You’re missing the point….I don’t care that these devices cannot get iOS 15.4.1….they work fine on iOS 12 or wherever they stopped. Your point is valid, they would run terribly on the latest firmware, BUT the device should still have access to apps to be useful.
I don't disagree, but the apps themselves are now a lot more hefty than before. Some of it can be chalked up to software bloat (and it's true, it has become a problem across many of the apps that are being used). But a lot of additional functionality is also present and these applications do more, are bigger, require more RAM, and are more computationally expensive.
I disagree with arbitrary cutting off compatibility for a plethora of reasons (if someone wants to install Firefox on a Pentium 3 computer and they're willing to use the Linux binaries for it, there should be no reason that they can't). But modern mobile applications generally aren't going to perform as well on a lot of the older devices because of hardware limitations, and especially RAM limitations. These old tablets can't hold a candle to the newer ones, mobile CPUs have come a LONG way just in the last few years alone.
Apple is actually a lot better about this than Android in my opinion. Apple tends to sometimes arbitrary cut off compatibility for certain applications, but they do give OS updates for far longer than Android does. Many Android tablets are lucky to get more than a single OS upgrade in their lifetime, and I see many iPads lasting 5+ years (which is pretty good for any kind of mobile device these days).
I expect that in the coming years, tablets will last longer and be replaced less. Hardware in tablets is now approaching Mac-class (with the iPad Air now coming with an M1), and I don't think the M1 will be obsolete any time soon.
