Is there a valid reason for lack of iOS 6 support for iPad 1?

[Slip Jigs]

Other than certain new "features" that do benefit or even require a hardware boost, what exactly is it about the OS itself that makes it incompatible with iPad 1?

For the most part, I accept the business model of incremental upgrade, both in hardware and software, as just they way of life, that a new device or application won't stay new for long. But it's just getting worse, and it seems that the first if a device in its third generation should still enjoy full support, even if it can't run certain apps or features. And even if we take Apple at their word, that they would rather ensure a quality experience on an outdated device.

But this makes the iPad 1 more than outdated, it is now obsolete. If for no other reason than now it will require a lot more maintenance keeping my apps up to date, if indeed the developers will even continue to support iOS 5. That's sort of ironic because now the experience involving the ecosystem becomes more problematic and less fluid.

I used to be able to afford being an early adopter and always kept with the latest and greatest. But now I can't, yet in most cases I still feel I am getting the value out of certain investments, But not with this.

 

[jmccullough108]

I feel it's the same reason they left the 3GS out. They want you to be somewhat current. It's kind of a bad deal.

 

[Intell]

I feel it's the same reason they left the 3GS out. They want you to be somewhat current. It's kind of a bad deal.

The 3Gs got iOS 6. It got every feature the iPhone 4 did except one or two.

 

[applesith]

iPad 1 is way behind the 2. I had the 1 and waited to upgrade to 3. It runs way slower than the 2.

And Apple stopped selling the 1. Latest iOS is only supported on devices they are currently selling. 3GS exception: it was on sale when iOS6 was introduced.

 

[JS82712]

Other than certain new "features" that do benefit or even require a hardware boost, what exactly is it about the OS itself that makes it incompatible with iPad 1?

For the most part, I accept the business model of incremental upgrade, both in hardware and software, as just they way of life, that a new device or application won't stay new for long. But it's just getting worse, and it seems that the first if a device in its third generation should still enjoy full support, even if it can't run certain apps or features. And even if we take Apple at their word, that they would rather ensure a quality experience on an outdated device.

But this makes the iPad 1 more than outdated, it is now obsolete. If for no other reason than now it will require a lot more maintenance keeping my apps up to date, if indeed the developers will even continue to support iOS 5. That's sort of ironic because now the experience involving the ecosystem becomes more problematic and less fluid.

I used to be able to afford being an early adopter and always kept with the latest and greatest. But now I can't, yet in most cases I still feel I am getting the value out of certain investments, But not with this.

You should feel lucky that it doesn't support iOS 6.
The iOS 6 app store alone would eat up the entire RAM on your 1st gen iPad. I'm serious.

 

[cmdrmac]

if indeed the developers will even continue to support iOS 5.

I think most developers will continue to support iOS 5 for a while. There are plenty of people using iOS 5 and completely dropping iOS 5 will alienate many consumers around the world. Some of the apps that I recently updated have finally started to say that iOS 5 is required - although iOS 6 has come out. These same apps have been enhanced for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that most developers will continue supporting iOS 5 for another 6 - 10 months before 'forcing' users to update to iOS 6.

And let's not forget, many corporate customers don't have the 'luxury' of immediately updating to the most recent iOS versions. The iPhones that my company issues are still running iOS 4 and they will soon be updated to iOS 5. Why? There are a couple of highly specialized apps that are installed by our corporate IT group. Those apps are custom written by them and they are pretty darn slow in updating them to the newest iOS.

 

[movieator]

Because if they did, then the complaints would be "Why does iOS 6 make my iPad 1 run so slow???"

I get it, but it's like when I downloaded iOS 5 on my old 3GS. It ran like a glacier most of the time.
Some people will say that it is only because Apple wants you to upgrade to the latest and that's all.
Not true.
Hardware does have it's limitations. Can it support iOS 6? Maybe. Barely.
But will it ulitmately be more of a headache then if you didn't upgrade to iOS 6? Most likely.

 

[dmelgar]

The only reason I can think of is that the ipad1 is very memory constrained. It only has 256mb. iOS takes up about half that not leaving much room for an app. The OS spends a lot of time managing memory making the ipad1 very slow.

The ipad2 has 512mb and the ipad3 has 1gb. The ipad2 ends up with 3x the memory available for apps. It's amazing that the ipad1 can do what it does with only 256mb.

 

[jmccullough108]

The 3Gs got iOS 6. It got every feature the iPhone 4 did except one or two.

My mistake. Thought they cut it off at the 4 this time.

 

[kannesss]

Siri. And the iPad 1 is slow as syrup

 

[Slip Jigs]

I think most developers will continue to support iOS 5 for a while. There are plenty of people using iOS 5 and completely dropping iOS 5 will alienate many consumers around the world. Some of the apps that I recently updated have finally started to say that iOS 5 is required - although iOS 6 has come out. These same apps have been enhanced for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that most developers will continue supporting iOS 5 for another 6 - 10 months before 'forcing' users to update to iOS 6.

And let's not forget, many corporate customers don't have the 'luxury' of immediately updating to the most recent iOS versions. The iPhones that my company issues are still running iOS 4 and they will soon be updated to iOS 5. Why? There are a couple of highly specialized apps that are installed by our corporate IT group. Those apps are custom written by them and they are pretty darn slow in updating them to the newest iOS.

That makes sense, as well as the comments regarding the memory limitations. And like any other OS, that just means the software is bigger and bulkier.

I guess we could also look at it from the other direction - that the iPad 2 was a pretty big step up from the 1, when they could have fit one in between - but then there would have been too big a difference from that and the iPhone 4.

It still sucks to be left behind so soon, especially when it seems that the industry no longer even makes an attempt to hide this is what they do. It used to be "new and improved" and now it's more like "you're a loser with last year's model" - whether they're talking about their own products or someone else's. The Galaxy commercial, actually pretty funny, makes fun of iPhone people waiting in line, yet Samsung is guilty of the same.

 

[mylios101]

What about the iPod touch 4th gen!

The iPod touch 4th gen has 256Mb of memory, and a slower CPU than the iPad 1st gen at 800Mhz, and yet the iPad lacks iOS6 support. It makes no sense hardware wise. Maybe Apple is trying to get iPad 1st gen owners to upgrade to iPad 2 or higher.

 

[Slip Jigs]

The iPod touch 4th gen has 256Mb of memory, and a slower CPU than the iPad 1st gen at 800Mhz, and yet the iPad lacks iOS6 support. It makes no sense hardware wise. Maybe Apple is trying to get iPad 1st gen owners to upgrade to iPad 2 or higher.

That is always part of the equation, releasing new devices and software to encourage upgrading and like I said, I normally understand this as a way of life and accept it. It's just in this particular instance, it seems they're simply taking advantage. I need to one up on these devices a little better so I know more about which processor is used and and how much memory is available. I just checked gazelle for their current offer on the iPad 1 - top dollar is a whopping $138. That's just too big of a drop and too soon when I paid 4600. I would bet that the current residual value has bee affected by the lack of support for iOS6.

I don't own any Mac computers yet, but the upgrade cycles there both with the new Macbooks that come out according to their schedule, and OS updates seem fair. A three or four year old Macbook, or Pro, is still far from being outdated or obsolete and you're not stripped of features when upgrades to OSX are released.

Another example is the Apple TV. I bought the latest version of the previous generation about 6 months before the iOS version came out. I actually like the onboard 160 gig drive and I like the style much better than the new ones. But there's no doubt that the features of the new version are far better and more useful, especially if you're running other iOS devices on your network. I have no idea whether or not the resources and architecture of the old one would even permit it to run iOS at all. Even if it couldn't, Apple still didn't have to completely drop support for it. They could still provide some sort of updates even something simple like NetFlix, or creating an iPhone or iPad app to remotely control it.

It's time for this accepted corporate paradigm to shift back in the favor of us, the consumer. We've been completely conditioned to where we feel that if we don't have the latest and greatest then we're a loser or uncool. Why has this industry been immune from the poor economy the last few years? And that would be the only thing that could change it. I would start a crusade but there just wouldn't be enough people to to forego an upgrade just for the principle of the issue. But the economy did affect the sale of Adobe creative suite programs. The workforce was smaller and thankfully enough people realized that it was too soon and too expensive to upgrade from CS5 to 6. So Adobe had to offer the suite in the form of monthly subscriptions.

And why not some of the iOS 6 features not supported by iPhone 4? You can't tell me there's not enough power to run at least the first version of Siri. And if I am stuck on iOS 5 on my iPad, will the release any updates or bug fixes for that OS. No, it's done. And how about fixing certain issues that have always been there, no matter which device and which OS version. Lag and jerky movement has always been there and worse with older devices. To varying degrees, scrolling through email headers, other long lists in other apps, and zooming in on a web page.

Oh well.

 

[k995]

Other than certain new "features" that do benefit or even require a hardware boost, what exactly is it about the OS itself that makes it incompatible with iPad 1?

For the most part, I accept the business model of incremental upgrade, both in hardware and software, as just they way of life, that a new device or application won't stay new for long. But it's just getting worse, and it seems that the first if a device in its third generation should still enjoy full support, even if it can't run certain apps or features. And even if we take Apple at their word, that they would rather ensure a quality experience on an outdated device.

But this makes the iPad 1 more than outdated, it is now obsolete. If for no other reason than now it will require a lot more maintenance keeping my apps up to date, if indeed the developers will even continue to support iOS 5. That's sort of ironic because now the experience involving the ecosystem becomes more problematic and less fluid.

I used to be able to afford being an early adopter and always kept with the latest and greatest. But now I can't, yet in most cases I still feel I am getting the value out of certain investments, But not with this.

With ios 5 its already very slow, apple these days has a habitude to make it more hardware resource demanding so i can imagin it would barely run it .

 

[Biolizard]

Apple's obsolescence policy is now clear. Any device that has been off the shelves at the time the OS is announced will not be getting an update.

Thus we can expect that iOS 7 will not be supported on iPad 2 and iPhone 4.

Back to iPad 1, I have mine (March 2011 vintage post-iPad 2 announcement - go discount!) running iOS 5 and it barely copes. The OS is smoother than the iPhone 3G running iOS 4 thank heavens, but every time you switch a tab in Safari it has to reload it, for example, because of the constrained memory.

I knew 256MB would be a limiting factor when it was announced, but for what I use it for, mainly reading programming textbooks, it does the job reasonably well and I have no reason to replace it. It would definitely not cope with iOS 6 though, and I'm glad Apple didn't try.

 

[MozMan68]

The real question...why can't I get ios6 on my Apple IIE?

 

[Xenomorph]

Look at previous devices:

iPhone & iPod touch (1st Gen): iOS 1/2/3
iPhone 3G & iPod touch (2nd Gen): iOS 2/3/4
iPod touch (3rd Gen): iOS 3/4/5
iPad (1st Gen): iOS 3/4/5

Most devices have received two iOS upgrades from what they shipped with.
The exception being the iPhone 3GS; iOS 3/4/5/6.
Why? Because they kept selling it longer than previous devices. It was sold for over three years!

Also, the iPad was already struggling with iOS 5. Same tiny amount of RAM as the iPhone 3GS, but with a much bigger screen and graphic elements to drive! Perhaps Apple thought there would be performance issues with the iPad 1, and didn't want to repeat the issues with the iPhone 3G and iOS 4.

 

[MozMan68]

Thanks God they don't let you have it... My 3G became unusable after updating to iOS 4. Turned it into an I touch fornthem kids and got an iPhone 4.

 

[nippyjun]

The iPad 1 is the same or very close technologically to the iPhone 4. So there is no real reason.

 

[sparkyms]

Hey, at least you keep google maps!

 

[pdqgp]

They needed to force more sales to insure they continue being a market leader so the best way to do that is stop supporting older hardware. Somewhat serious.....

 

[BlaqkAudio]

The only reason the iPad 1 didn't get iOS 6 was because it was no longer being sold at the time of the announcement. The only reason the 3GS received iOS 6 was because Apple was still selling it as their low-tier iPhone, otherwise, I'm sure Apple would have had no problem dropping support for it.

 

[FSMBP]

The only reason the iPad 1 didn't get iOS 6 was because it was no longer being sold at the time of the announcement. The only reason the 3GS received iOS 6 was because Apple was still selling it as their low-tier iPhone, otherwise, I'm sure Apple would have had no problem dropping support for it.

That's not right. By that logic, Apple won't support iOS 7 on the third generation iPad correct? (As they stopped selling it in 2012).

It was to push hardware sales of future iPads. It may also be a speed issue but my 3GS got iOS 6 was slow.

PS. I know this is an old thread but the topic is interesting.

 

[Bawstun]

Because if they did, then the complaints would be "Why does iOS 6 make my iPad 1 run so slow???"

I get it, but it's like when I downloaded iOS 5 on my old 3GS. It ran like a glacier most of the time.
Some people will say that it is only because Apple wants you to upgrade to the latest and that's all.
Not true.
Hardware does have it's limitations. Can it support iOS 6? Maybe. Barely.
But will it ulitmately be more of a headache then if you didn't upgrade to iOS 6? Most likely.

I am running iOS 6.0.1 on an iPhone 3GS without any problems or noticeable lag. Other than, you know, being an iPhone 3GS. It was always slowed compared to the 4. I remember when I upgraded to the 4 and compared opening browsers and apps side by side, the 4 blew the 3GS away.

I'm pretty sure that the 3GS and first generation iPad have the same amount of RAM.

 

[viperGTS]

Apple's obsolescence policy is now clear. Any device that has been off the shelves at the time the OS is announced will not be getting an update.

Thus we can expect that iOS 7 will not be supported on iPad 2 and iPhone 4.

Back to iPad 1, I have mine (March 2011 vintage post-iPad 2 announcement - go discount!) running iOS 5 and it barely copes. The OS is smoother than the iPhone 3G running iOS 4 thank heavens, but every time you switch a tab in Safari it has to reload it, for example, because of the constrained memory.

I knew 256MB would be a limiting factor when it was announced, but for what I use it for, mainly reading programming textbooks, it does the job reasonably well and I have no reason to replace it. It would definitely not cope with iOS 6 though, and I'm glad Apple didn't try.

The iPhone 4 will most definitely get iOS 7, IF and ONLY IF iOS 7 is announced before the next generation iPhone. However, seeing as the iPhone 3GS and 4 are nearly identical in performance, it makes more sense for Apple to drop these devices at the same time.