We asked, you told us: Here's how often you upgrade to a new TV

One of the most popular categories on Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the TV. It’s not uncommon to see loads of TV brands offering big price cuts on everything from their basic models all the way to even 8K sets.

Then again, the feeling I got in the Android Authority Slack channel was that people don’t upgrade to a new TV very often at all. Was it just a feeling though or is it true? We asked you how often you upgrade to a new set and here’s what you said.

How often do you upgrade to a new TV?

Results

The poll was posted on Monday (November 29) and almost 3,400 votes were counted as of writing. It turns out that 37% of respondents upgrade to a new TV after a decade or more, with this being the single most popular option of the lot. Interestingly, two readers suggest in the comments that they’d go one further and only buy a new TV when the old one dies.

In second place was “every six or seven years,” accounting for 22.5% of votes. Rounding out the top three was “every four or five years,” with 20% of respondents picking this option.

Meanwhile, “every eight or nine years” was in fourth place and accounted for ~14% of votes. Bringing up the rear were the voters who said they upgraded every year (~1.7%) or every two or three years (~4.3%).

Looking at it another way, over 93% of polled readers say they buy a new TV every four years or more.

Comments

• Ozzie Khoo: TV’s are basically at the point of microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines etc.. The only reason you should buy a new one is if it breaks. No reason in calling a new TV an “upgrade” anymore.
• nemo: only when then the old one breaks other wise i dont see the point .. i still have a full hd led tv works great. What kind of lunatics buy a new tv every 1 or 2 years ? and ffs why ?
• Rasmus Riis Kristensen: Have a Chromecast with Google tv. So i don’t see the reason to upgrade unless it breaks
• Beardednomad: When needed. I upgraded all my TV’s to 4k recently. My main TV I won’t buy a new until it breaks or some new technology comes out that actually makes sense. 8k right now isn’t really needed and has very few sources. The other TV’s like in the bedrooms and office won’t be updated unless they break.
• Andrew Tan: You should provide another option – only change if current one is not functioning.
• Walter Kowalski: When it dies
• Carlos Pizarro: I usually end up buying a new TV every 4 years. I have 3 TVs in the house and so I usually upgrade one of them every 4 years and move them around. That is usually enough time for new features to come out and for the price to drop.
• KRB: Only upgrade the television when it’s time to purchase a new one. Upgrading your streaming appliance is much more important…
• Lamar Taylor: There are 2 kinds of TV buyer…one who buys a TV based on the price and one who buys based on features. The TV buyer who buys based on price wants a TV that lasts till it breaks. The TV buyer who buys based on features will upgrade every 4-5 years. If you are a gamer a new TV in 2021 requires Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, HDMI 2.1, and a 120Hz refresh rate to play the PS5 and Xbox Series X on the highest audio and video settings.

Thanks for voting in our poll and for leaving a comment! What would make you upgrade to a new TV in the first place? Let us know below.