iPad We need to file a complaint!

[ikir]

Around the Air 1 model, the iPad had enough horsepower for my kid and wife to watch movies and play various games. At this point, I have three Air 1's, 2 Mini's and an Air 2 that still work perfectly fine, but have maxed out on IOS updates that have basically rendered them useless due to most apps requiring a later version.....even movie apps!! Trade and resale value is crap. You're literally forced to upgrade to a new device. I bought an Air 4 to replace my Air 2. Then bought an Air 5 and gave the Air 4 to wife. Kid to getting a Mini 6 next month for Bday.

I’m not looking for Apple support. I’m just saying at least allow movie apps and such to still be useable. Sure, they still have “value” and work better than any Android tablet, but what good is that if you cannot do anything with them other than native stuff.

Blame those developers, nothing stop devs to optimise app for older device but you can't force them to support an old tablet with vey few market. iPad Air 1 was fast for its time especially compared to other tablet with same age.

 

[XIO[-]OIX]

They won’t because by their design, I have to replace every iPad and keep feeding their pocket. I’m not mad at them on this subject. Just think it sucks that a perfectly capable device is more or less trash before it needs to be.

No. They wont because the time and effort of the developers is better spent on developing new apps and adding features to existing ones, than maintaining an old app version for old hardware almost noone uses anymore.

 

[ric22]

To be fair, Apple's hardware has come a LONG way in the last decade. The iPad Air 2 has an A8X in it, which is basically based off the iPhone 6 processor and is about 1/4 the speed of modern iPhone processors. Trying to run any modern version of iPadOS on this processor is going to cause some performance problems.

The tablet/mobile space is changing much faster than the computer space. 10 years on a Mac is very doable (my old one from 2012 still works to this day), but on a tablet, these things just weren't powerful enough back then. They've come a LONG way in the years since.

Agreed. This crosses over with a discussion we just had on another thread- now that iPads have reached parity with MacBooks and Mac Minis, and share single core performance with an M1 Ultra, will Apple support them for much longer than before? They'll age so much more gracefully now, in the same way that I have a 14 year old Windows desktop with a Xeon processor that still works absolutely fine for low maintenance tasks.

 

[rui no onna]

Agreed. This crosses over with a discussion we just had on another thread- now that iPads have reached parity with MacBooks and Mac Minis, and share single core performance with an M1 Ultra, will Apple support them for much longer than before? They'll age so much more gracefully now, in the same way that I have a 14 year old Windows desktop with a Xeon processor that still works absolutely fine for low maintenance tasks.

I think they've started to age relatively gracefully starting with the Air 2. Before, I'd update maybe 1-2 major firmware versions max because in my experience, performance drops too much after 3 major updates.

Even if Apple doesn't provide firmware updates that long (Monterey doesn't support Macs older than 2013/2014), I'm guessing M1 + 8/16GB RAM means it'll run fairly smoothly even after it stops receiving OS updates.

 

[ric22]

I think they've started to age relatively gracefully starting with the Air 2. Before, I'd update maybe 1-2 major firmware versions max because in my experience, performance drops too much after 3 major updates.

Even if Apple doesn't provide firmware updates that long (Monterey doesn't support Macs older than 2013/2014), I'm guessing M1 + 8/16GB RAM means it'll run fairly smoothly even after it stops receiving OS updates.

Yes, over time they're ageing better and better, progressively. How fast the Air 2 will feel in a couple of years I'm not so sure, though- that remains to be seen. As others have stated, the problem can be that once Apple withdraws support for a device and it stops receiving security updates, developers will soon abandon ship too.

 

[BellSystem]

My 400Mhz iMac from 1999 can’t run the latest version of Photoshop….who can I called to get this rectified? LOL

Developers choose not to keep their apps running on legacy OS’s and hardware. Don’t blame Apple for all of it. If we had this your way Apple would still be updating System 6. It’s not feasible for Apple or any company to move forward and at the same time keep an unlimited window of support.

 

[rui no onna]

Yes, over time they're ageing better and better, progressively. How fast the Air 2 will feel in a couple of years I'm not so sure, though- that remains to be seen.

Honestly, all the 2GB RAM iPads already feel too laggy for my taste. However, considering I used to be able to type entire sentences on the iPad 3 running iOS 9 before the characters showed up onscreen, Air 2 on iPadOS 15 is already a major improvement. 😛

As others have stated, the problem can be that once Apple withdraws support for a device and it stops receiving security updates, developers will soon abandon ship too.

Sure but typically, it takes at least 1-2 years before that happens. Granted, I expect I probably would have a new device before it even becomes an issue with the older iPad being repurposed or given away to family.

 

[ric22]

Honestly, all the 2GB RAM iPads already feel too laggy for my taste. However, considering I used to be able to type entire sentences on the iPad 3 running iOS 9 before the characters showed up onscreen, Air 2 on iPadOS 15 is already a major improvement. 😛.

Haha! I remember those days! I had an iPad 3, and it worked fine, until the day I installed iOS 9! Then suddenly it would lag on games it didn't lag on before, Safari browsing went from fast to slow, and the keyboard was a step behind. That software should never have been released- I can only assume Apple intentionally ruined our old devices so that we'd buy new ones... 🙁

 

[Gix1k]

g

 

[Gix1k]

My 400Mhz iMac from 1999 can’t run the latest version of Photoshop….who can I called to get this rectified? LOL

......But it can run A VERSION of Photoshop.

 

[BigMcGuire]

......But it can run A VERSION of Photoshop.

Now you got me thinking. Wonder if that version of photoshop can open .heic files.

 

[Gix1k]

Now you got me thinking. Wonder if that version of photoshop can open .heic files.

Maybe….good luck!

 

[rui no onna]

Haha! I remember those days! I had an iPad 3, and it worked fine, until the day I installed iOS 9! Then suddenly it would lag on games it didn't lag on before, Safari browsing went from fast to slow, and the keyboard was a step behind. That software should never have been released- I can only assume Apple intentionally ruined our old devices so that we'd buy new ones... 🙁

My recollection was it went from slow to slower. 😛

Back then, I was using my laptop or desktop more often than not for browsing. iPads just reloaded a lot and a lot of websites didn't work properly (ugh, Adobe Flash).

 

[one more]

Well, both software and hardware ageing is nothing new and had been there since the beginning. A smart way of upgrading your current Apple gear would probably be once every 3-6 years, depending on what you use it for and how. Then you can either pass it on (as you did with your Air 4), sell it, or, if it has “no value”, recycle it?

Considering your signature, you are using the latest Apple devices anyway, so why keep the old ones around for so long?

 

[Mr. Heckles]

You’re missing the point….I don’t care that these devices cannot get iOS 15.4.1….they work fine on iOS 12 or wherever they stopped. Your point is valid, they would run terribly on the latest firmware, BUT the device should still have access to apps to be useful.

They may work, but you’re not getting security updates, and that’s a huge issue.

I have an iPad Pro 9.7 that came out in 2016 and the battery is 100% crap, but I’ll upgrade this year. I can’t imagine how bad those batteries are.

Nothing is supported forever, it’s been this way for years. As operating systems and apps need more power to run (because the become more powerful themselves), older hardware can’t handle it.

I swear, people will complain about anything.

 

[Diablo360]

It sucks that we can’t use these forever but it is good to upgrade every 4-5 years at least. Before I switched to my iPad Pro my iPad Air was running extremely slow after 3-4 years of use. glad I made the switch to a 2020 iPad Pro (not happy about the price though)