[darkwater]

That was true 15-20 years ago. Nowadays changing the phone is basically because:

1) battery dying / not lasting enough

2) shattered glasses whose replacement costs 35-40% of the cost of the phone new (for budget/mid-range phones, not everybody has iPhones)

distant 3rd) not enough free internal storage

[yangm97]

Unrelated note but, cheap/midrange phones are a scam, you almost always get better value purchasing a second hand premium one.

[aembleton]

How is buying a midrange phone new a scam? Just because a second hand premium one is better value (assuming you don't place any value on being brand new). You buy it knowing full well that it isn't a premium device but most people don't need a premium device.

Are non-premium new cars a scam too?

[garbagewoman]

How is it not a scam?

[aembleton]

It is clear what you are buying

[NoGravitas]

Eh, I don't find my Pixel 8 to be notably better in any way that I notice or care about than the Moto G that it replaced, except for the fact that it runs GrapheneOS.

[dathinab]

also camera just not being satisfying enough anymore is a big deal

sure on highest end phones you have very good cameras since a long time by now, but even there they find improvements here and there (e.g. zoom, low light pictures, even better image stabilization)

but middle to lower end phones are still have major improvements in every generation of a certain brand/line/price category. And you might be satisfied with a "acceptable" quality camera, until everyone around you has way nicer photos, or you now have a reason to make photes you didn't had in the past, or you get older and your hands a bit unsteady etc.

[darkwater]

TBH we are in the terrain of diminishing returns also for those phones and cameras, IMO.

[infecto]

Batteries are generally a cheap fix from third party stores. If you wanted to keep the phone why not spend the small dollars and just replace the battery?

[darkwater]

Because you need to bring it to a shop, sometimes they may keep it for more times, sometimes if they are not that honest they will find something else and factory reset it and a long etc. If it's something one can do at home by one self as an expected and supported by the vendor operation, why not? You can still bring it to a store if you don't feel like crafty enough to do it.

[rootusrootus]

Indeed, even directly from Apple a new battery is a whole lot less expensive than getting another phone.