M1 MacBooks were released in 2020, iPad Pros in 2021 and the iPad Air in 2022. I expect support will be dropped around the same time but the length of support varies depending on release date.
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All iPads How long should an iPads lifespan be?
- Thread starter Bodhitree
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M1 MacBooks were released in 2020, iPad Pros in 2021 and the iPad Air in 2022. I expect support will be dropped around the same time but the length of support varies depending on release date.
10 years of being functional. By functional I don’t mean being a great experience, because obviously there will be technological improvements and there’s a price to be paid if you want the latest and greatest. I mean getting done what you need to do: banking, shopping, looking things up, watching TV shows. A degraded battery isn’t great, but if you plug the iPad in, you can get these things done without further outlay.
I didn’t want to update my iPad 3 to iOS9 but did so when All 4 (or 4OD as it was then) would no longer allow me to view content. I was even using Safari to log into one of my bank accounts prior, to avoid the OS update that their app needed. That allowed it to function for my purposes for a bit longer, but of course the same happened to iOS9 eventually and an upgrade was needed, as the iPad wouldn’t go any higher.
You could argue that’s not Apple’s fault, it’s not currently up to them when an app developer decides to stop earlier versions from working.
I didn’t want to update my iPad 3 to iOS9 but did so when All 4 (or 4OD as it was then) would no longer allow me to view content. I was even using Safari to log into one of my bank accounts prior, to avoid the OS update that their app needed. That allowed it to function for my purposes for a bit longer, but of course the same happened to iOS9 eventually and an upgrade was needed, as the iPad wouldn’t go any higher.
You could argue that’s not Apple’s fault, it’s not currently up to them when an app developer decides to stop earlier versions from working.
In what way(s) do they last longer? My 2 year old Samsung Tab S7 is better built, snappier, keeps things in memory longer, has a better display and longer battery life than the iPad Mini 6 I bought this year.
I am in no rush to update the superb Samsung tablet but will update the Mini in a heartbeat should Apple release a newer version. It is crying out for more RAM (a common Apple 'oversight') and a better display.
I got lots of people coming in with old, but still working iPads. I see very few with old, but still functioning Samsungs.
Yes, there are always exception, but I usually see 3-4 year old Samsungs replaced while the iPads are usually 5-7 years old.
Big plus is not having Android. Everytime I see one I can’t help but think, “Who designed this crap?”
Yes, there are always exception, but I usually see 3-4 year old Samsungs replaced while the iPads are usually 5-7 years old.
Big plus is not having Android. Everytime I see one I can’t help but think, “Who designed this crap?”
Agreed! I have an ipad that topped out at ios 12. I use it as my alarm clock and light browsing at night. Not fast, but it suits a need.
I didn't mean it's as fast modern laptops, but when I replaced it as my main on the go device in 2017 with a 7th gen i7 (dual core) I didn't see much improvement, this thing is actually faster than my 2017 12in MacBook. But since the 7th gen there was another jump in performance with 8th gen quad cores, so dual core now feel sluggish in comparison.
What I also meant is that back in 2012 it was unthinkable to use a 10 year old laptop for absolutely anything.... My 2002 laptop had 256MB RAM and a single core Pentium 3-like (was AMD) CPU. Totally unusable in 2012. My 2012 laptop is still totally usable, not as fast as current gen, but if I only had that I could definitely get by... Similarly a 2012 iPad is virtually unusable today. A 2022 M2 iPad pro will be totally usable in 2032 (battery really depends on how it is managed and whether it has been replaced or not...). So when people compare 10-12 year old iPads with current ones to draw conclusions on how long current top of the lines will be usable, well, thigs now are totally different...
True, RAM was not the only culprit, ARM processors were way inferior to Intel back then, then started catching up with the introduction of the iPad pro. Already with A12X they were on par with laptops quad core 8th gen chip from the same period, but still half the RAM of the typical laptop. It was only with M1 that they really achieved total parity in terms of RAM and even overtook Intel for some time in terms of power (of course I am not even talking of performance per watt...)
I dunno. From Sandy Bridge to Haswell (with Windows 7), I kinda felt like the CPU was so fast that I could use it forever. I like SFF PCs and ultralight laptops a lot so for me, subsequent upgrades meant getting the same performance in a much smaller and lighter device.
Fast forward to around 2017-18(?) when I started buying 4K Blu-ray. All my PCs were unable to play my rips but my Apple TV, iPhone and iPad handled them with ease. Websites have gotten bloated with Javascript. When I finally bought new laptops (along with making the switch to Windows 10 in 2020), I was quite impressed by how much faster and more responsive the new Ryzen laptop was compared to my old 2nd-4th gen Intel.
Of course, Intel stagnated after Haswell. Iirc, performance was pretty much flat with Broadwell (5th gen) and Skylake (6th gen). Kaby Lake (7th gen) improved things a bit but not by much. Good thing AMD and Apple gave them a much needed kick. Intel 12th gen shows a major boost over the 11th gen (which was a big boost over 10th gen to begin with).
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Still using a 1st generation 12.9" iPad Pro (2015). Screen has a couple of uneven spots but still working well.
Here's a "novel" thought:
If you don't want to contribute to the mountains of e-waste, then why buy any device at all?
Anything we do contributes to waste. Even the human body itself has a natural waste disposal process. In short, waste in some form is an inevitable part of life.
The manufacture of electronic goods is likely a very wasteful process. If you don't want to contribute to that, then your choice as a consumer is to not buy into it. You could try and find the least wasteful manufacturer that seems to be the most concerned about the environment. That does not guarantee zero waste, however.
I don't think "how long should they last" that is the problem, is we as people have become accustomed to upgrading our devices on a way shorter span of time. You have people upgrading all devices every year...I'm not immune to this, I upgrade my phone about every 2 years, 3 max, iPad I use until there is a new one that has a feature my current device cannot do (upgraded from 10.5 to 2020 pro), iMac/Macbook I push to the limit.
Well spoken. The sale of hardware is merely an inroad for selling customers further, more intangible stuff. Of course, there are also the accessories, like cases, sleeves, stands, displays, peripherals, cables, adapters and dongles.
I don’t feel bad at all for Apple if they don’t regularly get my money on hardware purchases. They are getting my money in other ways for the services and software I purchase.
Correct. My Air 2 is on death’s door battery-wise but can still just about keep up with modern streaming requirements.
I still use my iPad 1st gen from 2010- I count 12 years of use. It still works with Apple servers for iMessage, plays all the vintage games, and even works with Youtube with a small jailbreak patch.
Same, the move from my 14" 2012 to my 13." 2017 ultrabook was a move from 1.7kg to less than half that (Samsung was the lightest notebook in the world, lighter than the smaller 12" MacBook), not so much power.
My 11" gen Thinkpad is clearly faster. And now even a 12 gen i3 like the i3-1215U is a 6 core beast which is close to M1 in performance.
It's hard to predict the long term future, but currents laptops, as long as they have a quad core or better chip and at least 16GB RAM or even better 32GB, and iPads with M-series chips have quite a bit of headroom over software for non intensive tasks and will probably last a good decade for those tasks (I am not considering OS support as nobody knows at this point how long Windows 11/12, MacOS on current devices or iPads will be supported), which was not always the case in the past, and definitely not for iPads.
The lifespan should be whatever the hardware allows. Apple’s been very bad about intentionally obsoleting older Mac’s for what seems to be profit driven reasons. On the iOS side I think the approach has been pretty reasonable.
I don’t personally like using operating systems that aren’t being constant attention. The world moves quickly.
I don’t personally like using operating systems that aren’t being constant attention. The world moves quickly.
I agree that iOS devices have received better attention and support than macOS lately, but I think this is related to the transition of the Mac to the Apple Silicon platform.
My old 2010 MacBook Pro received support until High Sierra, which was released in September 2017, the last versions being released in 2018. That’s 8 years of software support. And two additional years of security patches and Safari updates, reaching a total of ten years.
I honestly don’t expect less than that on the new Apple Silicon Macs
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It's not Apple's fault if app developer simply had set certain minimum hardware requirements for their apps. Many games already set minimum requirements above the OS. However, it's completely within Apple's control to optimize the OS and at least provide secure usage (eg browser) on their devices.
MacOS, a more capable OS, is scalable from devices as low as Intel 2 core with 4GB if RAM up to M1 Ultra beast. There's really no reason for a slimmer OS of ipadOS couldn't be scalable for older device to remain smooth and usable. Also, in macOS, I can simply use 3rd party browser if the included Safari is no longer secure. Since it's Apple's decision to lock out other browsers in iOS, thus it's their responsibility to provide secure browser. But devices stuck in older iPadOS are also stuck with older Safari for some reason. I don't see how Apple couldn't decouple Safari and at least patch it independently from the OS.
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In my experience, iPads already have excellent longevity compared to some other Apple products. Our iPad Air 1 still runs with its original battery. Safari is sluggish, but YouTube app still works. This is 9 years today. Try getting that sort of a lifespan from their AirPods!
Regarding e-waste, don’t buy stuff if you do not need it or pass over things you no longer use. This stretches far beyond iPads, though, including all sorts of other objects.
Regarding e-waste, don’t buy stuff if you do not need it or pass over things you no longer use. This stretches far beyond iPads, though, including all sorts of other objects.
Safari has its hooks into a large portion of the OS, as I understand it. Anything that renders content using Safari's rendering engine (WebKit) would need to be updated or patched, I would imagine. IE in Windows used to be the same—it was a component of the OS that you couldn't simply delete or uninstall. I don't know the specifics of how Web traffic is routed through Safari's various components on macOS, but as it's something that users can't readily delete (especitally with SIP enabled), I would imagine that it's a rather critical component.
Firstly, performance is currently fine, especially on the devices you mentioned. The 14 Pro Max is too new, but how’s battery life on the Mini 5 and the 5th Gen iPad Pro? Is it exactly the same as it was on iOS 12 and iPadOS 13 respectively? Have you measured it?
Yeah this is the only issue of staying on older versions of iOS for me. I wish we could update Safari, or even if we can’t, I wish it wouldn‘t require updates so quickly. iOS 10 is unusable by now. iOS 12 is decent, but I fear that might change, very quickly. There are some websites that don’t work already. I’m barely four versions behind. When I upgraded my iPad to the Air 5, it was a joy to see that I could access anything, that never happens to me, there’s always some website that fails to load or doesn’t work properly. That might change though because I am already outdated (iPadOS 15), I only had like two months in which I was fully updated (got Air 5 in August, iPadOS 16 was released in October). I hope it lasts for a while.
