[newsclues]

Do many people really have a stockpile of working old phones?

From my observations, phones get destroyed, used until the battery swells and breaks them, or handed down to kids or less careful users. No one I know has a bunch of old phones that are still useful but unused.

[fer]

I have Nexus 5, Xiaomi A1, Redmi Note 7, Samsung S7, and a Kindle Fire HDX, all running either LineageOS (Kindle) or PostmarketOS (the rest). PmOS ones run some not very demanding containers (scrapers) on k3s.

[t-3]

I have a drawer full of old phones with broken screens, obsolete chipsets, etc. I usually buy phones rather than get them through a contact plan with trade-ins though.

[pornel]

There are recycling and trade-in programs that could collect compatible phones and pass them on in bulk.

[jstanley]

They're not useful as phones, because the battery, screen, radio, etc. are damaged; but they may still have a working CPU inside, which would be sufficient for this project.

[david_allison]

I have a large amount, some are occasionally useful when debugging.

[nosioptar]

I did before the switch to volte.

I recycled them wheb carriers decided to block a bunch of phones.

[jeffbee]

The article mentions the Pixel Fold. I suspect Google possesses every Pixel Fold ever made.