Average Apple Device Lifespan Estimated at Just Over Four Years by Analyst

[RedRaven571]

My 2008 Mac Pro and 2010 MacBook Pro are both still highly functional

Yup,still love my 2012 MBP (SSD and 8GB RAM); I will use it until it gives up the ghost, since was the last model in which HDD and RAM are easily consumer replaced. My wife inherited my late 2008 MBP (1TB HDD and 8GB RAM) and mostly uses it for photos.

 

[mr.steevo]

It's called AVERAGE

Very true.

I imagine the device lifetime is somewhat dependent on the user as well. I'm gentle on my possessions but my brother in law has managed to drop his first iPhone 3G in the toilet the day he purchased it, broke the iPod 3rd gen I gave him within a month, broke his Macbook within the first year, and lost his iPhone C.

 

[japanime]

I launched my company on a PowerBook 2400 in 1998. Twenty years later, both the company and the PowerBook are still going strong. (The 2400 functions primarily as a music server nowadays.)

We also use a couple of 2011 MacBook Air 11-inch models for regular work in our office.

If it ain't broke, don't throw it away.

 

[MarkB786]

My experience, as a heavy Mac user, is about 2.5 to 3 years before it slows down significantly or a port, board, chip, or other major component fails. Still better than our Dells at work, but not as good as our Levono which is rock solid after four years.

 

[trellus]

That's about right for me as far as how long I keep a Mac... for overall longevity, well, I just barely bought a second-hand MacBook Pro 15 Retina 2012 in December 2016, and I'm on it now and don't really anticipate I will replace it with a newer one until probably 2020, so I'd say 8 years.

 

[rizzo41999]

This certainly isn't the case with 2000's products. My iMac G4 is still running strong.

 

[MarkB786]

...

This is a good point. If someone can afford to get a new phone every year, the result is that a very good discounted phone will end up in someone else's hands.

 

[EdRed]

I still have an old 2007 MacBook Pro that's functional after 10 year of use. Also used to have a PowerMac G4 (Digital Audio) that also worked fine for 10 years. Nowadays I'm using a MacBook Pro (Mid 2014) that I hope lasts for a long time too.

 

[firewood]

If I average together my 1 year old iPhone and 7+ year old MacBook, that fits his average number perfectly.

 

[scrapesleon]

My late 2010 MacBook is still going strong

 

[manu chao]

I cannot fathom a more meaningless and useless piece of research. Lifespans of Macs have no bearing on iPods which have no bearings on iPhones which have no bearing on iPads.

Such a waste of effort and time...

The only iPods in these numbers are the iPod touch sales (and compared to other iOS devices those sales were pretty low). When Apple releases numbers of active Macs separately, you can start differentiating between the two. You can of course also add a guess as to how long Macs are used and then backcalculate how long iOS devices are used.
[doublepost=1520004417][/doublepost]

Yeah, it would be more useful to separate the iPhone from the other devices. I keep an iPhone two years, but get a new MacBook Pro only when there is a major upgrade, averaging over 4-5 years. I have iMacs at my office that get daily use and are ten years old ::touch wood::.

Unfortunately, Apple has often only reported the total number of active devices (ie, Mac + iOS + Watch) and not broken this out into separate categories.

 

[jeff275]

Sorry but I gotta call BS on this article. I know this is anecdotal but I have yet to see a Mac last less than 6 years, most are 8+.

It makes sense when you factor in the average lifespan of an iPhone screen is 6 months.

 

[Glideslope]

Tell that to my Early 2008 Mac Pro.

 

[east85]

I killed the keyboard on my Aluminum Unibody MacBook 5,1 (late 2008) not too long ago but I plan to revive it and repair the keyboard.

In the meantime I bought another one and it runs just fine without a hiccup. Actually it's faster than a few more modern windows laptops I have. I've upgraded it with 8gb of ram and SSDs. Only caveat is some of these older macs have trouble rendering 60fps videos at 1080 on YouTube due to the GPU and codecs (iirc), so I had to add a script to Safari to force 30FPS. Right now it's pushing an older 24" LED cinema display and everything is buttery smooth.

It's my opinion that Apple makes great long lasting Mac products but I haven't really used and abused anything newer so I may be wrong. I've heard a lot of complaints about keyboards not lasting on some of the newer models.

 

[trip1ex]

Its flawed because Apple has sold a lot more devices the last 3-4 years than the 3-4 years prior to that.

 

[Machead2012]

4 years is generous if you count upgrading to the latest build. Speaking from experience : not 1 but 2 MB Airs 2011 and 2014 (3 year lifespan with normal/careful use) both had fried Mother Boards and Batteries very soon after upgrading to the latest OS. IMHO no coincidence.

 

[tardegrade]

Interestingly the same analyst says that "two out of every three devices ever sold by Apple is still in use."

Here is the link: http://www.asymco.com/2018/02/27/the-number/

I can't make the math on that work myself, but then I'm not really trying. It is interesting how one headline can make the same set of data look different when interpreted from a different perspective though.

 

[lowendlinux]

For Mac's I'm sure it's longer but iOS devices bring the average down that said if my 2017 $329 iPad last until 2021 I'll be plenty impressed.

 

[moderngamenewb]

My 2012 retina MacBook Pro is still working almost like new (minus decrease in battery and an obviously outdated processor) for over 5 years now. I thought it was on its last leg with 10.12 as it was going so slow and was buggy. However, surprisingly, 10.13 brought it back to a better state and its back to working almost like new

 

[jmgregory1]

Not sure what exactly the benefit is, for looking at all Apple products to determine average lifespan? Mac desktops certainly don’t live through the typical extremes that a MB, MBA or MBP do. And on the other end of the spectrum, iPhones with their yearly upgrade cycle, extremely high numbers of users and typical heavy daily use are likely to have a shorter lifespan, which skews the average down.

Like others in here, I’ve got an old 2003 Power Mac G5 tower that still runs, although it’s more of a museum piece at this point (being 15 years old), along with a 2011 MBA 13” being used as a daily driver for one of our kids college computer, and both an iMac and rMBP 15” from early 2013 running strong with no signs of giving up the ghost anytime soon, nor any real reason to be replaced at this point. There is a reason why a lot of people, and companies, use Apple devices, even if they appear to be priced higher than some comparable PC alternatives, because you generally do get a far longer usable lifespan out of them, without the hassles, reducing the long term cost of ownership.

 

[The Cappy]

Looking at all devices without distinction... just doesn't seem all that useful.

 

[jimi78]

My iPhone 4, bought in August 2010, is now in a drawer but after I used it I passed to my father, then my mother until fall 2017, so about 7 years. She's now using my old iPhone 5 bought in 2013, so about 5 years ago.
The life span of a Mac is much longer, my in laws are using my old mid 2009 MBP and my aunt is using my mid 2012 MBA. I'd say a Mac can have at least 10 years of life before becoming almost useless.

Keepin it in the family I see My 2008 Blackbook finally gave up in 2016. I passed it down to my girl after I purchased a MBA in 2015 and she got a good year w/ my favorite MB Apple has ever made.

 

[SithLord.]

Asymco analyst Horace Dediu this week shared new research that focuses on determining the average lifespan of Apple devices. Dediu's research doesn't break down data on a specific product level, but instead encompasses Apple's entire stable of products in one general lifespan average. According to Dediu's proposal, if you use the number of active devices and cumulative devices sold, you can get to the average lifespan (via The Next Web).

Dediu's research on this topic was propelled forward when Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed the total number of active Apple devices -- 1.3 billion worldwide -- during the company's most recent earnings call. Now, the analyst proposed that to determine the average lifespan, you can subtract the known active devices number from cumulative devices sold to determine "cumulative retired devices."

Dediu then said that to estimate the average lifespan, you calculate the time between "cumulative devices sold" at the beginning of a product's lifespan, and the current "cumulative retired devices." He ultimately determined that the average Apple device lifespan is about 4 years and three months, when looking at the data of Apple products sold in Q2 2013 and retired in Q4 2017, a time when the 2013 devices died or otherwise stopped working and their owners sought to purchase new versions.

Dediu gave a detailed breakdown of his calculations:
He noted that cumulative devices sold for Apple includes Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and the iPod touch, although of course the lifespan average number is just that -- an average -- and doesn't perfectly apply to each individual product. Just over four years is likely in the ballpark for how long Mac users keep around their computers, but if looked at on a product-by-product basis that statistic would likely be different for iPhone and Apple Watch owners.

For more details on the topic, check out Dediu's full post on Asymco.com.

Article Link: Average Apple Device Lifespan Estimated at Just Over Four Years by Analyst

[doublepost=1520005596][/doublepost]My mid 2011 MBA is still as perfect as when I unboxed it. My first gen watch is still good to go, my 3rd gen Ipad is slow but built SO well, heavy and solid. My mid 2010 3.06 i3 IMAC is slow now, but still functional for menial tasks. Ipad mini 4 is still rockin! Oh, and my first gen apple tv is still playing Netflix just fine. Just saying.....

 

[Uofmtiger]

My MacBook Pro from Late 2012 still runs like on its first day.

My first gen Apple Watch on the other hand was dead on arrival (so slow, Steve Jobs would have never allowed it)

I still wear my first gen Apple Watch everyday. The watchOS 3 update made it a lot better. However, I mainly use it for controlling music on my iPhone, notifications, weather, time, picking up the occasional call, telling Siri to set reminders and alarms, checking my calendar, and closing activity rings. Works fine for me. I thought about updating this year for the LTE, but determined that I wouldn't use it enough to justify the added cost on my carrier.

 

[Falhófnir]

What's the point of averaging across such a wide range of devices with different upgrade cycles? What does that tell us? I'd say not really a lot. an iPhone lasting 4 years would be doing well, equally a mac only lasting that long would be quite disappointing.