Vodafone Finds Brits Keep Mobile Phones for 4 Years Instead of 2
A new survey from mobile operator Vodafone UK has claimed that people are now keeping their mobile devices for longer, with the majority upgrading every 4 years, compared to every 2 years some five years ago. The cost-of-living crisis and rapidly rising prices of high-end Smartphones is no doubt playing a big role here.
The survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was carried out by OnePoll in July 2023, found that 45% of respondents wished their device lasted longer, with 16% saying they don’t feel ready to say goodbye when their device finally gives up the ghost. Wanting to save money (69%), environmental impact (46%) and sentimental content saved on the device (40%) are the main reasons people want their phones to last longer.
Overall, 48% of mobile phone owners feel that their device deserves a little more love to keep going. Battery issues (33%) tops the poll of the most common device problems the nation would like solved, closely followed by slow running (28%) and microphone, speaker and camera issues (21%). This helps to explain why the operator recently launched a new Lifetime Warranty and Battery Refresh (here).
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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At almost 5 years old mine was killed off by a faulty microphone. Maybe it could have been fixed but it makes more sense to buy a new one. It did everything I need. Now I’ve replaced a black slab of glass with a new black slab of glass. Transfering files and settings to the new one was amazing though that assumes that the old one is available and working. I’m amazed people still aren’t backing up photos and such when it’s so easy.
Yes now we do due to the cost of new phones and costs of everything else it becomes a struggle to afford all these “luxury” items every year or 2.
I can afford to buy a new phone every couple of years, I just don’t want to.
But yes I agree with what you are saying and sadly some people are paying a lot per month just to get the latest phone.
I’d say it’s more to do with it being far less compelling to upgrade these days rather directly to do with cost of living.
It’s absolutely this. Tech has slowed down, in a way.
Doing an upgrade every handful of years is a bigger leap now. Before it was every couple of years you’d be seeing that leap in tech.
It’s only recent I went from iPhone 8 to 14 Pro. Purely so that I could still get the latest updates.
Seconded. I “upgraded” from a 3-4 year old Xiaomi Mi9T to a Samsung S22 last year, and the improvement was underwhelming (and an unimprovement in battery life). Although technology is improving, makers are trying to stretch those improvements too much over the full price range, and the capabilities in the mid-range are already so impressive that there’s not an especially strong case for splashing serious loot on a high end phone. As the house “phone master”, I’ve got several devices coming to end of contract (might go SIM only, new contract, or Sim only + outright purchase). Whilst there’s some devices look nice options, they’re almost all compromised in one notable way or another – variously poor battery life, mostly excessively big, some excessively small, or clunked by something nasty like a really thick rear camera blister. or just too expensive for what they offer. CoL crisis or not, the money’s ready and waiting in this household, the phone makers just aren’t offering any compelling products.
Exactly this. The progression every 18 months, back when phone contracts were 18 months long, was quite significant. Your new phone would be a huge improvement over the old one.
Now? My S21 Ultra will last me ages, as the upgrade is minimal.
I go sim only and buy my phone outright. Now on Xiaomi Poco 4X Pro after a nasty 2 week experience with a Samsung A33, Thankfully got refunded by Amazon. I just keep mine until the it grinds to a holt or the battery dies. Have to say the Xiaomi has a better battery life than any Samsung I’ve ever owned (usually 3 days). Other advantage is of course is you can choose whatever handset you want and not limited to the wim of the network.
Plus phones are so expensive now compared to before. I remember before I’d want to upgrade every year and iPhones were at 300ish, but now for the top models across all sorts of brands you can be paying well over 1000. It’s an incredible amount of money.
I never smart phone! Ruining people’s live everydays using phone!
Should be never like
I beg to disagree. Luddites will always decry technology. They most likely have since the first stone tool was invented.
The modern smartphone is my timepiece, my candle in the night; it’s my bank, building society, or my pension provider on tap; it’s my wallet; it’s my music centre; it’s my news service; it’s my map in strange places; it’s my video call lifeline to far-flung family (and committee meetings); it’s my go-to camera; it’s my photo memories. It will be my digital car key. Oh, and yes, I almost forgot, among other things, it’s also my go-to device for making voice calls too. All in one neat package.
It’s a tool, the Swiss-army knife of modern living. It saves me oodles of time and car miles just from a banking aspect alone.
Does it, the modern smartphone, have its dangers? Yes, of course. If one lets the social media aspect intrude too much, then it is the user that has become the tool rather than the device being the tool. The remedy is simple: don’t be the tool. And I would use it sparingly, if at all, in a war zone.
Other than that… Roll on the day it can 3D print my food, too, rather than ordering the groceries delivery van.
People annoy me when they have their head in their smartphones while walking and some idiots even on a bicycle and driving, The same as in a pub, where people are on their phones instead of chatting.
They are useful, I use my phone for emails, a bit of browsing, take some photos now and again and also control my smart devices, like my coffee machine before I leave work 🙂 But I would not pay a fortune for one, the most I would go to is £200, the Oppo phone I have now, was £129 and it is a good phone. It was two years old in March, I thought I have had it longer, but found the order on Amazon. I want to keep it for at least another 3-4 years if I can.
I upgrade every 24 months just cause it usually works out cheaper having a contract with ee than buying the phone outright then having a sim only plan with them. This year going to buy the next iPhone out right and get a cheap sim only plan with 02 or Virgin can get 30gb for £7 a month no brainer
Just what I did. I got mine direct from Apple and took out a 24 month plan with Barclays Partner Finance – they allow you to over pay, so you can pay £15/£20 month off extra if you want
My husband also took out his iPhone14 plus this way and he’s got a Lyca Mobile SIM in – £3.80/month …. peanuts. We’re both retired so only need low data allowances of 3GB or 5GB
I only ditched my old phone as it was out of software support (Samsung M51) and I do banking. Made sure to get a samsung a series (a53) this time to get longer support as there was zero other reason to upgrade. Crazy cheap phone though – Cost about £190 on top of the monthly contract I was already paying and does way more than I need. The case for regular upgrades is no longer there unless you need to show off or have very specific use cases (would I notice an upgrade on the 48mp camera my old phone had taking holiday snaps going forward – probably not!)
Bring back the user-replaceable battery and I’d likely keep my phone nearer 8 years than the almost 5 years I had my LG G6 for.
This is the only reason I replaced my last phone. Battery life was terrible, and getting a shop to install a new battery was not worth it for the price.
That is why I had to get rid of my old Huawei, shame really as it was a good phone, fast and small.
I have got the iPhone 11 I bought it in 2019 4 years ago and get the replaced in the near future because the battery is 89% Health. I also plan to another 2 years because apple supports their device for around 6 years. Because it’s a waste of money upgrading the iPhone willy-nilly
My iPhone 11 I got in 2020 and it’s on 76% SoH. Your is so high.
I have got the iPhone 11 I bought it in 2019 4 years ago and I also plan get a replacement battery in the near future because the battery is 89% Health. I also plan to keep it another 2 years because apple supports their device for around 6 years. Because it’s a waste of money upgrading the iPhone willy-nilly
Sorry the spelling I am a bus
Agree with what’s been said. Up until a few years ago the technological advancements made upgrading something that brought massive benefits. Nowadays the new phones are so incrementally better that it takes years longer before there’s a benefit and mostly we’re only forced to upgrade when our battery degrades or the operating system can’t cope with newer apps. This doesn’t just apply to phones, I have a tablet that is about 8 years old and is perfectly functional but almost nothing will run on it anymore.
I think keeping a phone for 4 years makes sense. My employer reimburses me for my phone expenses including monthly handset charge. In the past I just hand on my old phone to wife or son so environmentally friendly enough. Not convinced that I am going to survive the next redundancy round so reluctant to take out a new contract on an expensive phone!
All my phones have lasted a good 4 years before the battery has died, I still have a Pixel 2XL that has a servicable battery – use it as a reasonable, waterproof low light camera for caving (carried in a Peli case).
I think for most users I can’t see that the latest phones really offer much in terms of new must have features.
My main bugbear with Android phones is the inconsistent WIFI calling support, especially with Pixels. However, this plagues new handsets as much as old handselts.
The other relatively recent feature I find useful is eSIM – its useful when travelling to be able to buy an data eSIM for a specific country (and use WhatsApp for calling). Of course you can buy a physical local SIM card but this is time and hastle. I would not buy a new phone just for eSIM though…especially as my current handset has it.
Finally, I think operators have maybe shot themselves in the foot with the mid-term price hikes this year. Many people are going to think twice before buying a handset / calling plan package that may go up 17%.
I thought “WIFI calling support” was down to if the carrier?
I upgraded to an iPhone 13 in November 2021 and bought it direct from Apple over 24 months. I overpaid £15 or £20 a month and it was paid off after 16 months and have Giffgaff SIM in for £6/month
My previous phone was an iPhone 7 which I got off EE over 2 years. I would never ever go back to a contract, they’re a mugs game and the networks encourage you to keep changing it. I hope my 13 lasts as long as my 7 did
Even though iPhones are expensive you’re cheap paying for the phone up front. Because the contract can be more than the phone itself. That’s you budget if you save up for 3 and 5 years you get a pretty decent phone I wouldn’t go back to android because with android phones your get Operating System security update.
Even though iPhones are expensive you’re much cheaper paying for the phone up front. Because the contract can be more than the phone itself. That’s why you budget if you save up for 3 and 5 years you can get a pretty decent phone I wouldn’t go back to android because with android phones your lucky to get Operating System security update.
I havent upgraded since SAMSUNG stopped microSD in flagship phones.
Bet you still have black and white telly!!
@ Random Precision
The problem is upgrading phone storage can be expensive compared to a micro sd card.
On Samsung’s website going from 256GB to 512GB with the S23 Ultra costs £150, where as on my Note 20 Ultra it only cost me £50 to add a 512GB mSD, which also gives me more overall storage (256GB + 512GB).
The cost of extra storage is one reason why I also switched from iPhone to Android.
My Oppo has a space for a microSd card, but I have not bothered as it has 128GB of storage anyway, and I have use 43GB. I presume some people have a got a lot of junk on their phones. If I take photos I put them onto a external hard drive. It is possible to get drives and USB sticks that are wireless andwill connect to your phone or ones that will fit into the USB on a phone.
@ Random Precision black & white TV? you would lose that bet.
Just because you dont have a need for a microSD, that doesnt mean others dont.
The option, the choice, should be there. Especially on a flagship model.
A big thing which makes me upgrade after 2-3 years is software updates, although the updates are coming through longer and longer these days
I presume you mean OS updates? it makes little difference if the phone does what you want, I used a Nexus 4 phone for just over 18 months after it lost support, because it still did what I wanted, the only reason I had to stop using it was because the battery would not last longer than 4–5 hours, and it was not wroth having another battery installed due to its age. I will use my Oppo that I have now until I have a hardware fault.
i don’t see why people want a new phone every couple of years, it is just waste as a lot of them just get chucked into a drawer. If the phone is passed down, then that is not too bad.
I bought a Xiaomi Poco X3 in Black Friday 2021 for £150 on Amazon. The phone still feels like its brand new and is snappy and fast. It came with 256GB of memory and its still only a fraction full. it has calls over wifi and is 4G and a battery that lasts 3 days. I can see no reason for me to ever need to upgrade this phone unless I am forced – i.e. it breaks, is stolen or all of the mobile providers turn off 4G.
Given this only cost me £150 I cannot see why anyone outside of teenagers wanting street-cred, would ever need to upgrade their phones if they bought a phone in this price range. Now given most people are buying £400-£600 phones. I am not sure what is going on.
Each smart phone has a huge environmental impact, so we should all be keeping them as long as possible.
Besides, when we upgrade what exactly is new about the new device. We are all using the same apps etc. on the new device.
It’s just battery life really.
100% agree. Newer devices are faster and may have better cameras. not that any phone have a great camera, sensors are too small.
The new folding ones will be the next thing, but how long will they last?
Sadly a lot of devices have environmental impacts, look at the amount of old TV’s that were dumped when we went digital and yet there were now need as all people had to do was buy a digital box.
The problem these days is they make it so difficult to replace you’re battery that it emboldens customers to buy a new device when they don’t really need one. My current phone is 4 years old, the battery is losing its mojo, but it lasts a day before needing to be recharged still, so it’s going nowhere.
i am unable to find this poll myself and would like to use its information in an academic report please link.
The same week I pay of my plan my network keeps switching of phone calls and texts and putting phone on to only emergency calls nice ploy from Vodafone to get me to buy a new device