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?
Safari refresh was caused by low RAM a/k/a hardware before the iPhone 6 and Air 2. Well-known fact. There is no "fix" on older devices to remedy this problem via software with 512mb or 1gb or RAM.
Apple promises nothing other than the new OS is COMPATIBLE WITH those devices you list. It does not say anywhere that it will run just like the old OS introduced with that device at that time. Those OS versions were built around that hardware back at that time to run flawlessly; not built around a 2 year old piece of hardware.
It's simply not possible to forge ahead in jumps in OS complexity/features/etc and still support old hardware to 100%. The old hardware is STILL supported better than any smartphone manufacturer out there. I'd still give it a 90% which is MORE than usable. Some people are just way too sensitive and need to log off their devices for a bit.
And I think you're wrong. Device usage statistics would suggest that the iPad 2 is still the most used iPad followed by the Mini 1, which guess what? Is a shrunken down iPad 2. Now that Apple has separated iOS development for older devices from the new ones, developing newer versions of iOS for older devices does not limit features on newer devices and developers are no longer forced to develop apps for these devices. Updates mean a secure device that remains usable for longer, and while I think iPad users should be able to downgrade, I also think iOS devices should be supported for as long as possible. Thus nobody is negatively impacted (apart from those who want to downgrade). Continued updates for older devices are also good for the environment.
Sure you can say that Apple already provides better support, and that is true. However that doesn't mean they should stop at an arbitrary point.
At the end of the day, nobody is negatively impacted upon by long software support cycles, apart from getting stuck on a slow version (though luckily if you want you can stay on an old version of iOS). Many people would be negatively impacted on if A5 devices get dropped. Its APple's fault anyway, they were greedy enough to be selling the iPad 2 well into 2014 and the Mini 1 + Touch 5 well into 2015.
iPad 2 is most popular because that was the school initiative back then handing them out to schools, and they still work perfectly find for that function considering they're kids.
You assume that Apple has infinite resources and employees to test and code to every old device out there still. It's simply not reality though.
Apple is running a business, believe it or not. They're in the game of selling new devices since they don't charge for OS updates; that's how they make a good chunk of their money. Again, this is an unrealistic view.
