The honest answer to when to upgrade your phone is almost always later than the marketing suggests and earlier than the stubborn answer allows. Two published numbers settle most cases: how long your model still receives security updates, and how far the battery has aged against its own specification. Everything else, including the camera comparison you were about to read, is a preference rather than a reason.
Updated October 2026. Support windows, battery ratings and EU requirements are quoted from the manufacturers and regulators listed in Sources and vary by model and region.
When to upgrade your phone: start with the support window
A phone stops being safe to use for banking and email when it stops receiving security patches, and the dates are now published. Google commits Pixel 8 and later to seven years of Android version and security updates from the date the device first became available on the Google Store in the United States, with five years for Pixel 6, Pixel 7 and Pixel Fold, and states that Pixel 5a and earlier no longer receive them. Samsung states seven generations of operating system upgrades and seven years of security updates for the Galaxy S25 series from the global launch date. On the Apple side the compatibility list is the evidence: iOS 27 still supports iPhone 11 and later, plus iPhone SE second generation and later.
Since 20 June 2025, EU ecodesign rules have added a floor beneath all of this. Operating system updates must be available at no cost for at least five years from the end of placement on the market of the last unit of a model, spare parts including the battery must be available to professional repairers for seven years after that point, and batteries must manage at least 800 charge cycles while retaining at least 80 per cent of initial capacity. The energy label shows the repairability class, the drop reliability class, battery endurance and the cycle count to 80 per cent, which is the comparison you want when a replacement really is due.
Check the battery before anything else
Most phones that feel old are phones with a tired battery. Apple describes battery lifespan in terms of chemical age rather than calendar age, and publishes the design figures: iPhone 14 models and earlier are built to retain 80 per cent of original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions, and iPhone 15 models at 1000 cycles. On iPhone 15 and later running iOS 17.4 or later, the Battery Health screen shows maximum capacity, cycle count, when the battery was manufactured and when it was first used. Apple also applies performance management when a battery cannot deliver the necessary peak power, which is the mechanism behind a phone that feels slower than it did.
A replacement battery is a fraction of a new handset, and it resets the symptom people usually mistake for obsolescence. Our guide to extending phone battery life covers what helps before you get that far, and freeing up storage fixes the other common cause of a phone that feels full and slow.
5 signs worth acting on
- Security updates have stopped, or stop within a year. This is the only reason that is genuinely non-negotiable.
- The battery is past its rating and a replacement is not available. Check the cycle count against the published design figure before concluding the phone is finished.
- A part you need is no longer supplied. EU rules require seven years of spare parts after sales end for phones placed on that market, so outside that window a cracked screen can end a device.
- Apps you depend on now require a newer OS. Not a preference, a hard stop, and worth verifying rather than assuming.
- The failure is physical and repeated. A port, a speaker, a camera module or water damage that recurs after repair is a replacement case.
4 reasons that feel urgent and are not
- A new model launched. An annual release says nothing about the phone in your hand.
- A better camera. Most recent improvement is in processing rather than optics, and some of it reaches older models through software.
- It feels slower. Check the battery and storage first. Apple’s own performance management is tied to battery condition.
- A trade-in offer expires. A deadline set by a seller is not a technical event. The same phone will be worth roughly the same next month.
There is an environmental argument too, and it is numerical rather than sentimental. Apple’s product environmental report for the iPhone 17 puts the 256 GB model at 55 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent across its life cycle, and states that Apple assumes three years of use time for an iPhone in that calculation. Keeping a working phone for a fourth or fifth year is the cheapest emissions reduction available to most people, and a refurbished replacement is the next best.
If you do replace it
Buy for the two things you cannot change later: the remaining support window and the repairability position. In the EU, read the label classes side by side rather than the spec sheet. Then decide between platforms on habits rather than headline features, which is what choosing between Android and iPhone is for, and wipe the old handset properly before you sell your phone.
Common questions
How do I know when to upgrade your phone becomes a real decision? When security updates have ended or are about to, when the battery is past its published cycle rating and cannot be replaced, or when a part you need is no longer supplied. Those are the cases where keeping the phone costs you something.
How long do phones get security updates now? Google commits Pixel 8 and later to seven years, Samsung states seven years for the Galaxy S25 series, and iOS 27 still supports iPhone 11 and later. EU rules separately require at least five years of operating system updates after the last unit of a model is placed on the market.
What battery capacity is too low? Compare it with the design figure rather than a round number. Apple builds iPhone 14 and earlier to hold 80 per cent at 500 cycles and iPhone 15 models at 1000 cycles, and EU rules require at least 800 cycles at 80 per cent for phones placed on that market.
Will replacing the battery make an old phone fast again? Often it helps, because Apple applies performance management when a battery cannot deliver peak power. It will not add features or extend the support window.
Is a refurbished phone a reasonable replacement? Yes, and it is the lower carbon option. Apple reports 55 kg CO2e for the 256 GB iPhone 17 across its life cycle and assumes three years of use time, so extending a device’s life avoids most of a new one’s footprint.
Sources and further reading
Where the figures and rules above come from, so you can check them:
- Update length by Pixel model: Google Pixel Help
- Seven generations of OS upgrades and seven years of security updates: Samsung Newsroom
- iPhone models supported by the current iOS release: Apple
- Battery cycle ratings and capacity retention by model: Apple
- Chemical age, maximum capacity, performance management and service advice: Apple Support
- Five years of OS updates, seven years of spare parts, 800 cycles and the energy label: European Commission
- Life cycle carbon figure and the three year use assumption: Apple, iPhone 17 Product Environmental Report
Photo credit: Smartphone Hospital ekimo Umeda by Mr.ちゅらさん, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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