BGR Urges Smartphone Upgrades After 4 Years or During 7-Year Support Windows

1 articles · Updated · Boy Genius Report · Aug 3

BGR says most users can skip annual phone refreshes and should upgrade mainly when a device is more than four years old, shows clear wear, or no longer handles everyday apps reliably.
Significant discounts are the best trigger to buy, especially through carrier promotions, trade-in events, preorders, holiday sales, and clearance periods for older inventory.
Seven years of software support from Samsung and Google gives owners more flexibility, while brands offering only two to four years can force earlier upgrades because of security and feature limits.
Performance failures such as crashing apps, overheating, weak battery life, and struggling RAM are key signs a phone is obsolete, particularly for demanding games that benefit from top chips like Snapdragon 8 Elite or A19 Pro.