I’m actually not too sure about that. I am currently using an older iPhone (and I really dislike Apple, it’s just that the stupid device just does not stop working) and from an environmental perspective, throwing that away would surely be worse than continuing to use it, right?
Exactly the reason I got a second hand iPhone coming from Android. All my androids would suddenly get a stroke after three years at best. My old boss would hold a funeral for his 10 year old iPhone which worked great but shattered after a bad drop.
My initial thought of an "old" iPhone would be one without Touch ID (square home button), but it's actually insane to think that a 10 year old iPhone today is the iPhone 6. That iPhone has (had?) 3D Touch, Touch ID, and Apple Pay. Those all still sound like modern features to me.
I have devices with Android 4.4 still working smoothly. All these apple anecdotes that think Android just blows up after a few years is a shitty cope at best. There are also probably more old Android phones surviving in the wild considering how affordable they are and usually more repairable.
And guess what? without the OEM updates and playstore not having compatible apps usable anymore, there's still troves of opensource apps and development going on that make it still viable as an alternative usage like media consumption, storage, security camera, and more.
Unlike Apple, where you're just bound to a single store and no sideloading.
Android OEMs do suck at supporting their devices, is bloated but that doesn't mean they all commit mass suicide after few years as sheeples think.
All of my old Android devices are still working. I only had to upgrade to a new phone last year because the few apps I use target a recent Android version and won't run on the old devices. The stupidest one of all is my gym which requires their app just to check in and the app only runs on Android 7+.
I fully accept that what might be environmentally good today is not wholly obtainable. This things like this are what I must do as a part of the society that doesn’t have better means for whatever reason.