Apple iPhone 11

iPhone 11 coming up on 7 years old in December, still at ~85% capacity. Really it mostly depends on how heavily you use it, and maybe to a lesser extent charging habits (charging slowly, not charging to 100%, etc).

The battery in my iPhone 11 pro (6.5 years old) is still basically fine as long as I charge it every day. None of my previous smart phones were able to keep enough charge to be useful after 3-4 years.

I've had the same phone for over 6 years now (iPhone 11). It's a bit slower now, but I suspect that's more to do with software changes than anything else. In particular the battery is still in pretty good shape.

Apple phones are typically fully supported supported for 7ish years, and security updates for longer. For example the iPhone 6s, a ten year old phone, still received security updates this fall. My 6 year old iPhone 11 is still trucking along fine. I did opt for a new battery recently, but the old battery was still at 78%. Quite frankly, its pretty incredible that a device that lives in my pocket, has been frozen and exposed to extreme heat, has gotten wet, and is probable my most used possession is running great, and probably will be supported by the manufacturer for another 4 years. Lock in seems exaggerated to me, but if that's what worries you, then the Fairphone is promising a decade of support, and Samsung is offering 7 years now on the s24.

Add me to the group. I’m on iPhone 11 and I couldn’t be happier. I do follow their new launches and then look at what I have. It looks and works like new, have absolutely no complaints. 6+ years and going strong.

When I moved to iPhones a few years back (death of Windows Mobile, and I wasn't suffering Android again, see every reason under the sun why), I set some really hard limits on not being in the ecosystem. It's a good phone, but I won't buy paid apps, do not accessorize beyond a case. Everything I use tends to just be client apps for things I do on the web at a desk. (Apparently a few years ago was... like six years. Dang the base model iPhone 11 got me really far.)

I never understood screen protectors. In 15 years I have never used a screen protector on any smartphone, and have also never had any scratches on the screen either. On average, I keep the same phone for 3-4 years (current phone is an iPhone 11, coming up on 6 years old).

The problem doesn't seem to apply to other Apple devices. The iPhone 11 I've been using every day for the last 6 years is still working exactly the same as when it was new, all while still getting the newest OS updates.

My first and only iPhone is 11 which is going very strong, 6th year running. It works as good as new, the physical device has taken its fair share of abuse but is nearly as good as new. Every year I’ve been vaguely following iPhone launches which over index on camera capabilities and recently intelligence. And yet not once have I felt that I’m missing out on anything because honestly for my use what I have is perfect and will probably be like this for 5 more years. I wonder what % of iPhone users are like this. Happy with their 11/12/13/etc and see no reason to upgrade. I suppose the dip in sales is inevitable give this so maybe Apple needs a new entry level model to go after newer segments.

Eh, I use an iPhone 11 that's 5.5 years old, with the original battery and to this day the battery life is not noticeably different from when it was new. It's the first iPhone I bought and has lasted longer than any of the three Android phones I had before it.

You don't need to put a case on phones. I've had an iPhone 11 since it came out, with no case, and quite a few drops onto hard floors. It's still fine. Obviously there's some luck involved but the only time I put a case on a (in that case, Samsung) phone it shattered the first time I dropped it. So, I figured I might as well go without again. I've yet to have an iPhone break from a fall, only from leaning up against something with it in my pocket.

I think this is Apple's not-so-secret weapon. Apple is just more willing to invest into a product line and build it out for a longer time before throwing in the towel. I saw this really fascinating video from NeXT computers the other day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtnX1EJHbC0 It's Steve Jobs talking about their opportunity and it's not hard to see how this strategy is in large part what he executed at Apple. It's about building out the best product you can for the "Professional" class and then also capturing all the market share by people with lots of money that think they need Professional product. Part of that strategy though sorta has to be continued investment, because you can't get a bunch of people to buy $3000 headsets and burn them and not suffer some sort of fallout for that. When you compare it to how its basically a meme at this point that Google is going to kill anything that isn't an instant success or even stuff that is successful but they just don't want to anymore. Apple is sorta the polar opposite. I have an iPhone 11 in my pocket, released in 2019 this thing still works great and iOS 18 will support it 5 years after purchase. I don't think the Apple Vision product is particularly compelling right now, but if they keep iterating on it I imagine I'll probably want the Vision Pro 3

My iPhone 11 from October 2019 (launch) is at around 75% on the battery. It is actually pretty amazing considering the device has been in continuous around the clock use (powered on) for nearly 5 years.

I've been using an iPhone 11 for 4 years now (also, reminder: the 11 was launched 2 years prior to when I bought mine). I replaced the battery earlier this year as it wouldn't last to the end of the day any more but besides that it's showing no slowdowns or any other issues.

"when pigs fly"... Edit: I've owned almost 10 Google android devices: nexus 5, 6, 5x, pixel 1, 2, 3, 6 pro, and a couple tablets Of those, maybe 2 of them were stable after 2 years. Who cares if Google "promises OS updates" for 5 years if the updates are so unstable that the phone is unusable. Meanwhile, it's not uncommon for people to be using 3+ year old iphones with no complaints. My iphone 11 (~4 years old) feels much snappier than my pixel 6 pro (~2 years old).

And what did you do with them? Throw them away? I bought and used an iPhone 11 for a year last year, and it came with a perfectly functional, replaced battery. People on HN have such a blind spot around old, used phones which thrive in secondary marketplaces. You'd think iPhones are filling dumpsters with the rhetoric here but they actually hold their value remarkably well, which means they have a much longer useful life. A replaceable battery is different from a user-replaceable battery. The former is a sustainability concern, the latter is just a feature.