As someone who makes enough money to buy a new phone every year if I wanted, I typically upgrade my phone (iPhone for what it's worth) every 4 years. My experience is that this is about as long as it takes for enough new features to accumulate to make me excited about an upgrade. By the end of this 4 year period, my phones are in a sufficiently good state to be sold, or passed on to a family member.

The idea that a typical person is expected to upgrade their phone every 2 years or so is almost incomprehensible to me.

This constant consumerism is destroying our world.

The main topic the article is talking about is a drag on business efficiency from a slower upgrade cycle and running workloads less efficiently on old equipment.

>Small businesses, in particular, lose valuable hours each year due to lagging systems, creating what economists call a ‘productivity drag,’” Benabess said. On a national scale, this translates to billions of dollars in lost output and reduced innovation. “While keeping devices longer may seem financially or environmentally responsible, the hidden cost is a quieter erosion of economic dynamism and competitiveness,” she added.

Of course it's on CNBC for writing the article this was. It likely never would have made it here without that spin however. State of the media environment.