[somesortofsystm]

People got used to replacing them every year.

And Apple have been out-selling themselves for years.

So, the gravy-train factor is pretty high, one might say.

I mean, I say this as an avid junky. I've got a stack of iPhones in front of me from the very beginning, and on the basis of my .. pockets .. as well as an admission that I have changed my behaviour over the years to, literally, 'treasure' my thousand-euro pocket communicator, (without which for some reason life is difficult) .. and not scratch it up as much.

A good case helps too.

And in most other cases - I'd just buy another one anyway, if things got really distracting... I mean, this stack ain't getting smaller, yo.

[jacobush]

No - Apple products have the longest life span. It's the cranked out Android generics which are replaced often. I'm not saying it's a good value for money, it may or may not be for different folks. But it just aint true that Apple products get replaced excessively.

[Yetanfou]

My more than 8 years old Motorola Defy begs to differ, as does the equally old Ainol Novo tablet I bought around the same time. Both devices run Android 4.4, an older but still usable version for which new software is still produced. The Defy has a replaceable battery, the Novo does not but both still work fine on the original versions albeit with a certain loss of stamina (Defy: 3 days on a charge, Novo ~4 hours of actual use/about a week standby).

In other words, yes, you could and can get Android devices which last for a long time. I does not need saying that both the Defy as well as the Novo were far less expensive than the 'equivalent' Apple devices - where 'equivalent' means 'iPhone 4' for the Defy and nothing for the Novo as Apple at that time did not have a mid-sized (8" 1280x768) tablet.