Repair or replace your phone? A cost-per-year decision guide

If your phone still does the job, get a complete repair quote before choosing its replacement. Then compare what each option would cost from today, the period you intend to use it, and the evidence behind its software support. A lower checkout price or a favourable repairability class cannot make that decision by itself.

Our starting point is the problem you need to solve: a worn battery, a broken screen, missing support, or a phone that no longer meets your needs. Keeping the phone is a valid outcome, including when there is nothing to buy through FixIndex.

Use this guide alongside the cost-per-year calculator. The figures below explain the arithmetic; they are explicitly hypothetical, not retailer prices or repair estimates.

Start with the decision you actually face

Do not make the old purchase price a reason to spend more today. That money has already been paid. For this decision, write down the future spending and trade-offs of keeping or replacing the phone. A repair may be a useful bridge to a later purchase, but that later purchase still needs a budget.

What does phone cost per year include?

The FixIndex purchase calculator uses:

(purchase price − entered resale value + estimated battery-part costs) ÷ years of use

The repair comparison uses:

repair quote ÷ years used in the comparison

These are planning tools, not complete bills or forecasts of a phone’s life. The purchase calculation estimates battery replacements only where rated cycles are recorded, using the charging pattern you enter. It uses an official battery-part price when available. Missing battery data is flagged; an omitted cost is not evidence that it will be zero. Labour, delivery, other repairs, finance charges and insurance are not automatically added. Read the calculation method and the notes beside your result.

The repair figure includes the quote you type, without predicting later faults or future resale. Use an all-in quote if that is the spending you want to compare. For positive periods shorter than one year, these calculators use one year in the divisor and show a note; use a separate cash budget if a short bridge period is your real question.

A worked example, with assumptions in plain sight

The following amounts and durations are invented solely to demonstrate the calculation. They are not prices, lifespan claims or predictions about any model. Future battery costs and resale are excluded from this simple example.

The first two rows use the same period. The third shows how much the repair result depends on your assumption. It does not establish that a repair will deliver either one or three years of use.

If keeping the phone only covers one year but your replacement plan covers three, the two annual figures do not settle the whole decision. What will you use during the other two years, and what might that cost? Do not insert a guessed future shop price to make the sums fit. Keep the unanswered part visible, or compare the options over a shorter common period.

Also check cash you need now. A lower annual figure does not make a higher upfront payment affordable. If you enter a future resale value, run the calculation again with that field empty to see how much your conclusion relies on it. A refurbished retail asking price is a purchase cost, not money you are guaranteed to receive for your old phone.

Which support date should you use?

Read both the date and its source on the model page:

• Manufacturer-published horizon: check the exact model and the policy’s starting point. For example, Google’s Pixel policy measures its periods from first availability in the US Google Store, not your individual purchase date.
• Derived EU planning floor: FixIndex can calculate a conservative reference from the first EU market date and a declared update period. This is a planning reference, not a confirmed date when updates stop. The EU regulation distinguishes the first unit’s market placement from the last unit’s; do not treat a launch-date calculation as the full legal timetable.
• Missing date: check the manufacturer’s current policy. Blank data is a question to resolve, not evidence of either zero support or unlimited support.

In the repair calculator, a published manufacturer date supplies the reference horizon. For a derived floor or missing date, you enter your own planned years of use. That personal assumption does not establish software support. A passed floor calls for a fresh check; it does not, by itself, tell you to discard the phone. The purchase calculator also lets you set your intended ownership period rather than silently accepting its default.

If you intend a different period for a phone with a manufacturer date, select “Not listed / enter manually” in the repair calculator and enter your planned years. Verify that model’s manufacturer support separately; this choice does not extend its support commitment.

A repairability class is not a repair quote

The European Commission’s label explanation treats repairability, battery endurance and drop resistance as separate measures. The repairability class runs from A to E. It is useful context, but it cannot tell you what a local repair of your particular fault will cost.

Open the official part-price table to understand the available component evidence. Then ask for a quote covering diagnosis, the actual part, labour, taxes and any delivery or return charges. Where a part has a return credit, check the conditions before treating the reduced figure as the amount you will pay. A part-only price should not be compared with another provider’s complete service price as though the two cover the same work.

The repair enquiry checklist helps you prepare those questions. It does not supply a diagnosis, promise a repair outcome or create an appointment.

Work through FixIndex in this order

1. Identify the phone you have and the one you might buy. Start in the phone catalogue; save up to three candidates in your shortlist. Storage needs, important apps and everyday use come before a price ranking.
2. Read the support source and the relevant part information. Follow the links on that exact model’s page. Distinguish manufacturer evidence, calculated references and missing information.
3. Check the actual replacement variant. Open “Compare retailer offers” on the chosen model page. Select your country and compare storage, colour and condition. A listing with an unknown detail remains a separate listing; do not assume it matches the cheaper named variant.
4. Enter your price and planning period. Use the purchase calculator with a total you would actually pay. Review the battery assumptions and missing-cost notes. An observed retailer price may be up to seven days old; confirm the current total with the seller.
5. Add your complete repair quote. In the keep-your-phone section, select your current phone and check whether the horizon comes from a manufacturer date or your own planning input.
6. Resolve what could overturn the result. A missing diagnosis, unknown variant or unverified support policy matters more than a small difference in the displayed annual amount.

Save the decision and return with a quote

Use the repair worksheet when you want to keep your own figures and update them later. Enter a common planning period, the complete repair quote and any extra costs, the replacement checkout total and any proceeds from selling or trading in your current phone. Use the checkout amount before any proceeds you enter separately; if the retailer has already deducted a trade-in credit, do not subtract it a second time. Record expected later spending for each path separately. A blank is an unknown amount; enter zero only when that is your assumption.

If a repair would only cover part of the period, include the later replacement in that path’s spending before treating the plans as comparable. A parts-only price does not become a complete repair quote because it has been entered in a calculator. The worksheet compares planned cash costs; it does not predict reliability, confirm software support or include the phones’ resale values at the end of the period.

Press Save to keep one worksheet in that browser. Its amounts are separate from your owned-phone check-in and are never included in a shared phone comparison. A comparison link lets someone else preview public model choices and a country before deciding whether to save them to their own shortlist.

What would make us lean toward either option?

Repair makes a stronger case when the phone still meets your needs, the quoted work addresses the actual fault, and your intended use is consistent with the support evidence you have checked. Replacement makes a stronger case when repairing it would not solve the problem you need solved, or the complete costs and practical limits no longer suit your plan.

We do not use a fixed percentage of a new phone’s price as an automatic repair cut-off. Nor do we treat the lowest displayed annual figure as a verdict. Reliability concerns, downtime, accessibility needs, available cash and the uncertainty in your assumptions may change the choice.

When you are ready to shop, return to your chosen model’s offer comparison and confirm the exact listing with the retailer. FixIndex may earn a commission from marked retailer links; that does not change this decision process or the order of offers. Read the affiliate disclosure.

Sources and scope

This is an editorial decision guide based on FixIndex’s documented calculations and the primary sources linked above, checked on 3 November 2026. It is not a hands-on review. The worked amounts are arithmetic examples; we have not presented them as observed prices, repair-success rates or future resale forecasts. Current model evidence belongs on the linked model and tool pages, where its source and date can be checked.

How shop links work: Affiliate disclosure.