Americans replace their cell phones every 2 years, Finns – every six, a study claims

How often do you replace your cell phone? Most of you will say that as long as their 2-year contract ends, they ditch their old handset for a brand new state-of-the-art phone, but you probably didn't know that this habit has helped rank Americans as the people who change their phones the most often in the world, according to latest data from Recon Analytics.

It shows that Americans change their cell phones every 21.7 months, while Finns in contrast have one of the oldest devices in their pockets and are changing phones every 74.5 months. The UK and Korea also treat cell phones like disposables with a 22.4-month and a 26.9-month handset replacement cycle, respectively. 

The countries where consumers used their cell phones the longest were Brazil and India, where people reportedly change phones every 80.8 months and 93.6 months. That translates into a 7.8-year replacement cycle for phones in India, which has the lowest standard of life among the 14 compared nations. The analysts couldn't prove a direct connection between the low number of pre-paid subscribers in a country, and the slow replacement cycle, but nevertheless countries where 2-year plans were prevalent scored the shortest in changing devices.

Interestingly, though, stateside people didn't completely fit into the two-year change a phone concept as on average they replaced phones three months prior the end of the contract, ensuing an early termination fee. This statistics spurs thoughts about just how much changing our cell phones has affected the growth of the industry. Just four years ago when the original iPhone launched, touchscreen devices were practically unknown, while now we're speaking about 4G and dual-core phones. How often do you find yourself changing phones? Feel free to chime in and leave a comments below!