We asked, you told us: Your current smartphone is pretty old

You can definitely argue that smartphones produced in recent years have aged better than before. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for phones in the late 2000s and early 2010s to age poorly due to heavy-handed Android skins killing performance and a paltry amount of storage quickly filling up.

These days, even budget phones have decent performance, relatively big batteries, and a decent amount of storage. But are you rocking a new device or have you kept your current phone for several years? That’s what we wanted to know earlier this week. Here’s what you told us.

How old is your current smartphone?

Results

The poll was posted on Tuesday (November 23) and gained an impressive figure of over 13,300 votes. And it turns out that all options received a significant level of support. But the winning pick was 2019, garnering 27% of the votes.

In other words, over a quarter of polled readers have a phone that’s roughly two years old. Carrier contracts typically last for two years, so we’ve got to assume that at least some of the people who picked this option will be due for an upgrade soon.

The second and third most popular picks were 2021 and 2020, gaining 19.8% and 19.46% of the votes respectively. In other words, almost 40% of respondents have a phone that’s a year old or newer.

Related: The best 2020 flagship phones that are still worth buying today

Bringing up the rear was 2018 and “2017 or earlier,” with 18.19% and 15.49% of respondents choosing these options respectively. These still account for a significant number of people though, and it means that roughly a third of voters have a phone that’s three years old or even older. In fact, when you combine 2019, 2018, and 2017 or earlier, it shows that 60% of polled readers have a phone that’s two years old or older.

The comments section also gave us a good idea of the phones people are using, with devices like the Galaxy S10 series, Galaxy Note 9, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 6 series, and LG G7 all being mentioned.

Comments

• ThatOtherOtherGuy: Samsung S10e for over two years. No plan to change until there is a SUBSTANTIAL improvement. Minor camera upgrades and spotty 5G are not going to get me to drop $1K on a new phone when this one is still crushing it.
• sremick: Also rocking an S10e here. The size is just right… newer phones are way too big. And I love having the headphone jack and MicroSD slot… something also missing from newer models.
• Draket3: Samsung S10 still rock solid. Best phone to buy, expandable storage and the all so rare headphone jack.
• thinking_face: Pixel 2 XL. It’s still very nice, and actually like the bezels and front facing speakers. Moving up to a Pixel 6 Pro… when it arrives…
• Takagi: Though my phone was released in 2018, I bought my Samsung Galxy Note 9 brand new in November 2019. It still works great until now and I still don’t see any reason to upgrade to a newer one until it dies. Prior to that, I was upgrading to a new phone every 3-ish years.
• moabman: Pixel 4XL still with a great battery and have had NO problems in close to two years of use. Will become my backup when I get a P6P
• hoggleboggle: still very happy with my Note 9 and simply haven’t seen a worthwhile replacement.
• Joe Engell: Got the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G in January (came out in 2020) and don’t plan to upgrade again for a few years, simply an amazing phone for the money. All my friends and family are amazed at the stunning photos it takes and the beautiful screen.
• Walter Kowalski: Got pixel 6 pro right away
• Ryan: Brand new Pixel 6, switched from a Pixel 3aXL.
• dtox: Traded an iPhone 11 pro for an s21 ultra. Best trade ever!

Thanks for voting in our poll and for leaving comments! Got an older device? Are there any particular phones you’d upgrade to if money wasn’t a problem? Let us know below.