Survey says: You have very different ideas of how old is too old for a flagship

When it comes to flagship phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S20 or the OnePlus 8 Pro, the sky’s the limit in terms of pricing, with companies charging upwards of $1,500 for these high-end flagship devices.

These phones offer the best-of-the-best in terms of features, which is how so many are able to justify the high cost of ownership. Users looking for blazing-fast screens with 120Hz refresh rates, high-resolution displays, massive amounts of internal storage, and other high-end features are usually willing to pay for said luxuries.

You’d think that anyone who drops that much money on a phone probably wants to make it last for as long as possible to avoid the devastating feeling of having to throw down such a large chunk of change again. But you might be wrong.

The flagship phone age poll results

When we ran a poll on that very idea, and a surprising 25.4% of Android Authority readers consider a flagship phone to be too old when it hits the two-year mark. Another 28.6% consider a device that’s more than three years old to be past its prime and ready for a replacement. Together, that means well over half of you would get rid of a flagship device after only three years of use.

The other 18.4% think anything over four years is too much and the final 27.6% think that a phone is good as long as it continues to work properly. To put that into some perspective, just over a quarter of Android Authority readers intend to keep their devices until it stops working, while the rest are more interested in staying on the cutting edge with the latest and greatest in flagship smartphones.

Some of your thoughts

Not So Cool:
As long as the phone holds charge for more than one day, it’s good in my eyes.

CasperSalminen:
No problem having a flagship phone that costs 1,000$+ for more than 4 years. Just take care of your phone ppl and at least use a case.

dasgrischa:
OnePlus 6 here and works like on day 1 with latest Android 10.

Will keep it ’till end of year, sell the OnePlus 6 and upgrade to OnePlus 7t pro because of hidden camera and display.

Azix30:
iPhones 4-5 years.
Android 2-4 (depending on brand).

biomulv:
No 6-month option?

tk18m1:
Mostly performance will drop after around 2 years due to the battery degradation. But still depends on the personal usage. Me personally, I change every year because I can sell current one in very good condition.

We definitely saw a mixed bag in terms of the poll results, with it being fairly close to an even split for a flagship phone’s lifespan. However, most of the comments were on the side of keeping their devices for an extended period of time, with many of them illustrating how long they’ve had their device and how it’s still running perfectly fine after all these years.