Yes, I’m afraid the phone will probably die in a few year.

I like your idea to record the sessions of browsing the phone. That seems less technical and better chance to keep it ‘forever’.

My primary objective is to find a way to preserve this phone in its current state, exactly as it is now, in a virtual environment. I want to capture everything - SMS, WhatsApp messages, call records, photos - exactly as they were at this moment in time. While I understand that apps like WhatsApp and photos can be backed up and restored to other devices, my goal is different. I wish to maintain the phone’s current state, preserving this snapshot in time, out of concern that the physical device might one day break beyond repair since it’s a old model.