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As usual, instead of concentrating on the do’s and don’ts of buying a used iPhone, the thread quickly degenerated into harping about Apple’s support of older hardware. Oh, well.

As an Apple Discussion Forum regular I can’t begin to tell you how many users come crying because the iPhone they “got from a friend, bought on the street, found on the street, bought off eBay, and so on”, won’t work and they want to know how to get around Activation Lock. The new Apple support document is very helpful ONLY IF you read it.
 
What incentive is there to support users on a more than 5 year old phone when more than 9 of 10 users have upgraded to a device that is capable of running iOS 17?

Today we are in Oct 2023

- iOS 16.x requires 6yo 2017 A11 Bionic chip
- iOS 17.x requires 5yo 2018 A12 Bionic chip

00XK89eWyIC94invt66wuEv-4.fit_lim.size_1600x900.v1569486766.png


I isolated it to all 122 months of support. But if you want to get pedantic I will 1-up you with this table below.

Release YearVersionRelease DateEnd Support DateMonths
2021Windows 1110/5/202112/5/2031*122
2015Windows 107/29/201510/14/2025122
2012Windows 810/26/20121/10/2023122
2009Windows 710/22/20091/14/2020122
2007Windows Vista1/30/20074/11/2017122
2001Windows XP8/24/20014/8/2014151
2000Windows 20002/17/20007/13/2010124
1998Windows 986/25/19987/11/200696
1995WIndows 958/24/199512/31/200176
1992Windows 3.x4/6/199212/31/2001116

*Estimated EOL assuming 122 months support is maintained.
I admit... You got me there... Although I was just referring to NT releases from Year 2000

For Windows 11, assuming they will follow the same pattern since Windows Vista, EOL will be January 6 2032
 
Seems like the pressure is getting to them after Google announced 7 years of support for Pixel 8.

Good, competition is great for all of us. Maybe this will mean better support.

The iPhone 7 only got 6 years of support.
Google's Pixel is distributed in far less countries than any Galaxy or iPhone.

So those wanting the Pixel in countries without an official launch it sh_t out of lock with local after sales support & repair.
 
Apple wants to talk about environmental friendliness and the longevity of iPhones?They should back that up by extending the warranty. The pace of technology has slowed and people are keeping their devices longer.

Would be nice if AppleCare was extended for iPhone to 3 or even 4 years for the same price as the normal 2 year plan. Apple care+ theft & loss for the newest iPhone 15 pro has gotten pretty expensive at $269 for just 2 years or $13.49 a month if you want longer than the 2 years. Plus there is still the deductibles.

Apple should put its money where its mouth is and make it easier and more cost effective to keep iPhones in service longer. Apple makes money just by the fact that someone is using an iPhone through services and accessories. Increasing the warranty protections will increase the amount of iPhones still in service.
 
As usual, instead of concentrating on the do’s and don’ts of buying a used iPhone, the thread quickly degenerated into harping about Apple’s support of older hardware. Oh, well.

As an Apple Discussion Forum regular I can’t begin to tell you how many users come crying because the iPhone they “got from a friend, bought on the street, found on the street, bought off eBay, and so on”, won’t work and they want to know how to get around Activation Lock. The new Apple support document is very helpful ONLY IF you read it.
That document is very useful for poor countries where buying used iPhones outnumbers brand new sold.

I've seen many many many buyer's remorse stories of persons buying stolen iPhones thinking it was willingly sold by the original owner.
 
I’ve been buying and selling iPhones on swappa.com for years. bought 2 256 12 pro maxes about a year ago for close to $500 each and both still had apple care that could be transferred.
I've sold a few phones on Swappa - a great experience if you follow their guidelines.
 
It would reduce the quality of life user experience further by loading it with software that the older than 5 year old hardware can handle.

As someone who ran iOS 7 on an iPhone 4 for a full year until the 6 came out, yeah, there's usually performance reasons that new features are gated off. And that wasn't even 5 year old HW.
 
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As someone who ran iOS 7 on an iPhone 4 for a full year until the 6 came out, yeah, there's usually performance reasons that new features are gated off. And that wasn't even 5 year old HW.
I believe that was the 1st iPhone with an Apple chip.

iPhone 4 came out in 2010, iOS 7 in 2013 & the iPhone 6 in 2014.

Was the battery replaced?

In 2010, the upgrade cycle was at 21.7 months in the U.S., 22.4 months in the U.K., 26.9 months in Korea, 30.8 months in France, and 46.3 months in Japan, according to Recon Analytics.

 
"The iPhone 7 only got 6 years of support"
Only?? Really?
You think 6 good years is not enough for a device that has been released 7 years ago? You should bare in mind that newer iPhones (and other phones in general) will probably receive even more years of support because of the faster chips in them. Eg. The iPhone 15 Pro may probably get about 10 years of OS support.
Competition is here now. The iPhone 8 also got 6 years. Unless Apple matches it to 7 or surpasses to 8, Google will have the upper edge now.
 
excuse me??? what makes you say that?
The mods don’t like short responses. I’ve received warnings for responding with “yes!!!!” “Awesome!” “Wahhhhhh!!!!”

What’s the longest you kept an iPhone?

Mine was XS to iPhone 12 Pro. Before I used to update every year.

Ready to update to the iPhone 15 pro when I get around to it
 
Funny how they point out that checking battery health is important, yet still don't provide a UI with that info on most of their devices.
I can see it from settings on my phone, watch, and Mac. The only thing I can't see it on is my iPad.
 
why would Apple want to support older devices more than necessary? It needs to generate revenue for itself and for its shareholders, hence the annual sale of the iPhone, it's biggest cash cow.
That works against iPhone owners, the majority of whom generally wants to keep their older iPhone models which still serves their 'needs'.
We'll be lucky for however long Apple makes its iOS to support older iPhone models, hopefully >7 yrs.
It is more of the question of why Apple should continue supporting hardware that isn't used by less than 20% of their users.

Hardware that runs iOS 16 & 17 are used by more than 80% of their users worldwide. Oldest of which is 6 years and counting.

Extend it to earliest iPhone that still receives Security Updates and it becomes 8 years and counting for over 97% of all worldwide users.
% in IN
% in GB
% in US
% in WW
% in CA
% in PH
iOS version​
Oldest supported iPhone Chip​
1st iPhone with oldest supported iPhone Chip​
Release Year​
Age as of 2023​
12.68​
4.78​
4.36​
4.93​
4.49​
5.91​
iOS 17.x​
A12​
iPhone Xs​
2018​
5​
72.31​
80.28​
85.48​
77.49​
81.54​
70.73​
iOS 16.x​
A11​
iPhone X​
2017​
6​
9.71​
9.3​
6.84​
10.49​
8.46​
14.31​
iOS 15.x​
A9​
iPhone 6s​
2015​
8​
1.86​
1.48​
1.4​
2.53​
1.93​
2.47​
iOS 14.x​
A9​
iPhone 6s​
2015​
8​
0.61​
0.28​
0.34​
1.59​
0.33​
0.5​
iOS 13.x​
A9​
iPhone 6s​
2015​
8​
97.17​
96.12​
98.42​
97.03​
96.75​
93.92​
iOS 13-17​
-​
-​
2015-2023​
8-5​
2.83​
3.88​
1.58​
2.97​
3.25​
6.08​
iOS 1-12​
-​
-​
2007-2014​
16-4​

It is reflective from this 2019 survey that 92% of smartphone users replace their phones by year 5.

00XK89eWyIC94invt66wuEv-4.fit_lim.size_1600x900.v1569486766.png


Source: https://www.pcmag.com/news/the-2-year-mobile-phone-upgrade-cycle-is-mostly-dead
 
Solid support article, but it fails to mention my number one concern about purchasing an any used iOS device (and why I don’t do it), which is MDM.

Especially after being in IT and remotely issuing a wipe commands and locking devices way down the line…
 
I wish Apple still had the "iCloud Lock" website checker. That was a bullet-proof way to determine if a used iPhone was going to become a paperweight. Abuse caused it to be shut down, and that's a shame.
 
I wish Apple still had the "iCloud Lock" website checker. That was a bullet-proof way to determine if a used iPhone was going to become a paperweight. Abuse caused it to be shut down, and that's a shame.

I was selling a MacBook and followed Apple’s instructions using Erase All Content and Settings. This is supposedly all you need to do when selling a MacBook, according to Apple, as it is supposed to deactivate Find My. The MacBook rebooted into the setup assistant screen which all looked good. When the new owner took hold of it, they told me they couldn’t complete the setup because it was asking for my iCloud password. I checked on iCloud and it was still associated to my account, and I had to remove it manually.

This issue is really bad because even if you inspected the device in person, it all looked good. You would assume that a Mac showing the setup assistant screen would not be activation locked. Only when taking the device home and completing setup, you find out it’s locked.

Imagine if this happened to a non-technical person, or an unresponsive reseller. You’d be stuck with a $1,000 paperweight.

Apple needs to do better to support the resale of used devices. There needs to be a foolproof way to check activation lock before buying a device.
 
Guess most of the used iPhone 14 Pro Max's out there in the used market will fail based on Battery Health alone!
 
Sure, Apple supports the iPhone for a long time. But if they built a sturdy device, it would actually last longer. That is how you be green.

My iPhone 7 is now my backup device to my iPhone 12 mini (RIP mini lineup).

The iPhone 7 is sturdy and lasted a long time. My biggest complaint is that it did not get iOS 17.
 
Action speaks louder than words. Has Apple ever promised that they will support their devices for this or that number of years. I don't think they have. Yet, because they had actually been doing it for the devices they sell, that trust was built.

I upgraded last year from an iPhone 8 to an iPhone 14 Pro Max. The hardware upgrade was nice and all, but the fact that the 8 still worked well with Apple's services was among the factors that I decided to stay within the ecosystem.
 
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