Why do people buy the latest iPhone/Samsung when they own last year's model?

[driverdis]

I upgraded to the latest; Galaxy S9 from my Galaxy S7 as I got tired of all the delays and excuses for the Oreo release and all the bugs it had when it finally released. Oreo is the last update the S7 will get. The S9 launches with Oreo so I was guaranteed Oreo out of the box without any of the issues that plague phones updated to newer Android versions and to get 2 major updates there as long as the S9 does not go the route of the Note 7 (which got 0/2 of it's promised updates for obvious reasons)

 

[fenomeno0chris]

My thoughts are quit different. Im changing my phone every year, cause it doesn't matter effectively in costs.
Just think about it:
If I change my iPhone X to iPhone 11 I have to pay around 300-400€ extra. (sell X and buy 11)
If I had an older iPhone 7 (which actually is the predecessor) and than upgrade to iPhone 11 I have to pay around 600€-700€ more. (sell 7 and buy 11)

Since the upgrade costs are nearly the same, I surely prefer to have always the latest phone with included warranty.
And we all know, that someday you have to upgrade your phone if you want to or not (battery reduction, display errors, hardware problems etc.)

A lot of people out there don't want to calculate for a longer period of time.
Its obvious that a 300€ phone is more attractive than a 1000€ phone for the first glance. But if you sell your devices than its not a big difference at all.
I have a lot of experience at selling "cheap phones". There is literally no market at all for such phones. You will probably get nothing for your 300€ phone after one year usage. On the other hand, selling a flagship phone is super easy. You will get tons of mails with good prices for your 1000€ phone (700-650€). So your 1000€ phone costs the same as a cheap 300€ phone after one year!!!

 

[DinohScene]

A slight increase in computational power doesn't warrant a yearly change for me.
Not to mention that I don't feel like spending 300-400 quid every year for a stupid phone.

I'll get a new phone once me old one stops working.
Had me Galaxy S4 for 3.5-4 years orso before getting a Galaxy S7.
Before that, I had a SE Satio for atleast 4 years.

 

[AdamFX990]

Smartphones are Orwellian and stupid imo. Unless a smartphone is released running something BSD-based and open source, then I'm happy with an ol' fashioned number-pad phone. These hyper-powerful PC-replacement type phones are all huge unwieldy things that I don't want to be carrying around in my pocket.

 

[DinohScene]

Smartphones are Orwellian and stupid imo. Unless a smartphone is released running something BSD-based and open source, then I'm happy with an ol' fashioned number-pad phone. These hyper-powerful PC-replacement type phones are all huge unwieldy things that I don't want to be carrying around in my pocket.

I have to admit that I had the exact same thoughts as you.
Ever since I got the S4, I've realized how easy it is.

Lost in a city? no worries, google maps got you covered.
Got to reply to a quick e-mail? no worries various e-mail apps/internet browser can do it.
Important conversations, messages etc.
Hell, if you got kids and they made something precious or are playing in such a way you'd want to snap a picture, grab your phone.
Can instantaneously share it with the wife/friends as well.

As for open source, you can flash a custom ROM to a phone.
Camera quality might degrade and some features might not work but eh, the majority of the thing works.

I'm not trying to be a smartphone advocate or forcing you to get one but it is a hell of a lot better then having an old number-pad brick or flip-phone.
But yeh, I do agree on the phablets, way to fucking big.

 

[RattletraPM]

Because they're sheeps.
No point getting the latest model when the previous one is still being supported.

Yeah, and sometimes even unsupported phones are still completely fine. I myself have an S7 Edge with Lineage OS 14.1 (I'll upgrade to 15.1 when that's stable) and I don't see myself upgrading in a while. It's a perfectly usable phone even if it's two generations behind and the only reason I've installed LOS is for personal preferences, even with Bloatwiz it's still great.

I really see no point in upgrading every two years, let alone every year.

 

[pustal]

Smartphones are Orwellian and stupid imo. Unless a smartphone is released running something BSD-based and open source, then I'm happy with an ol' fashioned number-pad phone. These hyper-powerful PC-replacement type phones are all huge unwieldy things that I don't want to be carrying around in my pocket.

Android has a open-source base and you can flash an open source rom compiled by yourself if you like, they are called / are part of AOSP. You also had Firefox OS and have Ubuntu Touch, Tizen and other Linux-based OS's. The o only thing that you don't have, to the extent of my knowledge at least are open source drivers.

Also these are not replacements for PCs. Well they are PCs to some extent but they are not meant to replace laptops and desktops. They are still mainly a portable communication devices. Most applications developed are for communication. They can do other things that are handy, but it's the same way a Swiss army knife is not meant to replace a power tool and the same way people dontd carry around power tools in their pocket, you won't definitely see people carrying around desktops or server computers.

 

[iMythD]

For me it's the new features, I hate feeling like i'm missing out.

Baaaaaaaah

 

[AdamFX990]

I have to admit that I had the exact same thoughts as you.
Ever since I got the S4, I've realized how easy it is.

Lost in a city? no worries, google maps got you covered.
Got to reply to a quick e-mail? no worries various e-mail apps/internet browser can do it.
Important conversations, messages etc.
Hell, if you got kids and they made something precious or are playing in such a way you'd want to snap a picture, grab your phone.
Can instantaneously share it with the wife/friends as well.

As for open source, you can flash a custom ROM to a phone.
Camera quality might degrade and some features might not work but eh, the majority of the thing works.

I'm not trying to be a smartphone advocate or forcing you to get one but it is a hell of a lot better then having an old number-pad brick or flip-phone.
But yeh, I do agree on the phablets, way to fucking big.

I have an iPhone SE and barely use it. I leave it at home most days when I go to work. The only times I check it is when I'm going to pick my partner up from work to check she hasn't been delayed or anything, or for an alarm clock.

Android has a open-source base and you can flash an open source rom compiled by yourself if you like, they are called / are part of AOSP. You also had Firefox OS and have Ubuntu Touch, Tizen and other Linux-based OS's. The o only thing that you don't have, to the extent of my knowledge at least are open source drivers.

Also these are not replacements for PCs. Well they are PCs to some extent but they are not meant to replace laptops and desktops. They are still mainly a portable communication devices. Most applications developed are for communication. They can do other things that are handy, but it's the same way a Swiss army knife is not meant to replace a power tool and the same way people dontd carry around power tools in their pocket, you won't definitely see people carrying around desktops or server computers.

Ubuntu touch has been out of development for ages sadly. Android is controlled by google, which is what I meant when I described smartphones as being "Orwellian". The last thing I want is a OS written by a data giant. The main issue is that you can't flash them onto just any hardware, because all the hardware is proprietary.

 

[leon315]

nha that's nothing: i change my Mercedes Class S whenever a new model is out, at least i don't have to wash my car lul

 

[pustal]

Ubuntu touch has been out of development for ages sadly. Android is controlled by google, which is what I meant when I described smartphones as being "Orwellian". The last thing I want is a OS written by a data giant. The main issue is that you can't flash them onto just any hardware, because all the hardware is proprietary.

Ubuntu Touch is still mantained by the community - latest build "2018-06-08 16:47:36" (Greenwich time). ASOP is fully open source, anyone can inspect the code. And you can use it in any hardware, there is even releases for x86 and x86-64 that you can install in a traditional PC. The issue is, again with drivers. Phone manufacturers usually either keep them closed source or use parts with close source drivers, which requires you to get them from their OS builds to use in your own. But that's a "hardware issue" not OS.

 

[AdamFX990]

Ubuntu Touch is still mantained by the community - latest build "2018-06-08 16:47:36" (Greenwich time). ASOP is fully open source, anyone can inspect the code. And you can use it in any hardware, there is even releases for x86 and x86-64 that you can install in a traditional PC. The issue is, again with drivers. Phone manufacturers usually either keep them closed source or use parts with close source drivers, which requires you to get them from their OS builds to use in your own. But that's a "hardware issue" not OS.

I didn't know about the community-maintained builds. The listed devices on https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ seem to be limited to hardware that ships with a fairly vanilla version of android (if that's not too much of an oxymoron). I assume "any hardware" was an exaggeration or am I missing something?

 

[DinohScene]

I have an iPhone SE and barely use it. I leave it at home most days when I go to work. The only times I check it is when I'm going to pick my partner up from work to check she hasn't been delayed or anything, or for an alarm clock.

Sounds reasonable.
I think I can live without one but the bless of having such a thing makes it a difficult experiment to test.

 

[Gon Freecss]

Yeah, that's why I'm getting a manufacturer unlocked phone so that I can avoid a lot of the bloatware that carriers shove in their phones...

Did someone said AT&T?

 

[Pleng]

I upgraded to the latest; Galaxy S9 from my Galaxy S7 as I got tired of all the delays and excuses for the Oreo release and all the bugs it had when it finally released. Oreo is the last update the S7 will get. The S9 launches with Oreo so I was guaranteed Oreo

And what feature(s) of Oreo made this an issue?

 

[driverdis]

And what feature(s) of Oreo made this an issue?

Project Treble (phones that launch with Oreo are required to support it), and PiP mode on the YouTube app.

Another reason is to be on the latest OS, since it annoys me that even the iPhone SE can run the latest iOS but Android phones are constantly stuck on old versions of the OS.

 

[Jayro]

The battery usually starts crapping out after a year of use. It's just normal. And because they can usually save on the upgrade by trading in their old phone.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I upgraded to the latest; Galaxy S9 from my Galaxy S7 as I got tired of all the delays and excuses for the Oreo release and all the bugs it had when it finally released. Oreo is the last update the S7 will get. The S9 launches with Oreo so I was guaranteed Oreo out of the box without any of the issues that plague phones updated to newer Android versions and to get 2 major updates there as long as the S9 does not go the route of the Note 7 (which got 0/2 of it's promised updates for obvious reasons)

My Sprint S7 never got Oreo. Just security updates for Nougat. And not even 7.1, just 7.0... Pathetic. At least my S9+ Will get Peppermint when it drops in October. But usually not until a few months later, when they can "Samsung-ify" it with their vendor bloat.

 

[geodeath]

It depends how easily you can acquire them, how much you use them and how you see purchases as a whole. I change them every single year. The why, is not because i am a 'sheep' as somebody said (nice assumption by the way, are all Switch buyers sheep too?) but because personally i cannot stand a device that starts to slow down or that is slower than another. Generally, i am happy to pay for 'not waiting' for something to finish. Also, the battery life of phones now is usually starting to decline a year in, which makes it a great time for an upgrade. I also tend to get bored of them since it is one of these items i use all the time.

As for the how, consider how people buy phones and plans. Most people will get a plan with a free phone, then once the plan is over, usually 24 months or 18 months, they will simply 'stay' on the plan. What they might be unaware of is that the plan's price includes the phone's price in wholesale, so if you stay in a plan without actually talking them down if you are happy with the phone you still have after the period, you are simply paying more.

Which means, that every 2 years i get a top of the line phone (the best android there is or one of the top) for free, then as soon as it turns a year old, i take advantage of local offers or benefits at work or other schemes, sell the previous one which still holds great value (60-70% of the retail launch value) then only pay a very small amount of money for the new one, sometimes even nothing.

Example: I had the S8+ for a year taken with a contract. Now, a year later, preordering the P20 pro, gives you free Bose headphones worth £300. So selling last years phone + adding the value of the headphones (if you want them) or selling them low makes up for the new phone.

If you do not mind having an older phone and to change the battery, nothing wrong with that. I just found out it is easy for me to do and refreshing to have a new device every now and then.