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All iPads **iPad Longevity Life Span (All iPads)

How many years old is your oldest iPad "Still Usable"

  • Total voters
    137
The iPad 2 has been given to my grandma but as far as I'm aware, it still works fine. We've got 3 iPad 3s still in use at home. They're noticeably slower than the iPad 4 and Air but they still function just fine. We recently updated the iPad 3s from iOS 6 to iOS 8 so they're less snappy than before but it's well worth the sacrifice for HBO Now.
 
My iPad 1 is still going strong after extremely tough use. While I had it, it was used constantly by myself and omnipresent grandchildren. I got a 3 when it came out and the original went to a granddaughter who then got the 3 when I upgraded to an Air.
The iPad 1 then went to another granddaughter who is about to get an iPad Mini 2 for her birthday. The iPad 1 is then being passed on to her brother. It has been banged around and dropped countless times by toddlers to teenagers and is still miraculously functioning!
I've probably jinxed it now by saying that.
In total in our extended family we now have the original iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad Air, iPad 4, 2 iPad Minis and 2 iPad Mini 2's.
 
Rodster said:
It has to be a good percentage but the sales decline goes much deeper than the iPad 2. I'm personally burned out on tablets and i've must have purchased 10-12 tablets in 3 years. The entire platform whether Android or iOS has not moved forward enough in the last 5 years. Add an absolutely crappy economy and you get an idea why mobile electronics are not selling as they used to.

If it weren't for subsidized phones those sales figures would be WAY down as well.
Click to expand...

Not sure about "if it weren't for subsidized phones" part.

I posted a year or so ago that I felt sales for iPhones would tank with att next Verizon edge cause people wouldn't want to pay full price. But carriers have made their mobile sharing plans more attractive. Plus American consumers are kinda of dumb. Att has stretched out payments over to 30 months on one of their next pans. Which makes the monthly installment plans for iPhone seem "cheap"

It's like cars in America. Used to be 3-4 years financing. So it's like 5-6 years financing. Stretch the payments longer to make it look cheaper. Especially with phone carriers essentially giving zero percent interest.
 
I originally bought an iPad 3 (The NEW iPad) on launch day in March 2012, and it still runs really well. Never really had any serious problems with it, other then some basic hiccups with new software updates (every year it seems that iOS x.0-x.0.x give me a problem with multitasking and the keyboard. The x.1 update always seems to fix it though). However, after over 3 years, a new iPad is beckoning my name (wallet). I've been looking at the iPad Air 2, and now its on sale so I'll be buying it for college. Still there's no denying that my iPad 3 is still usable and has held up quite well. Soon it will enter my collection of bygone Apple products, but until then it trucks on. Godspeed iPad 3. :apple:
 
trevpimp said:
My cousin still uses her iPad 1 and honestly I am really impressed by how long it lasted. It's really not slow, I mean it wouldn't be noticeable to the naked eye. It doesn't really freeze up or drop applications when using the average consumer apps like email or safari. If I was to be stuck with one I really wouldn't mind.
Click to expand...

I got rid of my 1 because Safari was pretty much unusable due to the pathetic amount of RAM. It was okay otherwise if you could live with the outdated apps but even then the screen was lousy when used in portrait orientation. So that made it bad for magazines. It was my first gen I Apple product and I'll never do that again. Of course, I was dumb enough to upgrade to the 3 to get the better screen and we all know how that turned out.

For the most part, I feel like 3 years is the right number.
 
We have an original iPad, a 3, a 4, and an Air2. All bought new from the Apple Store. All used daily & functioning perfectly. :eek: :D :apple:
 
my original ipad still works, but it hasn't got any software updates for three years and apps (e.g. safari) frequently crash because of low memory. apart from a little dent, where it fell from the bathroom sink on a metal trashcan (which now has a huge dent), it's still in perfect condition.

the battery is not as good as it used to be, but still not much below my ipad air 2.
 
Got my iPad 2 in May 2011. It still works fine but I have to charge it more often. Used to be that I could go 3 days or so without charging. Now it seems I charge it about twice that much. I have no compelling reason to upgrade. However, if the iPad Pro is what is rumored, then I might take a look. I still run iOS 7 since I am afraid of the performance hit iOS 8 might introduce.
 
JonnyBlaze said:
iPad 2 and 3 in our house, both on latest iOS8, both running absolutely fine. Maybe if I tried an air2 I'd notice a difference, but in daily use (email, lots of web browsing, spotify, overdrive books) there's nothing to complain about.
Click to expand...

I find this hard to believe. My iPad 3 was already an absolute dog using iOS 7, now on iOS 8 it's intolerably slow. I've actually pretty much stopped using it because of this; I'm only using it for presentations while I'm teaching.

Also, it goes from 100% battery life to 50% after about 2 hours of usage.
 
Tyrion said:
I find this hard to believe. My iPad 3 was already an absolute dog using iOS 7, now on iOS 8 it's intolerably slow. I've actually pretty much stopped using it because of this; I'm only using it for presentations while I'm teaching.

Also, it goes from 100% battery life to 50% after about 2 hours of usage.
Click to expand...

Given your experience I can understand you'd find it hard to believe, but I assure you it's the truth. Battery life is fine too, I keep the screen below half brightness and I'd really have to try hard to make it run out in a day. Games makes it drop more quickly, FTL for example will drop maybe 20% in an hour or so, but with my typical usage it would prob be ok on a charge every other day.
 
"Life Span" is an interesting term in itself. I have the original, iPad 3, and the Air2. For 90 percent of what I do, I could get by with the Original iPad. However, it would be a major compromise with the experience.

Personally, every 2 years or so, I get a new iPad. I am not sure if that will continue because the hardware on the Air 2 exceeds the software. That hasn't been the case with my last two iPads.

Since I use the iPad a lot more than all of my other computers, I want it to be a decent experience.
 
Tyrion said:
I find this hard to believe. My iPad 3 was already an absolute dog using iOS 7, now on iOS 8 it's intolerably slow. I've actually pretty much stopped using it because of this; I'm only using it for presentations while I'm teaching.

Also, it goes from 100% battery life to 50% after about 2 hours of usage.
Click to expand...

I bolded the key word. Usable is a subjective word. My iPad 3 on iOS 8 is SLOW. So slow that it can be a chore to use at times. But it's still usable because it still gets the job done.
 
One iPad 1 still going strong despite being the favourite toy of our two 3 year old twin girls. It is scratched and regularly is handled with dirty fingers etc, but it works as if new. Even the battery is holding up fine!
Two iPad 2s, an iPad mini and a iPad air all doing great and being used on a daily basis.
 
We've got an iPad 3 64 LTE, iPad 4 64 WiFi and an iPad Mini Retina (2nd rev) 16GB LTE.

All 3 still run great. I however still haven't found a use for mine.

The iPad 3 and Mini are mine. iPad 4 is the S/O's.

I even cancelled the data plan for it. No point paying when it literally sits in the drawer most of the time. I do hook up the iPad 3 to my TV sometimes though for playing movies with VLC.

-CM
 
I think the key is to NOT update to the new OS. Every time I update an older model **** gets ****ed up. I'm a firm believer that they do it on purpose.
 
My 17y/o step-daughter still uses my old 1st gen iPad daily. I think it's on like ios 5 or something really old, but it still works like new! I've offered to upgrade her but she says she'll use it til it dies since anything it can't do she can do on her iPhone 6.
 
iPad 3 here.. Still very happy

I got the maxed out iPad3 in 2012. It still runs on iOS 7.1.2 and I am still very happy with it. Occasionally I experience some Safari hiccups, but other then that, I am happy.
I most likely will flirt with the upcoming iPad Pro because I like to use it with my Nas streaming. Battery is degrading a bit, but for 3 years of age, it's doing great. I may even use it for two more years if the Pro is too pricey


:apple:
 
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