> Also, it's a status symbol, you can't just _not_ upgrade.
You can choose not to upgrade.
Obtaining status symbols is a choice (and a pretty vain one too). Even if your lifestyle requires these empty displays of status, that's a choice of lifestyle that you've made.
You can be perfectly successful in life with a 5 years old phone.
Maybe we can do to phones what tech bros did to suits in the early 2000's. There's that saying, something along the lines of, "It used to be that everyone looked to the one in the suit, now everyone looks to the one in a hoodie." Maybe we can convince people that a run down secondhand phone is a display of wealth and power :P
You can choose not to upgrade.
Obtaining status symbols is a choice (and a pretty vain one too). Even if your lifestyle requires these empty displays of status, that's a choice of lifestyle that you've made.
You can be perfectly successful in life with a 5 years old phone.