Planned obsolescence!

[dk001]

After playing my new Mini4 alongside the Mini3 for a week, both set up the same (the 4 is a restore copy of the 3), I am really leaning toward a combo of poor programming / lack of quality testing in iOS9 and planned obsolescence. The Mini3 isn't bad, but it runs so poorly compared to the Mini4 executing the same tasks. Significantly worse than the 6+/6S+ comparison.
By itself the Mini3 isn't bad. However when you do a side by side it is worse than the hardware would suggest.

 

[Radon87000]

I guess I wasn't clear enough, but no I'm referring to a "planned obsolescence " model on wintel hardware, which exists as much as iOS.

Its impossible for planned obsolescence model to exist on Wintel hardware as there is no one single company in charge of everything.When I get a Dell computer,the software is of MS and the hardware of Dell/Foxconn,Asus,Sapphire.MS has no knowledge of the infinite permutations/combinations of hardware configuration which is why one single line of "intended code" to make planned obsolescence work isnt possible.MS has no incentive to intentionally slow down your hardware and they CANNOT as they have made downgrading easy enough for a 12 year old to understand.
Similarly planned obsolescence isnt possible on Android as well

 

[dk001]

You do not have to upgrade to a new phone, you do not have to upgrade to a new OS either, you just want to because of the features.
...

One other aspect to consider, if you don't update your OS, you miss out on needed security updates. Depending on use, this could be critical.

I'd rather have planned obsolescence than no new features and no new capability. Every manufacturer plans obsolescence - otherwise you'd never sell another product to an existing owner.
Making profits is the American way and I'm happy Apple does.
As stated you don't have to update if you don't want upgraded capability.
If I were an app developer I wouldn't update or really care about people who keep old equipment around.

Not every and Apple is in a very unique place: They control both the hardware and the software. For Apple, they plan the hardware obsolescence by creating and rolling out new evolved hardware. Software, Apple has a very different mindset. Do they actively plan obsolescence? By your comment yes. Personally I don't think they plan it however I do not think they actively do anything to prevent or minimize it.

Planned obsolescence doesn't apply to computers as it does to cars for example. In order to keep a Honda Accord at a reasonable price point engineering choices have to be made. I'm sure Honda could design a $200k 20 year bullet proof Accord, ...

Could you see that business plan? Whoa!

 

[Radon87000]

After playing my new Mini4 alongside the Mini3 for a week, both set up the same (the 4 is a restore copy of the 3), I am really leaning toward a combo of poor programming / lack of quality testing in iOS9 and planned obsolescence. The Mini3 isn't bad, but it runs so poorly compared to the Mini4 executing the same tasks. Significantly worse than the 6+/6S+ comparison.
By itself the Mini3 isn't bad. However when you do a side by side it is worse than the hardware would suggest.

Not surprised as the Mini 3 is just a rehashed Mini 2 with Touch ID.The iPhone 5s has stutters running iOS 9 and that very same chipset is having to drive a 2K resolution which is extremely strenuous on that hardware.iOS 9 seems to have been designed solely for 2GB RAM hardware because although my Air 2 lags the experience on it is stil much much better than on my iPhone 6.It seems it would be wise for 1GB device owners to stop updating from hereon in as Apple is unlikely to optimise for 1GB devices thus rendering them as useless as my iPad Mini 1 is at this point

 

[Armen]

Windows 10 runs great on my 2006 core 2 duo desktop which was purchased in 2006, better than XP ran on it.

XP was released in 2001. If you had purchased a PC running XP in 2002 there is no way that hardware would run Windows 10

 

[Armen]

You can run it on whatever it will run on. I have it running on two machines at work that are older than that and it runs just fine.

Windows XP was released in 2001. You would have to use the hardware specs of a brand new PC in 2002 as your test machine for Windows 10. You also have to take into consideration to make a fair comparison you should not be allowed to update any components (ram, hard drive etc).

 

[Act3]

XP was released in 2001. If you had purchased a PC running XP in 2002 there is no way that hardware would run Windows 10

yea and 2001 was 15 years ago, not 8. Re-Read your post that I was replying to.

Wait, so you can run Windows 10 on a Windows XP machine that was purchased 8 years ago?

 

[I7guy]

Its impossible for planned obsolescence model to exist on Wintel hardware as there is no one single company in charge of everything.When I get a Dell computer,the software is of MS and the hardware of Dell/Foxconn,Asus,Sapphire.MS has no knowledge of the infinite permutations/combinations of hardware configuration which is why one single line of "intended code" to make planned obsolescence work isnt possible.MS has no incentive to intentionally slow down your hardware and they CANNOT as they have made downgrading easy enough for a 12 year old to understand.
Similarly planned obsolescence isnt possible on Android as well

Sure they have an incentive to slow down windows and office, it's called new sales. Can you install Windows XP? No. The activation keys don't work.

Now obviously if your computer is running slow, your pop out the cpu and pop in another higher more powerful model. If your display is slow you replace the video card, if your disk is slow, you buy an SSD. So yeah throwing money at the issue resolves the problem.

With mobile devices you are stuck. You can certainly throw money at it and buy a competitors phone.

 

[iBug2]

To make a valid comparison between computers and phones you need to take into account the speed difference of phone hardware from 4 years ago versus today. Apple doubles CPU speed by almost 2X every year. 4S vs 6S has a 12X difference in CPU power. Try running Windows 10 on a PC with 300 Mhz single core speed and get back to me. PC's from 8 years ago have 70-80% single core CPU speed of today's computers so not even remotely close to the gap in phones.

 

[EngJoseph]

Well, if Apple continues to sell iPhone 4 , it should update it withe the latest IOS version, for example IOS9, so if any one buys it and wants to upgrade to IOS 10 if Apple releases it, he will find no problems, but going from IOS7 to IOS9 !!! is not a good idea and a good choice.
Good to talk about that George (y)

 

[Radon87000]

XP was released in 2001. If you had purchased a PC running XP in 2002 there is no way that hardware would run Windows 10

Windows 10 is running on netbooks with 1GB of RAM and near ARM performance level Pentium CPU.I have Windows 10 and I have experienced 8.1 and 7 and I can say with certainty that unlike iOS,Windows actually did get a lighter over overhead as I upgraded.Windows 10 is more responsive than 7 and Vista

Sure they have an incentive to slow down windows and office, it's called new sales. Can you install Windows XP? No. The activation keys don't work.

Now obviously if your computer is running slow, your pop out the cpu and pop in another higher more powerful model. If your display is slow you replace the video card, if your disk is slow, you buy an SSD. So yeah throwing money at the issue resolves the problem.

With mobile devices you are stuck. You can certainly throw money at it and buy a competitors phone.

But that can't be planned obsolescence as MS doesn't get that money.The hardware manufacturers do.And if your PC is running slow,it's not the hardware but the software.XP has ZERO visual effects running on it.If you configure 10 the same way by using third party software it would run just as fast.

Slow down Office?lol I got 3-4 computers at a workplace with Office 2007 and Windows 8.1 and both run fine together

MS can't slow down XP simply because in order to purposely slow something down on a particular piece of hardware you would need to know the exact configuration to code it to behave in a particular way

 

[I7guy]

Windows 10 is running on netbooks with 1GB of RAM and near ARM performance level Pentium CPU.I have Windows 10 and I have experienced 8.1 and 7 and I can say with certainty that unlike iOS,Windows actually did get a lighter over overhead as I upgraded.Windows 10 is more responsive than 7 and Vista

But that can't be planned obsolescence as MS doesn't get that money.The hardware manufacturers do.And if your PC is running slow,it's not the hardware but the software.XP has ZERO visual effects running on it.If you configure 10 the same way by using third party software it would run just as fast.

Slow down Office?lol I got 3-4 computers at a workplace with Office 2007 and Windows 8.1 and both run fine together

MS can't slow down XP simply because in order to purposely slow something down on a particular piece of hardware you would need to know the exact configuration to code it to behave in a particular way

You do know that Microsoft starting cutting stuff from Windows after windows 7!so to your point it did get lighter. The point is since I have access to Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 2000, NT, 2003, 2008 and 2012, XP runs faster than Windows 10/8/7. That is not planned obsolescence that's reality.

As far as Windows 10 on a netbook with 1gb ram good for only very light tasks, so I'm not sure of what you are suggesting....my desktop has way more memory. Seems like the only point your making is that iOS 9 is a modern operating system requiring a modem processor. Running iOS 9 on an older phone processor (a5) won't be as fast as a modern iPhone processor (a9) , but it's still usable. As my iPad 2 on 9.2 is perfectly usable but showing its age.

 

[oldmacs]

Windows 10 is running on netbooks with 1GB of RAM and near ARM performance level Pentium CPU.I have Windows 10 and I have experienced 8.1 and 7 and I can say with certainty that unlike iOS,Windows actually did get a lighter over overhead as I upgraded.Windows 10 is more responsive than 7 and Vista

But that can't be planned obsolescence as MS doesn't get that money.The hardware manufacturers do.And if your PC is running slow,it's not the hardware but the software.XP has ZERO visual effects running on it.If you configure 10 the same way by using third party software it would run just as fast.

Slow down Office?lol I got 3-4 computers at a workplace with Office 2007 and Windows 8.1 and both run fine together

MS can't slow down XP simply because in order to purposely slow something down on a particular piece of hardware you would need to know the exact configuration to code it to behave in a particular way

I have a super cheap Windows Tablet I bought last year. I bought my Mini 2 about the same time (Feb 2015) and the cheap Windows Tablet which benchmarks well under my iPad Mini, kills it for performance. The Windows tablet can cope with animations, yet the Mini 2 can't. It also turns on much faster.

 

[stulaw11]

This whole thread concept is ridiculous. OF COURSE there's some degree of planned obsolescence. There is in nearly EVERY consumer good.

As pointed out, you dont think with tech they can't build a car that would hold up 50 years like they used to? Bull. But how would they ever sell any new cars if they lasted a person a lifetime? That's some GREAT business model

Sure that 50 year old car lacks tech and rides a bit rough and doesn't handle so great but it gets the job done point A to B still just the same. Same as an older iOS device.

And Apple is a business working for profits and its shareholders like any other, not a cuddly consumer company.

But people are making WAY too big a deal about some stutters or lag. It's not like your iphone/ipad is falling apart like a 1990s car, now is it? Unlikely as they're built well to last. Tech just advances.

Apple isn't going to hold up progressing tech so that your 3-4 year old ipad can run butter smooth, or devoting a ton or resources to making 4 year old devices run butter smooth. I mean please, be realistic at least.

 

[I7guy]

I have a super cheap Windows Tablet I bought last year. I bought my Mini 2 about the same time (Feb 2015) and the cheap Windows Tablet which benchmarks well under my iPad Mini, kills it for performance. The Windows tablet can cope with animations, yet the Mini 2 can't. It also turns on much faster.

That doesn't make sense. Lower benchmarks, but kills it for performance? Me thinks the definition of performance is rather loose.

 

[sanke1]

This whole thread concept is ridiculous. OF COURSE there's some degree of planned obsolescence. There is in nearly EVERY consumer good.

As pointed out, you dont think with tech they can't build a car that would hold up 50 years like they used to? Bull. But how would they ever sell any new cars if they lasted a person a lifetime? That's some GREAT business model

Sure that 50 year old car lacks tech and rides a bit rough and doesn't handle so great but it gets the job done point A to B still just the same. Same as an older iOS device.

And Apple is a business working for profits and its shareholders like any other, not a cuddly consumer company.

But people are making WAY too big a deal about some stutters or lag. It's not like your iphone/ipad is falling apart like a 1990s car, now is it? Unlikely as they're built well to last. Tech just advances.

Apple isn't going to hold up progressing tech so that your 3-4 year old ipad can run butter smooth, or devoting a ton or resources to making 4 year old devices run butter smooth. I mean please, be realistic at least.

No one is asking Apple to provide infinite support for their devices. But it is realistic for 2 year old devices like 5S Air 1, and Mini 2/3 to work flawlessly. But they don't which is totally opposite of Apple's promises. The uproar is against this.

Last year people complained about Safari refreshes and it's poor reliability. Do you see anyone complaining about it this year? If some people are complaining about certain aspect of iOS like lag and stutter, why don't you accept it?

If it actually was not a problem, you would'nt have had long threads about planned obsolesence, lag & stutter created by different members.

Unless people think that such threads are created by same person under different profiles?

 

[I7guy]

No one is asking Apple to provide infinite support for their devices. But it is realistic for 2 year old devices like 5S Air 1, and Mini 2/3 to work flawlessly. But they don't which is totally opposite of Apple's promises. The uproar is against this.

Last year people complained about Safari refreshes and it's poor reliability. Do you see anyone complaining about it this year? If some people are complaining about certain aspect of iOS like lag and stutter, why don't you accept it?

If it actually was not a problem, you would'nt have had long threads about planned obsolesence, lag & stutter created by different members.

Unless people think that such threads are created by same person under different profiles?

People have different trigger points as to what bothers them. Safari reloads didnt bother me, safari crashes did. Control center stutter I could care less about, springboard crashes I do. Some people say iPad 2 under iOS 9 is not usable. I think it's more than usable. So yeah, this is a discussion board and you can expect long drawn out discussions on these items.

 

[Armen]

The uproar is against this.

A handful of vocal MacRumor users complaining that the latest iOS doesn't run flawlessly like the iOS their 2 year old device shipped with hardly qualifies as a "uproar". Honestly outside these forums people don't really care.

If you want real insight look to major tech sites for hints at a possible massive scale problem. Last I checked they are reporting on iPhone 7 rumors and not how Apple is intentionally crippling old devices.

 

[Radon87000]

A handful of vocal MacRumor users complaining that the latest iOS doesn't run flawlessly like the iOS their 2 year old device shipped with hardly qualifies as a "uproar". Honestly outside these forums people don't really care.

If you want real insight look to major tech sites for hints at a possible massive scale problem. Last I checked they are reporting on iPhone 7 rumors and not how Apple is intentionally crippling old devices.

My iPhone 6 is a year old

 

[oldmacs]

That doesn't make sense. Lower benchmarks, but kills it for performance? Me thinks the definition of performance is rather loose.

As in, things don't stutter and things don't lag as much. Raw performance is no good unless the software is well written. Seems iOS has issues, given it will stutter on hardware that exceeds what Windows runs well on.

 

[I7guy]

My iPhone 6 is a year old

Your iPhone 6 runs very different than my sons iPhone 6.

 

[Radon87000]

Your iPhone 6 runs very different than my sons iPhone 6.

lol.You really have buried your head in the sand if you cant see whats wrong with the CC and Spotlight on iPhone 6.Even my buddy toting a Galaxy Note 5 can see what I am talking about

 

[I7guy]

lol.You really have buried your head in the sand if you cant see whats wrong with the CC and Spotlight on iPhone 6.Even my buddy toting a Galaxy Note 5 can see what I am talking about

Why am I not surprised that your "buddy" toting a Galaxy Note 5 can see what you are talking about?

 

[John Mcgregor]

lol.You really have buried your head in the sand if you cant see whats wrong with the CC and Spotlight on iPhone 6.Even my buddy toting a Galaxy Note 5 can see what I am talking about

Even my buddy can see whats wrong with note 5.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Well I think iPad 2 users have had more than enough updates. I mean it's 5 years old by this point. I think all tech companies want you to buy the latest and greatest so they all do this. However I think Apple are better than most companies in regards to updating and supporting older devices. A lot better than Samsung who throw older devices under the bus once the latest one comes out less than 6 months later.