If you're the sort of person who upgrades to a new smartphone every year, you're in rare company. Most of us are holding on to smartphones longer than ever — and it's not a trend that's expected to reverse itself anytime soon.
Just how long people are holding on to their phones depends on who's doing the counting. Statista says U.S. consumer phones currently have an average replacement cycle of 2 years and 7 months, with that number expected to reach 3 years by 2026. We're already there, though, according to Assurant, which manages phone trade-ins for wireless carriers. In its latest report, Assurant places the average age of devices turned in for trade-in and upgrade programs at 3.5 years.
