The smartphone replacement cycle

According to an article in the BBC, people hang onto their old phone longer than before because of a phenomenom called "The smartphone replacement's cycle. The smartphone replacement cycle is maintaining a phone due to the fact that the latest model is too expensive to be bought. This provokes that manufacturers charge  higher prices for telephones at the high end of the market because of  the lack of profit and, in turn, users justify them not buying the new phone by saying that their old phone has got all the functions they need. Therefore, they do not rush out to buy a new model, keeping theirs for another year at least. In a mature market like present one where demand is equal to suppli, it will be very arduous for the companies to break this stalemate.