Am I really saving money?

[Sugaree]

Last summer my phone finally gave up the ghost.  I ended up replacing it with a refurbished version of the same thing (Galaxy S5) for about $100 from Amazon.  Last night, 34 days after the warranty period expired it decided to completely quit taking a charge.  This was unsurprising because I'd been having some issues with it for a couple of weeks.  I tried switching out the charger, adapter, and battery, but no dice.  It's not even recognizing the fact that the charger is plugged in.  The phone that I replaced was also a refurbished S5 from Glyde and it lasted 18-24 months before succumbing to similar battery/charging issues.  I think it was $185.  I'm likely going to go ahead and go with a used S8 Active from Back Market, but I can't help but think that spending $100 every six months isn't really any better than spending $800 on a brand new phone that I'm likely to get 4 years out of. 

[Pigeon]

I came to the same conclusion about buying used/refurbished.  Instead, I switched to buying relatively inexpensive Moto G series phones for the four people in my family, and we've been pretty happy.

[dcheesi]

Yeah, most of my phones die of a bad charging port. If you can't get power from the charger into the battery/phone, you can't do much with it.

I considered buying a wireless charging adapter  once to work around the problem, but I think the compromises with that solution are too great. So far I'm too cheap to buy a phone that has it built in (and those usually don't have easily replaceable batteries, so you're just shifting the likely failure point around).

[terran]

You might consider spending somewhat more, but not going all the way to brand new. I've had good luck with used iPhones. March will be 5 years since I bought my 5s for $320, and still going strong (battery not as good as it was, but still ok). We bought my wife's iPhone 7 a little over a year ago for $295. So our sweet spot seems to be buying 1.5-2years after the model's release date for around $300, and (hopefully) keeping for 5 years.

[Sugaree]

You might consider spending somewhat more, but not going all the way to brand new. I've had good luck with used iPhones. March will be 5 years since I bought my 5s for $320, and still going strong (battery not as good as it was, but still ok). We bought my wife's iPhone 7 a little over a year ago for $295. So our sweet spot seems to be buying 1.5-2years after the model's release date for around $300, and (hopefully) keeping for 5 years.

This was pretty much my reasoning for buying the S8.  Yeah, it's still three years/generations old, but it's a huge step up from the S5 and is only running (I think) one version of Android from the latest.  I considered an A9, but I'm not really sure what the difference is between the S series and A series.  I'll probably start throwing a couple of dollars aside each paycheck for the next replacement.

[Sugaree]

I came to the same conclusion about buying used/refurbished.  Instead, I switched to buying relatively inexpensive Moto G series phones for the four people in my family, and we've been pretty happy.

I looked at that one.  All I really require out of a phone is to be able to run a small number of apps and most of them will work on Android versions going back to 5.0.

[DaMa]

+1 for Moto G at ~$100 every 3 years for new.

I'm on my third.  Used the first one for 3 years, and bought a new one for faster internet.  Used the second one for 3 years.  The battery charge on this one was not lasting.  I could have probably gone another year, but Amazon had the G6 for $99 on Prime Day so I bought.  The 1st one still works -- I use it to play a game over WiFi most days.  I think I paid $100 for the 1st one, and $150 for the 2nd one with extra memory (which I probably didn't need).

[ontheway2]

I think expecting a 6 year old phone to last more than one year but expecting a new phone to die after 4 is the issue. Personally, I buy new but never full price. My current is one year old and was only $240.

[kpd905]

I usually just grab a new phone that is 2-3 models old, for about $200.  Keep it for 3+ years, rinse and repeat.

[Mgmny]

Just because the Samsung Galaxy 20+ Prime and the iPhone 47 XXL get all the press and attention does NOT mean you need to be spending ANYWHERE NEAR $800 for a phone.

Go to Amazon. Find a highly rated chinese phone for ~$200. IF YOU MUST, you can get a new phone every year with the latest specs (and eventually build up a backlog of stacks of functioning "backup" phones when you accidentally crack the screen or flush it down the toilet) for the same price as 1 iPhone.

Realistically though, just buy a $200 chinese phone and then use it for 4 years and then repeat. I've been using my Huawei Mate SE ($220) since September 2018. It works beautifully. Photos are good enough, and I've had no charging, battery, hardware problems.  My only complaint is that it doesn't have a gyroscope, so it makes viewing 3D photos in a headset using my phone impossible, but guess what? I've gotten over that even though I'm an avid-3D photosphere taker. 90% of users won't even miss the gyroscope. In my next phone, i'll just make sure the model has a gyroscope, but I digress.

Get a $200 phone with awesome specs.

[Mgmny]

Quick amazon search to get started:

$190 https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Display-Snapdragon-Cameras-Unlocked/dp/B07JMPGNHK/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=xiamo&qid=1579201679&sr=8-6

$120 https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Display-Snapdragon-5000mAh-Unlocked/dp/B07Z8BL2VW/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=xiamo&qid=1579201679&sr=8-4

$170 https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Redmi-Factory-Unlocked-Smartphone/dp/B07YJHXZT6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=xiamo&qid=1579201679&sr=8-1

[Mgmny]

Check this out:

https://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Samsung-Galaxy-S10+,Xiaomi-Mi-8-Lite/phones/10960,11152

Ask yourself if any differences you see between these phones are 1) perceivable and 2) worth $600 to you (or $600 / take-home hourly wage = life energy (hours)).

[moneypitfeeder]

+2 for the Moto G's, I had an older one I loved and was only abt $25 after rebate signing up with Cricket, but was short on memory. Got new (to us) motos off Ebay for a fraction of the cost and they have been great. (G5 plus & X) Hubs replaced a Samsung Galaxy (problem with holding charge/instant shutdowns) with a moto X and has been really happy too. 1 yr plus with no issues.

[Ecky]

Agree with others. I've had terrible experiences with used/refurbished phones, the sweet spot seems to be with new budget phones. My wife's Moto G is excellent. If I were to get a new phone now, it would be somewhere between a Moto G and a Pixel 3a.