<story><title>A decade-long boom is ending as consumers hang on to devices for longer</title><url>https://www.economist.com/business/2019/01/12/apple-succumbs-to-the-smartphone-malaise</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hnruss</author><text>As a software developer, people tend to assume that I’m really into hardware as well. They’re usually surprised when I tell them that I prefer to buy older hardware and keep it running for longer. I often skip multiple generations of devices.&lt;p&gt;I just bought a new TV with Roku built in. My last TV was a tube TV.&lt;p&gt;I’m writing this on a iPhone SE, which I upgraded to for $100 when my 5S stopped working. I kept the same phone case. I’ll probably buy another iPhone when they release a new one with the same size screen. I might get a new phone case then, too.&lt;p&gt;I was playing Zelda on the original Wii earlier. It’s the newest game console that I own.&lt;p&gt;Don’t get me wrong, I think new stuff is cool, too. I’d just rather go on a trip than have the newest cool thing.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ekianjo</author><text>Honestly people who buy new hardware every year are not &amp;quot;into hardware&amp;quot;, they are into wasting their money and finding a pretense to justifying it. Most of them are probably just bored or treat it like fashion.</text></comment>
<story><title>A decade-long boom is ending as consumers hang on to devices for longer</title><url>https://www.economist.com/business/2019/01/12/apple-succumbs-to-the-smartphone-malaise</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hnruss</author><text>As a software developer, people tend to assume that I’m really into hardware as well. They’re usually surprised when I tell them that I prefer to buy older hardware and keep it running for longer. I often skip multiple generations of devices.&lt;p&gt;I just bought a new TV with Roku built in. My last TV was a tube TV.&lt;p&gt;I’m writing this on a iPhone SE, which I upgraded to for $100 when my 5S stopped working. I kept the same phone case. I’ll probably buy another iPhone when they release a new one with the same size screen. I might get a new phone case then, too.&lt;p&gt;I was playing Zelda on the original Wii earlier. It’s the newest game console that I own.&lt;p&gt;Don’t get me wrong, I think new stuff is cool, too. I’d just rather go on a trip than have the newest cool thing.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>a11595</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m a little different, but same result.  I buy the best thing out at the time, then use it till it dies.  It&amp;#x27;s because it&amp;#x27;s a tool, and these modern tools take a while to set up, and that&amp;#x27;s a task. Had a nexus 6, rooted, custom rom with unneeded crap disabled.  It died last year when I finally broke the screen.  It was running fine, and the battery got me through the day w&amp;#x2F;o a top-off.&lt;p&gt;I picked the max config pixel2xl for over thousand bucks, put a custom rom on it w&amp;#x2F;o google crap, and that&amp;#x27;s going to last me till it physically dies.&lt;p&gt;My boss on the other hand, gets both the pixel and the iphone refresh every year, and fiddles with each for an hour each day for weeks. Screw that.  End result though - both you and me aren&amp;#x27;t as good a customer as companies want - they want my boss.&lt;p&gt;To address your point, which I cannot relate to. If money is the limiting factor and you still think the new stuff is cool - why not just buy a $200 phone every 3 years? the top of the line stuff is overpriced, but the margins are close to zero on everything else, and specs and features, at least for android, are pretty much the same.</text></comment>