth the cost at the time (always buy outright never on contract)
 
We used to upgrade every three years, but the last two phones limped into the final six months and caused so much frustration that we decided to join the yearly upgrade program. I really hoped to get a X last year, but my 6+ bit the dust so I got an 8+. My husband held out for the X and isn't upgrading this year, but I am getting the XS. I can't see myself upgrading next year, but it's nice to have the option now.
 
I used to upgrade every 2 years, back when subsidies existed and carrier plans basically defaulted you to that time frame. My most recent phone was a 6s and I've kept that for 3 years. I could probably keep it for another year or two, but I want a bigger screen so I'm upgrading to an XS Max this year. I plan to keep the XS for 3-4 years minimum. Like others have said, the technology just isn't advancing in the giant leaps that it was a 5 or 6 years ago so it gets harder and harder for me to justify frequent upgrades.
 
I usually upgrade every year. But after my last upgrade from 7+, I was underwhelmed by the X, particularly for the smaller screen size and thus I will not be buying another iPhone at launch. I will be playing with it at the store and then determining if this is something worth upgrading. This year I will wait for the XR before deciding if XR or XsMax are worth upgrading from my X. At $750 I was not unduly concerned. But with the $1000+ price tag, I will need to see something worth the money.
 
iPhone 5s — November 23, 2013
iPhone 6 Plus — September 19, 2014
iPhone 6s — September 25, 2015
iPhone 7 Plus — January 16, 2017
iPhone XS — sometime between December 2018 and January 2019
 
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Every 2 years until now. With these new prices, lack of solid trade in deals, I’ll go the other way and use my current phone for as many years as I can. If I’m spending a grand I’m buying a laptop. Makes more sense to me now to buy a MacBook, Mackbook Air, or MBP, and just get a cellular connection for it, store it in the car, etc. At that point I could switch to a flip phone and not care. My life doesn’t revolve around a phone. I’m not on it hours a day (unless I’m on phone calls) nor addicted to it using it at the gym, while driving a car, during movies at the theater, like I see people doing. I see so many completely addicted to their phones.
 
I used to every two years in the beginning. Then started giving my used iPhones to family members and upgrading yearly. Now use IUP to upgrade yearly.
 
Every single year since the 3G.... And i still have all of them except for the 3G and the 5s that my ex girlfriend lost... No iphone 8 because i got the X! Like others said there’s really no need to upgrade every year, i played yesterday with my 6plus 6s plus and 7plus and they all work fine and they probably will for a couple more years im sure... Now im using the X and can’t wait to get the bigger screen i got used to in past from the Plus models... Apple always fine a way to make me upgrade every single year
 
I never had a need to upgrade every year.
My first was 3G in 2008, then 4S in 2011, 6S Plus in 2015 (that was too long, last year with 4S was a nightmare) and now XS in 2018. I want to upgrade every 2 years in the future.
 
I worked out yesterday that I got my first mobile phone in 2000 and my 6s is my sixth phone but on average for iPhones it’s been a couple of years: 3GS, 4S, 6, 6S.

I’ll probably get an XS but if I do I expect to keep it at least 2 years and probably 3 or 4.

My laptop is a 2012 11” MacBook Air and I know I’ll need to replace that sometime soon but it’s still doing pretty well (thanks to not being on a work network it’s coping better than my work 2015 13” MacBook Pro) so I reckon I can hold out a bit longer for that. I also have a 9.7” iPad Pro.

My phone is probably used more than all other iDevices put together so although the XS is expensive I think it’ll be worth it.
 
When I finally decided to give up Blackberry and get the 4S, I've upgraded every cycle. I can't imagine keeping an iPhone for more than a year.
 
I kept my 4S for three years because I wasn’t keen on the proportions of the 5/5S. The only time I’ve upgraded after a year was 6 to 6S and that was because my 6 was a bit bent and had been dropped so one corner of the screen didn’t sit quite right and because there was some improvement to the camera that I wanted (4K video, maybe). But the 6S is pretty damn perfect so I haven’t felt the need to upgrade until now (and even now I’m not fully decided yet).
 
I upgrade every two years and always opt for 24 month contracts to keep costs down. I couldn’t justify parting with anything from £700-800 in one hit for a phone even if it worked out slightly cheaper.
 
3G (in the year of 3GS) -> 4S @ 2 years
4S -> 6 @ 3 years
6 -> ? (nearly 4 years)

I didn't have money to spend on a new phone last year and I was interested to see where the X-era went, so I decided to wait until this year. Have been debating trying to hold on another year with my 6, and with iOS 12 that's a possibility, but the realisation that the camera is undeniably obsolete has me thinking about an 8, which would probably last me 3 years.

Edit: (2 days later) Finally plumped for a new X discounted vs RRP!
 
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Lebherz27 said:
Every single year since the beginning.

I had telephone numbers in the early years that had no phones attached to them just to get the upgrade.
Click to expand...
Ditto! In the time of 2-year contracts, it was one of the easiest ways to ensure I got to upgrade every year; I’ve had a new iPhone every generation since the 3GS, which was my first.
 
3GS - 4 years
5S - 3 1/2 years.
SE - about 14 months so far.

I buy my phones outright now and am really craving a larger screen.
Would love an Xs but can't justify spending so much money on a phone when the cash is better used elsewhere and my current one does everything I want it to do.

Maybe next year 😉
 
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Every year, but that may stop. This year and last year the only thing that enticed me to upgrade was screen size. Went from 7 to X to Xs Max. Unless the Max is too big and I want to go smaller next year, I have a feeling I’ll hang on to it, barring any out of the blue innovation.
 
I've been upgrading yearly since the Pocket PC days. When I got the first generation iPhone, I began buying every subsequent model on a yearly basis until the iPhone 5 when I switched from ATT to Sprint and went Android. A year later I went back to ATT and got the 5S, then every iPhone after that until the 6 at which point I only got the Plus models. I also haven't owned an iPhone 8 model since I opted for the X. I even bought an SE, though it was for my daughter.

There was a period of time where I was also buying various flavors of Android phones, and used them as my primary devices for a few months before I'd inevitably go back to using my iPhones.

Let's see if I can remember all the phones I've owned back to my first Windows Mobile device:

- HTC 8125
- Samsung BlackJack
- HTC 8925 (ATT Tilt) (Still have this one, actually, and it still works)
- iPhone
- iPhone 3G
- iPhone 3GS
- iPhone 4
- HTC Evo
- Nexus S
- Galaxy Nexus (for the one day I was with Verizon)
- iPhone 5S
- Samsung Galaxy S5
- Nexus 4
- Nexus 5
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone X
- iPhone XS Max (coming Friday)
 
I used to upgrade every 3 years but this is the first time I entered my 4th year but this year I am upgrading...
 
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