When should you upgrade your smartphone?

How do you know when it’s time to replace an old mobile phone?

Woman holding a broken mobile phone
It usually costs around £170 to repair a broken screen
(Image credit: © Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Your smartphone “is your everything now”, says The Wall Street Journal. Once governments start issuing digital driving licences there will be little point in owning a wallet anymore. From paying bills to monitoring our health, we do practically everything through our mobiles. But how often should we replace them?

Some technology addicts upgrade their phones every year, lured by the latest innovations (100-megapixel cameras! Super-fast charging!). That’s an expensive habit. The technology has matured so annual upgrades are less game-changing than they used to be. Shoppers have noticed. According to research by consultancy Strategy Analytics last year, consumers in western Europe waited more than three years on average to replace a phone, compared with just over two years in 2015.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.