8 years later I'm still using my Galaxy A7 from 2017
It was a budget Samsung phone yet with OLED display, NFC and fingerprint scanner. Four years ago I flashed it to the LineageOS. Last update was released in 2024 for the version 18.1 which is based on Android 11.
To this day this phone works perfectly fine. I can browse web with Fennec, 4chan with chance. It's still got 6 hours of screen battery life. Despite being old budget phone on exynos overall experience is OK with some animations and startup times maybe slow but that's negligible. I beat Half-Life 2 on it.

I've got only one question: how didn't smartphone manufacturers go bankrupt already? Who buys new phones every year? Any flagship phone will serve you for years, how the hell they still manage to sell phones every year to stay afloat?

>>106135229 (OP)
millions of new customers are born every year

>>106135229 (OP)
I've been asking myself the same thing for years. Maybe consumerism is just that powerful and zoomers don't know any better since many of them only care about their phones rather than PCs or laptops, so every new phone lets them play Fortnite better.

About two decades ago when I was in high school (damn I'm old as fuck), my classmates (mostly the girls tbqh) would frequently change their phones. But back then the tech wasn't nearly as settled, you still had actual keyboards on phones and the smartphones were janky as fuck, so the upgrades made sense.

Also, what >>106135266 said. New kids, new phones. We're at the stage where you don't legally exist if you don't own at least one.

>>106135229 (OP)
>Who buys new phones every year?
kids probably
or maybe they keep pushing new ones every year to keep the manufacturing going to drive unit cost down

>>106135271
Actually nvm, it was only about 1.5 decades ago. Still old as fuck.

>>106135271
Not everyone upgrades at the same. Phones also comically get discounted hard once they go to the used market.
The 8/256 Poco X6 Pro I got for $240 can be snagged for $140 or lower. That's just one model from one brand.

It's wild that most hole in the wall shops here arr struggling with repairs. Most people just choose to buy instead of having their phone get fixed.

>>106135229 (OP)
>how didn't smartphone manufacturers go bankrupt already?
I wonder how many of them produce a lot of other stuff as well, maybe that helps keep them in business when the phone market is slow.

>>106135229 (OP)
former a5 2017 enjoyer here, had it for 5 years. i said many times it was one of my best purchases ever. one thing i wonder is why samsung doesn't put oled on its cheaper models anymore

At least smart watches are improving. You can buy a watch with oled that will run for a week and it doesn't even cost that much

>>106135373
>one thing i wonder is why samsung doesn't put oled on its cheaper models anymore
It doesn't? I thought every phone now comes with oled screen.

>>106135229 (OP)
I've been forced to get a new phone because they're shutting 3G down here and my carrier doesn't support my model for VoLTE even though the phone should support it according to the settings. It even uses LTE for internet but drops it when making calls.

>>106135301
Because getting your old phone fixed costs like at least half the price of a new one
quick example
https://old.reddit.com/r/MotoG/comments/14w7x0p/it_would_cost_as_much_to_fix_the_screen_as_i_owe/

Also last time i went to a shop for a screen protector for a brand new phone, had them apply it, they got glue in the charging port and the phone wouldn't turn on no matter what due to detecting liquid in the charging port

>>106135229 (OP)
don't update phone --> no security updates -> exploits --> money and identity and vacation photos stolen
just don't be poor bro

>>106135826
android phones have longer support nowadays even midrange ones

>>106135826
>muh vulnerabilities
This shithole wasn't updated in 13 years and was hacked only recently.

>>106135868
>muh vulnerabilities
get fucked then, don't cry when your home banking info and personal information gets stolen nigger

>>106135868
are you actually comparing simple website running on freebsd (which is quite secure) to a phone with billion services running in the background, listening on all ports

>>106135229 (OP)
I buy every 5-6 years a new iPhone. Runs smooth and fluid 'til the end. My old iPhone 12 (bought 2020, switched from a iPhone 6s 2015) still on 87% battery life.
Will switch to 16 Pro or 17 Pro this year.

Stay mad faggot.