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This does not support their argument. You just described competition, not planned obsolescence.

Android has not "surpassed" iOS for updates. Neither Samsung nor Google, the two claiming 7 years of support, have actually done it yet. On the flip side, Apple has several times. For example, consider the iPhone 5s, which released in Sept. 2013 and received its latest security patch in early 2023. And more recently, the iPhone X. On its 7th year: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT214063.

We also don't know how well Samsung phones and Google phones will hold up as they reach the end of support, nor do we know if either company will backtrack or just end up providing an extra year or two of security updates to reach the 7 year mark.
Please explain how that's competition, if it was competition, Apple would be motivated to increase the years of support to compete with their competitors........they have not done so in the history of Windows vs Mac existence.

Whether Google or or Samsung have "done it" yet is irrelevant - it will happen. Manufacturers running Android such as Google and Samsung among others make top notch devices, I used my first smartphone - Galaxy S4 for 5 years before upgrading to a Galaxy S9+, which i used for over 5 years and am actually still using as a secondary phone going on almost 7 years behind my now primary iPhone 13.

Absolutely zero issue with product longevity.
 
Hmmm…
Windows 11 and macOS Ventura both supported the exact same hardware from my understanding, mostly because of Intel dropping drivers support for SkyLake and earlier chips in 2022.

Also, while Google and Samsung have *said* they will support some 2023 and 2024 devices for seven years of updates, that has not happened yet.
As it is, right now they’re just talking the talk, in seven years we will see if they have actually walked the walk.
Apple actually does have several devices that they have supported for 7+ years, including the 2007 iMac and MacBook Pros which went from from Tiger to El Capitan, which was 2007 to 2015+ until 2018 with security updates, for a total of 11 years.
The 2012 MacBook Pro, which received all the way from Lion to Big Sur, so again a total of 11 years of security updates.

The iPad Air2, which came out in 2014 running iOS 8.1 and went all the way to 15 and literally received a security update (15.8.2) literally last month.
And the iPhone 6S, which came out in 2015, went all the way to iOS 15 and again, received a security update just last month.

When they’re actually is an android phone that has received seven years of updates, that will actually mean something. Until then, as far as we know, it could just go to the land of decades and decades of google broken promises.
Windows is largely backward compatible going back decades and previous iterations of Windows have been supported for many more years than any iteration of Mac.

Sure, we can say talk is cheap, but i think that's bad faith argument to suggest Google and Samsung is going to walk back their support commitments. And yes I know Google has a wonky history with new products but this is different.

The average years of support for various Apple products is what 5 years? Maybe 6 at best.
 
So how do you distinguish between unplanned obsolescence and planned obsolescence in this case?
No such thing as unplanned obsolescence in the case of software and security support. There can certainly be unplanned product obsolescence in such cases of uncompetitive or unpopular products but it's clearly a choice to drop support for devices at a software/security level.
 
problem with all the apple watch is no AI in the age of AI but if u dont care about health and fitness then it doesnt matter.
AI on watches is being used to lose weight better then ozempic. i am 30lbs lighter since dec
catch cancer yrs b4 it becomes fatal
fitness coach using chatbot

apple and even samsung have been wasting time on microled which doesnt even matter
 
Please explain how that's competition, if it was competition, Apple would be motivated to increase the years of support to compete with their competitors........they have not done so in the history of Windows vs Mac existence.

Whether Google or or Samsung have "done it" yet is irrelevant - it will happen. Manufacturers running Android such as Google and Samsung among others make top notch devices, I used my first smartphone - Galaxy S4 for 5 years before upgrading to a Galaxy S9+, which i used for over 5 years and am actually still using as a secondary phone going on almost 7 years behind my now primary iPhone 13.

Absolutely zero issue with product longevity.
long updates r useless unless u have replaceable batteries and EU will soon force this on all phones.

another thing is iphone cameras get zero yrs of update camera is clearly the most important thing . and iphone camera ages very very badly i know coz i am contantly taking the best pics
 
Windows is largely backward compatible going back decades and previous iterations of Windows have been supported for many more years than any iteration of Mac.
I'm not sure how you define support. I have a bunch of XP instances that work, but saying that they're supported is stretching it.

Likewise vendors may update their drivers. Is that considered "support?"

And having worked in the enterprise space for many years, I'd dispute the "largely backwards compatible going back decades."
 
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I get the business case here for Apple -- but seriously, for a WATCH, they can't even support an older version's basic ability to even just show the current time and date?

My old Casio G-Shocks never had this problem. /ducks
Apple dropping support just means no more newer features that comes with newer OS versions. Everything you currently use should keep working for years to come and Apple will keep releasing security fixes for them.
 
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except, ending support after 2 years would generate more device sales than 5 years of feature updates with alleged slowdowns so that argument doesn't make sense. people want the newest iOS features
Except, they dont need to “ending support after 2 years”. They just don’t shovel a barrage of new features onto old devices, knowing full well it won’t run, thus via no-downgrade update, ruining the device in the process.
Also, people WANT a working device, NOT necessarily the latest software. There has been countless complaints on this site alone blaming Apple for ruining their otherwise working fine device via software update.
As someone points out, Apple doesn’t earn money through software update, but through hardware sales. Hence my suggestion will never eventuate, even if they can offer just the same length of support As before.
 
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Except, they dont need to “ending support after 2 years”. They just don’t shovel a barrage of new features onto old devices, knowing full well it won’t run, thus via no-downgrade update, ruining the device in the process.
have no idea what your argument is here.

2 years of updates would drive more device sales over 5 years of updates. you're arguing 5 years of updates is done to drive more sales when really 2 years of updates would do more, yet Apple chose the former which yields less device updates.

2 years would have been in line with other Android devices before competition forced Android companies to provide more years of updates.
 
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Using s4 daily and still great companion. Apple „eco” friendly policy should extend with software for watches. I would need only to change battery cause I need to charge it during the day.
 
whenever someone accuses Apple of doing planned obsolescence, years of software updates immediately destroy their argument.

people also get upset because for some reason they get trapped into the notion that they're being "forced" to update.

....like your devices still work fine...with features they launched with, including features added in later software updates.

there's going to be an uproar when the watch design ditches the current bands. no one *needs* to upgrade just for new bands, but they'll act cheated anyway.
 
have no idea what your argument is here.

2 years of updates would drive more device sales over 5 years of updates. you're arguing 5 years of updates is done to drive more sales when really 2 years of updates would do more, yet Apple chose the former which yields less device updates.

2 years would have been in line with other Android devices before competition forced Android companies to provide more years of updates.
Your definition of update is different from what My definition is. My original argument is they don’t release new features to existing watches 2-3 years after the initial release, but continue to provide bug fixes and security updates for another 2-3 years, still 5-6 years of software support but make old devices more useable.
You on the other hand consider current model of shoving new features to everyone regardless of the generation of the device as ”proper software support to supported devices” which I am against.
 
I'm not sure how you define support. I have a bunch of XP instances that work, but saying that they're supported is stretching it.

Likewise vendors may update their drivers. Is that considered "support?"

And having worked in the enterprise space for many years, I'd dispute the "largely backwards compatible going back decades."
Are you really trying to get into semantics - that's your effort to undermine my argument? Give me a single example of where Mac is supported for more years than Windows.

What does drivers have to do with this? We are talking about MacOS vs Windows here, not drivers for hardware.

Dispute backward compatibility on what grounds?
 
Your definition of update is different from what My definition is. My original argument is they don’t release new features to existing watches 2-3 years after the initial release, but continue to provide bug fixes and security updates for another 2-3 years, still 5-6 years of software support but make old devices more useable.
You on the other hand consider current model of shoving new features to everyone regardless of the generation of the device as ”proper software support to supported devices” which I am against.

I still don't understand. they do release new features after 3 years of existing watches. Series 4 got offline maps for example and that was after 3 years.

Or are you saying Series 4 shouldn't get offline maps? If so, that's a ridiculous argument. People are already angry that they can't get 80% battery limit feature on their iPhone 14 and now they have to upgrade to iPhone 15 to get that feature which works against your argument.
 
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