Would an iPhone (any model) last at least 10 years?

[SHirsch999]

I have a 7 yr old POS dumb flip phone that actually still works as well as it did when I first got it, except for a weaker battery. I keep it as a pre-paid emergency phone.

Again, a smartphone could easily last the 10 years, but it's usefulness due to technological leaps will likely make it, for all intents, non-functional.

So what you are saying here is that, in theory, if you do not update the apps or operating system, the phone may well be functional and useful? I'm not trying to challenge you here, I am really curious about the answer to this. It is something I have been wondering about.

 

[cyks]

So what you are saying here is that, in theory, if you do not update the apps or operating system, the phone may well be functional and useful? I'm not trying to challenge you here, I am really curious about the answer to this. It is something I have been wondering about.

Functional and useable are two completely different things.

It would have been somewhat difficult to find since they were on their way out, but you could have bought an analog cell phone 10 years ago. 5 years ago, the carriers turned off those towers. The phone itself may still be functional, but it would not be usable.

They're now talking about killing the Edge/ 2G networks in a few years. When they do that, the original iPhones will be dead... regardless of how good a condition they're in.

Add in that and, as I already mentioned, eventually certain websites may not load or function properly and that you can't update any apps, and the 10 year old smartphone may function, but wouldn't be usable.

 

[Tsuchiya]

Will it still technically work after 10 years? Sure.

As long as you keep it at a firmware which keeps things relatively stable (early iPhone adopters with the newest firmware updates will know what I mean here...), and replace the battery every few years I would say that it'll do you fine.

 

[kdarling]

Depends on when the 10 years started and which smartphone.

If now, it had better have LTE to still be able to use broadband data a decade from now when the major US carriers could be turning off EVDO and UMTS-3G.

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Also, you'd need to use the smartphone now and again, and keep it stored in a cool place. The data (which includes the OS these days) in the Flash memory might not last 10 years if the phone isn't waken up to refresh (copy) the data between blocks. Could be as low as five years.

If the the temperature it was stored at was fairly high, the data retention could even drop to just a few years... or less.

 

[b166er]

It's all about how hard the device was used. There is no reason an iPhone can not last 10 or more years if it is nurtured. The battery obviously will stop holding a charge after a while. I'd imagine most iPhones break from user error long before they get a chance to go the distance.


My Samsung dumb phone from 2003 still works great and I abused the hell out of it.

 

[Ivabign]

I think the 4/4S could last that long. The glass and metal has great longevity if you don't drop them. Did anyone ever have a Startac? Those were built to last. You could drop them numerous times with nary a whimper.