Plus other crazy things about the replacement cycle:
- Battery life (arguably) degrades faster than software support and yet the industry moved AWAY from replaceable baterries
- Software bloat makes hardware seem slower, where replacing a factory ROM with LineageOS or some other slimmer Android version can really feel like a hardware upgrade
- The e-waste, my word the e-waste! There's no cost to the manfacturer for any kind of lifecycle management of the (some very precious) resources used to create these devices (this is also true for pretty much every industry).
- The opposite of the "Microsoft Office feature" effect. The average consumer seems to need the latest trivial upgrade or new cool-but-actually-pointless function that manufacturers dream up as a differentiator. Remember when numerous iterations of Microsoft Office meant no actual usage difference to anyone but absolute power users. Times have changed, consumer culture is a tightening cycle. (not that I'm immune, and I have to consciously try quite hard to resist it).
- Counter to the point above: removal of general-purpose computing functions / use-cases. No SD card slot, no headphone jack. I used to have an Sony Ericsson that had a mini/micro HDMI port. Was able to output video to a TV with the appropriate cable. These devices are so capable of many things, but they're handcuffed and hamstrung by design.
My current phone is only 2.5 years old, custom ROM installed so it's on Android 13 and runs really well, and it's the battery life that's making it feel "old" (now that the customr ROM has solved the software old-ness issue).
Am I the only one who feels that a device this powerful and expensive lasting 2-3years (or less!) is crazy? Especially when it's a 'software' limitation.