zlacker

>>alphab+(OP)
It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle for smartphones. So much of this product page is focused on new software functions that may have some vague relationship with the slightly upgraded hardware, but that could mostly be released to existing phones. Every new iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone basically claims the camera is marginally better and hey, look at these software features that have very little to do with the hardware and should not fundamentally be a reason to upgrade to this phone.

There is so much time, effort, and physical waste that is generated by slightly redesigning phones every year purely for the sake of making sales (as opposed to meaningful improvement upon the existing design or introduction of a new hardware feature). Think not only of people upgrading for the sake of it, but all of the cases, screen protectors, and other assorted accessories cast in plastic for previous models that are garbage now.

It would be nice if we could just space these things out to 5 years or so now, because that's probably how long it takes for anything to change enough to justify a new model.

>>kimber+T71
I think counterintuitively there's less waste this way.

With yearly, incremental releases, people will evaluate what's new from their phone and most people will update on their own cycle, probably every few or several years.

Meanwhile, with gaming console "generational" releases every few years, that is a strong incentive for everyone to upgrade.

If I have a 3 year old phone which I'm on the fence about updating, then I might pass on this year's model and go for next year's. But if there won't be another phone for 3 more years I guess I might as well get this one.

>>losved+sT1
A lot of people are on 2-year payment plans through their provider and just switch every time.

>>manice+OU1
Yes, but those plans cost extra compared to one that doesn't have this feature.

(And don't many plans come with some sort of discount, if you don't upgrade your phone?)

>>eru+7X1
Not in every country/region, unfortunately. In my case it's cheaper to upgrade my phone and sell my previous phone than get a BYOB device by a significant margin.

>>sudosy+w02
Yes. Though in terms of physical waste that the original commenter brought up, selling your old phone for someone else to use makes that upgrade a pretty good option.

We could look at the total amount of years any phone is used and abstract away from who uses it. Slightly stylised, if we have four people, Alice, Bob, Charles and Dave, and Alice gets a new phone every year, Bob buys Alice's old phone, Charles buys Bob's old phone, and Dave gets Charles' old phone, then everyone changes phones every year, but each phone is still used for a full four years.