According to Statista, average consumers keep their smartphones for about two and one-half years. Surprisingly, this figure peaked in 2019 at almost three years. At that time, many industry watchers believed this trend would continue to increase as manufacturers developed more durable and expensive smartphones.
Still, the replacement cycle started to drop again during the pandemic. Perhaps the focus on acquiring better technology to work remotely prompted phone owners to replace older models with newer ones. Also, many large manufacturers have released innovative new products in the past several months. Advances include better connectivity, enhanced displays, faster chipsets, and more storage. These enticing benefits might have prompted plenty of early upgrades.
Also, the resale market for high-quality smartphones boomed. For instance, top manufacturers offer generous trade-in programs, which can provide an incentive to trade up more often. Early adopters can enjoy the latest models, but budget-minded phone shoppers can still get a good value on a refurbished phone with plenty of useful life left.
Why Should Smartphone Owners Back Up Their Smartphones?
It’s easy to replace a smartphone, but recreating the data is difficult or even impossible without backups. Even the most careful smartphone owners know they can't always plan for the exact replacement date for their phone.
Smartphones might suffer damage from accidents, power issues, or software problems. If the phone is out of warranty when this happens, it might be necessary to buy a new one. Or if the phone is replaced under a warranty, they cannot transfer data that isn’t backed up. Other reasons to keep smartphones backed up include the risk of hacking, theft, hardware failures, and accidental data deletion.
The Easiest Ways to Create Backups for Android and Apple Smartphones
Luckily, the most popular operating systems have built-in features that make backups simple. Users can even set their phones to keep everything synced automatically. For instance:
- Wired offered simple instructions to back up an Android phone by turning this feature on in the settings. Google Drive provides 15GB of storage for free, and users can purchase extra storage from Google One for a modest fee. Up to six family members can share bought storage.
- Similarly, Apple offers users a setting to send wireless backups to iCloud or a Mac PC. Apple phone owners can also send the backups to a Windows PC, but they might need a cable.
How to Protect Smartphones
Some smartphone owners put off buying a new device because they dread transitioning to a new phone. Modern operating systems, proper apps, and regular backups make this process relatively quick and straightforward. In addition, keeping backups means that phone users never need to lose valuable files if they can't recover their devices after accidents, cyber attacks, or software issues.
In turn,
Upsie subscription warranties for smartphones protect devices against such common issues as drops, water damage, power failures, and more. Robust protection helps pay for professional repairs, and Upsie customers get to choose between local or mail-in repairs.
Upsie helps smartphones perform longer, but it's still a good idea to keep them backed up. Upsie claims representatives will answer the phone 24-7 to expedite claims and repairs. In addition, Upsie has an industry-low cracked screen deductible of $0.
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