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I guess I'm really weird - my iPhone is 3 years old, my iMac is 7, and my MBA is 6. I'm planning on replacing all 3 this year (iPhone battery isn't lasting long enough and MBA isn't performant enough. I could probably hold onto the iMac for another year or two).

Most people would think that is normal. At least those who work for their money.
 
"This replacement rate could affect future sales, driving them down as the tablet market becomes saturated. In this scenario, consumers would hold onto an iPad for a longer period of time, and future first-time iPad owners would be more likely to receive an older iPad than buy a new one."

Agreed statement. But what folks and the market probably don't realize is that "saturation" is at the point where every family in the industrial world has two or three tablets. When there are dramatically more full featured tablets out in the wild than PCs, then we will be approaching saturation. The tablet form factor is a great big ball of win. This market is going to keep growing.

My sister is using my iPad 1. It will probably stay in use in their family until it breaks. Then they will either get another handme down from me or they will buy an new one.
 
How is that planned obsolescence not being able to install the latest OS
Your old computer still works and there is no company out there that will support old products indefinitely unless you pay A LOT of money

We are also talking about five years in the past. Which Windows PC lasts that long. And of course Microsoft is in the horrible position that people get very angry if old OS versions are not supported, because people don't want the new one!

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It comes down to a simple thing, make the product worth upgrading every year.

Let's assume you own an iPad, and you are going to own an iPad for the next 20 years. And let's assume it costs $499.

Upgrading every year costs $499. For that to be worthwhile, Apple doesn't have to produce a new device worth $499, but a new device where the difference to the one year old one is worth $499! Unless the customer is one of those sad people who can't stand the idea of not having the latest model, this is very hard to achieve.
 
I guess I'm really weird - my iPhone is 3 years old, my iMac is 7, and my MBA is 6. I'm planning on replacing all 3 this year (iPhone battery isn't lasting long enough and MBA isn't performant enough. I could probably hold onto the iMac for another year or two).

Good lord. Get the battery on the iPhone replaced. It must be shot at this point. You can DIY by buying kit and battery from iFixit for $30 (that is what I've done on the iPhone 4 and 5, but there is some risk of damaging phone). Or find a tech repair store that will do it with same day turnaround time for $60. Apple will replace it for $80, but I think you have to ship the phone in. You will love having a new battery in there and it will help your resale value so you will recover a bit of the cost. Also with new battery you won't find it a challenge to wait for iPhone 6 to come out. That will be the main benefit.
 
I'm on my third one in 16 years, and no intention to replace what I have now. It will be replaced when it breaks, and I don't feel any need for 3d or 4k or a smart TV.


Good to hear. 4k TVs will not be mainstream for many many years...if not a decade. OLED is actually the future IMO.
 
I find it amusing that they use the example of lost items, when Apple refuses to acknowledge that their products CAN be lost or stolen.
 
Tablets will be replaced when a major new feature comes out like 4K. Etc. comparing IPhone replacement with tablet replacement isn't even a comparison. Also remember subsidies play a big part in the 2 year replacement cycle on iPhones.
 
Phones are replaced more often for a few reasons.

They are always on and take much more of a beating than iPads and plus the true cost of phones is hidden in the 2 yr contracts that a ton of people have.


Phones can also be a status symbol of sorts.

Last I'd say the iPad is of less importance to most people than a phone and probably even their computer


I'm still rocking my iPad 2 and its fine. I don't even use it a ton anymore. My kids use it. I like it, but I can't stand inputting text on it. And prefer the big 24" screens of my macs and pcs.

I was tempted to get the latest and greatest but I asked myself what do I really need it for. And thus I didn't get one. I think for most the usage case for an iPad is pretty light and they don't need a new one.

PHones will probably start to become replaced less often as well.
 
I used my 1st gen iPod Touch for six years until the battery stopped holding a charge, and recently replaced it with an iPhone 5c this month since I was due for a new cellphone and cheaper (relatively) than a new iPod Touch. I'll probably won't replace my iPad 2 for another year or two.
 
of course it does an iPad starts at 399 and iPhone starts at 99 or even less sometimes.
"on contract"
Outright, they iPhones cost the same as iPhones roughly. And Minis cost less.

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Buy an iPhone (current gen) for $199 every two years.

Buy an iPad (current gen) for $399-499 every two years.

$199 on contract. That's the reason why I still have my iPhone 1. I can't justify paying the iPhone price a the moment for a new one. Contract or outright, same price, just when you pay the money changes.

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totally agree. i can't look at this graph and quickly tell you the percentage of people who replace their iPhone in 1-2 days. at a glance, i'd say it's about 81%, but that would be way off. with a little more time i'd realize that that stat doesn't start at zero, and requires estimating at both the high and low end. roughly 81% - 37%. so... 44%... I'm already doing math, why not just show me the raw numbers???

or show the data the correct way and make a pie chart.

This is done on purpose. So if someone proves them wrong, they just say, we didn't give exact details on our graphs.
 
Good. I was afraid that things were just going to get obsolete faster and faster, and soon we'll be buying new devices like we buy groceries. I do hope this is intentional and that it stays this way!
 
Agreed. It's a pretty decent device. Could do with more RAM, as Safari and Alien Blue hammer it quite hard but otherwise I see no reason to upgrade.

I'm sitting on an iPad 3 right now, waiting for Apple to do the right thing. By right thing I mean more RAM and flash at the same price points, as you point out there are a number of apps constrained by available memory. You happen to point out two that I use a lot but there are far more that could use more RAM. I'm actually surprised that Apple went 64 bit with out at least a RAM upgrade. As for flash, let's face it with the radical decline in flash prices since the iPad cam out Apple is basically screwing the customer good.
 
I'm sitting on an iPad 3 right now, waiting for Apple to do the right thing. By right thing I mean more RAM and flash at the same price points, as you point out there are a number of apps constrained by available memory. You happen to point out two that I use a lot but there are far more that could use more RAM. I'm actually surprised that Apple went 64 bit with out at least a RAM upgrade. As for flash, let's face it with the radical decline in flash prices since the iPad cam out Apple is basically screwing the customer good.

Same. I want an iPad air for myself. But it is missing two things that prevent me from getting one.

More RAM. I often like to leave lots of tabs open. because, I'm lazy, and dont want to have to remember to bookmark or type out URL's constantly :p

And GPS. Not sure why Apple is so insistant not to put at least standard GPS unit in the non connected iPads. I would love to be able to use some offline maps with GPS. I'm planning on spending a month (maybe more) in Europe this year backpacking. I was hoping to just get an iPad air to bring with me for all my Mapping needs, and as a place to offload my camera's storage too.

But, no GPS.
 
For me, an iPad does last longer than a phone, but I doubt it will hit year 6 like my current MacBook...

A TV? Those are 10 years, no way my iPad 2 will still be good to go in 2022.

I'm not a big cell phone user so I'm just the opposite. The only reason I'm still on an iPad 3 is because I want a machine with more RAM and hopefully more flash storage.
 
"We think Apple would prefer the iPad become a big iPhone," the report concludes.

Really? Because I think Apple wants customers who love their devices and will eventually replace them with another one, even if it is five, six years down the line. I'd imagine Apple is giddy over the idea that people are getting free/cheep used first time iPads. How do these analysts think most people get their first electronics? My first two Macs were used, my first iPad (iPad 3 which is still great and the wife's iPad 2 which is still great was a refurb) and my first iPhone were all used. If peoples first impression of used products is great, which in all likelihood, with an iDevice it will be, then how much more likely are they to go get a new one? I'd Apple sees it less as a problem and more as free advertising for future sales.
 
Good lord. Get the battery on the iPhone replaced. It must be shot at this point. You can DIY by buying kit and battery from iFixit for $30 (that is what I've done on the iPhone 4 and 5, but there is some risk of damaging phone). Or find a tech repair store that will do it with same day turnaround time for $60. Apple will replace it for $80, but I think you have to ship the phone in. You will love having a new battery in there and it will help your resale value so you will recover a bit of the cost. Also with new battery you won't find it a challenge to wait for iPhone 6 to come out. That will be the main benefit.

The back is also broken. I'll just live with it (I have neither the time nor money to fix it right now) and I'll buy the iPhone 6 when it comes out (at which point I should have money).
 
Statistics - lies - statistics - lies - statistics - lies.


Sadly the truth is often a matter of least importance when somebody is trying to get a point across. Sort of like gun control advocates ignoring the low crime rates in the USA.

>The CIRP report ... shows that almost half of iPad owners will go without their tablet, waiting a week or more to replace a broken, lost or stolen device.

The graph shows that it's a little over 23% waiting a week or more. More than 50% would replace it within 1-2 days. Am I reading it wrong?


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Tablets aren't old enough to compare them to TVs yet. :rolleyes: So this survey is pointless.

Further people get real improvements with each iPad update. In many ways iPad AIR is very bleeding edge technology.

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How many other cell phone manufactures support their old phones with new OS upgrades the way Apple does? None that I know of. Same with tablets.

Apple has enforced it's planned obsolescence to the cracking point of the public's goodwill.
This is the most asinine statement in this whole thread!!!! I'm running iOS 7.1 on an iPhone 4, what other manufacture can match that? I'm talking a cell phone that is still highly usable.
It's interesting that Steve Jobs stated that he didn't want to build TVs because the margins suck and there isn't enough "turnover." Apple's methods of forcing "turnover"
No one from Apple has ever twisted my arm to upgrade. Your statement have no basis in fact, rather they fly in the face of facts.
have rubbed me the wrong way on more than one occasion. They can't take it much further before people (or at least I) decide that Apple just isn't worth it any more.
Buy a Samsung the and stop posting garbage in this forum.
On that note, my iPad 2 is still running strong having faced frequent use by toddlers for years.

So you are basically saying in one sentence that all your previous whining is crap?
 
What an irrelevant post.
Manufactured news to keep the bits flowing.
MacRumors have been awfully boring for the last few weeks. I would've expected plenty of leaks of the new MacBook Air, new iPhone 6, new Mac Mini et.c. by now. I find it strange that there is nothing to report.

It seems maybe we won't be getting anything new until autumn.
This seems like a real possibility but frankly it appears to be Intels fault with the slippage of Broadwell. On the other hand anything iOS related is on a different upgrade cycle.
Maybe WWDC will only be focusing on software this year, which would be really boring as I've come to expect a new MBA. (The MBA has been updated at WWDC for the last two years).
Yeah it would be boring! However an Apple TV that does gaming would be very big news and would fit into WWDC.
All this talk of new product releases throughout 2014... More than a quarter of the year has passed and not even ONE new product has been released. The new AppleTV has not yet been released. No new iPads. iPhones won't be arriving till September.
Don't believe September is set in stone. New iOS hardware could come anytime, especially if the rumors about A8 being production are true.
No new computers (most computers show up as Do Not Buy in the Buyers Guide). No iWatch. Nothing. (No, I don't consider the 8GB 5c or the iPad 4 to be new products).
Pathetic isn't it? I was waiting on a new Mini but no one knows what is up there. I can see the Mini being replaced by a souped up Apple TV at this point.
What's going on? Is Apple going to release all products in Q3 & Q4?
Q2!

Think about it, a new Apple TV can't be released until or around WWDC to update developers. IPad can be updated anytime, hell I'd settle for a RAM and flash bump.

In any event yeah I'd like to know what is going on, it has been too long for many products.
 
Some companies are guilty of such behavior but I've yet to see a really good example of Apple doing this.

you dont understand the concept of Planned obsolescences.
Nor do you.
Yes, you can always continue using items well past their supported life. Planned obsolescences reffers to to a combination of factors that a company can use to "force" an upgrade on its users
This is the part that is baloney. It is like blaming the guy at the bottom of a cliff for yelling jump to the guy at the top of the cliff. No company can realistically force you to buy something you don't want. Even though there is a democrat in the White House free will still reigns.
The simplist way is the outright cause the product to stop its life after a certain period of time. most companies don't do this as it would be suicidal. Nobody would buy an iPad if at 3 years the thing completely shut itself off and never started again.
Even if a company was stupid enough to do something like this it should force you to buy from them again. Actually just the opposite should happen, that should be the last purchase you ever make from that company.
However, there are far more manipulative forms where product support is arbitrarily removed creating a barrier to future use.

An example of this sort of software planned obsolesence:

Create an MP3 player. Version 1.0 software comes default.
1 year later, Release new MP3 player. Version 2.0 comes default.
First gen MP3 player does not get V2 software despite physical capability of supporting that software.
All future development, software, Apps and Music playing ability requires V2.0
That isn't forcing anybody to do anything. Generally there are rational reasons to move support to newer firmware revisions.
So yes, you can always continue using the original MP3 player in its current format. But you dont get support. You dont get updates, and sometimes if a company is vindictive enough, it even changes it's online stores format to only work on the new software.
Examples?
I'm not saying Apple is guilty of this form of it. But the accusation has been levied against them (And many tech companies who rely on hardware sales).
There are many people out there making all sorts of accusations against Apple, however before you put weight into some of this nonsense you should look into the facts.
sometimes it's not easy to tell when this is done. Apple HAS done it in the past. Often cutting support for 3 year old hardware from newer software for reasons that are arbitrary.

the last example I can think of is OSx Mountain Lion dropping support for Some Mac Pro's and Mac laptops that do not feature 64bit EFI's despite being fully 64bit CPU based systems and more than enough physical power to handle it.
This has nothing what so ever to do with planned obsolescence.
the inclusion of support would have cost Apple little as it existed previously. But cutting off support completely for people wishign to upgrade their OS would in fact force them to buy new hardware. Fortunately, Apple hasn't been so bold to also limit the Applications that run to Mavericks / ML only as that would be too obvious.

I would imagine you see a conspiracy hiding behind every tree in the forest. The only correct way for Apple to solve such a problem would be to issue a complete firmware update that could lead to even more support issues. In this case they simply took the avenue that caused the least harm and support issues.

In any event I have all sorts of old i86 hardware in the cellar, all the way back to 486 chips. Do you honestly expect each manufacture of these boards to support the latest version of Linux, Windows or whatever? Seriously.

Speaking of which even Linux has dropped support for old hardware. Why - because it is the smart thing to do, it makes no sense to support hardware nobody uses even in an open source environment. Conspiracy theorists often dismiss the reality of the practicle. If you want to look at an anti pattern here look at Windows which has strived to support old software for years and has turned into a disgusting mess.
 
Defend it all you want but your position is garbage.

It's when your iMac can no longer even install the latest OS X when virtually any PC can get the latest Windows. It's when you can't even run X-Code on an that iMac because the iMac can't run the latest OS X. It's when new features aren't granted to old products for non-technical reasons just to make the new product more enticing. LordVic covered this nicely.
I mentioned this in another post but I have hardware in my cellar right now that can't run mainstream Linux. Does that make the open source distro folks evil?

As a person that runs XCode from time to time on old Apple hardware I understand the issues with old hardware and modern software. However I can expect Apple to stop moving forward because the performance of my of hardware sucks. This especially in the case of developer software designed to support the future not the past.
I mean, I get it from a sales and marketing perspective.
The problem is what you are crying about has very (nill) to do with sales and marketing. I'm willing to bet a big part of the problem here is technical ignorance. Spend some time as a developer and you will understand the need for modern hardware to support Apples operating system.
It's business and all that. And I used to defend Apple by saying things like "Well they're just trying to ensure that the experience is the best for everyone and sometimes you just can't dedicate resources to supporting aging hardware..." etc. etc.
All of that is true though.
But once you understand that "turnover" is one of Apple's objectives and/or requirements, it kind of changes things.

I think this is rather an indication you haven't grasped what has been referenced. The only reason the personal computing industry has been successful over the years is because they can deliver vastly improved value year after year. If that where to ever collapse many companies built around that upgrade cycle would go under. To Apples credit they have apparently realized that this cycle of significant improvements to hardware and software is slowing and thus have structured a business that moves beyond the rapid churn of new hardware.

Think about this a bit, Apple is about the only company that releases PC hardware, especially laptops on more or less yearly schedule. Other companies may through revs out there several times a year. This is just one example that counters your doom and gloom attitude.
 
I was being mostly hypothetical with my examples.

I do not believe personally that Apple has purposely instituted a Planned obsolescence with their updates.

And Did not mean to confuse nor imply that. I was just giving hypothetical examples of how it is possible to do "planned obsolescence" without rendering the initial item unusable.

I am well aware that technology advancing does impose real life limitations on older hardware from being able to support newer software.

Again, my comments were only to counter the original idea that Planned obsolescence meant that a device became completely unusable and that there were other forms of companies that could (may have) done so via more round about software methods.
 
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