My daily driver is still a Samsung Note 8. Yes, from 2017. Screen is almost unusable in sunlight, usually needs a mid-to-late-day charge, and I officially can't use banking apps. But it still does 90% of what I need it to; not bad for $600 used (so less than $80/yr). I think it's a route everyone should consider. Less resource consumption, better for the environment, and if you're a smarter person than I am, you'd take the hint from any decreasing utility and ween yourself off your phone reliance altogether.

I've thought about using my experience as street cred for a gimmicky YouTube video - "I'm selling ONE $60 iPhone 17 case for $5000, to encourage the lucky owner to keep using their phone for at least 5 years! (You're not buying a case, you're buying a promise to yourself~)" - but I had enough trouble selling mobile accessories at MSRP in a past working life, so...

It’s a fair question. The battery is on the border of needing to be replaced, which is a $79 repair and would probably buy me another three years or so. But at this point I want something a bit snappier and I’ll probably replace the battery and use it as a backup phone.

Same here. Battery health is 84% which is not disastrous. But charging is a chore. The charging port doesn't work half the time (a problem in the car especially). I would also like it to be lighter, which I probably won't get.

If you like taking pictures with your phone, the cameras are still improving steadily enough that you'll see meaningful improvements if you upgrade every three years