6 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Buy A New Phone Every Year, What Are They?

The Samsung S21 5G, one of the newest phones of the year that will fall behind in the next few years. (photo: samsung)

JAKARTA - Smartphones have come a long way over the last decade. They have evolved to the point where a two-year-old model, already looks outdated. Therefore, if you bought a new phone in the past year or so, you are not in a good time to upgrade.

Unless you have the cash to burn or have your phone damaged beyond repair, you really don't have much reason to buy a new one. This applies to both iPhone or Android device owners.

Here are five reasons why you shouldn't upgrade your smartphone every year.

1. Smartphones Only Get Price Incrementals Today

In the early days of Smartphones, there have been significant feature improvements year by year. Bigger, higher resolution screens, generational camera improvements, noticeable speed improvements, and so on.

While today's smartphones still get some of these features, the changes aren't very noticeable in real-world use. Manufacturers continue to claim that they have improved the camera, but the final image often doesn't look much different from the previous model.

Most of the mid to high-end Smartphones nowadays take good pictures. To really notice the subtle differences between a good smartphone camera and a very good one, you need a keen eye for detail.

Wireless technologies like 5G and Wi-Fi 6 are great to have on a smartphone, but they're not a must. Of course, you'll see speed improvements if you do a speed test, but in practical scenarios like watching videos, you'll have a hard time seeing speed improvements over LTE.

2. Smartphone Battery Stays Good, Minimum Two Years

The lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones are known to deteriorate over time, but that doesn't mean you should replace your phone just because it's a year old.

In the vast majority of cases, your smartphone battery will work at its optimal level for at least two years from purchase. Otherwise, you may need to change the approach to charging your device.

iPhone, for example, because you get a clear picture of the health of its battery. They managed to maintain 80% of maximum battery capacity after an average of two years of use. This means that if your device has a battery life of 10 hours, you'll still get roughly nine hours on a full charge when it's one year old. So, it's not as bad as you think.

However, if an extra hour is important to you, you can replace the battery by paying a nominal fee that ranges from Rp100,000 to Rp200,000, depending on the phone you have. Why pay hundreds (or even thousands!) for a new phone, just for a battery upgrade?

The wrong battery causes the phone to be considered outdated.

3. Your Smartphone May Get Software Updates For Years

If you buy a high-end smartphone, chances are your device will receive software updates for at least two years. When it comes to Android smartphones, this varies depending on the manufacturer's update policy. Popular brands like Samsung and OnePlus promise two or three Android OS updates along with an additional year of security updates.

But no company matches Apple when it comes to software updates. The iPhone gets OS updates for several years after its release. Apple doesn't give exact figures, but it's roughly five to six years in most cases. A prime example is the iPhone 6S, which came out in 2015 with iOS 9 pre-installed. Six years later, the iPhone 6S officially supports iOS 15, with the model entering its seventh year of support until 2022.

If you are planning to upgrade your smartphone to get some software features, keep in mind that your current phone will likely receive the same features through a software update. You don't have to buy the latest and greatest model every time a new Android or iOS version comes out.

4. You're Not Getting Your Money's Worth The Galaxy Z Flip

Do you remember the days when flagship smartphones sold for eight million to ten million rupiah? Well, those days are long gone. In recent years, the price of Smartphones has gone up quite a bit, despite all the gradual increases. Now, there is a new category of ultra-premium smartphones priced at over 15 million rupiah. Manufacturers label these phones as their flagships.

To put things into that perspective, the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple's high-end iPhone for its time, was priced at around Rp10 million. Fast forward seven years, and for about the same price, you can only buy the cheapest model in the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 mini lineup. To get the best Apple deals today, you have to spend 15 million rupiah for the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Now, ask yourself if it's worth spending a fortune every year on a new Smartphone, when all you get is minor hardware upgrades that you would probably not notice in the real world. Your answer will be different if you currently have a mid-range Smartphone, but if you already had last year's high-end model, you're fine for at least another year.

Unless you're trading your current phone, you're certainly not getting your money's worth by upgrading to the latest flagship.

Mobile phone software actually did not develop significantly.

5. You Won't See Any Performance Difference

Manufacturers sometimes like to brag about hardware specs, but Smartphones have come to the point that RAM and processor performance are not as relevant as they used to be. Unless you're a multitasking maniac, you won't notice any difference between a phone with 8GB of RAM and a phone with 12GB of RAM.

Smartphone processors also improve every year in terms of efficiency and speed, but in reality, the performance difference is not noticeable when you use it normally. If you had a high-end phone last year, you already have a solid processor to handle almost any task for the next year or two. So don't be swayed by raw numbers.

6. Annual smartphone upgrades are a luxury, not a necessity

No matter what Smartphone you buy, the way manufacturers advertise their products will make you feel that your one-year-old Smartphone is out of date. However, in the vast majority of cases, you don't need that upgrade. Companies often just make you want to do it with their marketing.

Upgrading is justifiable if you currently own a mid-range smartphone, but otherwise, the latest flagship in the market is not a must.