I'm curious, there are people here who spend $2k every year on the latest phone.
Why?
Why Do You Buy a New Phone Every Year?
deme on 26/09/2023 - 15:55
Comments
I would if I could. It really is a joy to have the latest and greatest phone. And if it costs $1,000 a year after you sell your old one and buy another, then it really is a pretty cheap joy. Some people will spent 5k on rims for their car, or first class airfares, or expensive booze. 1k a year for arguably the best phone in the world is cheap compared to some hobbies.
When you consider that it cost billions in R&D to make the latest iPhone — the best iPhone Apple has ever made — then only charging a few thousand for the one you have in the palm of your hand seems almost criminally generous.
I just wish they made an iPhone in the spirit of my Apple Watch Edition — an iPhone that really contains the best technology money can buy
I bet we’ll see an iPhone Ultra next year or next year after.
I don’t upgrade every year, but I do tend to do it every couple of years or when there are significant upgrades. Often times I sell or trade in my old phone (with bonus offers etc..) to partially fund the new purchase, therefore the changeover cost is usually below $1k for me. I buy Pixel Pro phones which are not as expensive as iPhones to begin with. I use my phone quite a lot every day for navigation, looking up stuff, emails on the go, entertainment, home automation, etc. so spending ~$1k / 24 months or ~ $41/mo is well worth the utility for me.
Like others if there is useful new tech (Better cameras etc) in a device then I would be tempted
On thing that puts be off is the ever increasing size of phones. I don't have a handbag to carry a phone in so I want mobile phone that actually fits in my pants pocket…If I want a larger display I use one of my tablets …It's not like you buy a top of the range new phone at full price and throw out the old phone like trash.
- iPhone 15 $1,497
- iPhone 14 trade in $830
- Moorup trade in bonus $250
- Salary sacrifice saves 32.5% tax
- Ultimate gift cards saves 15%You could actually make some money from doing this. Brand new flagship phone every year and make some money too, why not?
You do throw them out like trash when you "hold out" with an antique phone like some of these people thinking it's smart. End up forking out more when their old phone is dead, instead of swapping 1 to 2 years and getting them for free (or profit) 😂
because apple told me to, oh wait, no I don't, because I have a spine
Do you think the old phone stops working and is worthless when you buy a new phone? No, it gets sold or traded up.
Its like buying a car every 3 years, rather than driving it into the ground. You're not spending $70k on a new car. You're trading in your old car and spending less than half that, and not having the headache of an old car.
These days mobile phone is most people's primary device for
Communication
Entertainment
Work
Gaming
Camera
Its a PA , setting up your daily reminder, meeting etc.
Now you may not need the latest for all that but many people's life is on that single device. Life time of photos , works , emails and files, so they need the latest devices. Will last year's model work ? Sure but they can trade in last year's model, sell it and add may be less than 1k to get latest device that is their primary device.
I could write another paragraph about it but you get the point? And my english ain't good so I wouldn't want you reading another paragraph.Because we make money as someone on this forum how can you pass up on a deal like that?!
Workings below:
iphone 15 Retail: 1500
less GST - 136
net 1364
less tax saving at 39c (37+2 medicare levy) -532
Effective cost of iphone 15: $832Sell 14 on fb: 1100 say?
profit $268This year after discount and trade in, I paid around $200 for my new phone. Roughly $25 per month.
Usually I travel straight after and can get the GST back, which makes it almost free.
Also some yearly tax deductions which my accountant manages.If I kept the same phone for longer, it’s worth less to sell/trade and you end up paying more to keep an old tech. Coupled with the fact warranty/consumer law would be out, battery costs etc, it’s doesn’t make sense to keep an old device
I'm one of those people. I have a few reasons and I think what you'll find is the person that buys it yearly isn't what you picture or expect them to be.
I've explained in my previous posts how salary packaging dramatically reduces the cost by paying with your pretax dollars. This year, the most expensive 1TB iPhone15 Pro Max costs $2899. Through salary packaging, this cost is reduced to $1612 after tax. Mobile monster at launch was offering $1700 for "as new" condition 1TB iPhone 14 pro max, Apple have very good resale value.
That's $88 profit to get a new phone.
So if you ask me why?
- It's one of the few "toys" i get to look forward to yearly. I'm a big tech nerd and love my tech. The majority of my purchase is spent on my family and this is the one for me.
- For very little money exchange or in some years a profit, why wouldn't I?
- I don't care about social status, i'm way past that stage at my age being a family man with 2 kids. I drive 10+yr old car and my social is private and filled with picture of me and my kids. I care more about it's camera features and improvements than someone seeing i have the latest phone.
- I don't care about the environmental implications. My environmental footprint is tiny compared to most households. I don't need to stop buying the one thing i looked forward to feel better about my contributions to the earth.
- From a "usage" perspective, it's the one item that I get used daily. People spend more money on other items that aren't nearly used as much. Some of you need to stop calling it just a "phone" because it's more than that now. It's my camera, my wallet, my ID, my music player, my work hotspot, my mobile computer.
I've explained in my previous posts how salary packaging dramatically reduces the cost by paying with your pretax dollars
A lot of people can't do that
How do you get salary packaging on personal use phones?
A lot of companies offer it as part of their “perks”. If your company offers this, the other one that you can usually do is a laptop.
Consumerism. Most people fall for the brainwashing
I usually upgrade for the battery improvements, but going from the 13 to the 14 was a huge mistake that I regret massively. The 13 had AMAZING battery life so I'm not sure why I thought it would be better, so now I'm just going to go to a cheap phone + cheap plan once the Pixel 8 is out.
My current phone cost me $279 it does everything i need from a phone its also the most i have every paid for a phone.
I wont upgrade this phone unless it stops working.
I have other uses for my money but i guess if a pricer phone makes people happy good luck to them.
because we live only once and I use my phone for several hours a day every day, so It should be joyful.
- we live only once
- use my phone for several hours a day every day
- It should be joyful.
lmao!
actually you can sell a year old phone for a relatively good money plus I buy them using my price protection credit card, so the upgrade costs me usually just around $200
Works out free, almost free or tiny top up when changing every year. Compared to keeping a phone till it's worth nothing and topping up a large amount to get a new one. When you work it out, the amount topped up on a PoS phone that has no value, split across however many years, it would have costed me less to just put that $100~ or so into getting a new one every year. Taking advantage of the yearly Telstra "new customer" deals at Goodguys/JB Hifi, "cancelling" old plan and renewing 12 months again, using the discount/credit + the "old" 12 month phone.
TGG deal early this year was a prime example. $340 storecash + 750 Telstra discount. Making the "price" of the new phone $1199, sold my old phone at $880.
Math:
$1949 - $750 Telstra discount - $880 (S21U 512GB phone sale) - $250 GC - $90 store cash = -$21 ($21 in pocket as opposed to not getting a new phone)Added bonus points:
Pre 12 month sign up Telstra post paid = $69/monthPost sign up after talking to the rep for a discount = $49/month for 12 months
TL;DR: It's just basic math. Some years work better than others, whereby you end up ahead (new phone AND free cash as opposed to sitting and doing nothing).
Any current deals that works out a treat like your example? I'm looking to get a Samsung S23 or equivalent this year.
Best deals are usually on launch. If you need a 23 desperately and can't wait for 24, check yourself on what deals JB or TGG have currently and do the math with what your one is worth. I wouldn't recommend committing to a 24 month unless it's worth it. Most of the time it's not, eg. Getting a gift card for $1000 and being stuck on a $99 month plan for 24 months. Better off getting a $69 or 59 plan with $500 for 12 months.
But from past experience, best deals are always at launch. Sometimes even with the buds like last year. Sold those for another $200. Past 4 phones I didn't pay $1.
I'm allowed to buy a new phone each year via a salary sacrifice arrangement with my work. I'm buying the new iPhone Pro for a net ~$1300 and selling my old (and great condition) iPhone Pro for ~$1100, so it only costs $200 for the upgrade which I think is worth it.
I don't see the point. I've had my current Android phone (a Redmi Note 4X) that I purchased second hand for nearly five years. It's a budget model and only cost me about $110. I'm about to replace it with another used phone, due its limited storage space. But it still works fine and performance is still good. If it wasn't for the limited storage, I'd spend $20 on a new battery and use it for a few more years.
In the early days of smartphones, the technology was advancing at such a rate, that you needed to upgrade every few years. That's no longer the case, considering that a budget phone released nearly seven years ago, still has good performance today for the most part.
I'm not bashing anyone for upgrading regularly, just pointing out that you don't need to.
Are you still on android 7? Can you install apps like Spotify, youtube, whatsapp etc.?
I'm using custom MIUI 12.5.3 firmware running on Android 10, from xiaomi eu and can run all apps.
Because they don't want to buy a house?
For some it's also a status symbol, like watches used to be.
It’s not $2k though if you sell your old or even trade it in for 50% after 1 year.
Eg I could sell my 14 Pro for about $1200 now and spend 2k on the 15 pro. So it’s only $800 changeover, plus write it off on my tax over 3 years for 50% business use.
You cant keep writing it off if you have sold it.
Unless you can make your money back through trade-in, resell or otherwise there isnt really a good reason beyond just having an intrinsic need to have the latest phone. That's what all the advertisements would have us believe everytime something new comes out. In terms of security updates, two examples Samsung and Apple: Samsung patches for 4 years and Apple for 3, so it's not like we're forced out every year due to device support either.
Apple are a step above everyone else in forcing the switch. They literally patch your old device to run worse so you have to upgrade every year. They got sued for it and lost in the EU.
Phones do age and get shit over time generally, but thats more in the eye of the beholder. A constant power user's mileage will vary greatly from a light user.
Still cheaper than upgrading a car every year.
Work lets me salary sacrifice one portable electronic device per year.
Once you factor in 15% off Gift Cards, trade in for my old iPhone 13 Pro, no GST, no FBT, my marginal tax rate, I just upgraded to an iPhone 15 Pro 256gb for a total of -$23.Curious what line of work allows you to get salary packaging on personal use phones?
Software dev. Who said it was for personal use?
I bought a new phone last in 2018
and before that, an iPhone 5 in 2012.
Samsung Galaxy S10 in 2018, still using the OEM screen protector. (with a $70 Otterbox flip case so it doesnt get scratched in the pocket, etc)
I thought about upgrading to the new S22 but it just doesn't seem that great.
When my current phone is too sluggish to run web apps properly then I'll probably upgrade again.
Many don’t
It’s only brainwashed dumbasses that do so
It goes with my high yield Mercedes investment.
Because people are dumb and they think they need to have new insert X model for the appearance that they are doing well.
Tax purposes.
not to be confused with tax porpoises.
something smells fishy
PPL USUALLY TRADE-IN
2 year contracts at my work. So every 2nd new iPhone
I don't. I had a s20 ultra for over 3 years and only just upgraded to the new iphone 15 pro max.
We need these people because that’s how I get the “near new has always been in the case still under warranty” used phone from fb marketplace
If we use the iPhone 15PM 256GB for example, the changeover after trade-in with a 14PM 128GB is $1139.
The average wage in Australia is $1838/week. My guess is because they can afford to.
I used to get new phones yearly when they were making leaps and bounds in technology. I now only upgrade every few years, effectively once enough change has actually occurred to make it worth it. The iterations are just so small now.
I dont upgrade much at all but i encourage others especially Apple fans to upgrade, they are what keeps my business going repairing their products..
Salary sacy makes it no brainer if you trade in
Because people have too much money to spend, especially here in Oz. Money has no value anymore… Spending $2k used to be a big deal now it's like eh…why not
Personally I make decent money but I change phone when it becomes too slow or if I break it. My phone's in the last 10 years have been iPhone 4, iPhone 5s, iPhone 7 plus, Pixel 5, Pixel 6 (cos I broke the 5's screen), all bought 2nd hand as new on gumtree or marketplace, never spent more than $600 (and that's the P6)
I keep mine in in great condition so usually sell it to mobile monster for like $1200. Then I get a staff corporate partner discount with Samsung so that makes the new one $1800 usually. Throw in promos like free Buds2 Pro or a Samsung watch and the $50 samsung email offer and its a no brainer.
The same reason people drop $2K on ciggies, gambling,hair styling,make up or strippers …because they can.
Usually change every year, by signing up to Jbhifi or TGG Telstra deals.
After claiming tax etc, and the added bonuses/discounts, it's usually pretty worthwhile to stay on a Telstra plan.This time I signed for 2yrs:
Value: $99pm Telstra plan and s23u ($1400 discount at the time)Actual cost $89/m*24m + $400 for s23u
Deductions: phone cost against tax, phone plan cost against tax, free Samsung watch (sold for $250), bonus jbhifi gift card $100.
Which equals less than $30pm.The good thing about jbhifi is that the receipts show the full value of the phone minus the $1400 as a gift card payment, since the staff give you the $1400 gift card to pay towards the phone. Therefore you can claim the whole value of the phone against tax.
If I sell the s23u when i got it and use my old phone, I would actually make money but have an upgraded plan for free, for two years.
Not everyone is poor. Don’t be jelly :-)
Never said Im jealous.
It’s obvious.
Might come as a shock, but there are plenty of people that don't take payment plans to buy $100K+ cars.
Yes Im aware. Im talking specifically about people that do take the payment plans when they cant afford it, simply to show off.
I'm just confused how you know they can't afford it or their intent to show off? (Not trolling you, just genuinely intrigued)
I’m curious to know why you care what others do with their money.
My thoughts exactly.
Why do you care what other people think or want to talk about? Its a free country after all.
Going by your logic, you can’t question my question.
You assumed way too much on both counts.
I used to upgrade every 12 months back when phones were subsidised into phone plans and a high-end premium phone was between $800 and $1000.
Now at nearly $2k I wait until my old phone is on its absolute last legs. Current phone iPhone 11 is getting close to cactus, hoping to hold out for the next model.
True on the "used to be subsidised into plans". Now it appears that the cost is extreme on plans. Just scroll up to my long post on the math involved to easily get a new phone every year or every 2 years. Basically costs you no more than your usual sim only plan. Just takes a few minutes of live chat with Telstra and simple to do. Personally I don't see any reason to hold a phone past 2 years and wait for it's resale to be worth nothing (ie. run it to the ground) and have to fork out even more for new one.
I do it every 2 years or every year depending on the promo at the time. This years promo was insanely good at only 12 months. Even gave me a negative balance with $21 in my pocket plus a new phone (as opposed to 'holding out' for next year).
Problem is people just don't understand the math and/or lazy to do it.
Looked at you previous comment, I agree thats a good way of doing it. My old shagged out 11 is only worth like $100 now.
There used to be some good hacks back in the day with the subsidised plans to escape paying ETCs.
I mean, can't speak for your current particular plan, but for me at $49/m (12 months) there's really no benefit at all signing up and escaping a 12 month contract even if it was $0 charge, the cheapest Telstra plan is $59, so I'll end up paying more.
For optimal benefit, I stick to 12 month or 24 month JB/TGG gift card/voucher deals. Past 2 (or maybe 3) top of the line new phones have costed me $0. Going past the 2 year mark holding a phone is suboptimal, as you would lose out on the voucher/gc benefit AND lose more and more value on a 2+ year old model.
Hah, I just bought a new case and screen protector for my iphone 7, like brand new I tell ya.
I'm probably updating my phone a bit more frequently than I used to (every two years now). For me, it's a device I use everyday, so it's worth spending money on. For some items, I have a little value equation that I like to use:
Cost of the product / how many days I expect to use the product = cost per day
So for example, let's say I'm looking at a phone that costs $1,000 and will keep it for two years:
$1,000 / 730 days = $1.37 a day.
For a device I use so frequently, it represents good value. That's how I justify it. :)
Plus the resale value, brings the cost per day down even more. Though if you're talking iPhone Pros sounds like you already factored that in.
I pretty much did every 2 years before the battery life was still good enough for more than that. Last phone was 3 years, this one I'm going to see if it can make it to 4 years.
Otherwise if there's some new feature that tempts me, sure, getting a bit bored of the newer phones, more than the current one.
I dont.. my old phone still makes calls like all good phones should.
Work change phones regularly though but I dont pay
if you salary package it, it wouldn't cost you anything.
I am on $60k lol - can I salary package it? would I have to ask my employer to do it for me?
The $$$ you earn does prohibit you from salary packaging an iPhone. Your job should warrant that you need a smart phone , and your employer be willing to do it.
Salary packaging , plus residual value on Marketplace. Throw in airport TRS if you’re ballsy enough. The true cost delta is only a few hundred.
I like how the comments here show that pretty much only iPhone users are the ones who upgrade their phones every year. Marketing hype is real!
Spot on! Pity First World Problem.
A fool and their money…………..
Smooth brains. There's not a single flagship on the market worth the asking price at the moment. Some excellent mid-range offerings from Xiaomi, Oppo and the other usual suspects though. No idea why anyone would go for the latest and greatest. Might as well be burning the money.
true
I don't
Change my phone every 2-3 years. Battery normally going by then and have picked up scratches etc.
They're on 6+ figures.
I'm past giving a toss about having the latest phone.. I have a stupid amount of disposable income but I'm tight so I make my phones last 5 years between upgrades. That said when the Mrs wants a new phone, the mrs gets a new phone. I'm just as happy knowing I could get one on a whim and disciplining myself that I wont.
Salary sacrificed, top tax bracket.
Used 10% discounted Apple gift cards.
Traded last years phone for max value.
I made $300 profit.
I just get my iPhones for free off FB Marketplace.
Purchaed iphone 15 pro max from ATO yesterday. The guy just only charged $100 iTunes gift card for it over the phone. He was so polite by greetings namaste
Can't wait for delivery
Weirdly it saves me money buying a new Iphone every year.
First I buy the latest Iphone Pro using discounted gift cards and then salary package the phone (invoice shows the full amount obviously, meaning that I get the GST and tax I would've paid (48%) back immediately. Then the high resale value of a 12-month-old Iphone means I can sell it for more than it cost me.
Sell on gumtree ?
Usually Facebook
For sure. It works out way cheaper swapping every year or 2 years max. Hanging on to a phone longer ends up costing more when it comes time to replace a phone worth nothing. It's good the majority don't understand basic math, otherwise we wouldn't be getting these prices on used phones lol
Glad you get it 😊
I have Fold2 for several years now, don't feel the need to upgrade.
But many people do it for the status.Some people look rich, they buy phones every year for $2k, some people are actually rich who keep hold on 5 years old phone and spend the money wisely.
I upgrade my iPhone every 2 years, work pays for almost half which is almost about $800. Upgraded from the 13 pro max to the 15 pro max, worth it IMO.