how long will apple support ipad1

[utl768]

i bought mine last january and while i love it, 600 bucks isnt something im willing to shell out more then 2-3 times a decade

 

[DeaconGTG]

What do you mean by support? If you mean, technical support, quite a while. I think they still offer technical support for the original iPhone (though obviously at this point all warranties have expired so you'd have to pay for any repairs at this point).

If you're talking about how long the latest version of iOS will work for it, that's a murkier question. Looking at the iPhone and iPod touch, the latest version tends to work with two previous versoins of the phone. For example, iOS 4 really only worked with the 3GS and the iPhone 4 (though there was limited support for the original 3G). Though iOS 5 reported will work with the 3GS, 4, and whatever is being announced next week, so Apple may be broadening its support.

Short version: You're probably safe through iOS 6 (assuming we keep up the annual releases). You might need to purchase a new device for iOS 7.

 

[Rubo Draco]

if you mean iOS updates.

in my opinion... (notice I said "in my opinion")
they'll stop supporting iPad 1 till iPad 3 arrives because there will be huge hardware differences and iPad 1 will lack of hardware to support them... or it won't perform all new features like it should.

 

[jabingla2810]

It may get the next major iOS in some form or other.

But even with iOS 5, it isn't getting all the new features the iPad 2 is getting.

 

[err404]

I expect that each iOS release will support 2-3 generations of a given hardware line, at most.
For the iPad1 this means iOS 5(2011) is definite, iOS 6(2012) is a maybe but iOS7(2013) is a no.

 

[AdrianK]

iPod touch 1st gen and iPhone 2G got 3 years support. (1.0 to 3.13)
iPod touch 2nd gen and iPhone 3G got 2.4 years support. (2.0 to 4.2)
iPod touch 3rd gen and iPhone 3G will get (at least) 3 years support. (3.0 to 5.x)

Well, you're getting iOS 5, so that's 2.5 years at least.

 

[Sensamic]

Apple gives 2 iOS updates per device.

iPhone 3GS - came with iOS 3, gets iOS 4 and 5. No more.

iPhone 4 - came with iOS 4, will get iOS 5 and 6. No more.

iPad - came with iOS 3, got iOS 4 and will get iOS 5. No more.

iPad 2 - came with iOS 4, will get iOS 5 and 6. No more.

Thats the way it works. They can't give you three iOS updates because then people wouldnt buy new iPhones and iPads. Also, RAM is a huge factor. iPad 1 with 256MB RAM won't get iOS 6 because surely iOS 6 will bring new features that will need more RAM.

 

[neutrino23]

Apple gives 2 iOS updates per device.

iPhone 3GS - came with iOS 3, gets iOS 4 and 5. No more.

iPhone 4 - came with iOS 4, will get iOS 5 and 6. No more.

iPad - came with iOS 3, got iOS 4 and will get iOS 5. No more.

iPad 2 - came with iOS 4, will get iOS 5 and 6. No more.

Thats the way it works. They can't give you three iOS updates because then people wouldnt buy new iPhones and iPads. Also, RAM is a huge factor. iPad 1 with 256MB RAM won't get iOS 6 because surely iOS 6 will bring new features that will need more RAM.

That's interesting. I hadn't thought of that. Based on what we see with OS X I'll guess that Apple might supply security updates to earlier versions of iOS if something particularly nasty comes along.

 

[err404]

Apple gives 2 iOS updates per device...

The caveat for the iPad is that it was released very late in the iOS 3.x cycle. Literally just a couple of months before the iOS 4.x launch. As a result it's hardware closely matches the 4th gen iPhone/iPod Touch with it's A4 CPU/GPU. That said, I would be a bit surprised if the iPad does not receive some limited iOS6 support.