All iPads How long should an iPads lifespan be?

[tdar]

I have a fifth gen that I am writing this on. IPadOS 16 has killed it. it doesn’t work nearly like it did until OS15. The simple fact that I upgraded it is the end of its life. It barely works now, and is always at the limit of available memory. Like it or not,it’s time for a new one.

 

[FeliApple]

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”.

My expectations are extremely high (because I know that on their original versions they work flawlessly, and anything short of that is poor for me), and re-reading my comment, the only exaggeration would be the battery life on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro. It dropped from around 14 to around 10-11. Occasionally, it is even lower than that, at 8-9. Nothing absolutely abhorrent, but significantly worse. For me, less than 10 hours with light use is absolutely pathetic. I’d never get that on iOS 9; yet occasionally, it happens on iOS 12. Another user might grab this iPad on iOS 12 and praise the battery life, saying “it is great on iOS 12”. It’s all about expectations and perspective.

You say you have iPadOS 16.2. On what device?

 

[reeneebob]

I have an iPad Air 2 that I still use. It can’t be updated further than is 15. It’s 9 years old. My hubby is still using my older original iPad Air.

Have they lost a step? Sure. But for what we use it for, they’re fine and I see no reason to upgrade.

 

[uller6]

I have two original (2010) iPads still in "regular" use. By "regular" use I mean they work for showing lyrics during band practice. They're terrible for everything else, but they still hold charge for ~3 months on standby (yes, 3 months between charges...)

 

[Digitalguy]

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.

One of the reasons is that not everyone uses 1 iPad, some people use 2, 3 or more. Some people want a 12.9, an 11 and a mini for different situations. And they may want one device to have the latest and greatest specs (e.g. 12.9) and for another they are fine with older stuff (e.g. mini). Also the "incredibily dated" part is partly subjectetly partly something that was true in the past and is much less so with the more recent iPad pros

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

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.

Again though I'd say: if you legitimately think the answer to the question "what should the lifespan of an iPad be" is "less than five years" you've misunderstood the question. It's not about how long *you* will use it for. It's the lifespan of the device. If Apple was manufacturing devices that were rendered functionally useless after five years, people would rightly be up in arms.

 

[bag99001]

Again though I'd say: if you legitimately think the answer to the question "what should the lifespan of an iPad be" is "less than five years", you've either misunderstood the question or are an idiot. It's not about how long *you* will use it for. It's the lifespan of the device. If Apple was manufacturing devices that were rendered functionally useless after five years, people would rightly be up in arms.

Not sure I agree with that. For a $300 iPad, I think five years is more than generous. I think they CAN last longer, but I don't think many other similar Laptops or Tablets in that price range have anywhere near the longevity of an iPad. Five years is not unreasonable for a $300 device.

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

Not sure I agree with that. For a $300 iPad, I think five years is more than generous. I think they CAN last longer, but I don't think many other similar Laptops or Tablets in that price range have anywhere near the longevity of an iPad. Five years is not unreasonable for a $300 device.

Just because bad, wasteful devices exist doesn't mean they should exist or we shouldn't expect better.

 

[Fraserh02]

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.

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.

 

[Richard8655]

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?

I strongly agree with the premise. Electronic e-waste is a contributor to worldwide pollution and the climate crises.

I try to keep mine as long as possible, meaning as long as the latest OS is supported, even though I can afford a new one every year. I have two 5th (2017) generation iPads that are running just fine, and I'm happy Apple has decided to make the effort to include this older model for support under iPadOS 16.

 

[now i see it]

Apple couldn’t exist if everyone replaced their gear every 15 years. They’ve got 160,000 employees who need to be paid every month.
As much as it seems wasteful to have to replace an idevice every 5 years — think of it as supporting the company that makes all that stuff

 

[ian87w]

Apple couldn’t exist if everyone replaced their gear every 15 years. They’ve got 160,000 employees who need to be paid every month.
As much as it seems wasteful to have to replace an idevice every 5 years — think of it as supporting the company that makes all that stuff

That's the whole point of services. You're not only giving Apple money once for a device purchase. You'll be giving Apple continuously through Apple One subscription, Music, tv, In-app purchases, and of course, accessories. That's how you balance the long life cycle of a product.

 

[jagolden]

My expectations are extremely high (because I know that on their original versions they work flawlessly, and anything short of that is poor for me), and re-reading my comment, the only exaggeration would be the battery life on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro. It dropped from around 14 to around 10-11. Occasionally, it is even lower than that, at 8-9. Nothing absolutely abhorrent, but significantly worse. For me, less than 10 hours with light use is absolutely pathetic. I’d never get that on iOS 9; yet occasionally, it happens on iOS 12. Another user might grab this iPad on iOS 12 and praise the battery life, saying “it is great on iOS 12”. It’s all about expectations and perspective.

You say you have iPadOS 16.2. On what device?

I am running most current dev Betas on iPad Mini 5, 2020 iPP 12.9”, and iPhone 14 PM. Previosly was running 16 betas on iPhone 11 PM, and 15 Dev Betas on iPhone 11 PM.

 

[bag99001]

Just because bad, wasteful devices exist doesn't mean they should exist or we shouldn't expect better.

A little overstated. I'm talking about realistic expectations for the advancement of technology. This isn't a car in either price or product maturity. I think you're expecting the same type of lifespan for some reason.

 

[russell_314]

15 years? No way… With how much faster processors get and electronics improve that’s not even reasonable. You have to remember the Internet from 15 years ago in 2007 isn’t the same Internet we have in 2022. The apps we had in 2007 aren’t the same as the ones today. You can’t expect a device from 2007 to work with stuff from 2022.

With how much things change it doesn’t even make financial sense to use a computer that’s 15 years old. Sure for some nostalgia but it’s in no way practical. I hear so many people use the term future proofing. There is no future proofing with computers. They have a point where they become not practical for modern purposes. It’s beyond silly to spend a fortune trying to get a few more years out of it. This is one area I have to agree with Google on, when they say a Chromebook has an end of life date. People lose their minds about that but it’s reality.

 

[rui no onna]

My 2012 ultrabook is over 10 years old and it's still pretty good, but it was very future proof back then thanks to upgradability and a moment in time where the move to 64bits removed RAM limitations and where CPU made a big jump (Sandy brydge, which was a big jump with little improvement in the following 5 generations, and a 35w i7 at that) and it was lucky enough that Windows 7 devices could be upgraded freely to Windows 10, with a 13-16 years of full OS support (unheard of in any other platform).

I dunno. I'm finding Sandy Bridge to Skylake (even with 16GB RAM) quite sluggish now compared to A12+ iPads, Ryzen 5000 and Intel 11th gen (even the quad-core 1135G7).

As for old iPads, what made them not very future proof was RAM, they had 8 times less RAM than comparable laptops but also a very stripped down OS that worked fine with that RAM. As soon as the OS started to catch up in terms of multitasking the lack of RAM destroyed those devices.

CPU sucks, too. The oldest iPads had performance similar to, what, early Pentium 3 or 4? The entire iPad hardware was simply way behind x86 back then.

Mind, I skipped the OG iPad precisely because of its low 256MB RAM. It was barely good enough for the iPhone 3GS at 320x240 and it wasn't enough for my iPod touch 4th gen with its tiny 640x480 display. I don't imagine I would enjoy the experience on an iPad at 1024x768.

My rule pre-A7, was to update 1 major iOS version only. With A7/1GB, was okay up to iOS 9. A8X/2GB, I consider fairly decent until iOS 12 (although noticeably laggy compared to the other iPads with faster chipset and same 2GB RAM).

Keep in mind here that it's the web and app-climate that has changed more than the capabilities of the particular iPad. The current iPad pros seem better "futureproofed".

Totally agree. Websites are so bloated now. Standalone apps tend to work fine even on older iPads. Website versions, usually not.

 

[sunking101]

It all depends how well specced the iPad is and how near you are to the release date when you buy it. Certain Apple devices were fudged from the start, like the iPhone 6 Plus for instance which was released to market with a pitiful 1GB of RAM which meant that it reloaded and refreshed apps & web pages out of the box.

That thing was underspecced from the start and consequently had a longevity of zero. I traded mine as soon as the 6S Plus was released and I was on two yearly cycles back then. I couldn't get rid of it quick enough.

SO...how long will an iPad last...how long is a piece of string? I would suggest less than 5 years regardless.

 

[Sami13496]

In 15 years tech will change so much. It is hard to imagine that iPad from 2022 could still be relevant in 2037 😄

For comparison imagine using mobile device from 15 years ago (from 2007).

 

[PauloSera]

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?

That poll is just ridiculous. 3 - 5 years, tops.

 

[bag99001]

That's the whole point of services. You're not only giving Apple money once for a device purchase. You'll be giving Apple continuously through Apple One subscription, Music, tv, In-app purchases, and of course, accessories. That's how you balance the long life cycle of a product.

Well, that is not the whole point. I know it helps the company financially (a company wants to make money, and you hope the workers are trying to provide a good product that makes them that money), but services also add value to devices. The integration across the devices (my apple watch automatically getting exercise data, being played on my apple tv, and sending it to my apple watch) is pretty darn nice!

 

[sunking101]

It would need to be overspecced out of the box with an overclocked M2, 24GB of RAM and an easily replaceable battery to even stand a chance of lasting 10 years.

 

[Warped9]

Anything after 5-7 years is gravy. It’s quite common for people to be using iPads longer than that (8-10 years) as long as the device does what they want/need.

And this is partly why iPads cost more than a supposedly equivalent Samsung Galaxy tablet. iPads and iPadOS have a longer life expectancy.

 

[Populus]

I’ve bought an M2 iPad Pro, and while I’m still not sure I’ll keep it or I’ll return it in favor of an M2 MacBook Air, I expect this two devices to get more than 5 years, ideally 10 but I guess Apple will keep the usual 7-8 years of support for macs… I really hope they don’t shorten the lifespan of this devices to 5 or 6 years of support.

And, yes, I expect all M1 and M2 powered devices to get the same years of support, regardless of being an iPad or a Mac.

 

[TVreporter]

Still have the first gen iPad Mini in use for my kids - sure it’s sluggish but to surf or play some games it’s still fine!

 

[Populus]

My rule pre-A7, was to update 1 major iOS version only. With A7/1GB, was okay up to iOS 9. A8X/2GB, I consider fairly decent until iOS 12 (although noticeably laggy compared to the other iPads with faster chipset and same 2GB RAM).

My moms original iPad Air, powered by an A7, ran pretty well on iOS 10.3; it stayed on that version for 3 or 4 years, working properly. Until I decided, few years ago, to update it to the latest iOS 12 version. Although it still runs, it’s never been the same again.