According to last week’s poll, half of voters currently use phones that are one to two years old. But that’s not the average age of a phone, and that average could grow: In the future, half of users will have a phone that’s 3 years old or younger.
Let’s start with the first question we asked: How old is your current phone? The top response was “1 year,” which suggests many people have upgraded recently. There is further evidence of this in the other charts as well, but we’ll get to those.
Beyond the year, the split is pretty even between 2- and 3-year-old phones. There is a surprising amount of even older phones: in fact, a third of voters use a phone that is at least 4 years old.
The second question: How old was your last phone? – shows that two-thirds of voters have picked up a phone that is 3 years old or older. Phones that only lasted a year or two are in the minority. Interestingly, phones that last 5 years or more are as common as phones that only last 2 years.
Not only have many people upgraded recently, but they seem to be very happy with the phones they received. The last question of the survey indicates that half of users plan to keep their phone for at least 4 years. In fact, the best answer was “5+ years.”
The most common replacement age last cycle was 3 years old (this was the response of 25.5% of voters in the second poll). For many, this will extend at least a year, perhaps more. Meanwhile, the number of people who upgrade after just a year or two will shrink by a quarter.
This is a testament to the fact that phone companies build hardware that will last for years, even in the rapidly changing world of technology. And the longer software support times definitely help too. There will always be early adopters who will receive new devices as soon as possible. But unless phone makers come out with new “must have” features, most everyone else will be happy to keep their current phone for longer than before.
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