We Deserve Better Software Support for Smartphones
Consider a "normal" use case for a smartphone: calling, texting/instant messaging, browsing the web, using social media apps, and taking pictures. For those uses, a smartphone 5 years ago is just as good as one today. All you really need is a decent processor and a stable internet/5G connection to get a lot of value from your phone. We've had that for years now. In theory, you should be able to keep a smartphone for quite some time. Maybe 10 years?
That does not happen in reality, though. Sure, the hardware stays relevant, but the software does not. That could be due to a myriad of reasons, but the main ones I see are poor optimization for older hardware as new versions are released and dropping support after a few years. Apple has gotten better about the latter point: they offer 6 years of software support while Google offers 2 for Pixel devices. However, it still seems like every manufacturer sucks on the former point.
We deserve better than that out of our smartphones. They're expensive, and we should be able to get the most value out of them. Right to repair initiatives have helped tremendously with that, making it easier to keep your phone's hardware running for longer. However, it doesn't matter if you can repair your device if software support ends after 2 years. You might as well go buy a new phone anyways.
For these reasons, I use a refurbished Google Pixel 5 (at this point, a 5 year old phone) running LineageOS. When my iPhone XR stopped receiving software updates in 2024, I made the switch. I spent $200 for a decent phone that still runs well today. It is far from the easiest path, though. It's a janky process to install the OS and keep it up to date. I've run into several issues as I've figured out the most reliable way for me to use it. It's missing some features that the average person would need, but I am fine without. This is a lot of work to save $400 or more on buying a brand new phone. People shouldn't have to do that to get the most money out of older hardware.
Again, we deserve better. For our wallet's sake and the planet's.