Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Apple phase support for the iPad Mini 1st gen out by then. But then I hoped its support would be phased out by now anyway. Seems like the A5 chip isn't something that can be killed so easily.

It would be unfair to iPad mini owners. Apple has decided to keep selling he mini and the touch 5 so they have the responsibility of running iOS 9 on A5.
 
It would be unfair to iPad mini owners. Apple has decided to keep selling he mini and the touch 5 so they have the responsibility of running iOS 9 on A5.

Well, it's not really unfair to iPad mini owners, considering the device has already received a number of OS updates. iOS updates aren't part of the contract. They don't have a responsibility and could drop iOS 9 support for ALL existing devices, should they want to.
 
Well, it's not really unfair to iPad mini owners, considering the device has already received a number of OS updates. iOS updates aren't part of the contract. They don't have a responsibility and could drop iOS 9 support for ALL existing devices, should they want to.

They do have responsibility to ensure good support. If I was to shell out good money for an iPad Mini 1 today, I would expect that it receives continued support. '

I'm guessing you have the funds to continually upgrade your Devices so you don't give a damn.

The iPad Mini 1 has only received 2 updates, Apple usually delivers 3 or more.

Its criminal to charge money for a device that will be unusable with Apps in less than a year.
 
As a electrical and computer engineer, I can say that there is nothing special about iOS 8 compare to iOS 6 that devices can run iOS 6 perfectly will lag on iOS8. iCloud, location services (all these background refreshing services) are well existed back to iOS6. Do you think it is translucent effect that slows down your device? No way. Remember your iOS 6 device run infinite blade perfectly? Do you think translucent effect takes more processing power than a 3D game? It is either lossy coding on apple side or deliberately make your device slower and get you update. Or probably because of both.

However, all the companies planned obsolete their products; it is just that there are so many people are using apple devices so it is more noticed by the general public.
 
They do have responsibility to ensure good support. If I was to shell out good money for an iPad Mini 1 today, I would expect that it receives continued support. '

I'm guessing you have the funds to continually upgrade your Devices so you don't give a damn.

The iPad Mini 1 has only received 2 updates, Apple usually delivers 3 or more.

Its criminal to charge money for a device that will be unusable with Apps in less than a year.

Which is exactly why they should have dropped it.
Also, it's one thing to "ensure good support". It's another thing entirely to provide OS updates.
 
A simple reminder to those who haven't been using Apple products from the beginning or even the MacOS days: when apple updated the OS for a product, and that product was supported by that OS, it used to always make it run faster. Now, not so much. Reminds me of another giant software company I used to use.
 
Which is exactly why they should have dropped it.
Also, it's one thing to "ensure good support". It's another thing entirely to provide OS updates.

And good support means by Apples standards, 3 upgrades usually. Otherwise you loose support for Apps in the App centre.

Of course they should have dropped the Mini 1 from the lineup, but they haven't thus they need to ensure it is still usable for people who are buying them, and the other 64 percent of total iPad users.
 
iOS should be easy to optimize since Apple makes both hardware and software, unlike Android where are many different SOC's etc. But no, updates make devices slower and slower. Quess what? Google made Android developers to use gimped version of Nexus 4 and they managed to make KitKat more lightweight.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Google-engineers-made-to-use-gimped-Nexus-4-with-512-MB-of-RAM-when-optimizing-Android-KitKat_id49768

(You can't believe how hard it was to post a link with iOS 8 buggy copy and paste)

Now we have bloated laggy iOS and smooth Android. Definitely not what it used to be before.
 
I wouldn't. I wish I had never updated my iPhone 4. But not updating leaves iUsers with another issue since Apple's software support is near enough non-existent for their older software and you'll find features and services slowly cease to function.

Downright criminal practice in my opinion, but I guess the law doesn't agree.
 
iOS 8.0.2 was unusable on my 4S... I don't know if they sped things up on 8.1, but that is actually borderline usable.

I have 7.1.2 on a 4, and that is pretty bad.
 
They do have responsibility to ensure good support. If I was to shell out good money for an iPad Mini 1 today, I would expect that it receives continued support. '

I'm guessing you have the funds to continually upgrade your Devices so you don't give a damn.

The iPad Mini 1 has only received 2 updates, Apple usually delivers 3 or more.

Its criminal to charge money for a device that will be unusable with Apps in less than a year.

I think you mean it is unethical or bad business rather than "criminal" for a device to be unusable with certain Apps within a year.
 
I think you mean it is unethical or bad business rather than "criminal" for a device to be unusable with certain Apps within a year.

lol sorry I wasn't saying it was illegal, more like as you say unethical/bad business.

----------

iOS should be easy to optimize since Apple makes both hardware and software, unlike Android where are many different SOC's etc. But no, updates make devices slower and slower. Quess what? Google made Android developers to use gimped version of Nexus 4 and they managed to make KitKat more lightweight.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Goog...of-RAM-when-optimizing-Android-KitKat_id49768

(You can't believe how hard it was to post a link with iOS 8 buggy copy and paste)

Now we have bloated laggy iOS and smooth Android. Definitely not what it used to be before.

This is my argument! Apple should develop iOS 9 for A5 first, as then they'd be forced to optimise the heck out of it. If they had it fast on an A5 it would scream on the A6, A7 and A8.
 
Which has been out for 5 and a half years now, and every machine that can run it can free upgrade to 10.10.

Lots of Macs (32-bit Intel) can only go up to 10.6.8.

Lots of Macs (32-bit EFI or non-supported GPU) can only go up to 10.7.5.

Then how come Apple is still signing 4.1 for pre-A4 devices?


Apple is only signing iOS 4.1 for the iPhone 3GS, as far as I know. Is it the same with the iPhone 3G? I've only used that with 3.1.3 and 4.2.1.
 
And good support means by Apples standards, 3 upgrades usually. Otherwise you loose support for Apps in the App centre.

Of course they should have dropped the Mini 1 from the lineup, but they haven't thus they need to ensure it is still usable for people who are buying them, and the other 64 percent of total iPad users.

64% *now*. Not necessarily 64% in a year's time, when iOS 9 comes out.
 
General Rule with iOS: Don't update from it's intial OS?

This is my argument! Apple should develop iOS 9 for A5 first, as then they'd be forced to optimise the heck out of it. If they had it fast on an A5 it would scream on the A6, A7 and A8.


This is what's causing iOS feature set to lose its lack luster, apps to not use their full potential and device fragmentation. Optimize all you want, the OS and apps can only be as powerful as the weakest piece of hardware that is going to run it.
 
This is what's causing iOS feature set to lose its lack luster, apps to not use their full potential and device fragmentation. Optimize all you want, the OS and apps can only be as powerful as the weakest piece of hardware that is going to run it.

Its simple. DOn't put the powerful features on the old devices. Give them the less power consuming ones. Like how the 3GS didn't get flyover, and the iPod Touch 2 didn't get multitasking. If you optimise software for the lower end, its going to run far better on higher end stuff. If iOS was properly optimised we wouldn't have an iOS that lags on A7 and A8.


----------

64% *now*. Not necessarily 64% in a year's time, when iOS 9 comes out.

That 64% is not going to drop that much. They're still selling the Mini 1 and people don't upgrade their iPads the way they upgrade their iPhones. I'd say it would go down to just over 50%. 50% is still too many people to drop.
 
I think you mean it is unethical or bad business rather than "criminal" for a device to be unusable with certain Apps within a year.

Yeah, I mean, you can't expect them to always cater updates to the absolute lowest common denominator or dumb it down so much. But they could maybe have a system where older devices get a longer trial period using the new OS where they can go back easily should they want to.

Or, just don't release the update for the older devices at all. There is no reason why every single device has to have the newest OS. They'll miss out on some features but their device will still function just fine. I dunno.
 
My 4S seems to run iOS8 ok. I'm glad to have it as the 4S is now my "travelling phone" having waited for the launch of the 6. I would much prefer a slow up to date iOS than a quicker out of date one. My old iPad1 is still on iOS5 and aside from the older visuals I miss the features of the newer iOS.
 
Yeah, I mean, you can't expect them to always cater updates to the absolute lowest common denominator or dumb it down so much. But they could maybe have a system where older devices get a longer trial period using the new OS where they can go back easily should they want to.

Or, just don't release the update for the older devices at all. There is no reason why every single device has to have the newest OS. They'll miss out on some features but their device will still function just fine. I dunno.

The problem with just dropping old features is that its not fair on people who have recently bought the devices. The iPad 2 was still sold 7 months ago and the Mini is still sold now. Unsupported devices now loose app support even faster. Apple now immediately stops giving updates to its apps on older devices. Basically you're device looses one of the most important functionalities - access to apps very quickly. EG when iOS 7 came out, the pages update changed the file format, and as a result my iPhone 3GS became useless, as i couldn't access my iCloud docs as there was no new pages for iOS 6.

The other part of course is that the iPad 2 is still the most used tablet. Its apple's fault for selling it for so long.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.