Consumerism is a huge part of our daily lives. Many of us are guilty of buying things on impulse and not using it, or have  habit of buying the latest gadget even if the ones we one are still functional. In our modern world, phones have become a necessity for most. I think that the biggest advantage of owning a phone is having the ability to communicate with others. This is important, for example,  if you are lost and need to phone someone for help, or even if live somewhere far away from the rest of your family and want to stay in touch with them. Personally, I don't really mind what model of phone I have, as long as it has the basic features of a phone, such as being able to call and text. Of course, having access to other applications are a plus, but we don't need them - they are a privilege.
If your phone or device is "broken", rather than throwing it away and getting a new one, you should consider bringing it to a servicing company and fixing it. Not only does this save you money, but it also saves you the hassle of setting up a new phone and transferring all your  data. Additionally, opting for getting your phone fixed saves approximately 16 kg of CO2 or more, which is the amount of emissions for an ordinary mobile phone.
Source: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalr … nment.aspx

I think society has come to the point where it "does" matter what kind of phone you have today just because of how technologically advanced we are in this generation. We've upgraded from huge brick-like appliances that can only be used to make calls to more convenient ones that do a huge multitude of things that have now pretty much become part of our every day lives. Technically we could still be alright with any other phone than ones such as the iPhone or Samsung, but at this point those would be more convenient and to our likings.
Also, it would be better for the environment to fix your phone instead of buying a completely new one, but companies these days are purposely making slightly "older" phones stop working solely for the purpose of having consumers buy the trendiest phones. I personally think that's a bit ridiculous.

I agree that consumerism is a big problem. Although understandable, it is a bit wasteful to buy the "latest" model, when it really is not necessary. Newer smartphones may be a bit more technologically advanced, and they may have amazing features. With several apps it is quite great to see how far technology has progressed. But it is wasteful to to get a new phone when one still functions perfectly well. If we keep the same phone, we can save both money and technological resources.