As an example the Samsung S22 Ultra, a high end phone that cost over $1000 at launch in 2022, will be effectively obsolete in a couple of months when Samsung ends support. There also doesn't seem to be a huge 2nd hand demand for this reason.
I'm curious what most people do with their smartphones after support ends. Do they end up as electronic junk even though the hardware is often still perfectly fine?
Those who are not that concerned with security will keep using it for a while or possibly look for some third party protection ... those who are worried about up to date security, if they are not able to do so themselves, will take it to a specialist to get something like GrapheneOS (or whatever compatible OS) installed.
Off-topic-ish note: Second hand prices where I am are ridiculously high, eg. Samsung S21 Ultra: $595 (although maybe 'the state of the world' is catching up to these high prices, or maybe I'm just a tight c)
Some of the following may be a little bit dangerous if connected to a network, but just make sure that it's a fairly locked down network, ie. fairly heavily restrict and monitor outgoing comms.
- LineageOS and relax
- "In case of emergency" device
- Portable entertainment-only device
- Offline authenticator app
- Offline crypto wallet (dangerous at the best of times)
Those who are not that concerned with security will keep using it for a while or possibly look for some third party protection ... those who are worried about up to date security, if they are not able to do so themselves, will take it to a specialist to get something like GrapheneOS (or whatever compatible OS) installed.
The rest just cross their fingers and hope for the best
Off-topic-ish note: Second hand prices where I am are ridiculously high, eg. Samsung S21 Ultra: $595 (although maybe 'the state of the world' is catching up to these high prices, or maybe I'm just a tight c)
Some of the following may be a little bit dangerous if connected to a network, but just make sure that it's a fairly locked down network, ie. fairly heavily restrict and monitor outgoing comms.
- LineageOS and relax
- "In case of emergency" device
- Portable entertainment-only device
- Offline authenticator app
- Offline crypto wallet (dangerous at the best of times)
- Webcam
- Backup 'target'
- Burner / Holiday phone
- Kids hand-me-down phone (duly sanitised)
They keep using them. Most uses don't give a shit about security updates.