Poll: How long should you keep that Android smartphone before upgrading?

Android smartphones are lasting longer these days.

Smartphones are beneficial devices but can often be fickle little things. Like any piece of tech, there’s always the possibility that something will glitch out, or perhaps you end up dropping it and shattering your screen. However, there are many reasons that someone may want to swap out their smartphone for a new one, and fortunately, there are plenty of options to choose from among the best Android phones.

OEMs aren’t helping much either, since they’ve gotten into the habit of launching more flagships per year, such as Samsung, for example, with the Galaxy S21 series earlier this year and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 that’s expected to arrive in August. So with that in mind, we want to know how long you usually keep your smartphone before upgrading to a new one.

Android phones were known for not having very long lifespans due to the way Android updates were handled. This would cause smartphone buyers to miss out on important security updates enticing new features, forcing them to buy a newer phone. Google Pixel smartphones would often receive the most updates, and fast, but that was hardly ever the case for other OEMs, especially if you owned an LG phone. Fortunately, that has been changing with companies pledging longer software support for their smartphones. And that’s good because frankly, not everyone can fork out $1,000 whenever a new model is released.

Samsung has pledged that its recent phones will receive at least four years of software support, while other companies like OPPO are promising three years. Even LG has committed to three years of support for its devices, despite the company exiting the smartphone business. The rumored Pixel 6 is even said to offer five years of software support, which is pushing iPhone territory.

Thanks to initiatives like Project Mainline, it’s become increasingly easier to hold onto your smartphone for a longer period of time, especially for anyone not particularly interested in having the latest and greatest hardware.

And for those of you that often get new phones, you might want to consider donating or recycling your old Android phone.

Pure Android

Google Pixel 5

$650 at Best Buy

All Google, all the time

The Pixel 5 is the best smartphone from Google, thanks to its pure Android build. And because it’s a Google phone, it’ll get long software support and will often be the first to get new updates.