7 things your next phone needs if you want it to last for years

Most people don’t upgrade their features anymore Android phones every two years. It is now the norm for consumers to replace their devices every three to four years. It also doesn’t hurt that carriers accept 36-month and even 48-month contracts.

So if you’re buying a phone with the intention of keeping it for three or more years, I totally understand. But before you put down your money or sign the contract, I have some tips to keep in mind if you want to buy a phone that will last for years and years.

My first tip when buying a smartphone for the long term is to make sure it lasts a long time update policy. This means that the phone will receive software upgrades for many years to come, bringing new features and keeping the device secure.

Top-of-the-line phones from Google, Samsung and HONOR offer seven years of operating system and security upgrades, making them top performers in this regard. Meanwhile, high-end phones from the likes of Xiaomi and OnePlus often come with four major OS updates and six years of security patches. At the other end of the spectrum, cheap Motorola phones typically only get two OS updates and three years of security patches.

In other words, if you plan to keep a cheap Motorola phone for five years, it will stop receiving updates right after the midpoint. This means that your device will not be protected against newly discovered vulnerabilities. The lack of Android OS upgrades after two years also means you won’t get many new features.

All smartphone batteries degrade over time, effectively losing 20% ​​of their capacity after a certain number of batteries charging cycles. That’s why your new phone lasts longer than the same phone two or three years later. However, phone batteries don’t degrade at the same rate.

Some phones’ batteries are rated for 800 charge cycles (that’s about two years) before losing 20% ​​of their capacity. Phones from Google and Apple are rated for 1,000 charge cycles. Samsung is top dog because its flagship phones are rated for 2,000 cycles (over four years) without effectively losing 20%. This means that if you have a Samsung phone and a Pixel device with the same battery capacity, the Pixel will see a more severe decrease in battery life after a few years.

Needless to say, you’ll want to check how many charge cycles your next phone is rated for if you don’t want your battery life to drop off a cliff after a few years. Manufacturers sometimes put this information on their product pages, but they can also be grumpy about it. I would also recommend you to visit EU EPREL database to find these details.

There’s more to a smartphone long battery life more than charging cycles, though. The actual battery capacity also plays a big role if you want to keep your phone for a long time. Anyway, who cares if the phone’s battery drains very slowly when the battery capacity is small?

I would recommend getting a phone with a large battery (5000mAh or higher) as this softens the blow of degradation. A phone with a medium-sized battery will effectively become a small-battery device due to ~20% capacity loss over time. However, a phone with a large battery will become a phone with a medium battery.

Of course, you ideally want a phone with a large battery as well and slow degradation. But a huge battery can help compensate for typical degradation. Additionally, a phone with a large battery doesn’t need to be charged as often as a phone with a small battery, so charge cycles won’t add up as quickly. However, even a phone with a large battery will see a noticeable decrease in endurance after five or six years.

As you use your phone over the years, you’ll accumulate a ton of files. This includes photos, videos, documents, downloaded podcasts, offline playlists, and WhatsApp-related information. So if you plan to keep it for a long time, I recommend getting a phone with a lot of storage. So you’re not likely to run out of memory after a year or two. It also means you don’t have to constantly clean up files to free up space.

I would suggest getting a phone with at least 256GB of storage in 2026, as 128GB is enough for recorded media, downloaded music, etc. can be filled quite quickly with The good news is that the latest flagship phones from Apple, Samsung and most Chinese brands offer 256GB of main storage. However, Google’s Pixel phones and many mid-range devices still start at just 128GB. This isn’t bad if you don’t use the camera much or upload photos and videos to the cloud often, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Another option is to find a phone with a built-in microSD card slot that allows you to expand your storage with a memory card. Unfortunately, this feature is mostly limited to that budget android phones and Sony’s high-end Xperia devices.

Many smartphones slow down over time, so it’s worth considering a phone with good performance. Like battery degradation, a phone with average performance on day one can be a stuttering mess four or five years later. But a phone with good performance out of the box should still be relatively smooth or at least satisfactory. The big difference is that you can always replace your battery, but not your phone’s processor.

In addition, manufacturers and Google are constantly bringing new features to their phones with every major update. Some of these features require a relatively powerful phone, putting you at a disadvantage if your device doesn’t have enough horsepower. If you’re a mobile gamer, you should also consider the performance of the device, because a phone with disappointing performance in 2026 is unlikely to support the most demanding games in a few years. My rule of thumb is to buy phones with Snapdragon 8 series chips, the latest Snapdragon 7 series processors, Dimensity 8000 or 9000 chips, Samsung’s Exynos 2×00 series, or Google’s Tensor line.

Some Chinese brands like OPPO, vivo and OnePlus also make interesting claims about long-term performance. For example, OnePlus claims that the Nord CE 6 Lite will maintain its smoothness for five years, while vivo made the same claim for the V50. I imagine if these phones had average performance on day one, that promise just means they’ll have the same average performance in five years. I’d still prefer a good chip and a decent amount of RAM (8GB or more) over these claims. But if you want to keep your phone for three years or more, it’s something else to keep in mind.

Another important point is the durability of the phone. After all, you don’t want your new device to break after the first drop. There are several factors related to sustainability that are worth knowing.

Perhaps the most important point is the type of protective glass on the phone screen. Gorilla Glass is the most popular protective glass solution on the market, but there are many versions. Some cheap phones use older versions of Gorilla Glass (i.e. Gorilla Glass 3), but if you want more robust protection, you should really look for the Gorilla Glass Victus series and Gorilla Glass 7i. Some of the most durable phones on the market use ceramic-based protective glass such as Gorilla Glass Ceramic, HONOR NanoCrystal Shield and Gorilla Armor to increase scratch resistance. Does the phone you’re looking at have a glass back? Then you should also make sure that the back cover is protected by Gorilla Glass.

You should also check your phone IP ratingexpressed in two numbers (for example, IP53, IP68). The first number indicates dust resistance, and the second number indicates resistance to fresh water. This means that a phone with an IP53 rating can withstand dust and splashes, but cannot be submerged in water. At the same time, a phone with an IP67 rating or higher is protected from dust and can be submerged in water. Some phones have no prominent IP rating, but may have “waterproof” designs. Translation: You can probably use the phone in the rain, but that’s about it.

Another key tip when buying a phone for long-term use is to make sure that repairs won’t be a problem. Officially sold phones in your country often have official or authorized repair centers, but it’s a good idea to double check.

If you’re not averse to DIY repairs, you should find out how easy it is to repair your future smartphone. The iFixit the platform often posts written articles and videos detailing how the phone can be repaired, complete with 10 points. The JerryRigEverything and PBKReviews YouTube channels also provide excellent teardown videos. Otherwise, Fairphone is the undisputed king of repairable phones, HMD has also released several repairable phones in the last few years.

Even if you don’t plan on repairing your own phone, you should find out how easy it is to get replacement parts for your future phone. Some brands sell replacement parts through their websites or through repair centers, while others may partner with iFixit. Companies like Google and Samsung sell spare parts in the US, which Google confirms offer them seven yearsaccording to their phone update policy. This is good news and means you won’t be stuck if you need a new screen or battery in five years. It also means you can buy spare parts, then take both the parts and your broken phone to an alternative repair shop if you wish.