Survey shows a slim minority would consider renting their next Android phone

Consumers face a world in which very little is actually “owned.” Many of us still rent homes and subscribe to streaming services for media, leasing cars is now a common practice, and there’s a good chance future gaming consoles may not support physical media. However, one of the few items we can still lay claim to is our smartphones — though that may soon change.

Last month, Apple rolled out its Apple Upgrade program, a hardware-as-a-service model that allows users to rent their devices with a predictable monthly payment over a period of their choice. After that lease period ends, users can upgrade their device and continue the cycle. This essentially turns device ownership into a monthly utility payment, like gas or electricity, while making it far easier to keep up with annual device upgrades.

There are certainly pros and cons to such a model, and my colleague Dhruv Bhutani recently penned an opinion piece imploring Android heavyweights to offer a similar program to mitigate rising device costs.

But what do our readers think? We ran a survey on that article, asking readers if they’d consider leasing future devices instead of buying them, and judging by the results, it may be far trickier for the likes of Google to offer an equivalent service for Android users. However, not everyone was against the idea.

The poll garnered just under 2,300 votes, and the majority of readers certainly don’t like the direction Apple is pulling the industry. 54.9% of respondents would still “rather own” their devices outright rather than lease them.

Some readers in the comments were vehemently opposed to the model, with many highlighting potential problems with e-waste, overreliance on renting and leasing in modern consumerism, and potential credit issues. However, robertdbiddle highlights another possible problem:

My ownership concern around leasing is that it changes the data privacy dynamic pretty significantly if the manufacturer owns the device and not the individual using the device to store their personal data.

But this model only works if consumers continuously upgrade their devices. For those who hang onto products until they break — a growing trend we’ve highlighted across several surveys we’ve conducted on Android Authority — a leasing model simply doesn’t make economic sense.

Commenter roscoe2041 explains:

It seems like the whole argument falls apart when one doesn’t buy devices beyond one’s means, or when one keeps said phone for longer than 2-3 years. The cost in use drops dramatically when we start thinking for ourselves, no? Let’s normalize buying less expensive phones and/or extending their lifespan to reduce e-waste. And let’s not finance our phones just because we can.

What about those in support of the program? Surprisingly, more than a quarter of respondents (26.9%) are on the other side of the fence, stating that they’d consider it “if the monthly price is reasonable.”

Given that modern smartphones regularly exceed $1,000, a manageable monthly payment with an easy upgrade at the end of the lease can be an attractive proposition. A further 10.8% would welcome this move, provided “insurance is included” too.

In total, this suggests over a third of readers (37.7%) would consider leasing future Android phones provided their conditions are met.

A 7.4% portion of voters aren’t quite swayed by either argument just yet.

Where do you stand on the smartphone-as-a-service model? What would drive you to consider such a scheme? Let’s discuss in the comments section below.