SO. MUCH. THIS.
Bold of you to assume I don’t lose or break my phone every year or two
Yeah, the thing with phones is they’re used every single day, and see a lot more wear and tear than say, a Kindle or a laptop. Not everyone wants to fork out for an OtterBox or some other ultra tanky case.
I try and go four years between updates, but for my Pixel 4 that meant a warranty replacement on year two due to a charging defect, and buying another used Pixel 4 off a coworker three months ago when mine got water damaged. The replacement just shuts itself off randomly multiple times a day, and that’s fine for a couple months but I’m really looking forward to upgrading to the Pixel 8.
We probably shouldn’t treat phones like leading cars, upgrading every year because something shiny and new came out, but upgrading regularly just due to wear and tear makes a lot of sense.
Phones could be more resilient to wear and tear in the first place, though. Glass in the back is the stupidest thing ever.
I have a Pixel 6 and it’s like they specifically engineered this thing to be as drop-prone as possible. Without a case, it’s SO slippery.
