Battery Issues Are a Top Reason Americans Replace Phones, Survey Finds

According to the Reviews.org Smartphone Lifespan Report, batteries are one of the top reasons why people upgrade phones, beaten only by performance issues.

That means phone upgrades are increasingly driven by day-to-day usability problems rather than a desire for the latest models and features: 18% of respondents cite battery issues as their main reason to upgrade, and 22% cite poor performance.

Smartphone battery problems can be frustrating, whether it's quick-draining batteries, slow or sporadic charging, or sudden drops in battery life.

The No. 1 driver of upgrades is performance. With 22% of people seeking faster performance with an upgrade, it's a sign that people don't want to deal with slow internet performance or unresponsive phones.

If you're using your phone daily, you get used to the feature set, but it's hard to get used to declining performance. Lag or battery drain is a clearer signal for people to upgrade rather than marketing for new features.

Americans upgrade about every 29 months, usually out of necessity instead of want.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults (Sept. 8, 2025) emphasizes this: Only 13% of respondents cited new features, compared to the higher percentages with usability issues. People aren't primarily motivated by "shiny new features," debunking the yearly-upgrade myth.

With a barely smaller percentage than those who upgrade for new features, 13% cite a broken or lost phone as the main reason. In other words, they don't have a working phone and need one, rather than wanting to keep up with the latest trends.

The average cost of a new phone is $634.35, which people pay about every two and a half years. It's no small price, and that means a phone’s battery and performance are more consequential than its shiny new features.

Smartphones are part of our daily lives, and for the most part, we think more about what they do for us than the device itself. So when normal, everyday performance starts to slip, we just want a phone that works.