For the average person, I think, longevity counts a great deal when it comes to shopping for smartphones. While some people upgrade every year or two simply because they can, most of us can’t afford to drop that much cash on something that isn’t a substantial improvement. Would I like the upgraded telephoto camera in the iPhone 17 Pro? Certainly, but if that’s the main attraction, there’s not much cause to switch from my 16 Pro.
If you’re concerned about getting the most for your money rather than succumbing to techlust, you’re in the right place. There’s more involved than material durability, though — battery health and practical relevance are equally if not more important factors. That last point might sound a bit abstract, but I guarantee it’ll make perfect sense by the time I’m done, and it may be your top consideration.
The forces that rule your iPhone’s lifespan
General durability and IP rating
In terms of material quality, iPhones are pretty resilient. It’s not too difficult to find used iPhones that are over a decade old, yet intact and functioning. And their durability has largely improved since then, incidents like Bendgate being outliers rather than the norm. The iPhone Air is actually one of the toughest products Apple has ever made, despite also being one of the thinnest.
Part of this can be chalked up to better structural design, but a lot of it has to do with the materials themselves. The exteriors of iPhones are built primarily from metal and glass, that metal consisting of titanium, stainless steel, or high-grade aluminum. The glass is a weak point — but thanks to Apple’s collaboration with Corning, it’s increasingly resistant to cracking. Apple’s latest iPhones are able to survive naked drops in many scenarios, although I’d still strongly recommend a rugged case, especially one with a raised lip to protect the display.
An iPhone might as well be immortal short of accidents and defects, but there is a major exception: water resistance. While most recent iPhones have an IP68 rating classifying them as effectively waterproof, water seals inevitably degrade over time, particularly if you actually make use of that protection. If you accidentally drop an iPhone in a fountain, a five-year-old model is more likely to break than one you just bought. Something a decade old might theoretically survive — but I wouldn’t take that gamble.
Battery health
When it comes to physical issues, this is the one most likely to force an upgrade. All iPhones use lithium-ion batteries, which are rated for a finite number of full charge cycles. There are a variety of steps you can take to prolong battery health, such as keeping charge between 20 and 80% as often as possible — but much like waterproofing, battery degradation is inevitable, and only accelerated by elements like excess heat or letting power drain to zero. As a battery degrades, its maximum capacity shrinks.
How long can you expect an iPhone battery to last on average? For the reasons I’ve mentioned, there’s no fixed timeline, but Moblie Klinik suggests that an iPhone should hold up to 80% of its capacity after 500 charge cycles. Realistically, that’s about two years of charging every day, assuming you’re not running on fumes every time you plug in. The more precautions you take, the better you’ll do, and newer iPhones may hold out for hundreds of additional cycles.
The problem for many people is that a battery can cease to be useful long before it’s fully degraded. Even 80% might be too little if you’re a frequent traveler who can’t count on being able to plug in at a moment’s notice. On the other hand, if you have chargers everywhere you go, health might be irrelevant until it’s almost completely vanished.
iPhone batteries can be replaced by first- and third-party technicians, though the price sometimes deters people. Sure, it would only cost $119 to swap the battery in my 16 Pro — but that’s money that could be put towards newer hardware.
Software and hardware support
Like most companies, Apple imposes cutoffs for tech support, since it doesn’t want to pay for the labor and other resources that infinite care would require. The cynical view, naturally, is that it also wants to nudge you towards an upgrade.
When it comes to longevity, the concern here is that five years after an iPhone is discontinued, Apple labels it “vintage” — and after seven years, it’s deemed obsolete. Once a model is shoved into the obsolete category, Apple stops all hardware service, and doesn’t provide parts to third-party technicians. You might still be able to find someone with the necessary tools and components, but if you want a convenient repair, that might already be out of the question.
Software support is slightly better. iOS 26, for example, is compatible with devices as old as the iPhone 11 and second-gen iPhone SE. That’s six years ago, and as of this writing, it’s entirely possible that iOS 27 will maintain the same compatibility.
That matters not just for bugfixes and app compatibility, but security. Apple does sometimes issue security patches for outdated versions of iOS — but as a rule, most of its efforts are focused on pushing iOS forward. If security is mission-critical, there may be no choice but to buy a new phone around the seven-year mark.
Practical relevance
This is a fuzzy category, but an immensely important one. Simply put, an iPhone can sometimes perform alright physically and have official support, and nevertheless prove increasingly troublesome to use. That’s because of feature support, which is at the whims of Apple, app developers, and accessory makers.
Consider Apple Intelligence. That’s become a tentpole feature, yet it’s simply off-limits for anything prior to the iPhone 15 Pro. You might not care too much about it now, given that Apple is still fixing the tech. Once the updated version arrives alongside iOS 27, however, even an iPhone 14 Pro Max might begin to feel like an antique, and that’s intentional. FOMO is a powerful marketing weapon.
There are plenty of similar examples. If you’ve got a newer set of AirPods, you can’t set up Personalized Spatial Audio without an iPhone with a Face ID camera. If you want to play console-quality games like Resident Evil: Village, you should really be looking at an iPhone 16 Pro or later if you want the smoothest performance. The processor in an iPhone 15 Pro will only deliver adequate framerates.
Practical relevance is going to vary based on your needs and interests. It tends not be dire, thankfully, until an app you depend on is no longer being updated for your iPhone. You may be cut off not just from features, but entire services.
So how long should you expect to keep an iPhone?
A few final thoughts
Buying one today, three to five years is a reasonable expectation. Although battery capacity may start to become noticeably smaller after two years, your iPhone should remain usable for a while longer. You should also be fine on the water resistance front for many years, assuming you’re not prone to dunking your devices or spilling things on them.
The real reason I’m giving that timeframe is the relevance factor. In my experience, five years is about as long as you can go before the “backwardness” of an iPhone starts to become conspicuous, whether in performance or capabilities. Your mileage may vary — I’d encourage you to hold out longer if you can — but I wouldn’t expect to be using an iPhone 17 Pro in 2036.
