It’s interesting how people’s expectations about longevity are very variable. I’ve had the latest iPhone (I bought the iPhone Xʀ when it was the latest), and I have the latest iPad (I have the iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15), and I’ve frequently stated that as long as my devices work like I want them to, I don’t care if they aren’t the latest, and I don’t even have that itch of “well, maybe it would be cool to have this device“. I really don’t care at all… but don’t mess with my devices.
iPads’ longevity is outstanding, especially for content consumption. Why? Because you don’t need the latest version of iOS and batteries on iPads don’t degrade unless obliterated by iOS updates. I would still be fine with my 9.7-inch iPad Pro. Why am I not? Because Apple forced it into iOS 12. Battery life dropped by 25% and I have slight keyboard lag. That’s enough for me to want a new one, but as long as that isn’t the case, and as long as my device does what I need it to do and has perfect battery life and performance, I’m fine with anything.
I probably wouldn’t be able to use an Air 2 today… why? Because it would have to run iOS 8, and I doubt that’s compatible with what I need today. Maybe I wouldn’t be fine with my 9.7-inch iPad Pro because, likewise, iOS 9 would be too incompatible, but when I said “I’d be fine with it”, I meant with its feature set, not software-wise.
The point is, perhaps I’m the odd one out here, but I want a device that works well, regardless of how old it is, provided it does what I want it to. I use iPads for content consumption, so the task is very easy to fulfill: an original iOS version iPad that’s modern enough so as not to have an unusable web browser and a fully incompatible app suite with great battery life and performance. That’s probably fulfilled by… a 3rd-gen iPad Pro on iOS 12? A 6th-gen iPad on iOS 12? (And anything newer, or course). But iOS 12 is the oldest I’d get today as a main device.
I understand this is fully unpopular, with most choosing total compatibility over a few hours of battery life and the absence of keyboard lag, but the differences of opinion are interesting to share, regarding how many think “well, the device is 8 years old, I updated it, now it’s obliterated, but it gave me what it could”, and my opinion, which is ”I’d rather have that same iPad on iOS 9 doing what it can flawlessly“.
The funny aspect of this is that both iPads end up as insufficient… one had full compatibility throughout with ever-decreasing performance and battery life, and the other one had full performance and battery life with ever-decreasing compatibility throughout. One ends up not being able to run enough things to be useful, and the other one ends up not being able to run enough things to be useful… and also ends up obliterated with a laughably disastrous, unusable performance and battery life.