Let’s be honest: probably not. If you bought anything remotely decent in the last few years, chances are it still runs fast enough, takes photos sharp enough, and scrolls TikTok smoothly enough to make the “upgrade cycle” feel like an increasingly transparent sales tactic. The same goes for tablets, laptops, gaming rigs, headphones basically every slab of tech companies re-announce every 12 months with the solemnity of a national holiday.
Even though manufacturers keep pushing out barely-different versions a new color here, a 5% faster chip there most people simply don’t need them. The hardware has plateaued at “good enough,” and consumers have figured it out.
But hold on, responsible adult. According to some economic commentators, your rational decision to keep using a perfectly functional device might be dragging the entire economy by the ankles. Yes, really.
A new CNBC analysis frets that by refusing to upgrade, consumers are putting pressure on an economy that depends heavily on constant cycles of buying, discarding, and rebuying. Apparently, by being financially responsible, you might be undermining the entire consumption-driven engine that trillion-dollar corporations depend on.
The data backs the trend: Americans are now holding onto their smartphones for an average of 29 months, up from just 22 months in 2016, according to a Reviews.org survey. And with tech prices rising and wage growth sputtering, people are understandably reluctant to shell out another $1,000 for marginal improvements.
It’s easy to see why. Modern smartphones are absurdly capable. Their cameras rival traditional DSLRs. Their processors run circles around laptops from not long ago. Their screens are brighter, faster, and smoother than the TVs most people have in their living rooms. And with battery tech gradually improving and operating systems artificially throttling older devices becoming less tolerated, the argument for upgrading gets thinner each year.
Still, publicly traded companies don’t want sturdy, long-lasting products — at least not ones that last too long. When someone buys a device that keeps working beautifully for five years, that’s five years of missed sales. The classic example: Instant Pot. Its products were so durable and so well-liked that the company essentially sold itself out of business. With everyone already owning a pressure cooker that lasted forever, there were no repeat buyers. Sales tanked, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2023 before being snapped up by private equity.
That’s capitalism’s worst nightmare: a product you only need to buy once.
Sure, the repair industry has blossomed in part because people are holding onto devices longer. But companies like Apple continue making repairs difficult, expensive, or borderline impossible by linking parts to serial numbers and locking down software so tightly that “right to repair” activists have spent years lobbying lawmakers just to give people the right to fix their stuff.
And the irony? If governments and tech giants fully embraced refurbishment, repairability, and long-term device support, we could build a genuinely sustainable tech ecosystem. Phones could circulate longer. Fewer devices would end up as e-waste. Consumers would save money. Businesses could create new revenue streams in refurbishment, rather than pure replacement.
As Steven Athwal of The Big Phone Store told CNBC, if refurbished devices were supported and promoted at scale, we could finally break the cycle of endless, unnecessary upgrades — and stop financially punishing people and businesses for wanting gear that actually lasts.