Mobile phone makers hit by consumers extending upgrade cycles

Portland

IT is payback time for handset makers that long profited from Americans' tendency to upgrade their mobile phones early and often.

US consumers got a taste for phone financing two years ago and never looked back. They bought fancy new devices for a few more dollars a month with no service contract attached. Now, they are holding on to their old smartphones longer than they did when they signed two-year contracts and got freebies, spelling further trouble for manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co and HTC Corp that have struggled with declining sales.