I feel like I have been considering a new daily driver for a very long time now. I was on the hunt for a new phone last year, and I'm still on the same hunt this year. I keep putting off pulling the trigger on getting a new phone – and the very fact that I keep putting it off tells me that I probably don't actually need to upgrade yet.
Several years ago I was nothing like this. I wasn't happy with my phone for more than 2 or 3 months at most it seemed, and I was always up to new shenanigans trying to find loopholes that let me upgrade sooner than the 2-year contract would allow me to. This was mainly when smartphones were still a new concept and were rapidly improving with each new release. The iPhone was still an AT&T exclusive, Android was buggy (but a decent option), Windows Mobile and webOS still existed, BlackBerry was still a respectable option, and almost every phone had a unique design to offer. It always felt like every new smartphone had something worth upgrading for.
But lately it feels like we have gotten to a point where things, for the most part, work very well. And when they work well, do I really need to upgrade so often? According to how often I’ve switched phones in recent history, apparently not.
It's kind of a shame, though. I was super excited for the revolutionary changes like T-Mobile Jump! and all of the other similar plans that give you the option of upgrading multiple times a year – it’s exactly what I had been waiting for. I hated the 2-year upgrade because, at the time, it seemed almost necessary to upgrade before a full two years had passed. But the programs showed up a little too late. I don't really need to upgrade twice in one year anymore. In fact, if you're somebody that typically purchases a flagship device, your phone could easily last for two years or more at this point.
I developed a habit of feeling like I need to upgrade all the time; coupling that along with simply being bored with a phone are probably the only reasons that I'm constantly on the lookout for a new phone. It has been a long time since I upgraded my phone based on poor performance or truly outdated specs. Aside from being able to say that I have the latest and greatest, I can’t come up with enough reasons to justify getting rid of my iPhone 6 yet. That and, to be perfectly honest, nothing has caught my eye enough for me to feel like I absolutely have to have that phone.
And I think that’s exactly what I’m waiting for when it comes time for me to actually upgrade. Not only do I need a phone that makes me feel like I have to have it, but I also need to feel like my iPhone just isn’t up to snuff anymore.
Readers, how do you determine when it’s time to upgrade? Do you still upgrade as often as ever, or do you only upgrade when you have to? Let us know in the comments below!