Buying a new phone

In terms of buying a new phone, what I mean is smart phones.   There seems to be a culture here in the IPG where replacing it every two years is the normal things.  Maybe not among all people, but people who can feasibly afford a smart phone seem to look to replace it every two years.

            I’ve had a few people tell me that as soon as their allowance was up, they immediate sought out a new phone.  That two year time marker was the signal to go phone shopping.  Apparently, everybody “must” upgrade phones at that time.  Or so some people say.

           Anyway, I was good-naturedly teased a bit for not wanting to upgrade my phone right away.  They simply couldn’t understand why I would use such an “outdated” phone when I could instead go pick up a new iPhone.  Here’s the thing, if the phone you have still works well, what are you truly missing? So why spend when you don’t have to do so.

            Let’s say you replace phones every two years.  This means, through six years, you will have used three phones before your next upgrade.  If you upgrade every three years instead, it will mean two phones are used in six years before your next upgrade. 

           To me, it’s a case of wants versus needs.  Yet, for many, any new technology within a product category might be perceived as a “need”.  I think at some point in time it might eventually become a need, but an immediate upgrade is usually a “want”.