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How much longer do you think iPad Air 2 will receive iOS updates
- Thread starter max2
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My Air 2 on iOS 12B3 is rock solid. Performance is well improved and it’s a beta. The only issue I have is a 3.5 year old battery at 84% health.
Then again, you always say performance is bad on every thing so I’m not really surprised.
I haven’t tried iOS 12 on it yet. I am commenting with respect to iOS 11. iOS 12 has breathed some life into the 7 Plus so it should do the Air 2 but I don’t think it will go back to pre iOS 10 performance.
There was virtually no difference in performance on my iPad Air 2 for either iOS 10 or iOS 11. Both ran very well with little to no hiccups. iOS 12 though makes my iPad feel like it was brand new.
Months? Since the A7 is currently lasting 6 years, we can expect the A8X to also last at least that much, to iOS 14.
So, 3 years more.
I think it will get iOS 13 as it's last update. So it will be supported until the fall of 2020.
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Never got as far as iOS 11 with my iPad air 2 as I upgraded to the 10.5 inch pro in July last year. However even 2.5 years after I'd bought it and nearly 3 after it first came out it was still running excellently on iOS 10 so I have no doubts that it can run iOS 11 well and of course 12 will be even better.
My Air 2 is currently running 11.4.1 and performs just fine. It certainly doesn't seem crippled. LOL
At minimum I'd say just over 2 years. Since the A7 will be getting (at least) 6 years of software updates it's reasonable to assume that Apple will do the same for the A8/A8x. That means that the Air 2 is likely to get iOS 13 with support through fall 2020.
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Very bad? Mine has always been great. I can't say as I've noticed any real difference with any software updates.
Likely but not definite that it will get iOS 13. There’s a very high chance of it getting iOS 13 though.
Very unlikely to get iOS 14. Rare case.
No chance of getting iOS 15.
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However, in all probability anything beyond iOS 12 won’t be a good/usable experience.
Very unlikely to get iOS 14. Rare case.
No chance of getting iOS 15.
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However, in all probability anything beyond iOS 12 won’t be a good/usable experience.
I'm running iOS 12 on my Air 2 and no performance problems whatsoever. Prior to 12 I was on iOS 11 and even then ran smooth as smooth can be.
I disagree ios 11 is bloated to hell on essentially every device...wasn’t a great release performance wise. iOS 12 is cutting out so much crap code and optimizing making a perfectly usable experience even better. I honestly don’t think iPad Air 2’s iOS performance will be any worse then iOS 11 in its lifetime and that’s saying something.
I’m simply showing you how Air 2 has another 3 years of great performance.
If the iPhone 5s/6/6Plus can get iOS 12. Then the iPad Air 2 will at least get iOS 13. Probably even iOS 14. The A8X is a great chip. Until iOS requires devices with 3GB of RAM, then iPad Air 2 should continue to get updates.
Bad? Mine runs as great as it did on the day I got it and I even got a 10.5 iPad Pro to compare it with. No lag or issues what so ever. Maybe you should restore yours or something
IOS 12 is great on my air 2. No reason to drop
The minimum supported iPhone and iPads on iOS 12 are the iPhone 5s and iPad Air, both the same 2013 generation.
Usually one generation is dropped with each major iOS, with some exceptions that go both ways. For example, iOS 12 supports all the same devices as iOS 11, but iOS 10 dropped support for iPad 2 and 3 at the same time.
It is very likely that iOS 13 will drop support for the iPhone 5s and iPad Air given they were already given a lifeline by iOS 12. Some have wondered whether the iPhone 6 will be dropped at the same time given that its specs and performance aren’t much better than the 5s.
Given that the iPhone 6 and the iPad Air 2 are parallel generations, you may wonder whether this also puts into question whether the iPad Air 2 could be dropped along with the iPhone 6. But imo this is very unlikely. Unlike the jump from the 5s to 6, the jump from Air to Air 2 was quite significant: it added an extra CPU core and doubled the RAM. With all latest devices now having several cores, there is no doubt this extra core is now being fully utilised by iOS. And rather than using an arbitrary generational cut off for iOS 13, it could be based on RAM. The air 2 having 2gb RAM puts it in a good position.
So this is a long winded way of saying what most have already agreed on: it will get a full year of iOS 12 support, and is very likely to get a full year of iOS 13 support. That’s 2 years. Beyond that, it’s too early to say.
Usually one generation is dropped with each major iOS, with some exceptions that go both ways. For example, iOS 12 supports all the same devices as iOS 11, but iOS 10 dropped support for iPad 2 and 3 at the same time.
It is very likely that iOS 13 will drop support for the iPhone 5s and iPad Air given they were already given a lifeline by iOS 12. Some have wondered whether the iPhone 6 will be dropped at the same time given that its specs and performance aren’t much better than the 5s.
Given that the iPhone 6 and the iPad Air 2 are parallel generations, you may wonder whether this also puts into question whether the iPad Air 2 could be dropped along with the iPhone 6. But imo this is very unlikely. Unlike the jump from the 5s to 6, the jump from Air to Air 2 was quite significant: it added an extra CPU core and doubled the RAM. With all latest devices now having several cores, there is no doubt this extra core is now being fully utilised by iOS. And rather than using an arbitrary generational cut off for iOS 13, it could be based on RAM. The air 2 having 2gb RAM puts it in a good position.
So this is a long winded way of saying what most have already agreed on: it will get a full year of iOS 12 support, and is very likely to get a full year of iOS 13 support. That’s 2 years. Beyond that, it’s too early to say.
If you get a good deal, buy one. No ocean give you specifics. It has the same amount of RAM as the current entry level iPad. If you don’t find a suitable deal, get the current iPad.
Not only that, but because the Air 2 has a laminated display, I still think its a better buy than the current entry level iPad. While the new one is faster and may live "longer", the inferior display isn't it worth it in my opinion.
I had Air 2 since Nov-Dec 2014. That’s almost 3.5 years. It is an excellent device and what you call “Longevity model”. Apart from depleted battery, it’s still unstoppable. Due to the debacle of Air 1 and how junk it was in terms of GPU power, Air 2 has held really well. For me it’s almost the same performing as I had it on purchase day.