You seem to neglect one BIG reason why people hang on to their phones. The phone companies go beyond gouging with what they charge for new models. None of which do anything really better than your 4 year old phone or my 5 year old LG.
Totally agree with you. I still have a Kyocera Duraforce, it's a rock 4.5" rugged ip68. It's a pity Kyocera doesn't sell japanese versions of his smartphones abroad. They still make small rugged phones but for the japan market only
Hah! Two days ago,my wife and I finally got new phones after using hydro vibes for the last three years. The only reason I finally wanted a new phone was that the hydro wasn't able to stream audio to new Bluetooth devices. After troubleshooting off and on for a month, I had enough and we upgraded.