Today, after nearly seven years, my iphone 6s finally gave up on me. I don’t know if it’s luck or my care, but I never had any issues with the charging lasting or with any lagging. Compared to new models that my family members have, my 6s is not noticeably slower, and I’ve never repaired anything other than getting a new screen.
Only a few months ago, the home button stopped functioned (touch id is still fine), but with assistive touch, it was only a minor inconvenience. However today, the phone started to glitch and the whole middle column section of the screen stopped responding to touch. Coupled with the broken home button (prevents forced shutdown), I’m pretty sure it’s beyond repair, but after all, seven years is a long time when others seem to go through phones every couple of years.
Because everyone I know seems surprised at the longevity of my 6s at it’s quality of performance, I wonder how much time can an iPhone really endure if treated with care but still used everyday. What do you all think?
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u/tiredsongtiredradio, our oldest iphone in our household is an iPhone 3G. That is the second iPhone device ever released by apple.
On that particular device (our iphone 3G) we have never replaced it’s battery, which it is severely degraded, so a charge lasts maybe 3 days max.
We use that device at home as a glorified remote control for our media center home theater system and as a media player.
Outside of iphones, we have 1st Gen ipod(s) as well and those, just like the iphone 3G, are all still working today (still with their original hardware, indlucing battery as well)
How long will they last?.. can’t tell you as they are still going strong todate.
iPhone last as long as its OS is up-to-date.
We have a collection of old iPhones. The top (64 gig) iphone 5 is still working at 1700 batt cycles. It’s a camera only with Alfred camera if needed. I wish we had the black version.
I had my iPhone 7 for 4 years and I only ditched it because of the battery. New iPhone models come with better software and better batteries, so they will last even longer without swapping batteries.
If taken care of, at least 5+ years with a battery swap.
I usually like “getting the shiny new toy” as mentioned in another comment. But my 12 pro max will be good for another 2 years (4 years of ownership) as the newer models don’t excite me.
People have had their iPhone 7+ and 8+ since they came out and are perfect okay. I think an average of 6-7 years is plenty.
Some more than others. iPhone 7, for example, had some issues with the earpiece and other hardware things. You see much less iPhone 7’s out there than 6s’s. The model is a factor. 6s is known to be one of the best, most resilient iPhones ever made.
I still have a working iPhone 4. I’m saving it for the day my iPod Mini dies. Still has the original battery and still takes a charge. My iPhone 6 that also works fine (I replaced it’s battery myself).
Ofc, I won’t use either as a phone, since iOS is so far out of date on them. Fine as media players, though.
I just replaced my iPhone XS with a base model SE 3rd gen purchased new from a 3rd party seller at less than retail. I’ll sell the XS to recoup some cost. New phone prices have gotten completely ridiculous.
I have had my launch 12 Pro Max since 3+ years now, still feels almost as good as new so I’d say till the software support lasts, maybe a year after that too so 5-7 years.
3-4 years is a reasonable time and it will still live but you may not have enough memory and the battery may not work too well. My se1 gen is still alive.
But I have experienced the charging port malfunction in all of my iPhones so far. Apple needs to work on that. I’m not sure how is the durability of the usb c port in 15 series
My iPhone 7 lasted 7 years before I replaced it a few months ago (with a used but immaculate 12 Pro)
The only reason I replaced it was it needed a new battery, and the screen was cracked in a corner so it would also need a new display - removing the display to fit the new battery would have caused the display to break into several pieces. If the screen had not been cracked I would have just got a new battery and continued using for another 1-2 years.
It never felt slow. And because it had the solid-state home button, that never wore out
when others seem to go through phones every couple of years
Those people either :
- want a new shiny phone
- were offered an upgrade by their network and thought the new phone was “free”, not realising that once a phone is paid off you can save a lot of money by moving to a SIM-only plan
- dropped/broke their phone
- didn’t realise you can fit a new battery to a phone and give it a new lease of life
Yeah. The phones that come with an expensive mobile carrier plans are ridiculous. Black Friday deals were not actually deals just humbugs
7 here and I might consider upgrading late 2024 or 25 if I can stretch it that far but for now it’s working just fine…
While there’s nothing official from Apple, 7+ years is a decent bet. That’s because:
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Historically (and this is absolutely not guaranteed), Apple has provided iOS upgrades (new features) for a period of 6ish years, plus iOS security updates/fixes (no new features) for an additional 1-2ish years. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone
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By California law, Apple must be able to repair an iPhone for a period of seven (7) years. Note that this says nothing about the repair cost which could be $$$$$. It also applies to California only, although I expect Apple will do this over a larger area.
However, in order to last 7 or so years, maintenance such as battery replacements must be periodically done (and most people here seem to be allergic to that). Having Apple do the battery replacement is recommended as some random repair shop might not use the best batteries.
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Probably between 5 to 7 years