Americans now keep their current phones on average for nearly three years. This is according to data from Reviews.org which surveyed 1,000 Americans, to find out how often they actually upgrade. They found that consumers are keeping their phones longer, and the time until they plan to upgrade is even longer. About 10% longer than it was last year.
This moves the average upgrade time to about 32 months (versus 29 months last year). That’s nearly three years, which seems to make sense with many of the carriers now offering 36- and 48-month financing options. In fact, Verizon offers 12-, 24-, 36-, and 48-month financing options now.
While most upgrade after about 32 months, many respondents say they intend to uprgade in about 21 months, after having their phone for 24 months – meaning they would upgrade after 45 months, nearly four years. So, it appears many are upgrading sooner than they planned on.
Reviews.org does also note that their respondents might be on the quicker end of things, as industry data does suggest that the global replacement cycle is around 3.5 years right now, with the US being closer to 3.8 years and Verizon even saying that most of their customers upgrade after 42 months.
Top reason for upgrading is surprisingly, performance
According to this survey, the top reason for upgrading in America is actually performance, with second being battery life. The performance aspect is a tad bit surprising, considering how much the Pixel has gained in popularity here in the US over the past couple of years. But battery life is definitely not surprising at all. After two years, most phones batteries really become quite bad. The third reason is a lost of broken phone, which I’m a bit surprised that’s not higher.
Also surprising is that a “Better Camera” is last on the list at just under 5%.
The post Americans Keep Their Phones for 32 Months on Average, and Better Cameras Aren’t Why They Upgrade appeared first on Android Headlines.
