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Other Why Aren't we Keeping our iPhones for Years?

Juicy Box said:
I usually keep my iPhones for a long time, with a few exceptions:

Original, 2007 to 2011, 4 years (the touch response broke on the display)

4s, 2011 to 2013. 2 years (I loved this design, always my favorite, but I gave my daughter my 4s as a her first phone)

5s, 2013 to 2015, 2 years (I gave the 5s to my wife after she broke her iPhone)

6s Plus, 2015 to 2017. 1.5 years ( I hated the large size and rounded edges of the phone, I replaced it as soon as the 128GB SE1 launched in March of 2017, the 6s plus was only iPhone I owned that I hated, also the only one that I sold)

SE1, 2017 to 2022, 5 years (still use it sometimes. I love the size and weight of it)

13 Mini, 2022 to ?, 4 years (I will probably use it until I break it or something stops working on it that I need)
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iPhone 5s: almost 3 years from 2013 to 2016 due to small battery and storage; replaced by SE (1st Gen) until 2018 followed by iPhone X.

iPhone X was used between 2018 and 2022 almost four years, and I returned to iPhone 13 mini till now with only battery replaced.

My current small phone is more than 4 years and I have no plans to change.
 
This may have already been posted but it appears that many of people who haven't upgraded recently are using smaller phones (I included).
 
IMG_3466.jpeg


Argh, it’s such a waste, but I don’t think I’ll be using my immaculate OGSE with a 95% BH OEM battery going forward, so it’ll be going back into its box in a week or so.

I went for an Apple battery service with my 8 back in July 2024 and ended up using it as my dedicated secondary for exactly two years with the intention of replacing it with my 13, which has also received an Apple battery service and is sitting with 100% BH.

It transpired that the 13 was too heavy to use in bed, and even with a pop socket, it didn’t help because it was too uncomfortable.

I went back to the OGSE; however, the screen, even when it’s at the lowest brightness, is still considerably brighter than the 8’s, which isn’t good when you’re trying to fall asleep.

Looks like I’ll be going back to my trusty 8 again.
 
Alpha Centauri said:
Great to hear that's still the case as we've had quite a few conversations about this.

It's interesting that quite a few folk in other forums seem to have had a reprieve after finally updating to iOS 26.6 but for me personally this hasn't had much of a difference.

I never really felt with iOS 26 that booting or App opening times were that awful. It was always the overheating when charging and battery "counting down", often 2% at the time when any video was involved, especially when outside of WiFi, overheating also at that time vs the same use case in iOS 18.

Ive kind off put all eggs in the one basket moving to iOS 26 and have so much hope with iOS 27 as surely, it can all only get better. Feature wise I do like this latest OS functionality better that all previous versions, obviously without all the negative side effects.
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When you upgrade your 13 mini to iOS 27, you will notice the change for the better. 👍🏽
 
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ElPaso said:
I'm preaching to myself I guess, but with the high quality of iPhones both in physical build and OS, I'm curious why we move on to a new iPhone after only a year or two of use? With a couple of my old devices, I replaced them after only a year or so of use - the iPhone SE (1st gen) and the 13. But on the other hand, I kept my iPhone 8 Plus for four years, and I was extremely happy with it from day one all the way to the end of its 48 month tenure. I figure I could have squeezed another couple of years out of it, but the thought of a shiny new device (the 13) was too much to take lol. At the end of the 8 Plus' time with me, it seemed just as capable and fast as when I first got it.

With my iPhone 8 Plus experience under my belt, I've decided to keep my 16e, which I've had for only 3-1/2 months, for 5 years. Or at least try for 5 years. Since I'm retired and have limited income, it seems the smart thing to do - especially with the high quality of iDevices I've experienced, and specifically my experience with the 8 Plus.

Who else wants to keep their iPhones for a looooooong time?
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No idea who is “we”, but I tend to keep my devices as long as they serve my needs.
 
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I have the mindset to keep anyone long term. However, I’m international and provider plans may be different than in America.

I buy my phones in the spring or summer when the monthly payment is cheap. There’s an end of term buyout. After paying that, it would take years to break even. Then I’ll need a new battery. I figured my break even point is 5.5 years. Then I need to keep the phone longer to get ahead.

I could keep a phone for 7 years and save a small amount of money. Or I can get a new one every 2 years.
 
they update the software, so your device is "obsolete" which I think is ridiculous;

new iPhones would always come out in September, which is my birthday, so my mom would buy me the latest as my birthday present, so it would be rude of me to complain, right? haha
 
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valinda said:
I can’t keep mine for years. I’m going to try with my 17 pro max. My co-worker keeps hers for a long time. She’s still on a 12 pro max. She just raises her eyebrows when she sees me with a new iPhone.
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well, she is just jealous of you, of course. Shame on her. Shame. ...shame...
 
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33355 said:
This is promising. Should I upgrade my 13 mini to beta 27 already or no?
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As awful as iOS 26 is on my 13 Mini, it's my primary and (almost) only phone. I personally couldn't rely on the OG SE if the beta bricks it. I mean chances are very low but I'm way too chicken and iOS 27 release is already so close.
 
33355 said:
This is promising. Should I upgrade my 13 mini to beta 27 already or no?
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I have my "in use" 13 mini, a Green 256GB, updated to iOS 27 Developer Beta 6 (24A5418b) and have not had any issue using this device. I use my 13 mini as a backup iPhone, not primary iPhone, so my use case is different. Even for primary use I would use my 13 mini based on my experience using the new iOS since WWDC when I installed the first iOS 27.

Compared to iOS 26, my 13 mini became so much more responsive and bringing up apps seemed to be much faster from an operator's experience. I am impressed by the support this small device still gets and can say compared to iOS 26 it is a big improvement but that is my opinion.
 
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Andeddu said:
View attachment 2653279

Argh, it’s such a waste, but I don’t think I’ll be using my immaculate OGSE with a 95% BH OEM battery going forward, so it’ll be going back into its box in a week or so.

I went for an Apple battery service with my 8 back in July 2024 and ended up using it as my dedicated secondary for exactly two years with the intention of replacing it with my 13, which has also received an Apple battery service and is sitting with 100% BH.

It transpired that the 13 was too heavy to use in bed, and even with a pop socket, it didn’t help because it was too uncomfortable.

I went back to the OGSE; however, the screen, even when it’s at the lowest brightness, is still considerably brighter than the 8’s, which isn’t good when you’re trying to fall asleep.

Looks like I’ll be going back to my trusty 8 again.
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I have an OG SE and I love it but it only lasts about 10 minutes off the charger now.
 
I am going to try REAL hard to keep my 17PM for several years. I always get taken in by the "shiny shiny" and I would really like to not, this time 😂
Maybe there should be a support thread on here for poor fools struggling to resist temptation!
 
Alpha Centauri said:
As awful as iOS 26 is on my 13 Mini, it's my primary and (almost) only phone. I personally couldn't rely on the OG SE if the beta bricks it. I mean chances are very low but I'm way too chicken and iOS 27 release is already so close.
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My 13 mini is also my main and only phone. However, I took the risk and went ahead with public beta 27. And so far I recommend it immensely! I haven't used it long enough yet to judge battery life, but it's much faster! Open and close apps feels like it's brand new.
 
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33355 said:
My 13 mini is also my main and only phone. However, I took the risk and went ahead with public beta 27. And so far I recommend it immensely! I haven't used it long enough yet to judge battery life, but it's much faster! Open and close apps feels like it's brand new.
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How does iOS 27 beta compare to iOS 18? I'm wondering if it will be worth upgrading on iPhone 12 soon.

I didn't update to iOS 26 because there were a lot of reviews saying that performance was much worse.

Everyone is comparing 27 and 26, but no one is saying how it compares to 18.
 
WalsallSaddler said:
How does iOS 27 beta compare to iOS 18? I'm wondering if it will be worth upgrading on iPhone 12 soon.

I didn't update to iOS 26 because there were a lot of reviews saying that performance was much worse.

Everyone is comparing 27 and 26, but no one is saying how it compares to 18.
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It's my first day using it so take it with a grain of salt. But so far it's been faster and more responsive than any other iOS update since 2024.

I dont remember 18 being so bad, because 26 was really the lowest of the lows (slow and overheating like crazy), but 27 easily seems like an upgrade over both and the best update in 2 years.
 
33355 said:
My 13 mini is also my main and only phone. However, I took the risk and went ahead with public beta 27. And so far I recommend it immensely! I haven't used it long enough yet to judge battery life, but it's much faster! Open and close apps feels like it's brand new.
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Thanks for the feedback. My main issues are heat.

Always hot when charging, warm-hot when streaming, especially on 5G. I understand that's taxing things a bit but heat was never an issue on iOS 18 for me. So with all this heat my battery life has greatly suffered.

How's yours with heat on the beta?
 
Alpha Centauri said:
Thanks for the feedback. My main issues are heat.

Always hot when charging, warm-hot when streaming, especially on 5G. I understand that's taxing things a bit but heat was never an issue on iOS 18 for me. So with all this heat my battery life has greatly suffered.

How's yours with heat on the beta?
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So far no major issues with heat. Fast charged from 50 to 100% and didnt get hot. It's been my primary issue as well, especially in the summer heat, the charging kept stopping at 80% because the phone was burning.
 
The people that upgrade iPhones yearly are in a small minority these days. The iPhone hype isn't what it was during the prime iPhone 3G-7 days when large amounts of people did upgrade yearly. Plus now in 2026 the economy isn't that great so I am sure there will be people holding on to their phones for a few more years.

I typically upgrade every two years (there have been exceptions). But I find that to be a good balance if you use your phone as a tool for creative things like photos and video content. I plan to keep my 17 pro max until next year with the 20th anniversary phone.
 
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