The average American now holds onto their smartphone for 29 months, according to a recent survey by Reviews.org, and that cycle is getting longer. The average was around 22 months in 2016.
While squeezing as much life out of your device as possible may save money in the short run, especially amid widespread fears about the strength of the consumer and job market, it might cost the economy in the long run, especially when device hoarding occurs at the level of corporations.
Research released by the Federal Reserve last month concludes that each additional year companies delay upgrading equipment results in a productivity decline of about one-third of a percent, with investment patterns accounting for approximately 55% of productivity gaps between advanced economies. The good news: businesses in the U.S. are generally quicker to reinvest in replacing aging equipment. The Federal Reserve report shows that if European productivity had matched U.S. investment patterns starting in 2000, the productivity gap between the U.S and European economic heavyweights would have been reduced by 29 percent for the U.K., 35 percent for France, and 101% for Germany.
Only 29 months?! That’s a bit wasteful unless it’s being handed down…
Yeah. I’ve used two phones over the last 11 years, no need to waste money on getting the newest one every couple of years.
There isn’t even any point upgrading every year or two. Phones used to get massive updates every year with better and better hardware. These days they just update the camera or maybe a bit bigger. But that’s it. There’s no massive updates. So why bother updating every year for a slightly better phone?
Iv used a grand total of 4 in the last 10. I upgraded and handed down my old phone once to my mother who had a 8 year old phone. Then again to my brother who had a 6 year old phone.
Then I broke mine once beyond repair…