I've never really had this issue because I never had a low end phone. I only had 2 smartphones in my lifetime, a galaxy s3, and a galaxy s5. I got my s3 last summer in 2013 and it handled all the games I threw at it. This year in May I got the galaxy s5 which handled every thing I threw at it even faster. I love not being limited by hardware, but if I was I could make the best of it. The last 2 months I had my s3 i rooted it with cyanogenmod and it was like I had a new phone, no more touchwiz ui slowing it down.
i have, mobile gameplay is always preferred so it only makes sense that i go out and get a phone capable of running those games. i feel as if mobile gaming is the way of the future so i am going to hop on this roller coaster now
I have definitely thought about switching phones because the quality of the screen was much less impressive than other phones but I'm usually patient and wait for the problem to be fixed on the next phone.
Buying a new phone is probably better in my opinion. It adds variety to your life. Having the same phone for 5 years would be crazy! Changing things up is definitely the way to go.