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Other What is the longest you have kept an iPhone as your daily driver?

What is the longest you have kept (and used) an iPhone as your daily driver?

  • <6 months

    Votes: 3 0.6%

  • 6 months to a year

    Votes: 31 6.7%

  • 1-2 years

    Votes: 67 14.4%

  • 2-3 years

    Votes: 97 20.8%

  • 3-4 years

    Votes: 96 20.6%

  • 4+ years

    Votes: 172 36.9%
  • Total voters
    466
N

NewBench

Cancelled
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
620
696
A few threads/comments on here lately about longevity and keeping/getting rid of iPhones, especially with the 14 on the horizon.

Just curious to know, what is the longest you have kept (and used) a single iPhone for?

Not talking about a spare, or one you used for a while then kept in a drawer, but your actual daily driver. I'm talking about a single device, not simply using only iPhones for several generations. So if you went from a 7 to a X, only one model would count.

EDIT: Apologies for title gore...
 
Last edited:
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iPhone 6s+, late September 2015 to May 2019.

Updated to iOS 9.0.1 in early October, jailbroken mid-October. Remained jailbroken and on iOS 9.0.1 the entire time it was my primary iPhone. Upgraded to iOS 14, December 2020. Since then it's been upgraded to iOS 15.6.

So this iPhone only saw two iOS upgrades.
 
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My current phone is an iPhone 6 that I bought in April of 2018. So going on 4 years and 4 months.

Battery is thrashed, it has scuffs and dents all over it, a small crack on the top right corner of the screen, stuck on iOS 12 so tons of apps cannot be downloaded from the store, and the past year the performance has really taken a noticeable hit. Sometimes using the keyboard is enough to make it stutter and freeze.

Will be waiting until the iPhone 14 announcement (and hopeful price drops on iPhone 12) to upgrade.
 
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My first iPhone, the 4s: I got it January 2012 and didn't replace it until April 2016 with the original, 2016 SE. So I used the 4s for about 4 years and 3 months.

I used the 2016 SE until May 2020 when I got the 2020 SE. I used the 2016 SE for roughly 4 years and 1 month.

I'm still on the 2020 SE, 2+ years now.
 
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iPhone 6. December 2014–January 2018.

I didn't know how I was going to live without a headphone jack 😂
 
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My daily driver is an iPhone 6s, which is a hand-me-down from my wife when she got an iPhone 8. I've had the battery replaced twice, and max capacity is now 87%, so will likely need the battery replaced again this fall. Been looking at the 12 mini or 13 mini as a replacement, but they're not worth the price to me yet.
 
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iPhone X. Sep 2018 - Jun 2022. Replaced because the original battery was unhealthy, but physically it still looked pretty much new when retired.

Probably also the first "smartphone" that I've spent $0 in content for - and I've been there since the beginning (long before the iPhone). Also the literally my first phone of any kind (since 1999) that I've never gamed on, for reasons related to the previous. Screen on time per day has been at most 1/2 that of my previous smartphones which has probably contributed significantly to it's longevity.

Just worked it out and it looks like not only the longest I've had an iPhone - but the longest I've had *any* phone. Its followed by the Symbian based Nokia N95 and Nokia 7610 at 3-ish years each.
 
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My daily driver is an iPhone 12 Pro that I bought just over a year ago. Might consider upgrading if the iPHone 14 will come with an USB-C port.
 
NewBench said:
A few threads/comments on here lately about longevity and keeping/getting rid of iPhones, especially with the 14 on the horizon.

Just curious to know, what is the longest you have kept (and used) a single iPhone for?

Not talking about a spare, or one you used for a while then kept in a drawer, but your actual daily driver. I'm talking about a single device, not simply using only iPhones for several generations. So if you went from a 7 to a X, only one model would count.
Click to expand...
I kept my 3GS until the 5 came out, Which is three generations. The 5 served me well until die 1st gen SE was available. And that iPhone was my daily until last January, when I bought me a 13 mini. (I used a 7 for a short period, but because I didn‘t like it that much I went back to the SE. I think that doesn‘t count)
 
Nermal said:
iPhone 8 on launch day (some time in 2017, I believe), until the release of the SE 3 in ~April this year. So, around 4.5 years.

The SE doesn't seem to be any faster or 'better' than the 8 was...
Click to expand...

That has been my experience as well. The iPhone 7, 8, SE2 and SE3 all seem to perform about the same to me. Noticed a big difference between the 5 and 7, but after that I guess they all have been more powerful than I need.
 
2 years for the XS max. I skipped the 11 series phones and upgraded to the 12max then the 12 mini, then 13 mini. I'm keeping the mini for several years now. I just don't see how the 14 or 15 can even make me sell the 13 mini.
 
My first IPhone was the 6 plus. Upgraded every year with the Jump program until the XS Max then got the 12 Pro Max and now I’ve decided to skip the 14 Pro Max and get the 15 Pro Max with USB-C.

So, I went from every year to every 2-3 years.
 
NewBench said:
A few threads/comments on here lately about longevity and keeping/getting rid of iPhones, especially with the 14 on the horizon.

Just curious to know, what is the longest you have kept (and used) a single iPhone for?

Not talking about a spare, or one you used for a while then kept in a drawer, but your actual daily driver. I'm talking about a single device, not simply using only iPhones for several generations. So if you went from a 7 to a X, only one model would count.
Click to expand...
My metric used to be that the CPU had to have been 2x faster than current model. I owned 3GS —> 4S —> 5S —> 6S Plus —> 11 Pro Max. The 11 Pro Max is my current daily driver. It took them to the XS model to double the CPU speeds but I wasn’t fond of the design and wanted to wait till the 11 series. Glad I did. But nowadays the phones are so powerful and more than cover all bases for what I use it for, that I will upgrade only when I want to. Meaning some crazy new feature that isn’t software locked from older models that are capable of handling it (here’s looking at you ProRes video software gated from 12 Pros - silly Apple greed).
 
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Had an iPhone 7 before I switched to an 11, not sure how long in between.
 
2008 iPhone3G > 2013 iPhone5 > 2019 iPhoneXR… and on track for a 2025 iPhone17 (?). All on original batts (I’m a batt hobbyist).

So far, iPhone5 used longest (6.5yrs) as primary, and XR used heaviest (6-9hrs SOT/day) assuming double-duty as ‘home computer’ w/BT keyboard.
 
Longest I have was my trusty 5S bought at launch, not replaced until the 11 came out.
So 6 years.

5S was definitely showing its age by the end, but sterling service!
 
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