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But then Phil "upsell" Schiller will have nothing to upsell you to. And Cook won't be able to report record iPhone ASPs. I think it's ridiculous. There was rumor that 32GB was coming this year but I'm doubtful. It's easier for Apple to tinker at the high end because margins are bigger.

Nonsense. If Schiller is as smart as advertised he can easily find new ways to upsell. Only upgrade the camera or screen in the high end model. Make an exclusive color etc. They do it with Macs so should be easy to transfer the concept over.

I trade in my BMW every 4 years. Many of the options I paid for previously like dual AC/heat and xenon light become standard but then there are new options like HUD and LED lights, dynamic suspension, and sport brakes that always manage to keep you paying the same or more as last time. Point it's a good salesperson can find new ways to upsell rather than fixate on old standbys.
 
Why would they drop A5 if iOS 9 improves performance AND they're still selling the chip, it's more likely all A5 devices get iOS 8 than it being 64-bit only as the iPhone 5c exists. The way the 2014 lineup is set up suggests Apple wants to support it longer or the Mini 1 wouldn't be there.

First off, apparently the original report seems to imply that it will be limited to 64-bit only devices.

Secondly, Snow Leopard dropped support for machines that had no issue running Leopard (as Apple didn't want to keep building in support for a hardware platform that they were phasing out).

Thirdly, improving performance was only half of what Snow Leopard was aimed to do and half of what is rumored to be happening with iOS 9 so far. The other half was building in support for technologies that build for the future. Given how much Apple has had to bend over backwards to get the A5 stuff to work in iOS 8, odds are decent that the A5 won't receive iOS 9 support.
 
First off, apparently the original report seems to imply that it will be limited to 64-bit only devices.

Secondly, Snow Leopard dropped support for machines that had no issue running Leopard (as Apple didn't want to keep building in support for a hardware platform that they were phasing out).

Thirdly, improving performance was only half of what Snow Leopard was aimed to do and half of what is rumored to be happening with iOS 9 so far. The other half was building in support for technologies that build for the future. Given how much Apple has had to bend over backwards to get the A5 stuff to work in iOS 8, odds are decent that the A5 won't receive iOS 9 support.
The original report is just speculating, why would Apple drop the 1 year old 5c?

Apple still sells A5 devices. If they didn't want to support A5 they would've dropped the Mini 1 by now.

My guess is that it was decided at some point that they want the A5 to support one more version of iOS than previous chips. Just like the 3GS did.
 
The original report is just speculating, why would Apple drop the 1 year old 5c?

Apple still sells A5 devices. If they didn't want to support A5 they would've dropped the Mini 1 by now.

My guess is that it was decided at some point that they want the A5 to support one more version of iOS than previous chips. Just like the 3GS did.

I think the reason for that is Android. Android (and makers) has no real response for 64 bit now and won't have for a hell of a long time. This means there is no emergency right now from Apple to drop its 32 bit users.

Apple is about to force developers to produce a 64 bit build of all their apps they upgrade (probably keeping the 32 bit version also), so until there is a mass of apps with 64 bit support, there is no incentive for Apple to switch.

Either IOS 10 X ;-) or 11 will the one that does it.

I think Apple will stop selling A5 device this year for sure. Apple Mini2 will take place of the mini (that's a good value device A5 to A7 for same price) and 6c will have the innards of the 5s.
 
Apps crashing randomly, the OEM keyboard failing to appear, Safari constantly reloading pages after throwing an error message up saying there was a problem with the page, when every other browser displays it no problem, all ad up to a very frustrating experience.

Especially after years of very good performance from every one of my prior iPhones. Oh sure they had a few bugs along the way, but all new software does. Nothing as drastic, frequent and annoying as iOS 8.1.3.

Finally there's the cold undisputed fact that it's Apple. A company that's already proven how highly skilled and experienced they are. This kind of sub standard performance is a sign that there's other aspects of the business they're focused on as opposed to delivering an impressive iPhone 6 experience.

I would expect Apple to be able to focus on several projects and products without a problem. Yet conversely the experience I and my colleagues at work are having, suggests otherwise. It's not that Apple doesn't care as they openly boast "it just works", yet I await that day...
 
iOS 6 was the last stable version for my iPad 2. When will Apple allow us to revert?

Apple just incorporated a new feature in iOS 6. I'm running 6 on Pad mini. Curious about the new feature? In Mail deleting spam sends it to the trash. Emptying the trash send the spam back to the spam folder.

Innovation from Apple ;)
 
The REAL focus is to force an upgrade of all 3rd party apps to get rid all of the second and third gen ipad retinas out there by rendering them obsolete and not usable.
 
Because the mobile OS is made differently than the desktop OS. Also, you have to buy an iPad every two years? My spare iPad (2) came out almost four years ago and gets updated.

What is different? You're saying it is impossible to reinstall iOS 6? It worked before, why can't it work again?

And ever since iOS 7, my iPad 2 has been junk. So yes, if I want a functional iPad, I have to purchase it every two years. Lesson learned to never "update" again.
 
Maybe Apple could fix the Alarm Clock.

When choosing a song from the library you will not be able to snooze the phone.
Oversleeping guaranteed.
 
This would be nice, iOS 8 has so many bugs and I have more trouble with Mountain Lion then I ever did with Snow Leopard

I'm pretty happy with Yosemite update 2. A bug fix release would be great at this point.
 
What is different? You're saying it is impossible to reinstall iOS 6? It worked before, why can't it work again?

And ever since iOS 7, my iPad 2 has been junk. So yes, if I want a functional iPad, I have to purchase it every two years. Lesson learned to never "update" again.

So people with an iPad 4 won't have a functional iPad come iOS 9? Seriously, your iPad 2 should still function. I say this as a guy with an iPad 2. If it doesn't, that's because you did something to screw it up.

As for how it is different, allow me to explain. Windows XP is a general purpose OS made for the desktop. It also has more users than iPad sold from day one, and this is with a migration to newer versions. But that's not why it's different. The biggest difference is the support cycle. On the desktop, it's expected that you're going to support your OS for a long time.

Mobile?

No, people Don't expect that. And that isn't even going into the OS signing model that is used by the EFI to prevent ... something. I seriously forget what it stops. Maybe it prevents bad code from being ran, I don't know. Somebody with more knowledge on the subject can likely pick it up from here.
 
If you want the yearly release cycle like you have, this just isn't going to happen. There isn't time to add tons of new features (200+ each update so far) and then take them an optimize them as much as possible and still make that yearly release.

Remember too that while they try to get these new operating systems out to as many as possible to test before release, not everyone reports back and helps with the bug fixes. I'd be surprised if 5% of the developers that download the betas bother to report any issues unless it directly affects their own programs. From there Apple has to prioritize and fix the biggest issues first. Then they have to fix everything they can within the short time they have. We're talking just 3 or so months between betas and release for a major OS. That's a huge undertaking.

So on top of the above you want them to then take them back, optimize them all and then fix any additional release bugs? Not going to happen in the 3 months they have. That's why instead if they want to do a fully optimized OS they have to release, fix the bugs they can, take it back later and do the optimization, release new betas and work through the bugs there and then release as they're doing in this case.

While your way would be more idea, it's just not doable in real life. If it were, everyone would do it. As it stands, no one is.

It is doable-but it might make the upgrades less extreme. Which takes away from marketing, which may drive new devices.

The question is, does Apple make any actual money or drive sales through iOS upgrades for it not to be a steady trickle? Apple's data probably says yes.

----------

Every software release has bugs. Add the breakneck speed of mobile development and the bugs will pile up.

Now that iOS has most of the critical features added (finally), it should be bug fixing until the next major release. Maybe Apple is crazy enough to re-write core features using Swift if it improves performance.

Yes and no. See, I expect all software to have bugs, and some might take months to fix. But that's not what I mean: If you release software which, in the real world you find out to be buggy, you should be able to fix it more than once a year. New releases should always be new features. Under the hood updates don't need fanfare. I don't remember XP SP3, despite more people using it than Snow Leopard or iOS, getting the same level of treatment, as it wasn't marketed as "new."

I think it isn't unreasonable to say that new releases should be just that. And Apple should say which features are effectively Beta and buggy, like they did with Siri. And wifi syncing and hand off to me seem spotty and definitely "beta" (I am yet to understand why hand off can't be handled over straight LTE connections at a compressed bitrate...but that's probably a carrier issue instead of an Apple issue).
 
My iPhone 5 feels so sluggish now, I got it day one when it came out, should have stayed with ios7, why try and fix something if it wasn't broken? My battery life is crap and I've done all the save battery stuff, Now saving for an iPhone 6S.
 
My iPhone 5 feels so sluggish now, I got it day one when it came out, should have stayed with ios7, why try and fix something if it wasn't broken? My battery life is crap and I've done all the save battery stuff, Now saving for an iPhone 6S.


Apple does that on purpose. It's to make people on older devices want to upgrade because their phones slow down. I think people with 2 year old devices should stay one software update behind. U
 
Apple does that on purpose. It's to make people on older devices want to upgrade because their phones slow down. I think people with 2 year old devices should stay one software update behind. U

Agreed, we gotta stop updating ios at some point and just realize that what we have is good enough.
 
The original report is just speculating, why would Apple drop the 1 year old 5c?

The 5C is the replacement of the 5, which is three years old this fall. To treat it like it was brand new when it first came out is silly and not exactly fair as that's not even how Apple positioned it when it was released.

Also, their speculation means far more than our speculations.


Apple still sells A5 devices. If they didn't want to support A5 they would've dropped the Mini 1 by now.

The fact that they still sell it today means nothing; Apple has discontinued OS support for devices that were sold in February of the same year that they lost OS support; this is not a new trend. If they're still selling it by the time WWDC rolls around then that'd be a whole new precedent to be set. That being said, if this is an update a la Snow Leopard, they are almost guaranteed to drop A5 support. I agree that also dropping the A6 seems hasty, but if the whole point of iOS 9 is to solely focus on 64-bit ARM so they can streamline things, then I can see them cutting off support a year early. Apple's not one to care if you're holding onto an old device.

My guess is that it was decided at some point that they want the A5 to support one more version of iOS than previous chips. Just like the 3GS did.

Their end goal isn't longevity of device ownership. That's not how Apple makes so much more money on iPhones than they ever did on iPods. Their goal is to have a marriage of software and hardware that is the best thing out there. They are already having to bend the code backwards to retain iOS 8 support with the A5 and, I'm not sure if you've ever owned or used one of those devices running on that OS, the experience leaves much to be desired. If the A5 lacks support for the technologies that they want in iOS moving forward, the A5 will be dropped. Same goes for any other processor that isn't doing what Apple wants it to do with regards to future versions of iOS.

People are only reading one half of the "it's gonna be like Snow Leopard" story. That one half is fat-trimming and optimization; and if that's all Apple was going to do, it would be fair to assume that the A5 would get one more year. However, the second half that barely anyone on here seems to be paying attention to is under-the-hood technology overhauls and enhancements, which have historically eschewed the hardware on the older end of the prior OS's minimum system requirements. With Snow Leopard that meant the removal of support for 867MHz and faster G4s, and all G5s, which ran Leopard about as well as the A5 CPUs run iOS 8 today.

So, yeah, odds aren't good that the A5 will retain support even if we still have two A5 devices still sold today (one of which is on a very-clearly abandoned product line [iPod touch] and the other is on a product line that is very quickly headed down the same path [iPad mini] if the critical reception of this past October's update is any indication at all). I'd say that A6 will lose support ONLY if Apple decides to have iOS 9 and beyond be exclusively 64-bit (which isn't something I would put past Apple to do); otherwise, it's likely that the trend will continue as it has for the past couple years of iPhone and iOS releases.
 
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