[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chrcol:
I find this comment interesting.

Smartphones are extremely expensive. They are actually overpriced but they priced how they are due to demand.

People get phones either.

1 - via contract, contract length average is 18-24 months. so new phone every 18-24, 12 month contracts I have seen but they less common.

2 - outright purchase, PAYG phone. However this is expensive for high end phones like the S4. Most people probably cant afford to do this every 6 months.

3 - used of ebay, passed down from family etc. again if people are buying of ebay they probably really stretched for cash so replacing every 6 months? seems unlikely.

I had my nokia 6300 for 4+ years, I am using my galaxy ace which I got in jan 2011. If I replace it now its had about 2 and half years use.

Android itself is too fragmented and has too many updates, android 5.0 this year? it seems like yesterday ICS got released and 4.2 JB is here. Google upgrading android every 6 months? thats incredibly fast paced, and here we have the answer as to hy CM support less devices. They cant keep up with google, they have to make stable versions before the next android is released. When next android is released they abandon older CM and start on new one, and the cycle continues.

The sad thing is new versions of android the new features are gimmicky, eg. I think GB is better than JB. face unlock? duplicated home screen as lock screen? seriously? these are killer features? Why would I want my lock screen to be a home screen, on JB when I press the home button to turn on the screen I see empty rectangles breifly light up as if its in some sort of debug mode, looks weird. Whilst the lock screen on the S3 TW is better they kept GB style plain and nice. then we have the fact that GB is faster than JB, and IC is also faster than JB.

That doesnt mean I think TW is the best, it has its issues, particurly in it cant be customised as much and it is slower with higher battery drain. Also a problem with AOSP is the dialer is a pile of crap in both ICS and JB, not a single dev has rectified it, it seems its tolerated because its newer.

If you guve users a choice of a nexus or CM to try and screw samsung over I think most will pick samsung. That appears to be the attitude coming from devs as some kind of protest. The nexus is a not a great phone, thats why people are asking for CM on the S4 instead of buying the nexus.

One reason why the S3 is so popular tho (and probably the S4 will be also) is that people who have reviewed the S3 have seriously misled, as if they in samsungs pocket. eg. its apparently a very slim device yet my S3 is no slimmer than my ACE and the S2 is slimmer than the S3. apparently its light, its 80% heavier than my ace and 50% heavier than the S2. its apparently great to hold, I almost dropped it yesterday trying to press the power button (which incidently is tiny), and of course the too small home button which is hard to press as well. The only thing great about the S3 is the screen for using it as a mini computer. I would say the S2 makes a better phone, especially as it can run GB. I can defenitly see now why many people are keeping the S2 over newer phones. Its as if android peaked at 2.4 and phone design peaked at around the S2.

The nexus with its lack of battery cover, physical buttons etc. is a no go for me.