All iPads How long should an iPads lifespan be?

[Alex Cai]

On which iPad did you install iPadOS 16? How’s battery life? How’s it running?

iPad Pro 2017, iPad Pro M1.
The 2017 one is quite nice, no bugs and runs smoothly. The battery life is tha same as before(gotten a bit worse because of using it for 5years). It can’t handle games since nowadays games require better performance, but video calls and some 1080p video editing is enough
This post is typed with iPad Pro 2017

 

[ian87w]

As a "computer," it should last at least 10 years. Many computers, even macs, from 2012, are still usable today. The problem with iPads is that Apple's monolithic OS upgrade, mainly for Safari. The browser is so critical in today's life that it should be decoupled from OS updates. There's no reason for iPads no longer receiving OS upgrades should be stuck with an older version of Safari. It's worse that any browser on iOS is basically Safari, thus 3rd party browsers won't solve the problem.

 

[3401122]

I still have an iPad Air 2 (2014). Well, 16Gb are basically useless, I struggled even to install the latest update only with stock apps installed. The battery of course is dead and lasts less than a hour, but the speed is honestly "fine".
If you want to watch netflix, youtube, or scrolling facebook it does the job. Safari browsing also is not that bad.
But I guess everybody would just use the phone, it's just smoother even if you lose the big screen.
iPads last not more than 8 years, only 6 for still great usability.

 

[Digitalguy]

I’m still using 10.5in iPad Pro 2017 (pencil+keyboard) for study
For those who chose 8+years, how can you use an old iPad that doesn’t get the newest os and is slow and not smooth? It looks outdated and have old display and battery

that's the situation now, a M1 will not look old or not be smooth after 8 year and the display is great... Battery is just a matter of how you manage it (most people have no idea of how to manage a battery...)

 

[chevyboy60013]

I have the iPad Pro 11 inch m1 as well as the 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 inch and use both on a regular basis, the only thing I wish the 2017 got with ipadOS 16 was stage manager like the m1 did. Both do what I need them to do, and likely would not have got the m1 iPad Pro if I didn’t get it at an awesome deal on craigslist.

 

[FeliApple]

Air 5. Battery life is fine. It runs fine. I have no real concerns. I'm not sure that basing a decision not to update something, because of one bad experience 9 years ago, is a good plan, but up to you I spose.

It’s not 9 years ago. My 9.7-inch iPad Pro was forced back in 2019. The 6s I mentioned was forced back in 2020. I’ve read countless reviews by people who mentioned that battery life keeps getting worse, iPhone Xʀ users on iOS 16 report 5-6 hours of screen-on time. I get twice that on iOS 12 with heavy LTE use. This is still happening. It won’t stop. People incorrectly blame battery health, but it is irrelevant if the device isn’t updated.

I‘ve read several reports of M1 iPads having worse battery life on iPadOS 16, when you say fine, is it exactly the same? Have you measured it? How’s screen-on time? Performance will be okay, updates don’t impact performance like they used to, but at some point it will be worse (or it might not, maybe the M1 is powerful enough to offset increased requirements. We will see that in a few years). And even if battery life decreased, it is probably not hugely significant by now: after all, this is only the first major update. Performance might be fine with the M1 long-term. Battery life… I wouldn’t be so sure.

 

[FeliApple]

iPad Pro 2017, iPad Pro M1.
The 2017 one is quite nice, no bugs and runs smoothly. The battery life is tha same as before(gotten a bit worse because of using it for 5years). It can’t handle games since nowadays games require better performance, but video calls and some 1080p video editing is enough
This post is typed with iPad Pro 2017

Yeah, performance has gotten a lot better. Battery life isn’t worse due to the 5 years, it is worse because of the updates. My iPhone 6s on iOS 10 has like-new battery life with a supposedly unusable battery (63% health). But I reckon it will still be decent enough, maybe that’s why it doesn’t bother people. I have a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 which was forced by Apple from iOS 9 and battery life with light use is significantly worse (from 14 to 10 hours, it dropped immediately and it never recovered), but yeah, 10 hours can be called decent, many would be happy with that battery life (I am not, which is why I upgraded to the Air 5).

Is the battery life on the M1 iPad Pro exactly the same as on iPadOS 15? Have you measured it? I’ve read many reports of people who have measured it and it’s worse. Not abhorrent, but noticeably worse.

 

[callihan_44]

nowdays I base it on battery life, todays devices are mature enough that its harder for companies to improve much upon them ...a decade ago I upgraded my phone once a year, my current one is 3 years old and dont plan on replacing it anytime soon unless the battery goes further south. An ipad for me is a luxury item that compliments my other devices so I personally wouldnt upgrade probably for 5+ years

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

iPad Air 5 would already be useless, considering it will stay on iPadOS 15.6.

This is your choice though, it hasn't stopped receiving updates. You've stopping giving it updates.

 

[Fraserh02]

This is not how you make a poll. You clearly have bias in your answers because there isn’t even an option for 1-3, 3-5, etc. I’d argue that even your smallest option 5-7 years is at the later end of the scale. Personally, I think iPad software support should be about 5/6 years. Obviously you could use it longer than that without the latest features. But this is all subjective. To some people, the lifespan may be 4 years? It just seems silly that the options are so large scales. How is there an option for it to be 10-15 and 15* years but not say 4 years? The scale is too large and shows a bias towards longevity being unreasonably large which is kind of pointless in asking then.

 

[Unami]

After 10 years the feature set and power demands are likely to have moved on significantly, even with the current relative plateau. Additionally the possibility of random component failures starts to shoot up rapidly, so while you could keep a device going that long and longer (assuming it survives) with battery replacements etc, you're still likely to miss out on a ton of features.

A good example are the unibody MacBook Pros, which are all now just about a decade old. Due to the fantastic modularity of these, allowing you to add RAM, SSD storage, change batteries, swap faulty components, many are still going strong. However, you are still stuck with a non Retina, non ProMotion, non XDR, display with poor colour accuracy and viewing angles, the core 2 duos in the oldest models are reaching their limits, and you lack other quality of life features brought by the new trackpads, newer Bluetooth and WiFi modules, Touch ID, upgraded speakers, the selection of ports on offer etc etc.

I got a unibody macbook pro from 2009 - got it for VJing and the occasional video editing, so it was more or less unuseable for that after 5 years. But I've swapped the HDD for an SSD and added more RAM and despite the battery only lasting for half an hour it's still working fine after 13 1/2 years and I still occasionally use it to run older software or boot up linux or plug in an ethernet-cable. Apart from it needing a new battery, it would still suffice as an office/email/internet computer probably even better than the ipad air 3 I use for that (the iPad is faster, but work-speed on a desktop-OS still beats iPadOS by a large margin)

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

This is not how you make a poll. You clearly have bias in your answers because there isn’t even an option for 1-3, 3-5, etc. I’d argue that even your smallest option 5-7 years is at the later end of the scale. Personally, I think iPad software support should be about 5/6 years. Obviously you could use it longer than that without the latest features.

Anyone answering that the lifespan of an iPad should be less than five years isn't worth listening to, though. The question isn't about how long you would use it for – which might reasonably be less than that – but the lifespan of the device itself. If you think iPads should be built to be trashed after half a decade then yeah, you don't get an option in the poll and you can try and make that point yourself.

 

[M1956]

It depends what you mean by 'lifespan'. I have an ipad air 2 from 2014 which is perfectly usable, so its lifespan is at least 8 years. in that sense i would say the lifespan should be at least 10 years. However, the screen is a pain to look at after MBP mini-led propotion, and the lack of pencil support, stereo speakers etc makes it hard to use today. By this definition the lifespan was 4-6 years. Latter definition depends entirely on what new technologies will be available in the future, so it is impossible to predict the lifespan. Latest ipad pro could well last 15 years, but if some amazing VR headset gets introduced in 5 it might not be worth using anymore. Extending 2nd, subjective lifespan is only possible by stopping future innovation which is suboptimal.

 

[FeliApple]

This is your choice though, it hasn't stopped receiving updates. You've stopping giving it updates.

Yes, and it has drawbacks, just like updating has its drawbacks. As long as I am willing to put up with them, it’s fine.

I disagree with the premise that an iPad is useless because it isn’t receiving updates, however, which is frequently repeated. I use my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 and barring a couple of websites that no longer work on iOS 12’s Safari (literally, I reckon I haven’t been able to access a select few number of websites), I use it just like I use my Air 5, with no issues.

 

[JokoWidodo]

Until the software update ends.. so its 6-7 years

 

[okkibs]

Since you asked for ideally, I chose 15 years. It would really be ideal if I could use any device for 15 years. The first iPhone is 15 years old now. Even if Apple officially supported it today, what could you realistically do with it? The display doesn't even have a high enough resolution to play a 480p Youtube video and would probably die just trying to somehow fit that on the screen. It wouldn't even be good as a regular phone, just browsing through contacts would be tedious not to mention it couldn't connect to any modern networks.

I disagree with the premise that an iPad is useless because it isn’t receiving updates, however, which is frequently repeated. I use my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12

I mean iOS 12 isn't that old, it still received minor updates until a few weeks ago. The issue is way more pronounced with devices that haven't had updates in multiple years. In a year or two you'll find more and more websites broken. Your iPad Pro couldn't even connect to my Wifi network as it doesn't support WPA3. I'd have to downgrade to a known-insecure version for my entire network just to get this one old device online. "I don't think so Tim."

 

[schneeland]

I personally don't use them that long (that's more like 3-4 years), but I think 8-10 years would be nice for people that use them until they are broken or completely unusable (e.g. my parents). I would expect them to receive only bugfixes for their software after the usual 5 to 7 years, though.

 

[imagineadam]

We still have our one and only iPad 4 that we got November 2012. Every once and awhile I use it to watch something on Netflix while I’m on the treadmill. Otherwise it just sits. It’s a bit slow by todays standards but still working 10 years later.

 

[FeliApple]

Since you asked for ideally, I chose 15 years. It would really be ideal if I could use any device for 15 years. The first iPhone is 15 years old now. Even if Apple officially supported it today, what could you realistically do with it? The display doesn't even have a high enough resolution to play a 480p Youtube video and would probably die just trying to somehow fit that on the screen. It wouldn't even be good as a regular phone, just browsing through contacts would be tedious not to mention it couldn't connect to any modern networks.


I mean iOS 12 isn't that old, it still received minor updates until a few weeks ago. The issue is way more pronounced with devices that haven't had updates in multiple years. In a year or two you'll find more and more websites broken. Your iPad Pro couldn't even connect to my Wifi network as it doesn't support WPA3. I'd have to downgrade to a known-insecure version for my entire network just to get this one old device online. "I don't think so Tim."

Yeah, I have a 6s on iOS 10 and web browsing isn’t great. I can’t install minor updates because my iPad supports the latest version of iOS, but I understand your point. For now, web browsing is good. Like you said, in two years? Maybe not so much. Perhaps it is better than iOS 10 is now, I don’t know. We’ll see.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

There needs to be a 3-5 option as well. And a 2-3. I find any device to be long in the tooth by 5 years. I don’t understand why so many people in these forums are trying to get 8-10 years out of macs and iPads. They are incredibly dated before that time.

 

[TechRunner]

But while I would like to buy stuff that lasts that long, it’s very likely that after 3-5 years I’d want a new device. New features, better support for my workflows, more appealing design…

This is the point I've reached too. I used to buy tech with the notion of it potentially lasting 7-10 years, but found myself wanting to upgrade/update well before then. Now, I plan on 3-5 years, and typically hit that mark.

 

[EdT]

I was thinking about how long I can use an iPad for, its a convenience device for me, browsing, forumming, reading books and some youtube videos. I don’t want to buy a new model every few years, that just costs money while I have no use for an even better screen or faster processor. I also don’t want to contribute to the mountains of e-waste western society generates.

Instead, shouldn’t we have ipads that last 10-15 years rather than the 5-7 that we get currently?

The problem is that an iPad is not just a display screen. It’s also CPU and GPU as well as a software OS and a good way to get code bloat is to have a wide variety of old to new devices and software that requires certain hardware that the older models don’t have. This already occurs but the longer a device hangs around the bigger the problem will become. People will complain that App X doesn’t work on their 8 year old device, and some of them will complain loudly and at least threaten lawsuits.

Now, if we could get companies to make and people to buy modular and upgradable devices that would put the incompatibility problem onto the consumer. But manufacturing prices for these devices would go up and initial sale price is a big consideration for any electronic device.

 

[Reggaenald]

We still have an iPad 2 from 2010 running iOS 9.
It’s slow, but it’s working perfectly fine despite that. The display isn’t delaminating, the battery still goes strong. If only iOS 9 would be…

 

[jagolden]

No, I will never update it and I am not concerned. A brief history of my experience with iOS updates:

-Updated iPod Touch 4G to iOS 5 for iMessage, considerably slower than iOS 4 (willingly)
-Updated iPad 4 to iOS 7 for some reason, obliterated. Worse battery life, full of bugs, horrible. Decided not to update anything ever again. Last iOS update I’ve ever installed on purpose, back in 2013.
-iPad Pro 9.7-inch, forced from iOS 9 to iOS 12 by Apple’s A9 on iOS 9 activation bug, battery life obliterated.
-iPhone 6s, forced from iOS 9 to iOS 13 by Apple’s A9 on iOS 9 activation bug, completely obliterated. Battery life is barely 3 hours with very light use, performance abhorrent.

That’s all. Current devices: iPhone 6s on iOS 10, iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15, iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12. I still have the 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12. Performance is better than the 6s, but not amazing. I also have my first iPhone, an iPhone 5s on iOS 8. Screen is broken and it isn’t worth fixing, but it still works. I will never update anything again.

On which iPad did you install iPadOS 16? How’s battery life? How’s it running?

Apparently the sky is falling as it seems every update you’ve ever tried has ‘obliterated “ every device.
Yes, I’ve installed iOs/iPadOS 16.2 Dev beta 3 on all my devices. Have been consistently doing this since iOS 15 Dev Betas. 16 is pretty flawless. 15 had some annoying glitches but certainly didn’t “obliterate” anything.

When ine person appaers to have everythin go wrong on every device, I have to paraphrase Steve Hods and say ‘You’re doing it wrong”.

 

[antiprotest]

Setting the minimum to 5 years in a poll is kind of weird. Even if you think the minimum should be 5, in a poll you are not going to get accurate results. You have to allow options that are possible even if you disagree with them. For me, I think the minimum should be 2 years, but up to 5-6 years would satisfy me in terms of getting my money's worth. A lot depends on the purpose for that particular iPad, and whether I decide to go cheap or go all-in for that specific purchase.