Two things I look for when replacing a phone: 1. Lineage OS support. (So you actually get security updates) 2. A decent repairability score on iFixit. (So you don't end up with a brick when your battery dies in a few years.)

Right now I'm on a OnePlus 2. It will be 4 years old this summer and doesn't seem to have any issues with the newest Android (in the form of Lineage OS), or any apps I use!

Sounds like a good strategy.

It is utterly insane that consumers and the industry are fine with battery degradation coercing them into complete $600+ device replacements (further fueled by the "I got the newest phone!" social status incentive for some folks).

Batteries should be swappable and at replacement time be properly recycled. Manufacturers need to be legally required to provide this option at all times, if they refuse to do so (do any?).

I fear it's getting harder to find those two criteria on a new flagship.

I wish Google would sort out a way of ensuring everyone could get stock android updates for a much longer time period.

I should try lineage OS... I'm on a OnePlus 3, and the battery is starting to go. I was thinking of trying the Librem 5 when it ships, but we'll see.

I've been running LineageOS on my OnePlus3 for the past couple of years (since the whole telemetry app scandal in fact) and I highly recommend it to everyone. I don't have a bad word to say about it, in fact.

You're forgetting the status symbol aspect of having the latest phone. It seems to me that fashion is a driving factor for far more people than any technical consideration.

There’s a reason Apple sales are down so much YoY. People are already not upgrading.

Until recently there was enough to be gained from an upgrade every other year for most people. That is no longer true and the market sees that.

E.g. Going from 5S to an X is a worthy upgrade. That’s how many years of progress? You will feel the benefits every time you pick up the phone.

Turns out people are generally good judges of how to spend their own money.

The span between 5S and X is pretty much the largest one can make between two phones that continue to get security updates.

Your point does stand - an X is an enormous upgrade to the 5S in usability and feel.

But barely so in function I would say. There are few truly useful things one can do on the X but not on the 5S. Portrait mode pictures? High-definition Netflix streams? 4k images?

I find the larger and full screen front with no clunky home button much easier to use. The form factor is so much easier to type on than the 5S — I have my old 5S plugged into a music dock in the family room and it feels just so ridiculous going back to type on it.

I also really appreciate wireless charging and waterproofing.

Bluetooth and WiFi work better for me on the X than they did on the 5S.

I also opted for 128GB when in the past I always skimpt on storage, and now I really appreciate never having to think about clearing pictures off my phone or if I’ll have space before going on a trip.

Come to think about it, some of my favorite pics of my kids were taken in Portrait mode. It really is a very pleasing effect.

Back when I had the 5S daily, we occasionally pulled out the Canon DSLR. I should probably sell that thing on eBay now...

At this point I don’t know what would drive me to upgrade short of breaking or losing my current X. It would take something groundbreaking, like a phone form factor that also doubled as a laptop through an AR keyboard and AirPlaying to any screen I happened to walk up to.

In the past my phones always got sluggish after a few years. Maybe that was Apple intentionally throttling and hopefully that won’t happen this time around. I don’t do anything on the phone that ever really challenges it except maybe searching through thousands of old emails and web browsing without an ad blocker.

My wife has I think a 7 Plus (?) and has absolutely no desire to upgrade.

Eh, continued updates that disregard older phones (leaving them crippled with modern updates) make it so even if the hardware is good, you have to upgrade. Good enough hardware isn't much use when the software makes it run at half the speed. Then it goes from good enough to barely usable.

Err, not really in all cases. An example - my crappy 3-year old Huawei Honor 5x is utter piece of st. I bought it as a temporary cheap need-phone-now solution because my previous phone got stolen in Paris. I tried to go the way you suggest, but there are limits and I am hitting them hard.

Not only is the battery severely degraded by now (still +-usable though), but I can't update any app for last 6 months simply because there is no space on phone anymore (that 32GB microsd card means nothing to that ancient Android 6). I can remove properly functional useful apps from phone and thus reducing its usability, but that's a bad deal. The worst part is sluggishness though - it can easily take 30 seconds just to be able to start Firefox and begin to type the URL. Or start maps and begin to type address. Everything is super slow.

Its a good tool to train my patience, but as actual usability goes, I have to upgrade. I need to keep my sanity.