It seems to me that they've become quite good at designing smartphones to last two years and little longer, which is a bit worrisome since my primary phone is entering into its third year. Can you share your experiences...?
It seems fair to start by summarizing what I can remember of mine:
- First was an HTC that lasted a little over 2 years. Not so good, but at least it died slowly.
- Samsung Galaxy lasted about 4 years. Basically killed by battery swelling combined with lack of replacement batteries.
- Two Huawei's. First one died slowly after about 3 years of heavy use.
- Freetel died by battery swelling after 2 years.
- ASUS, which just died by the worst battery swelling I've seen. Mostly light usage for something over 2 years.
Pretty sure I'm forgetting at least one smartphone. Also I'm deliberately not counting a Sharp wannabe smartphone before the HTC... Maybe the real source of my grief is that most of my smartphones were low-end models. I just noticed a new smartphone priced over $1,000. Maybe it will last 3 or 5 times longer?
I've also been buying low-end smartphones, so they're cheaper to replace when I inevitably drop them after exactly two years, turning their screens into an unreplaceable spiderweb of cracks. But what's your experience? Share your own thoughts and stories in the comments.
And how long do you expect your smartphone to last?
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