"Never" is a false hope when the average lifespan of a phone is something like 2.5 years.
The battery will fail, it's just a matter of time. The screen will become cracked. The charge port will become corroded or loose. Water intrusion will happen and be unrepairable because it's inaccessible and uncleanable, not because anything's been dissolved.
Yes, eventually the hardware will be inadequate to keep up with modern apps and websites, but I think we're to the point of diminishing returns on laptops and close to it on smartphones.
And yes, eventually the software will not be supported, but that's a problem of hardware churn and economics, not engineering and durability.
A short lifespan is largely because it's not repairable, not in spite of it being repairable.
The battery will fail, it's just a matter of time. The screen will become cracked. The charge port will become corroded or loose. Water intrusion will happen and be unrepairable because it's inaccessible and uncleanable, not because anything's been dissolved.
Yes, eventually the hardware will be inadequate to keep up with modern apps and websites, but I think we're to the point of diminishing returns on laptops and close to it on smartphones.
And yes, eventually the software will not be supported, but that's a problem of hardware churn and economics, not engineering and durability.
A short lifespan is largely because it's not repairable, not in spite of it being repairable.